Pay or it's going to collections!

[TNT]

This thread reminds me of something that happened in the township where I used to live. The township supervisors got this bright idea to charge a yearly "fire hydrant tax." So, we all got a bill for... gasp!... 74 cents.

It took two years before the township supervisors figured out that it cost considerably more than 74 cents to prepare the bills, send them out, process the payments, etc.

[LionMan]

Oddly enough, it is an easy mistake to make. If you don't know much about programming, just know that 0.00 does not necessarily mean 0 (at least in programming).

Someone just doing something like if (blah > 0.00) would easily result in these errors happening. Someone who knows a little more would understand the flaw of that statement but many people (even programmers and wannabes) wouldn't realize there is a flaw there.

[Rapscallion]

Mike is the one who remembered we have the feature and the option to check all attachments before they are seen by everyone, so you can thank him for that.

Yup - have to agree with Ree. Looks like quite a number of programmers have made that mistake with their systems with the amount of tales going around about it. I bet there are all these old, experienced coders who make newbie write programs, checking whether or not if they can avoid that pitfall to see if they are worthy. The failures are the ones who create scenes such as these!

Rapscallion

[Bliss]

Oh raps thanks for that, I'll keep it in mind for future posts I hope nobody abuses it.

Sorry ree for missunderstanding.

[Rapscallion]

We've even allowed people to upload attachments - could do it with that!

Rapscallion

[Ree]

Repsac I'd say since your story is being called fictitious, it'd be good if you do have the bill around to scan and post it to prove it has happened to you.

Actually, I don't believe anyone called his story fictitious. I merely pointed out that I had seen the similar story many times, and left a link to snopes, where they confirmed that this is indeed a very common story.

[Bliss]

Repsac I'd say since your story is being called fictitious, it'd be good if you do have the bill around to scan and post it to prove it has happened to you.

[AFpheonix]

You sure that it wasn't a receipt of some kind detailing the services that were given? I deal with some vendors who send me receipts and packing slips printed on the same forms they print their bills on. Which causes confusion on both sides.

To be fair, most will say something along the lines of "This is NOT a bill" or "This IS a bill".

At least the ones I get from Providence, anyways.

My ass has officially fallen off at the expense of that collections agent, though

[Lace Neil Singer]

Yeah, me too.

You wouldn't believe the number of stories that I found were nothing but BS, simply by searching on snopes.

My friends send me email all the time, and I always confirm it there rather than risk sending on misinformation.

Me three... I am always searching up snopes for stories that people email me or that I read on forums. One of my biggest moments was busting this story: http://www.snopes.com/horrors/parental/abduct.asp Which someone on another site was posting as fact. I love Snopes.

[trunks2k]

I sent a check out made out to the collections company for "Zero dollars, and Zero Cents". I wonder just what they'll make of that...

That's what I would have done after I got the letter informing me that if I didn't pay, it would go to collections. I would have assumed the initial bill was just telling me that I owed nothing. But after the second letter, i would have written the check just to be a smart ass.

The closest thing I ever had to this sort of thing was when the federal government sent me tax refund that was the result of the tax refunds Bush enacted years ago. My share of the refund was something like $1.21. They sent me two notices that I was going to be getting a refund, the refund itself, and a notice saying I should have recieved it. It cost the government more to send me the refund than the refund was worth.

[NightAngel]

My friends send me email all the time, and I always confirm it there rather than risk sending on misinformation.

That's how I got out of my friend's/family's email loops. I'd bust it on Snopes then send it back with a, "Guess what? You've been had... AGAIN!"

[Ree]

I :heart: Snopes.

Yeah, me too.

You wouldn't believe the number of stories that I found were nothing but BS, simply by searching on snopes.

My friends send me email all the time, and I always confirm it there rather than risk sending on misinformation.

[NightAngel]

I :heart: Snopes.

[Brighid45]

This reminds me of a story I heard years ago on a local talk radio station. Someone got a 'disconnect for unpaid balance' notice from one of the regional electricity providers. The amount owed?

Six cents.

[Ringtail Z28]

You sure that it wasn't a receipt of some kind detailing the services that were given? I deal with some vendors who send me receipts and packing slips printed on the same forms they print their bills on. Which causes confusion on both sides.