I would have found your column amusing, except it concerned $11,000 down the toilet, which isn’t amusing.
If it makes you feel better, or at least makes you feel like just like every other citizen, you’re not alone. Nobody is. Everybody is treated badly in the same way. Only the elite are treated well. Which demonstrates that there is no such thing as a democracy. That’s a myth. But you already knew that.
The rat I really smell is Wells Fargo, which has been bilking its depositors of billions for decades, and should long ago have been put out of business by any self-respecting government. Why does Philadelphia bank with it?
City employees seem to have a limited confidence in human brains, judging all grey matter by the limits on their own, and excessive confidence in computer intestines which thanks to the malfeasance of human fingertips can spread misinformation in even more places that anyone originally believed possible.
The solution to this problem is: Fire half of the city clerks, and replace them with vice presidents and bank managers like Joshua Baldwin … for as long as any of his ilk can be found.
Great piece, Dan! Or should I say great script for a modern horror movie? Up here n Boston there’s a reporter at the Globe named Sean Murphy who does a regular column on consumers caught in bear traps of the kind you describe, and he gets serious results for people who’ve endured nightmare experiences like yours. Is there someone at the Inquirer with the same kind of remit?
In your case, you were dealing with incompetence, not caring, etc.
However in many cases, the issues are with policy or fraud. Like the time a bug flew into our daughter's ear. We took her to the emergency room in excruciating pain to have it removed. When we filed the medical claim to our insurance company, our reimbursement was initially declined with the reason: “preexisting illness”! That was the best reason they could come up with in order not to pay the claim— or certainly delay payment— or hope that the hapless injured party wouldn’t know what to do to challenge this ridiculous excuse for not paying.
Unfortunately, this is no a “one-off.” It happens all the time.
Last year we paid our real estate taxes in early April. In October we got a threatening letter that the city never received it. I looked at my May statement from Citizens Bank, and there it was, the cancelled check. I made a copy of it and send a letter to the Revenue Dept. with a note that it had been paid. About three weeks later, I got another threatening letter. I replied again with another copy of the cancelled check. I never heard from them after that. No explanation, no apology, nothing.
On March 31, 1999, I received a certified letter from the city Revenue Dept. stating that our house was going to be put up for Sheriff Sale in the Land Title Bldg. on June 15 unless I sent the city a check for $26,000. We had been in the house for 28 years at that point and had paid off the mortgage with Core States Bank. They sent me a letter thanking me for paying off the mortgage along with a title to the house. Following that was a two-year nightmare. We had to pay a lawyer, during those two years. We went before different judges four times during the two years. Every judge found in our favor before we finally stopped getting threatening letters. It turned out that someone in the Revenue Dept. had made a computer error and had been sending bills to a neighbor two doors away, who kept throwing them out. A lady in the Revenue Dept. admitted to me that they had screwed up big time, but when I asked her to put that in a letter, she said, “No way!"
I hate to play one-upmanship, but I think this even beats your story, which was bad enough.
Imagine my level of frustration when all such protests must be done over the phone, where there is inevitably no supervisor (I know there's a supervisor, but why would that person deign to talk to the likes of me?). The level of indifference the women behind the glass showed you was discouraging, but hardly unfamiliar. I'm so glad your story had a happy ending.
My mother had the best answer to one of these situations. She was waiting to speak to some dean or other about an issue related to her/my youngest sister's education, having gotten no satisfaction from people lower down the chain. (Isn't it horrible that as many times as I've heard this story, I don't recall anything but the ending?) When an underling said, "You can't speak to the dean," my mother retorted, "Is he more important than God? Because I speak to Him daily."
Her wish was granted and the situation was resolved.
And I thought my recent run-around to get a replaced SEPTA senior pass card was crazy! And then there is my story from circa 2018 when Social Security sent me a letter telling I owed them $$$ in back disability insurance payment to which they said I had not been entitled... I was, and with the help of a lawyer friend, I amassed 80 pages of documentation, with a cover letter listing every item. I then went in person to the SS office in Philadelphia, waited and found out after an hour when called up the to the bureaucratic equivalent of an altar that I had waited on the wrong line. But that day Kafka or whomever or whatever was on my side, because the clerk at the "wrong" desk sent me to the guy next door-- who turned out to be the human being whose name was on the scary letter I had received. I showed him just one particular page of my 80 pages of blah-ba-blah, and he said something to the effect of, "Okay, case closed. You don't owe anything." I insisted on leaving my 80 pages of homework with him...
