So, there was one kind of anniversary yesterday, and a different kind today. I celebrated being a non-smoker by spending an hour on hold with Countrywide Financial. Why, you might ask? I'll show you.
What you should know to follow this sequence of events properly: our homeowners' insurance payment is paid through our escrow account with our mortgage company. It is due once a year, in the spring, and the cost of the policy is $463.
| 04/01/2003 12:00:00 - homeowners ins pmt | -$463.00 |
| 05/08/2003 12:00:00 - homeowners ins pmt | -$463.00 |
| Shasta makes phone call #1. She learns that our mortgage company has paid both our homeowners' insurance company and some other random homeowners' insurance company. She requests that the payment that was made to the wrong company be refunded. The phone people say okay. |
| 05/14/2003 12:00:00 - homeowners ins credit | +$463.00 |
| 05/14/2003 12:00:00 - homeowners ins pmt | -$463.00 |
| Shasta makes phone call #2. She learns that our mortgage company requested a refund not from the random company we've never heard of, but from the company that actually holds our policy. When the refund arrived, somebody noticed that the company's return of the funds meant we were no longer covered under a homeowner's insurance policy. They fixed that error. Shasta is glad that she still has insurance, but she again requests that the payment that was made to the wrong company be refunded. The phone people say okay. |
| 05/16/2003 12:00:00 - homeowners ins credit | +$463.00 |
All seems well. Until...
|
| 06/25/2003 12:00:00 - misc posting | -$463.00 |
| Whee! For anyone who would like a summary, this means that we have paid our homeowner's insurance premium four times and had it refunded twice. Shasta makes phone call #3. She learns that Betty in the Lancaster office is confused as all hell by this series of transactions, that Betty has at least three coworkers who are also confused, and that because the 6/25 payment is labeled as a "miscellaneous posting," she cannot say she will have the payment refunded, for it must have been authorized by "one of our account executives." Translation: she knows I'm being fucked, but she can't fix it. She has to write a note to somebody in a suit, and that person will probably fix it. Or might fix it, anyway. Betty is a nice lady with a headache. |
The bad part? I'm pretty sure this will never, ever end. The good part? Not once while I was alternately talking to Betty and listening to Muzak did it occur to me that two years ago, that would have been a five-cigarette phone call.
