The Chamber of Commerce

[AquaGirl]

I received a call from a woman who was not technically an SC; she wasn't a customer and she wasn't really sucky, just confused. But the account she called about definitely had an SC involved.

Lady: Hi this is Jenny. One of our members just called and said he's having trouble with his account and asked us to call and make sure its closed and all the payments are posted.

I thought possibly at this point that she was from a bank. We don't talk to CSRs from the bank unless the customer is also on the line but I decided to get more information before I told her that just to be sure. Before I said anything else she gave me an account number.

Me: this is in the name of Sue Jones.
Lady: oh, she died. I'm calling for Joe the husband.
Me: okay, and you are calling from?
Lady: the Jackson county Chamber of Commerce. He's one of our members.
Me:...so...he's one of your members with a personal account...and you're calling for him?
Lady: yes.

I place her on hold to make sure and my supervisor agrees that we will not be able to talk to her.

Me: I apologize but this is Mr. Jones' personal account and he will need to call in regards to it.
Lady *sighs* well, he's not been getting anywhere with you all.
Me: well, I am sorry; however for security reasons we cannot speak with anyone other than the account holder or their spouse or someone with Power of Atty.
Lady: well I'll tell him, but he'll be upset, he really wants us to help because you all haven't done anything.
Me: with respect ma'am...I'm not understanding why your calling would help, although I'm not sure of the situation.
Lady: um, we're the Chamber of Commerce!

Ok, I don’t know whether she thinks the Chamber of Commerce is the FBI or what but anyway I told her to have him ask for a supervisor if he wanted to when he called back. I went into the account to make a note of it and saw it noted that the customer called Friday and called the delivery driver a racial slur 6 times and then called the local manager the same thing so his account was cancelled. Gee, I wonder if this was why he wasn't "getting anywhere"?

[telecom_goddess]

Off the beaten path but I'm curious....if someone in my situation had an account and I died with no spouse or power of attorney in place, how could anyone else in the household handle the cancellation?

[Argus]

Off the beaten path but I'm curious....if someone in my situation had an account and I died with no spouse or power of attorney in place, how could anyone else in the household handle the cancellation?

The executor of your estate would have the necessary authority. (Actually, I believe power of attorney would cease with your death.)

[AquaGirl]

Off the beaten path but I'm curious....if someone in my situation had an account and I died with no spouse or power of attorney in place, how could anyone else in the household handle the cancellation?

In that situation we will close the account. We request the contact person's name relationship to the deceased (for security) and, I am ashamed to say payment for the final balance. Which I normally "forget" to do. I have gotten lucky and have not been monitored on one of those calls yet. In this situation she was basically just a random person...she might as well have said she worked at the QT where he bought his coffee this morning.

[Sheldonrs]

Maybe she thought you could magically change the rules like in "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Commerce".

[Jay 2K Winger]

"Harry Potter and the Chamber of Commerce".

Harry Potter, 30 years later.

[gremcint]

Off the beaten path but I'm curious....if someone in my situation had an account and I died with no spouse or power of attorney in place, how could anyone else in the household handle the cancellation?

when i worked for bell canada all you needed was the account information and to tell us that you were the executor.

[Raveni]

Even further off the beaten path, for every company that I worked for, if you died it was ground for termination. In addtion, your rehire status had to be "yes". I suppose that this would be useful in a zombie apocalypse...

Chamber of Commerce was probably called because this guy was accusing you of unlawful business practices and he went there instead of the BBB. If you had (been allowed to) tell them the truth, I'm sure that they would have wanted nothing to do with him either.

[wolfie]

when i worked for bell canada all you needed was the account information and to tell us that you were the executor.

Just curious, but how many times did a psycho ex-girlfriend/boyfriend/spouse/parent/whatever who managed to get their hands on someone's bill cancel the account, and result in a (justifiably) pissed off person demanding that their account be re-instated IMMEDIATELY?

[redleg]

Even further off the beaten path, for every company that I worked for, if you died it was ground for termination. In addtion, your rehire status had to be "yes". I suppose that this would be useful in a zombie apocalypse...

Chamber of Commerce was probably called because this guy was accusing you of unlawful business practices and he went there instead of the BBB. If you had (been allowed to) tell them the truth, I'm sure that they would have wanted nothing to do with him either.

or if you simply get better from whatever killed ya. (and yes i know people who have, no they aren't zombies)