But yes, what happens to the people who are not well-educated, have limitied access to resources, and do not have the skill set to collect and organize documentation, and, moreover, may not have the confidence to pursue justice?
1. My RE check caused similar conniptions this year, too.
I received a note from the city telling me Siberia was my next stop in life. My story unfolded not nearly as frustrating nor as interesting as yours and I had my cancelled check in my bank statement, too. Yours is the much better story!
2. To try to avoid this sort of thing regarding just getting my SEPTA card, I took the easy route instead of a rigamarole trip to 1234 Market. I went to my handy dandy State Reps office in Mt. Airy a few blocks away; lovely helpful lady who took the photo and did paper work and THREE months later I received my SEPTA card.
3. Anyone recall the bad old State Stores days when they really took the word Liquor Control seriously and meanly?
The State Stores were in bad parts of town, lurid people hanging about inside and outside, horrid and unmaintained buildings; walk up to a linoleum counter that looked like Navy surplus from the dump with the florescent lights buzzing. No retail shop; all the wine and liquor was out of sight back in the warehouse. No retail shopping! Control!
Thumb through the dirty and worn out booklet and write down the severn digit number of the wine you wanted; Albert, they all seemed to be called Albert, disappeared through the warehouse door and about five minutes he shuffled back with the wrong bottle.
And he blamed me!
We have progressed since those bad old days, at least in the State Stores.
Congratulations on dealing with a system where too many see their jobs as catching people rather than helping citizens who pay their salaries. I’ve been there and luckily found an IRS employee with both senses of duty and humor. I wrote a letter to an IRS computer saying its programmer had made an error.
I feel certain that your talent as an investigative journalist saw you through dealing with such a lame bureaucracy. You might have been in for a surprise if you had asked the government worker if the office had a mission statement and what it was. I would guess they probably did not. When I was assigned to my last post, my mission statement was: "Promise only what you can deliver, then deliver more than you promise." That was on every email message leaving my office. Had I been in your shoes, I would probably have lost my temper with the statement that the interview was over, and the fact that no one was even listening to you or trying to get to the bottom of the situation. I am happy you managed to use all the resources at your disposal to get your problem resolved.
From reader Alan Richman:
I would have found your column amusing, except it concerned $11,000 down the toilet, which isn’t amusing.
If it makes you feel better, or at least makes you feel like just like every other citizen, you’re not alone. Nobody is. Everybody is treated badly in the same way. Only the elite are treated well. Which demonstrates that there is no such thing as a democracy. That’s a myth. But you already knew that.
From reader Robert Zaller:
The rat I really smell is Wells Fargo, which has been bilking its depositors of billions for decades, and should long ago have been put out of business by any self-respecting government. Why does Philadelphia bank with it?
From reader Myra Chanin:
City employees seem to have a limited confidence in human brains, judging all grey matter by the limits on their own, and excessive confidence in computer intestines which thanks to the malfeasance of human fingertips can spread misinformation in even more places that anyone originally believed possible.
The solution to this problem is: Fire half of the city clerks, and replace them with vice presidents and bank managers like Joshua Baldwin … for as long as any of his ilk can be found.
From reader David Rubin:
Great piece, Dan! Or should I say great script for a modern horror movie? Up here n Boston there’s a reporter at the Globe named Sean Murphy who does a regular column on consumers caught in bear traps of the kind you describe, and he gets serious results for people who’ve endured nightmare experiences like yours. Is there someone at the Inquirer with the same kind of remit?
From reader Ronald Gordon:
In your case, you were dealing with incompetence, not caring, etc.
However in many cases, the issues are with policy or fraud. Like the time a bug flew into our daughter's ear. We took her to the emergency room in excruciating pain to have it removed. When we filed the medical claim to our insurance company, our reimbursement was initially declined with the reason: “preexisting illness”! That was the best reason they could come up with in order not to pay the claim— or certainly delay payment— or hope that the hapless injured party wouldn’t know what to do to challenge this ridiculous excuse for not paying.
Unfortunately, this is no a “one-off.” It happens all the time.
From reader Len Lear:
Last year we paid our real estate taxes in early April. In October we got a threatening letter that the city never received it. I looked at my May statement from Citizens Bank, and there it was, the cancelled check. I made a copy of it and send a letter to the Revenue Dept. with a note that it had been paid. About three weeks later, I got another threatening letter. I replied again with another copy of the cancelled check. I never heard from them after that. No explanation, no apology, nothing.
