Legal Advice?

[Gaspar]

St. Francis Hospital says "YOU DID NOT PAY THIS BILL!" and sends it to collections.

We say "Yes we did, and here is a dated photocopy of the check deposited into the St. Francis Employee's Credit Union by St. Francis."

St. Francis Hospital says "WE DO NOT ACCEPT EMAIL, SO FAX US A COPY AND WE WILL MAKE A GOOD FAITH ADJUSTMENT."

We fax, but get no response from St. Francis, so we fax, and fax, and fax.  We call, and call, and call, but each time we speak to someone new and they have no record of our previous calls or faxes. This goes on for months.  The total amount is only $150, but still. . .

Today I call (by this time the whole situation is humorous) and go through the process with a fresh person.  Previously my wife was playing this game, so I felt the need to impress her by resolving it all in a single phone call, you know, the way a MAN does things. . yeah right!

I try a new technique that involves getting the CSR to laugh about the whole parody with me.  She's polite and very apologetic, but like all of the others, completely inept. While talking I keep hitting the fax button on my computer and sending additional copies, and getting confirmations.  Then she asks me to go ahead and re-fax the documents, to which I reply, grinning through the phone "I just did, three times." and we laugh and laugh and laugh.  Then I offer to hold while she goes and checks the fax machine, to which she becomes uncomfortable and says " well we only have one person who works that machine and she is not here right now, so I'll need to call you back in about an hour."  This time I laugh, but she does not. . .so I ask if the supervisor, Diane, that my wife spoke to previously is available, L O N G  P A U S E she asks me to hold while she "checks". . .

As I'm holding, I get the number off of the cleared checkS for the St. Francis credit union (down the hall and to the left of the billing department) so that I can conference them in when she returns.  I figure that, since faxes are a foreign technology at St. Francis, she can speak directly with a person down the hall that can confirm that the payments in question were actually deposited in the bank down the hall. 

When she returns on the line to inform me that the supervisor, Diane Puente, is unavailable (and likely just a made-up name), I ask if I can conference her in with her credit union representative to verify the documents I have attempted (hundreds of times) to fax over.  Perhaps the credit union could even walk down the hall and drop off a copy?  Again, she becomes uncomfortable and tells me that she cannot discuss an outstanding balance with a 3rd party (even if it is the only party that can provide proof that the balance is not outstanding).  So we laugh, and laugh and laugh, and wish each other a Merry Christmas. She promises that she is going to call me back in about an hour (wink wink) as soon as the skilled facsimile technician returns.

So, at this point I suppose filing a small claims case is our only option?
Is it worth it for $150?

[Red Arrow]

St. Francis Hospital says "YOU DID NOT PAY THIS BILL!" and sends it to collections.
Is it worth it for $150?

It might be time to hand carry your bank statement and a photo copy to St Francis.  Let them look at the original but do not let them take possession of it.

[patric]

Let them look at the original but do not let them take possession of it.

If they want to make a copy, walk with it to the machine.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Certified letter with return receipt.


What would you sue them for?  To get the $150 that you owed back?

Sue them for your and wife's time used to deal with this!

[Gaspar]

It's 7:00. Just got a call from a very concerned individual with some real executive power at Warren Clinics/St. Francis. They saw this post, got a copy of my documents, remedied the situation and called me to apologize. They also asked to call my wife tomorrow (she's at girl scouts with my daughter tonight) to formally apologize for her frustrations.  We have some very nice "lurkers."

What a pleasant surprise.

[Red Arrow]

It's 7:00. Just got a call from a very concerned individual with some real executive power at Warren Clinics/St. Francis. They saw this post, got a copy of my documents, remedied the situation and called me to apologize. They also asked to call my wife tomorrow (she's at girl scouts with my daughter tonight) to formally apologize for her frustrations.  We have some very nice "lurkers."

What a pleasant surprise.

There really is a Santa.

[heironymouspasparagus]

It's 7:00. Just got a call from a very concerned individual with some real executive power at Warren Clinics/St. Francis. They saw this post, got a copy of my documents, remedied the situation and called me to apologize. They also asked to call my wife tomorrow (she's at girl scouts with my daughter tonight) to formally apologize for her frustrations.  We have some very nice "lurkers."

What a pleasant surprise.

Imagine that - pretty cool.  Yeah, Merry Christmas!!


I think fundamentally St Francis and St Johns both try to live up to the ideals.  And mostly are pretty good at it.