Okay, it's been a while since my last post. Adjusting my support last year went better than expected and I have since found a job and revised the amount back to a more appropriate level.
The latest "excitement" is that on October 19th the FRO sent me a letter (arr. 2013-10-24) notifying my of being in arrears... Whoa! WAIT A MINUTE. I have been, and I advice any of you, to be ahead of your support payments. Of course this means you need to trust the folks in your version of the FRO to know what they're doing. The folks at the Family Responsibility Office clearly do not. They issued this letter, without advising my case worker, that stated I owed $2015 in Child Support. I was offended and shocked because I work so hard to ensure I'm not in arrears. My calculations are that I'm $249 ahead month to month, at the lowest. My support payments are $566 and the support is paid on the 20th of the month, ahead of the 1st of the month. So, when I'm being accused of being a Deadbeat Dad, I'm rightfully offended!
So I called the FRO (October 25th), they offered no sympathy and couldn't fathom that I was upset, or that the numbers could be wrong. I demanded a Statement of Account, normally a $25 cost to the requester, but how could I defend or understand how I had become an offender without something to back it up? They told me they would send me that SoA. I got off the phone and my stress level was through the roof.
I calmed down and decided this insanity had to stop. I called on the Ontario Ombudsman, a government watchdog as it were, and two days later they called me back. We discussed the case and my concerns, and they went off to talk the FRO. Yesterday I got a call that explained the FRO reviewed their prior conclusion, and, low and behold, they recanted the accusation. They found I was ahead by $249! Wow! What a remarkable coincidence!
Canada Post has yet to deliver that Statement of Account I was promised, and frankly the idea that I would need to PAY these fools anything to understand my account is ludicrous! If you feel that they are in the wrong, call them on it, be polite (more than I was), and push for the information. If they hadn't recanted and didn't provide the SoA (I will have it, one way or another), I would not have come to an agreement with them. The cost will be to determine if they have already tarnished my recovering Credit Bureau reputation, but I have been told that this initiative was halted.
To the credit of my agent, my contact at the FRO, Michelle. These agents have 1600 cases each. How do they cope when payors call and are abusive or simply upset. I don't believe anyone should be abusive, but this topic and these tactics are offensive and will generate agitated callers. Rightfully so. That said, TRY to be calm and collected, even if they are dismissive and arrogant.
