With the Occupy movements being shown on the news it made me consider my own life and how the economy impacts me. At first I was going to write about how the economy is effecting my mom. I am going to write about her, but I am also going to write about how the economy has affected me.
My mom is an older woman trying to live month to month. She does not own the house she lives in nor does she own a car. She lives a simple life.
The problem is when companies try to take advantage of her. There are several companies that are trying to take what little money she has from her.
The first company is Sears. She had a credit card with Sears. She was finally able to pay it off in August. In September she was surprised to find a bill from Sears in the mailbox. Sears has sent her a bill for a card that she paid off in August. A bill that they add late fees to every month since the first bill. The fee is a service fee for the card. A service fee for a card that she cancelled in August.
My mom has contacted Sears and the bank the credit card is through. It seems that they banks are in need of money, so they will get it wherever they can. Even if it means sending a bill for a service fee for a cancelled credit card.
It would be great if Sears would admit to the error. Sears could be generous and acknowledge that the fee is bogus. They could remove the charges and stop sending my mom bills. The question is: is Sears the consumer friendly corporation that they claim to be or will they highlight the reason so many people are camped out in cities across the country?
The other company that is trying to take advantage of my mom is AT&T. She ordered their internet service with the understanding that she could cancel it withing 30 days, return the equipment, and owe nothing.
When she called to cancel after a couple of days, after poor service, she was told that she would have to continue paying for the service. She was finally able to cancel the service. She asked about how to return the equipment. She was told not to worry about the equipment.
The next month she received a bill for the service and the equipment. AT&T is already over charging her for the phone service, including an international calling plan when she has no need for an international calling plan, she pays as much other plans that include unlimited long distance but she pays for each long distance call, and the phone and internet service provided by AT&T is poor at best.
It’s not clear why AT&T has such poor practices, but if enough people switch maybe they will do something about it.
It seems that companies are taking advantage of older people. People that do not hear well like my mom. These companies get them to agree to things they don’t understand clearly. These companies are no better than thieves.
My financial situation s no better. I attended two different film schools in California with the hopes of finding work afterwards. Each school made promises they did not keep. Each school helped me accumulate a large amount of debt. Debt that have no means to pay.
The reason I am back in South Carolina is that I had trouble finding work in California. I went to the school I was attending at the time thinking they would help me find work, but they were of no help.
During my stay in the housing through the school I was able to purchase professional photography gear. The problem is that gear was stolen from the housing provided by the school. It was after this robbery that I discovered that the locks for the apartments the school rents out to students had not been changed once.
The school did nothing to help me when I was robbed, nor dd the police, and the school dd not help me when I was in need of a job.
This lead to me losing my car, and me moving with someone I me at the church I attended. I was in a desperate situation. I was not making enough money from the work I found on my own to pay for rent. I moved in with a stranger because I had no where else to go.
That stranger took advantage of me in ways I do not want to comment on, and I came back to South Carolina with only the clothes I had on at the time.
I have received statements showing how much I owe with payments each moth over five-hundred dollars. I do not have a car or a place of my own. I have no means to pay anything. The equipment had to work in my profession were stolen from me, and have no hope of finding work of any kind.
I write this because I know that there are others out there going through what I have been through, and people that are gong through what my mother has been going through. It is time to make changes happen and not just sit by while corporations exploit us.
Please consider shopping somewhere other than Sears and Kmart, switch to another company if you have AT&T, and do not attend overpriced private colleges. Consider how you can make a difference.