posted 03-16-2002 06:14 PM               

My mother borrowed the car to take my aunt to Jackson, Tn for her chemo treatment and within a mile from where I live, a truck hit them broadside. There was room to go around them (they'd hit a patch of ice on a bridge) but he was apparently not even looking at the road or he'd have seen them easily - and had he not been driving about 15 miles over the speedlimit, he might've had time to do something other than hit them.

The THP said the car was totaled. It was knocked off the frame, among other injuries. Since it was totaled, I expected my Insurance Company (Hairston-Durham-Brundige) to pay off what I owed on it - well... there was some WEIRDO at Ford Motor Company at the time, the 'mechanic,' who said he could fix it like it was new - talk about delusions of grandeur! When I got the car back, the steering column was still broke - you couldn't turn the wheel without the entire car jumping, like you'd hit a huge bump in the road or something - it leaked transmission fluid, oil, gasoline, and there was this strange mist and odor coming from the vents in the car. Well, I called them and told them the car was not fixed, so they came to get it to work on it AGAIN!!!

The next thing I knew, they'd sold the car for $50., because they said that was all it was worth (after over $2,000 in repairs done to it). They told me I still had to finish paying for it - I didn't even HAVE it. I didn't know what the hell was going on, but I guess I was sort of naive about how things worked or something, but anyway, Ford Motor turned the Thousand Dollars over to a collection agency to collect it. The next thing that happened was that they took over 3 Thousand dollars out of my checking account (it had accrued interest over the years). They said they had a judgment on the car and that I'd signed papers saying I understood. Well, I didn't sign ANYTHING except the stupid check that paid the moron mechanic for messing up the car even worse than it was. I mean, he was more interested in fixing the tape deck than he was the car... I guess he thought cause I was a woman I didn't care about anything but the radio and the mirrors and the paint job!!! Yeah right! I've driven everything from a Honda 90 motorcycle to a 2-Ton Dump Truck. I KNEW when a vehicle wasn't 'quite right.'

Now I find out that the Collection Agency still has this bill where I owe the original Thousand and something dollars. What next? They're gonna try to get it from me too??? I can't seem to find out anything about this stuff. I told them it had already been paid to Ford Motor Company. So... Ford Motor didn't just Screw me, they Screwed the collection agency, too. Is there some kind of law that protects consumers from shit like this or do you have to hire an attorney every time somebody decides to F*CK you royally???

When I told the collection agency it had been paid they asked me if it had been paid by check... Well... yeah, the damn bank (First State) wrote them a check - right from MY account. Well, I cleaned out our checking account after that day... First State was also doing some "shady" stuff and we moved our mortgage, also. They won't be getting all that money from us anymore - but that's a different story that I've already placed on this site.

I may sound like someone who doesn't pay their bills, but that's just not true. I've always been responsible in that direction - I've tried to work with people who owe ME money for unpaid rent and damages, but THEY don't pay their bills - any of them. If we didn't pay ours, they'd come get our stuff! But other people who don't own property don't really worry about that. If you don't have it, they can't get it.

I've turned over stuff to this same collection agency and so far, out of what people owe us - over 10,000., we've collected $15.00. Does any of this stuff sound very FAIR to anyone out there???