The Whiners Thread

[WesRagle]

Hey Guys,

I'm sitting here feeling sorry for myself and feel the need to vent a little bit. So, I thought I would start a thread for those of us who feel that life isn't holding up its end of the bargain.

In short, this year sucks. Actually this year's bad luck started Dec. 31st of last year when I found a citation taped to my front door that informed me that I was being sued for ~ $2800 for debt on a PayPal credit card I never had. I've had the same Visa for about 18 years. I tried contacting the lawyer for the collection agency multiple times but she would not talk to me. Not knowing what else to do I researched how to file an answer to the petition and filed it. I thought that all I had to do was wait for a date, appear before the Justice of the Peace, explain the situation, and that would be the end of it. What I didn't know was that the petition hadn't been properly served. Apparently they sneak by and tape a copy to your door as a warning hoping that you will pay up and they will be on their way.

Since I was turning 65 in a couple of months I turned my attention to Medicare and forgot all about being sued. Medicare is a total cluster f***. I had to learn all about Part A, Part B, Part C, Part D, the supplemental drug plan, and Medi-gap (plans a through z).

Having that figured out Millie and I departed on our final camping trip of the Spring. When we returned I found the same petition taped to my door. This time it was stamped and a serving date and time were filled in. Of course now the paper work is messed up because I filed an answer months before I was actually served. Really, I still think I haven't been *properly* served. They never placed it in my hand.

I was planning to take the travel trailer and relocate for a period of time to work on another airplane project so I started mowing the lawn the day after returning from the camping trip. While mowing I noticed some gouges in the lawn down by the road. Then I noticed tire tracks in the grass and followed them to where my trailer for the Polaris Ranger had been parked. It's gone. I went to the shed where the ranger was parked. It's gone.

So, we filed with insurance and carried on with our plans. We relocated and I started work on Wednesday. Showed up the following Monday and started preparing aluminum pieces for primer. About 11:00 A.M. I got a call from Millie. My daughter had called and told her that both of our cars were missing from the (locked) garage. So we left the trailer and drove the tow vehicle home.

They cleaned us out. They found the drawer with spare keys. They went through our files and stole all of our titles. They stole the folder with all of our passwords including all bank accounts. All the Guns are gone. All jewelry is gone. Two cars and a motorcycle are gone. Various tools from the shop. They stole everything. They even went through our cupboard like they were grocery shopping. The list is now over four pages long.

Well, they caught a female driving Millie's car. Some of our small items were inside. She is currently in Tarrant Co. lockup charged with possession of meth, possession of heroin, and unauthorized use of a vehicle. So we got Millie's car back but it was totally trashed to include syringes in the floor board and McDonald's ground into the carpet. She still had some of the jewelry and a pouch of paperwork including my Last Will and Testament. Millie's will and titles to 'vehicles and properties are still missing.

Me, I'm just back from Ft. Worth impound. They found my 2003 daily driver pickup. It's trashed with one wheel in the back and riding on the spare. Of course they left zero gas in it. Oh yea, they found the ranger and trailer as well. The ranger has been heavily damaged and they pulled the trailer with the tongue jack down and destroyed that. The tags had been swapped too. Also, somebody out there has my garage door opener.

They know who the male accomplice is but haven't apprehended him yet.

Now here's the kicker. While being questioned the female was asked how they knew no one was home. She said that they couldn't see any cars and that there was an eviction notice taped to the door. So, this whole messed up citation for debt I don't owe ended up screwing up my life for weeks and costing at least $2000 in deductibles.

At this point I feel like I should copy Rodney Dangerfield after one of his routines and turn to the guy next to me and say: "So, how's your day going?".

Wes

P.S. All my jewelry was in Millie's car. You can see where my hands are starting to heal from wet sanding the fuse.

[GraemeSmith]

Gawd - and my beef was the deep pothole that took a tire off the rim of the truck yesterday, wrecking the tire. At least I have the donut install practiced which took about 10 mins at the side of the road.

So now meaning I have to buy a set of four because the remaining three are in wear and won't play with a singular new tire. Spent last night dressing and blending the scored alloy rim with a file, zinc phosphate priming and this morning finish painting. Tires on order for fitting Monday.

