My best letter of complaint yet

You may remember a year or two ago, I posted a couple letters I wrote, complaining about bad service. Both letters saw positive results, and I received reciprocity. (I love reciprocity, it’s one of my favorite things.)

Well, several months ago I was at it again. This time I saved the Jones family $1,800, so I’d have to say it’s my best letter of complaint yet.

===========================================================

PART I: The letter

Adrianne typically grabs the mail out of the mailbox after work. She was opening a letter at the foot of the stairs, and I heard her mutter something like, “Holy shit.” “What is it?” I asked. “This letter… something was messed up, and it says our house payment is going up… $150 a month… for the next 12 months…”

It was effectively the “chance” card in Monopoly… that letter you get in the mail that says, Make general repairs on all your properties… pay $25 for each house you own, $100 for each hotel.

I guess it’s better than Go directly to jail, do not pass go, but this was a shit sandwich delivered to us by our friendly U.S. postal service employee.

I asked Adrianne to show me the letter. I read it. The letter instantly just looked ugly, one of those letters that’s printed off in two seconds by a giant printer, spit out, unceremoniously folded and stuffed into an envelope. No one even signed a name to the letter, it was just from ‘the bank.’

The letter plainly stated that we had not paid enough in taxes when we closed on our house. We were short around $1,800… ‘the bank’ informed us that it could demand this money in one lump sum right now… but since it was a benevolent bank, it would allow us to pay back the deficiency over 12 months.

Now, we could afford the extra $150, but that’s not the point. The point is, what happened? Why did this happen? Why weren’t enough in taxes collected? And why am I the guy left holding this letter?

Tomorrow... Part II...