Impolite!

I’ve been getting mail from collections agencies, service providers (Bell Canada, Rogers, Hydro) for 4 years now… …all addressed to Gregory Brown (or some derivative of that name, ie. Michael Brown, Gregory Renee, Michael Gregory, etc…)

We bought our house over 4 years ago, from the bank as a power of sale, because the previous owners took off in the middle of the night.  I know this from my neighbours who woke up to find the garage door wide open and a few unused boxes on the front stoop.

The trace evidence suggests that the previous owners had fake identities that they used to them to rack up a lot of debt and then bolt.  

What annoys me about this, despite the obvious ‘unfair’ aspect of it all, is that I actually went to great lengths after a year of getting this guys collection notices, to tell all of his creditors, that they weren’t here.  I offered to have them come and visit, gave them all my info, offered to fax them agreements with the bank, etc…

They all politely declined, thanked me, were very glad to have the information but really, they ignored me.  Sure, it’s gotten better.  We used to get a letter a day, minimum, now we’re getting only 1 or 2 a week.

What confounds me most however, is the thought of how many resources have been poured into tracking this guy down.  For one, probably getting close to equalling the cost of what he actually owes. Other than that, a lot of these providers are providers that I use, like Bell Canada.  Which sort of frustrates me… …because it’s obvious that a portion of my monthly fees paid to these companies continue to be used in these dead end pursuits of people that aren’t there.  I get that they need to collect but “HELLO!  ASSHOLES!  I OFFERED YOU EVIDENCE THAT HE TOOK OFF!”

So today I got a letter from an attorney’s office and instead of my usual, “Return To Sender - Recipient Moved” I wrote the note you see above.