Good for you, for knowing your rights. However, you tipped your hand too early - not that it mattered in this case, because of the apparently non-existent company. If the company had been legitimate, the best thing to do would have been to let them violate the law while you recorded it, then filed a civil suit to collect your $1k per infraction.
Have you considered paying your bills? Granted, the company is breaking laws left and right, but you can't really get as indignant knowing you legitimately owe money. Having said that, know your rights - look up the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act, then do the following:
1. Get a recording device and put the next conversation on speaker.
2. Before they start their tirade, ask if you can record the conversation (required if your state requires it, otherwise, record away).
3. Have them start from the beginning, say what they need to say, and you ask what you should ask (you should know the FDCPA to know what to ask for).
4. Count the violations.
5. Profit - it's $1, 000 per infraction, so they have now paid you for your time.
Have you considered paying your bills? Granted, the company is breaking laws left and right, but you can't really get as indignant knowing you legitimately owe money. Having said that, know your rights - look up the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act, then do the following:
1. Get a recording device and put the next conversation on speaker.
2. Before they start their tirade, ask if you can record the conversation (required if your state requires it, otherwise, record away).
3. Have them start from the beginning, say what they need to say, and you ask what you should ask (you should know the FDCPA to know what to ask for).
4. Count the violations.
5. Profit - it's $1, 000 per infraction, so they have now paid you for your time.
They have a right to collect the debt just as you have a right to be treated with respect, but perpetuating the bad credit cycle by refusing to pay hurts no one but you.
What is terriable and imbarisng is your horrible spelling - and that's not a rumur. People tend to date/marry their equals, so I can only imagine how dumb your girlfriend must be.
classy - you sure know how to pick 'em!
Well, peopleofwalmart.com is full of fatties who shop there, so I guess she's in that site's targeted demographic.
Hahah, yes, the stress of fast food - those of us with white collar jobs know nothing of the pain that the downtrodden masses must feel. Poor us.
In the US, the owner of the photo has the copyright. If I take a picture of you being an idiot in public, then I can do whatever I want with that photo.
Sounds like your computer is infected with more than its share of malware/adware/spyware. Have fun cleaning!
Haha, let me sign all these papers so I can get money and piss it away on a cosmetology degree! How [censor]ed can you be? For the teacher - had you kept up your payments for ten straight years, you could have had loan repayment because you are in public service. Dumb of you not to read your paperwork, or do some research.
The rest of you - pay your bills, then tell your kids to get degrees that will actually pay the loans instead of something stupid like an English degree because you have dreams of being a writer (a PhD in English will get you $45k in academia, if you're lucky). The "do what you love" advice given to high school grads is just setting them up for failure - find a marketable degree with the potential for a lucrative career, and use the money to do what you love.
Guess the OP is thinking that maybe he shouldn't have had a "too cool for school" attitude when he was younger. The nerds are the ones who don't have to live in low-rent places like this. Poor life choices!
xan fails to mention how these other "civilized" countries are paying for these services for their respective citizens. Americans already feel overburdened by taxes, but the way to pay for free tuition, room, and board (and healthcare, etc) is to jack up the tax rate to approximately 50% - it's what Germany does, and that's essentially the utopia you are painting in your responses.
While I do agree that textbook prices are outrageous, I would prefer to attend a school that attempted to use the latest edition of a book as opposed to one from a decade ago. This is not to say that old books are worthless, but there are reasons for updated editions which are not tied only to advances in the field (ie, corrections or additions/deletions of more relevant material).
Xan's assumption that college tuition doesn't cost much is pretty asinine - having viewed the budgets (and yes, the waste) that goes on in higher education, I can attest to why tuition prices are the way they are. For Xan to claim that salaries don't amount to much is the type of thinking that says people should not be paid a working wage. Professors are not the only employees of a university, but they are indeed a large portion of annual budgets (facilities and utilities being the other major budgetary items). In order for universities to attract students, they need good programs, and programs need good professors. To attract good professors, they need to offer competitive salaries and benefits. To support the professors, you need support units - administrative assistants, grounds keepers, maintenance crews, motor pool, IT staff, security/police force, etc.
