Friday, the phone rang and without looking at the caller ID, I answered it. It was a debt collection bureau and they wanted to speak to Dennis. "Yep'er, you got him." Prior to launching into the meat of the matter they wanted me to give them my social security number to verify who I was. Nope, it is your nickle and if you want to impart some information on me, give it a whirl. They insisted that I needed to give them what they wanted first. Wrong. As far as I know, all my bills are paid and I don't owe anyone anything. She indicated that she couldn't open the data base from the City Water Department without that information Thank you goodbye.
I thought about it and realized that with three rental properties in the city there is just an outside chance that a bill may have been overlooked. I called the City Water Department and with them, I verified the last 4 of my SSN and was told that in fact the final bill from this past summer had in fact been turned over to a collection agency. Now, the why that was that done comes to mind. For some reason the city knowing that I was not in their data base for my home service made me post a $25.00 deposit. For some reason they failed to enter my home address as the billing address. They sent the bill to the rental property address and I never saw the bill. Hence it is overdue.They gave me the billing location number so the collection agency could open their data base without my SSN.
I called them and got the same person I had spoken to earlier. She denied any knowledge of my calling earlier and even though I gave her the parcel number to open the data base refused to do business with me. I asked her to think about it and tell me how anyone but me would know the parcel number? I gave that information to her and I just don't give out my SSN to anyone over the phone (only a half truth) She did open the data base but would not tell me the exact details even though the water department had and I told her what I knew. I told her that they were just going to have to put it in writing and send it to me.
I hate stupid people that hide behind the red tape. Nominee number one. The Kansas Credit Bureau.
MUD
When is it time to get out of the rental business and take your profits? As we get older these type of things become harder to deal with, especially the middle of the night calls about clogged toilets or frozen pipes. Good renters today are harder to find and less reliable than a few short years ago. I got out of the rental buisness when the stress wasn't worth the gains. I am glad I did. Life is short. Ray
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