We have a lot of really annoying Red Tape problems that every attempt to resolve through the normal channels is not resolving. I am stuck and not sure how to solve them, my patience with this bs and incompetence is near zero.
I'm sure there is a kind of person, type of lawyer(?) whose job description is resolving just these kinds of problems.
1. No matter how many times we have indicated to Vanguard that all communication needs to be via email they still randomly send something via snail mail, it gets returned as undeliverable and they freeze our accounts. A notorized letter sent per their instructions has not resolved the issue, either they didn't receive it or they chose to ignore it? We moved yet again last summer and I updated our address. Then three months later, the USPS/US Gov't changed our address. When I tried to update my address in their system, it wouldn't let me update to our new +4 zip code. VANGUARD'S system had not been updated. Even 6 mos. later they still had not updated their system but I didn't worry about it because all communication is supposed to be via email. Unfortunately I rec'd an email that they now have frozen my account.
Who do we contact to get Vanguard to fix their system?? How do we get them to actually follow their own contract to receive all of our communication via email?
2. We were back in the states for a short time, and had internet connected. When I called to cancel and provide my new address for the final bill, I was placed on hold and shuffled around to three different people and after 20 minutes my pre-pay phone ran out of minutes.
I clearly got the hint they were not interested in talking to me nor seemed interested in me paying my final bill, however I would like to resolve this.
3. We are rarely able to get our credit reports. Written requests ends up being a back and forth of letters and requests for more information and after 6 months or more, I just gave up. The last time I tried to get them via the website, the questions were so obscure I didn't know what they were asking. After mulling over the questions from one agency, I think they were asking about a card of my husband's that I was added to. The question that was about a card that was opened long before I knew him, information that I just wouldn't know. Why would I? And it was for a card we hadn't activated or used in 10 years! Why should I know that? Same with a couple of the other questions, they were so obtuse that I'm not sure what they were even asking?
4. The student loan company has chosen to go off my contract with them and the accounting is totally off! No amount of communications with them in writing has resolved anything, nor has communication with the ombudsman who has repeatedly chosen not to answer my communications and when they were called out for non-communication has become nasty. I have all communication in writing that shows me being very polite and professional and the student loan company and ombudsman being rude and completely ignoring my questions.
I'd like to report them to the Consumer Finance (Something?) Board but need help with the process. I have over 200+pages of errors and lies regarding this mess. I am not in default and I have repeatedly asked for the payoff amount, which I have available to send immediately, yet they have consistently ignored my question.
Important points: We live overseas with an FPO addy and have for most of the last 10 years. Written communications used to take about 2 weeks but are now taking at least 3 and often 6 weeks to arrive! So communication in writing is not a timely way to make things happen.
Phone communication is NOT an option. I have been lied to too many times over the years from 1-800 customer service type numbers that I'm done. I wish I could record phone calls and then I'd have the ammunition to do something about things like the internet bill, but right now I'm left with just a he said/she said issue which I'm sure the companies love. I now operate on all communication must be in writing. I'm done getting screwed over.
I have never, ever, ever, ever been able to resolve anything over the phone. I no longer make phone calls nor accept phone calls from anyone except my husband. Period. This is the 21st century, billions of dollars of business is done via emails, this is not an unreasonable request.
I am also now going deaf. I do not hear well and need absolute silence when making phone calls to understand what is being said over the phone. But I live across the street from busy commuter train tracks and am in the flight path of an airport. And the time zone thing is often an issue, also.
Monetarily, these things are not that big, all less than $1000 combined, but they are really, really annoying and can have long term and high dollar consequences when we return to the states or if we ever do decide to settle down and purchase a home at some point.
I did visit the JAG office and was getting somewhere with the student loan, that's how the ombudsman got called out to the CFSB in the first place, but then they PCS'd one way, we moved the other way and now we are a long way away from the nearest office. The whole mess stresses me out even thinking about it.
I know getting help with this will probably cost more than the minuscule bills but to get rid of these headaches will very likely be worth it for me.
Any ideas?