Claim form obtained to file for costs with the town whose unrepaired pothole it is.

Was feeling a touch sorry for myself - but Wes......

Wes - you win - hands down.

Sorry about your "luck".

[Area 51%]

Wah...Wah...Wah......I had to deal with cold toast with my eggs this morning.

Damn cry babies.

[GordonTurner]

The credit/identity theft thing is a humongous problem in this country. It’s just too easy to get credit. I know it’s the key to fleecing the (typically poor) people and is a significant key to the rich getting richer faster….but they should have to be able to prove YOU took the credit, not you have to prove you didn’t.

I recently started getting tickets in the mail for one of my registrations going through the easy pass lane on the highway without an easy pass. The little grainy picture clearly showed a truck, which didn’t match the description of my sailboat which was the registered vehicle. Every response trying to explain got me more threatening letters back from the authorities. Then I found out the state has an advocates office. Called them, then forwarded scans of citation and registration. They had it solved in ten minutes. Sometimes you just need a helpful person on your side.

Wes, what a nightmare. I hope the insurance company makes you good on professional cleaning, repairs, and replacements. Meanwhile. Screw those jokers. Keep building.

Best wishes, Gordon

[WesRagle]

Hey Randy,

Wah...Wah...Wah......I had to deal with cold toast with my eggs this morning.

Damn cry babies.

You had to say it didn't ya? You just had to remind me.

Breakfast is boring. So, I like to eat a hot link instead of bacon or sausage. They even went through our frig and stole an unopened package of Earl Cambell hot links.

Hey Gordon,

Meanwhile. Screw those jokers. Keep building.

Thanks, I'll get back to it as soon as I can. I don't know how long it will take to recover. We had to change all of our accounts. I just finished printing out forms so we could restart automatic deposit of Millie's retirement into our new checking account. That will take one full cycle so we can't restart automatic drafts until that goes through. We'll probably hear from several folks within the next month on that. Need to figure out how to reset our garage door code and get new openers. Plus endless calls to insurance companies ...

We need new titles and deeds. Millie's car has been detailed, mine is scheduled for Monday. The stolen guns were mainly keep sakes. The first gun I ever shot, my Dad's Leather Neck .22. The first gun I owned that Dad bought for me when I was 12 (a 20 gauge single shot). The 30-06 my Son bought me. Those things can't be replaced.

I also need some sort of a security system. Haven't begun thinking about that.

Oh yea, I have another whiner point for this year. The local airport is turning over management to a private sector group. As a precursor all hangars had to be inspected. I had my hangar set up just like I wanted. I had a 4'x8' build table in the hangar and a 15 gallon fuel transfer tank to use to fuel the Onex. I also have an air conditioned room in the hangar. All were deemed to be contrary to regulations. Rent is going up each year as the folks from the DFW Metro-mess run out of hangars over there and start moving in two counties away.

Some more fun facts. The officers downloaded the female's phone. In one text the male said that he had figured out how to use the checks. In another text he said he had just driven by my house and the Sheriff was there. He was checking it out to come back for my lawn mower.

One of the trips I had to make to Ft. Worth was to look in the back of a U-Haul at the U-Haul repair facility. The thieves had rented a U-Haul truck for a day and never returned it. It was found broken down from being overloaded. Not much to see there. We did get our blow dryer back. The truck was piled full of junk from other thefts. There were also two bills of sale hand written ready to fill in the blanks to sell the ranger.

What a Mess,

Wes

P.S. I've been reading up on meth. The stuff is very prevalent around here. Here is a quote from one of the articles I read.

"It is estimated that meth users are responsible for over 60 percent of auto thefts, 70 percent of identity theft, and 90 percent of mail theft [15]. This crime not only hurts the victim and the user, but society as a whole also suffers."

Ref: https://www.alliedacademies.org/articles/the-impact-of-prolonged-methamphetamine-abuse-10894.html

Scary stuff.

