Rant #3,296: You Got the Wrong Guy

The nightmare continues ...

Bet you didn't think you would ever hear that phrase again from me, but it has reared its ugly head again, related to my mother and our former residence.

I received a letter in the mail yesterday related to medical equipment thst we rented during her final weeks of being alive, including a wheelchair and oxygen equipment.

When she passed away on September 5, my sister and I made numerous calls to a variety of entities to alert them of her death.

We also contacted the entity that oversaw her home hospice care to tell them of her passing, and we contacted the health equipment company to ask them to pick up the equipment we had been renting.

The equipment was picked up either that day or a day or two later, and that was that--or so we thought.

Fast forward to yesterday, and I received in the mail a letter from the equipment provider stating that our account needed to be rectified, because they had no record that the equipment was returned.

They evidently had called my mother's number to get this taken care of, but obviously, we also called the phone company to close down her account and remove her number from any phone listings--and as a side note, that was also tortuous, as it took me three times to finally do this.

Incredibly, the equipment company did, somehow, find out where my family and I now live, and the letter was addressed to my mother at my new residence.

So I read over the letter, and I immediately called the equipment company. 

I got someone on the phone with an extremely heavy accent, and I had to tell her several times to speak slowly, because I could not understand a word she was saying.

Anyway, she told me that she would forward an email to her superiors about my concerns--I was there when the equipment was picked up, although in our move, I don't know where the receipt is--but I told her in no uncertain terms that there was no way that I was going to pay for equipment that had been returned.

I hung up with her, and I decided to call the provider that oversaw my mother's home hospice care, and after being passed from one person to another, I finally hit the jackpot.

I spoke to the woman who oversees the group's home hospice care, and lo and behold, she was the one who gave the OK to pick up the equipment, a job which is handled by a third-party provider that the equipment company uses for such tasks.

She gave me the name of the pickup company, and I thanked her for this information.

I called the equipment company back, and once again got someone who had a very thick accent--so thick that I thought it was the same person I had originally spoken to.

I told her thst her company's beef about the equipment is not with me, but with the pickup company that they use, because I now had proof thst the pickup was acknowledged by the home hospice care company.

The pickup was done, so is it my fault that it was inaccurately recorded, or possibly in this case, not recorded?

I also told the woman on the phone thst I want her to follow up the original email that was sent to her superiors with the information I just provided, and I also told her that five months after the fact, her company's actions were completely reprehensible, and if they continue to push this situation with me, rather than the company thst they use to do equipment pickups, I would launch legal action against them.

Again, this is not the world I was born into. Incompetence seems to be applauded, and as long as I have breath in my body, I am not going to stand for such idiocy.

And this is retirement? What type of retirement is this?

I hope my mother is not turning in her grave about this, but if she isn't turning--or even if she is--I am seething about this situation right now.

This nightmare just doesn't want to end.