hemiram
Member
don't remember which bureau it was anymore, but I had an account that wasn't mine listed under my name. It was for a department store and was opened in 1965. I was 9. Somehow about 40 years later, they decided it was mine, even though the acct was in my dad's name, and my mother's checking acct had made all the payments since my dad died in '73. So I notified them of the mistake, and that's when it got weird. There was a zero balance, and anytime it had been used in years, it was paid off immediately. After a week or so, I got a letter, and I still have it someplace. It's downright hostile, saying it IS my account, and they would not remove it, since it's "obviously" my acct! So I called the number on the letter and I spoke to the woman who had written me the nasty letter. I asked her how could it be my acct when my mom had been paying it all those years, and I was only 9 when it was opened? She said, "Don't be silly!" when I said I was 9 in '65. I asked her how old did she think I am? Somehow, they had my dad, who has a totally different first and middle name was "the same person using an alias". I told her, "I have never gone under any name but XXXXX XXXXXXXX, and she snorted. I said, "If I was my dad, I would be in my late 80's, you understand that, right?". I sound even today much younger than my age on the phone, so I don't know what she was tripping on. So then she says "Your wife was born in 1925 and you were born in 1912!". At that point I asked her, and I probably shouldn't have done it, "Are you on drugs?". She hung up. I called back and asked for a supervisor, and if I would have gotten her again, I was ready to bail. I ended up getting a guy with a British accent, and he put me on hold for a while and comes back on and says, "So you were never known as XXXXX XXXXXXXX?". "No, that's my father, and he's been dead 39 years (At that time)!" He then asks me if there are any other accounts listed that aren't mine. "No, just that one, and again, I was NINE when my parents opened that account!". He then says, "Who is XXXXX XXXXXXXX?". "My mother!". He says, "I'll investigate this and get back to you!". I was at that point kind of just thinking they had no idea what they were doing, and I said, "You really need to investigate this nonsense, over an account with no balance on it?". He said, "This is a serious matter, and I have to warn you, if you have made fraudulent claims, there can be legal consequences!". I laughed and said, "Well, you and your crack investigators go all out and get to the bottom of this caper, and goodbye!". I waited and waited and finally this letter shows up, and it's almost as bizarre as the first one, but not nearly as hostile. It said that they had investigated, and found that I wasn't the same person as (my dad). Yay! And they had removed all connections to him from my report, BUT the acct I never had WAS determined to be mine. I had to call back, so I got another person, this guy sounded like a Chicago gangster, and he was the first sane person I spoke to. He asked me if my father died on a certain date, in what city, etc, and I said yes. He then asked me if I had bought a rug at that store a couple of years ago with that card. "Yeah, for my mother!". He seemed to understand that and I got a letter about 2 weeks later saying that the account had been removed! It appeared on my mom's report, which is where it should have been all along.
But the weirdness wasn't over yet. Shortly before my mom passed away in 2012, she had me go to that store's website and buy her a couple of things. No problem, I used the credit card which was still valid, and I put it all under her name and address. The stuff came a few days later. So about a week after that, I began getting mail in my dad's name. Not a little, but a lot. That had happened before, but not recently, and not after the account was removed. After a while, it would stop. I got a gift card for the store in 2017, and I went online to buy something for my new place with it. I used the credit card for like a $7 balance. Immediately, I got slammed with email for my father, with his actual birthdate. He would have been 105 in 2017. Snail mail followed, mostly for insurance he was too old to even get. I finally called the store's customer service number and closed the account. I thought, "That should be the end of the mail!". Nope. Just going to the site and looking at something will still trigger a flood of mail. At this point, I just laugh and show my friends how dad lives on, almost 50 years after he died..It's just too crazy.
But the weirdness wasn't over yet. Shortly before my mom passed away in 2012, she had me go to that store's website and buy her a couple of things. No problem, I used the credit card which was still valid, and I put it all under her name and address. The stuff came a few days later. So about a week after that, I began getting mail in my dad's name. Not a little, but a lot. That had happened before, but not recently, and not after the account was removed. After a while, it would stop. I got a gift card for the store in 2017, and I went online to buy something for my new place with it. I used the credit card for like a $7 balance. Immediately, I got slammed with email for my father, with his actual birthdate. He would have been 105 in 2017. Snail mail followed, mostly for insurance he was too old to even get. I finally called the store's customer service number and closed the account. I thought, "That should be the end of the mail!". Nope. Just going to the site and looking at something will still trigger a flood of mail. At this point, I just laugh and show my friends how dad lives on, almost 50 years after he died..It's just too crazy.
It's still one heck of a tale.
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