[WaiexN143NM]

hi wes,
wow, what a story. yes i can relate to the meth heads. had a house in sf. sold it , moved to palm springs.
crime, car theft, car and house break ins. drunken methed out homeless passed out all over. trash pee poop needles
junk tents, right outside the front door. enough. and a city govt supporting all this. open air drug use and selling.
literally had to drag them out of the way to back out of garage.
yep reward this nonsense with free motel rooms, food, medical, transport and er visits. free pot and booze. free tents, cash, ebt cards. society run amok. just walk into stores and take what u want. pay? forget that.
there have been more homeless meth heads than ever in palm springs, but a drop in the bucket compared to SF.
most have left for LA , as the summer heat is here. fine with me.
this is a problem that is across the country, small towns too.
the pendulum has swung too far left. we need a reset back to the middle, from both sides.
best of luck to you, to get some normalcy.

WaiexN143NM
Michael.

[Murray Parr]

Hi Wes,

So Sorry to hear the bad run you are having, stick with your passions mate, life won't always throw you lemons and I hope all that horrible part of your life is soon behind you.

I can't help but notice the citation that started all this seems a bit off.

Quote from Wes.

In short, this year sucks. Actually this year's bad luck started Dec. 31st of last year when I found a citation taped to my front door that informed me that I was being sued for ~ $2800 for debt on a PayPal credit card I never had. I've had the same Visa for about 18 years. I tried contacting the lawyer for the collection agency multiple times but she would not talk to me.

This seems to me like an attempt to scare you into paying this and I think there's every chance that the later one with the court date is also fake, hence why they don't answer your attempts to call. Maybe a trip to your lawyer might be helpful with sorting that side of things out.

Wishing you and your family blue skies soon.

Murray

[WesRagle]

HI Murray,

Thanks for the well wishes.

The citation is legitimate. During this sh** storm I have learned to search public records. Here is an excerpt from the filing .

;-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

OTHER EVENTS AND HEARINGS
12/13/2021 Original Petition (JP OCA)
12/27/2021 Citation Sent To Private Process Server
12/27/2021
Citation
Ragle, Wesley
Served 05/17/2022
Response Due 05/31/2022
Returned 05/17/2022
01/05/2022 Answer Entering Denial
01/21/2022 Motion
01/21/2022 Proposed Order
05/02/2022 No Fee Documents
05/17/2022 No Fee Documents

;---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You can see where the citation was sent to a private server on 12/27/21. I first found it taped to my door on 12/30/21 (not 12/31/21 as I previously stated).

Then you can see where it was officially served and returned 05/17/22 while Millie and I were camping at McGee State Park in Oklahoma.

Just below that you can see where on 01/05/22 I "answered" the original "un-served" citation taped to my door.

I've learned some things about debt collectors. Apparently they purchase unpaid debt for pennies on the dollar betting that they can collect enough to more than offset the cost of purchase and collection costs. The less they spend investigating the more profit they reap.

I'll tell you what it feels like. It feels like "extortion under color of law". No body wants to go to court and the thought did cross my mind that I should just pay the debt, who's ever it is, and make this go away. But that wouldn't be right. So, I'll just wait for a court date.

This too shall Pass,

Wes

[builderflyer]

Hi Wes, Sorry to read of your tale of woe, especially with all of it occuring in such a short time. Having personaly experienced home burglary, car theft and being dragged into court on three occasions, I feel empathy for your situation.

One thing I've finally learned is to not go to court without an attorney present. Having one judge who I'd just met tell me that I was too stupid to represent myself was unpleasant to hear and having another judge refuse to answer a simple question because he would rather not deprive one of his buddies in private practice to earn a living was disappointing. At least here in California, the court system shows little respect for an individual attempting to represent themselves. Even when you win, you feel as though you've lost. I don't know if your situation is worthy of hiring an attorney, but you may want to carefully consider that option.

Best of luck in putting this string of bad stuff in the past,

Art,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Sonex taildragger #95,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Jabiru 3300 #261

[Arjay]

Wes: As a landlord, I have been to court many times over the years. In every case the winner had to prove his (or her) case. In your case, if the plaintiff cannot prove that you signed something to commit to the debt he (or she) will most likely be laughed out of court.

Ron