Life can be pretty strange nowadays.
Remember my check for $5 -- that magically changed into $50? Thanks to the loose fingers of a certain door-to-door teenager, that is.
I got a phone call from the director at Priority Choice Marketing, the company that had hired her. They knew exactly who she was, because she was one of four solicitors in Colorado, used her real initials and employee i.d. number on my receipt. Either really stupid -- after all, she was a kid -- or really smart.
She was 18.
Pregnant.
Had already been in trouble with the law a few times. (I can just guess.)
And she'd done this check-altering business to a dozen or more others, besides me.
The company didn't notice, because she'd also altered the hard copy on the receipts she turned in. (Did she turn them all in? I wonder.) They didn't notice...until my letter arrived.
Apparently no one else had complained, up to that point. Hey, people, didn't that scammed money mean much to you?? Or did you think that neither the police, nor your bank, would bother with that small amount, anyways? (Frankly, if you did, you were right.)
The police in Summit County (where Priority Choice Marketing is located) wouldn't file charges until they'd gotten copies of ALL the paperwork, and processed it all. That took more than a week...by which time, Little Miss Liar-Pants not only denied the check changes ('somebody else did it'), but suddenly had urgent business in her home state of Washington.
Where she was now headed, on a bus.
Fortunately, the Summit County arrest warrant had come through. The Washington cops would pick her up at the bus station, when she got off.
I hope so.
At any rate, Priority Choice Marketing was NOT part of this scheme...
really does send care kits to troops overseas...
and not only was reversing the charges (so Air Academy Credit Union would get their money back), but was sending me a $50 check, for the trouble I'd gone through.
Wow!
Now THAT's customer service.
Thank you, Priority Choice Marketing, for being a company that stands behind your customers. I appreciate it.
I would love to see the face of my little dear when she steps off the bus this weekend, and sees her new friends waiting for her.
Only I doubt she'll be smiling.
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3 comments:
Wow. It must be really scary to be 18 and pregnant, and while it wasn't a good choice, she must have had to be pretty desperate to try to survive by altering checks. It's great that you made money off the incident while her future and her baby's future are going to be even more difficult. It's a shame she didn't have the chance to simply return the money.
Mollie, before I respond, I want to thank you for writing. That was a very compassionate response.
The point was not for me to make anything off this -- yes, I spent a very long day traipsing back and forth between agencies to file this complaint. In that sense, I guess you could say I 'earned' it. BUt I would far rather have not gotten this at all...that it had never happened at all.
She definitely needs help. But based on what the sheriff was saying, she'd been in trouble with the law BEFORE she got pregnant, and before she altered my check -- as well as others' checks. I do not believe this is a naive girl who acted out of desperation -- this is a smart, clever person who knows how to use her assets and what words to say -- to get what she wants. This girl, however nice, knew what I would respond to...and was very effective.
If she is not stopped now, she will continue this pattern. And that would mean she has her baby in jail. She does indeed need help -- but it doesn't mean that she shouldn't face the consequences of her actions. We're all responsible for those.
Thanks much for writing. Glad you did.
Mollie, thinking more on this --
When the check arrives, I will donate it. I do not want anyone saying I profited from this whole sorry affair.
Thanks for keeping me honest; I appreciate it.
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