On March 31, 1999, I received a certified letter from the city Revenue Dept. stating that our house was going to be put up for Sheriff Sale in the Land Title Bldg. on June 15 unless I sent the city a check for $26,000. We had been in the house for 28 years at that point and had paid off the mortgage with Core States Bank. They sent me a letter thanking me for paying off the mortgage along with a title to the house. Following that was a two-year nightmare. We had to pay a lawyer, during those two years. We went before different judges four times during the two years. Every judge found in our favor before we finally stopped getting threatening letters. It turned out that someone in the Revenue Dept. had made a computer error and had been sending bills to a neighbor two doors away, who kept throwing them out. A lady in the Revenue Dept. admitted to me that they had screwed up big time, but when I asked her to put that in a letter, she said, “No way!"
I hate to play one-upmanship, but I think this even beats your story, which was bad enough.
Imagine my level of frustration when all such protests must be done over the phone, where there is inevitably no supervisor (I know there's a supervisor, but why would that person deign to talk to the likes of me?). The level of indifference the women behind the glass showed you was discouraging, but hardly unfamiliar. I'm so glad your story had a happy ending.
My mother had the best answer to one of these situations. She was waiting to speak to some dean or other about an issue related to her/my youngest sister's education, having gotten no satisfaction from people lower down the chain. (Isn't it horrible that as many times as I've heard this story, I don't recall anything but the ending?) When an underling said, "You can't speak to the dean," my mother retorted, "Is he more important than God? Because I speak to Him daily."
Her wish was granted and the situation was resolved.
Nicely done, Dan (Franz). We are easily undone and that is frightening.
And I thought my recent run-around to get a replaced SEPTA senior pass card was crazy! And then there is my story from circa 2018 when Social Security sent me a letter telling I owed them $$$ in back disability insurance payment to which they said I had not been entitled... I was, and with the help of a lawyer friend, I amassed 80 pages of documentation, with a cover letter listing every item. I then went in person to the SS office in Philadelphia, waited and found out after an hour when called up the to the bureaucratic equivalent of an altar that I had waited on the wrong line. But that day Kafka or whomever or whatever was on my side, because the clerk at the "wrong" desk sent me to the guy next door-- who turned out to be the human being whose name was on the scary letter I had received. I showed him just one particular page of my 80 pages of blah-ba-blah, and he said something to the effect of, "Okay, case closed. You don't owe anything." I insisted on leaving my 80 pages of homework with him...
But yes, what happens to the people who are not well-educated, have limitied access to resources, and do not have the skill set to collect and organize documentation, and, moreover, may not have the confidence to pursue justice?
Bureaucrats and worse!
1. My RE check caused similar conniptions this year, too.
I received a note from the city telling me Siberia was my next stop in life. My story unfolded not nearly as frustrating nor as interesting as yours and I had my cancelled check in my bank statement, too. Yours is the much better story!
2. To try to avoid this sort of thing regarding just getting my SEPTA card, I took the easy route instead of a rigamarole trip to 1234 Market. I went to my handy dandy State Reps office in Mt. Airy a few blocks away; lovely helpful lady who took the photo and did paper work and THREE months later I received my SEPTA card.
3. Anyone recall the bad old State Stores days when they really took the word Liquor Control seriously and meanly?
The State Stores were in bad parts of town, lurid people hanging about inside and outside, horrid and unmaintained buildings; walk up to a linoleum counter that looked like Navy surplus from the dump with the florescent lights buzzing. No retail shop; all the wine and liquor was out of sight back in the warehouse. No retail shopping! Control!
Thumb through the dirty and worn out booklet and write down the severn digit number of the wine you wanted; Albert, they all seemed to be called Albert, disappeared through the warehouse door and about five minutes he shuffled back with the wrong bottle.
And he blamed me!
We have progressed since those bad old days, at least in the State Stores.
Congratulations on dealing with a system where too many see their jobs as catching people rather than helping citizens who pay their salaries. I’ve been there and luckily found an IRS employee with both senses of duty and humor. I wrote a letter to an IRS computer saying its programmer had made an error.
I feel certain that your talent as an investigative journalist saw you through dealing with such a lame bureaucracy. You might have been in for a surprise if you had asked the government worker if the office had a mission statement and what it was. I would guess they probably did not. When I was assigned to my last post, my mission statement was: "Promise only what you can deliver, then deliver more than you promise." That was on every email message leaving my office. Had I been in your shoes, I would probably have lost my temper with the statement that the interview was over, and the fact that no one was even listening to you or trying to get to the bottom of the situation. I am happy you managed to use all the resources at your disposal to get your problem resolved.