Xan seems to believe the country has limitless funds (deficit, anyone?) with which to educate its people. While this is an idealistic goal (although very naive), the reality is that this country will not achieve that anytime soon for more reasons than any of us could list.
To hate SM, or any student loan guarantor, for giving students the opportunity gain an education is pretty dumb. The people who aren't paying these loans back are the same ones who are probably defaulting on other loans, partied too much in school, or worse - majored in the wrong degree. You blame SM for people being ripped off, however I blame the kids who decided to get an "easy" degree (ie, English) when tuition was $20k/yr. Failing to determine basic ROI is not SM's fault - take some personal responsibility.
Monie (OP),
Why do you think you need to come to some "agreement" with SM? I think that agreement was the loan contract you signed right before you took their money to pay for your degree. Not paying, and worse, telling others not to, is [censor]ed and just shows you wasted your time and your money getting an education when it obviously didn't help. Student loans are not like consumer loans which disappear in 7 years after the last activity - student loans are forever. If you don't want to pay them, then have fun renting for the rest of your life.
copyright - the right to a work, image, etc
copywrite - the actual text written to promote a business, product, etc
two different things.
The fact that you are using a free account from a third party solution shows that your IT team isn't doing their job, the business team is putting customer information into the ether, and your company as a whole could be liable for any number of federal violations.
I hope that you've let someone in your chain of command know of this screwup, and you should talk to your IT staff about some security awareness training.
Idiots - this is a gonzo site, and the participants are all willing (and aware) of the scene. It's called acting, and they're catering to the niche of people who like to see this type of non-consensual scenario involving girl desperate to do anything for money or fame.
Although, I suspect the OP is nothing more than an advertising shill pretending to be indignant about a site that is so horrible that he had to visit it in the first place. So transparent.
donotcall.GOV is the correct site (not .com, which is probably just harvesting contact information). Registering there will be ineffective, because its purpose is to ward off telemarketers - a debt collector has a right to collect the debt, although they should do it correctly. Unfortunately, more than a few operate under intimidation, and even deadbeats deserve some modicum of respect.
If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.
If you paid via debit/credit card, then dispute with your bank and let them deal with it. A blog is worthless without traffic, and I'm guessing you don't have the knowledge to manage that.
Call your cc company and tell them of the disputed charges and to block any future charges from that entity. Failing that, report your card lost and a new one will be issued - this will effectively deny future charges.
Lastly, do more research - the government does not charge for public information, and you could have gotten the same results by taking time to read instead of going for the easy way out. If it sounds too good to be true...
Hahah - the OP is pissed not only because they can't unload their timeshare, but probably because they're realizing how stupid it was to buy one in the first place. Boo hoo! Let me guess - you bought it after filling out one of those "win a free car" cards at your local mall and were excited when you got the call to say your entry had "moved to the next round", packed up the family to go listen to a presentation to see what you "won", and then succumbed to the sales pitch.
Nothing like good ol' buyer's remorse to make someone pissed and cry scam, eh?
Everyone who responded to that email is an idiot.
Upselling credit cards in the checkout line is nothing new, and is not much different than putting candy and other convenience items at the register for people to make impulse purchases.
But you seriously make less than $500/mo? I hope you're part-time. If not, I bet you wish you had done better in school when you were younger.
You should have done better research into the company you charged with finding care for your children. Shameful parenting. CC is a company that pretty much sucks at what they purport to be good at doing. Best bet is to go to sites like SitterCity.com, place your own ad, and find someone for far less than the initial outlay that CC would charge you. Sure, you may wind up with someone as bad as what CC gives you, but it's a lot less of a hassle to replace that person without paying another finder's fee.
People responding to this thread with their PII are equally idiotic...
