So Frustrating

[Ghel]

I don’t know if I can even explain the frustration I’ve had with this customer the past few days. He’s a long time customer, and I suspect he’s got the beginnings of dementia, so I try to help him out where I can. He was slightly sucky, but more confused and confusing.

The current issue started with him asking if he could put a stop payment on any automatic payments from his credit card company (CCC). I explained that we would need an amount and a date to process a stop payment. Which he didn’t have.

Then he started in on a confusing and rambling explanation that he called CCC and they said he had two different cards ending in different numbers. He said he’d never heard of one of them. He was calling about the one he knew about and used. He complained that they asked him for tons of information - everything from his social security number to the color of his car. I was concerned that he’d gotten a pretext call, but he insisted that he called them.

Since I couldn’t figure out what he was talking about, I asked him to bring in the bill so I could look at it. When he did, he insisted that the card he’d never received was listed somewhere in the paperwork he brought in, but he couldn’t show me where. All I saw was the card he had and used.

Then he changed his complaint. They didn’t give him an itemized statement. I pointed at the itemization of payments and purchases on the third page. “But I don’t know what those are!” Did he authorize those charges? He couldn’t remember.

I told him he should call the CCC back and tell them that he never received the card he never received, and if there were any charges on the card he did have that he didn’t authorize, he should tell them he didn’t authorize them.

At one point, he said the CSR at CCC told him they didn’t have time for him, but I suspect it was because he wasn’t being clear about what the issues were and that he became abusive when he didn’t get the response he wanted.

Today, he called several more times. He still wasn’t getting the response he wanted from CCC. But when he tried to explain to me what happened, he seemed confused again. When I tried to ask questions like if he told them he didn’t authorize or receive the second card, he said not in so many words. Then he asked what good I was, if I couldn’t help him with this. I had to tell him I’m not CCC - he has his checking account with us. I could only suggest that he call CCC back and tell them clearly and concisely what he wanted. And stay on the line with them until you’re sure they’ve done it.

He said they wanted him to go to the nearest CCC building, which is a 4 hour drive away, in order to close the card. I agree that’s unacceptable, but they’ve got to have some other way to do it. It sounded like he didn’t stay on the line long enough to find out. Then he started saying how CCC was a bunch of crooks and he’s known this for years. I asked, if he doesn’t trust them, why does he still have an account with them? He just repeated that they were a bunch of crooks. He accused me of siding with CCC.

I convinced him to call CCC back and tell them, in so many words, that he never received the second card and if there were any charges on it, that he didn’t authorize them.

I haven’t heard back from him, so I hope he got it resolved. If not, I’m sure I’ll be hearing from him again.

[Tanasi]

My siblings and I have a similar situation with our Mom. She's easily confused so the older of my sister has taken over her banking and bills. Mom also received a lot of calls from Publisher's Clearing House telling her that she had won a major prize and she needed to pre-pay the taxes and expenses. We kept telling her it was a scam but she didn't believe us, we got her older brother to tell her the same thing and the local city PD detectives and she didn't believe them until it was pointed out the calls were coming from Jamaica and PCH wasn't HQ'd there, then she believed. However the calls kept coming. We told her not to answer, or just hang up. They called around the clock so after having the same phone number for 70 years we had it changed.
Thankfully she's learned her lesson. While changing a phone number isn't that big a deal for most folks that really bothered her.

[Ghel]

I wish this customer's daughters would help him with his finances. But they both live out of the area. He's started relying on a lady from his church to sit in on phone calls and bank visits. I hope that will help.

About a year ago, one of his daughters asked him to move to Arizona to live with her. He sold his car and went, but moved back in only a few weeks, complaining that it was too hot.

This customer also used to buy thousands of dollars of silver coins and bars off late night tv, then dispute the charges when his order never arrived. After a few rounds of this, we limited his debit card purchases to $200 per day.

One detail I forgot from yesterday's tirade. He said he knows the state attorney general personally, and he was going to call her to complain about how CCC has treated him. Even if it's true that he knows her, I doubt she'll be receptive to him calling her at home to complain about his CCC.

[Mental_Mouse]

This customer also used to buy thousands of dollars of silver coins and bars off late night tv, then dispute the charges when his order never arrived. After a few rounds of this, we limited his debit card purchases to $200 per day.

A few rounds of this? How does that not get squelched the first time?

[Arcus]

My siblings and I have a similar situation with our Mom. She's easily confused so the older of my sister has taken over her banking and bills. Mom also received a lot of calls from Publisher's Clearing House telling her that she had won a major prize and she needed to pre-pay the taxes and expenses. We kept telling her it was a scam but she didn't believe us, we got her older brother to tell her the same thing and the local city PD detectives and she didn't believe them until it was pointed out the calls were coming from Jamaica and PCH wasn't HQ'd there, then she believed. However the calls kept coming. We told her not to answer, or just hang up. They called around the clock so after having the same phone number for 70 years we had it changed.
Thankfully she's learned her lesson. While changing a phone number isn't that big a deal for most folks that really bothered her.

This has just started with my dad. He is convinced that he is going to get 10.5 million from "The African Government." No amount of showing him the proof that this is a scam is getting though to him. He keeps saying that he is doing this to help the family and can't understand how we can't be as excited as he is to get the money.

[RealUnimportant]

When my grandfather was in his dotage, my parents moved in with him for mutual benefit. One time my folks had gone shopping and came home to find ladders out and people hemming and hawing about some tile work they claimed needed doing, that they'd spotted "while passing." This is (unfortunately) a very common scam here in the UK, and Granddad had been happy to let them proceed...

Two problems with this: first, he had no legal right to permit the works or any way to pay for them, due to my parents having full power of attorney over the house and all finances. Second, the house was a long, low bungalow and the eaves of the house faced the street - which means that, when driving by, it's all but impossible to get a decent look at the roof. Once these two important details had been clarified, the "workmen" gave up all pretence and cleared off.

[Mental_Mouse]

People with dementia or otherwise compromised judgment are the primary prey of such scammers.

[Ghel]

A few rounds of this? How does that not get squelched the first time?

I wish I knew. That decision isn't made at my level.

People with dementia or otherwise compromised judgment are the primary prey of such scammers.

Yeah, that's one of the things I'm worried about with him. And I have seen it happen with him, where he gets a hard sale call late at night and agrees to buy coins or what-have-you, then regrets it in the morning. Assuming he remembers, of course, and isn't wondering what the charges on his account are when he looks at his online banking.