So I've been getting mail from a large insurance company addressed to a previous homeowner .
This has been going on since we moved in (we've been here 3 years mind you), so I finally started opening her mail about a year ago because it started to bug me THAT MUCH. I had just assumed that they were trying to collect money or that it was general correspondence, but nooooo....she's going to the doctor A LOT, and I'm getting the current summaries of benefits paid out by BCBS. So I called BCBS and they told me they can't change her address unless SHE changes it which I totally understand, but I'm SICK OF IT.
Seriously, I get one or two letters a week people. And most recently, I got a letter from a hospital thanking her for choosing that location and blah blah blah. Doesn't she care that she's not getting her mail? Apparently not, but being the conspiracy theorist that I am, I choose to believe she's doing something shady. So I emailed BCBS today and told them that I want it changed ASAP because I feel like something no-quite-right is going on, and I don't want my address to be a part of it. For some reason, it bugs the shit out of me that she hasn't changed her information on her insurance. It bugs me a lot. More than it should.
What would you do? Just ignore the mail?
This has been going on since we moved in (we've been here 3 years mind you), so I finally started opening her mail about a year ago because it started to bug me THAT MUCH. I had just assumed that they were trying to collect money or that it was general correspondence, but nooooo....she's going to the doctor A LOT, and I'm getting the current summaries of benefits paid out by BCBS. So I called BCBS and they told me they can't change her address unless SHE changes it which I totally understand, but I'm SICK OF IT. Seriously, I get one or two letters a week people. And most recently, I got a letter from a hospital thanking her for choosing that location and blah blah blah. Doesn't she care that she's not getting her mail? Apparently not, but being the conspiracy theorist that I am, I choose to believe she's doing something shady. So I emailed BCBS today and told them that I want it changed ASAP because I feel like something no-quite-right is going on, and I don't want my address to be a part of it. For some reason, it bugs the shit out of me that she hasn't changed her information on her insurance. It bugs me a lot. More than it should.
What would you do? Just ignore the mail?
23 Comments:
We have recently started to get someone else's mail. It's odd because we've lived at this address for over a year, but only started getting this woman's stuff about a month ago. After I got several of them that were "no forwarding address, return to original addressee", I decided to open one. It was a bill from a health club, to this woman, listing our address, on an account that she'd just opened a few months ago. We keep getting them from all different places. I've done some looking and it seems that it's not our fault she put the wrong address on her bills. It does not remove her responsibility from paying them. I just stick them back in the mailbox with a "Not At This Address/Return to Sender" written on them in red.
I consulted a relative and she told me they've been getting someone else's mail for like 15 years. They even moved to a different state, and a few months later they started getting his mail again. Very very weird, but nothing can be done about it and nothing bad has happened to them because of it.
I would probably do the same thing you have done. That's just too weird! Why would someone not change their address?
Nappy Taffy -
Maybe I should have told you before you opened the mail...but that is a felony...you might want to not do it anymore...or the blog police might come and put you in a cell with O.J. :)
Bradley
The Egel Nest
I just write RETURN TO SENDER with a giant red sharpie. Once they get the mail back, they are theoretically obligated to mark it in their records.
Good luck. Dealing with insurance companies is back asswards.
No, I think you are dead on because we have had the same thing. The peeps we bought out house from had some not so good credit and some creditors that were not pleased to discover they had moved. Yet I am getting NEW bills of recently opened accounts that are coming to this address - 2+ years later. Uh huh. I call each company and inform them that if this is a new acct, they lied to them.
Liz
I get official-looking mail from the previous resident too, and she moved out over 5 years ago. I finally opened it just to see what it was -- and it was notices of court appearances for the city! I called the city and told them she no longer lives here, they basically said they didn't give a shit because that's the address she gave them, so now I just trash the mail.
Oh, she also gets phone calls. From the prison. Collect.
hmm that's a toughie. can you get in trouble for opening other people's mail. that would make me nervous. but it does seem really shady. she's probably in debt trying to get out of her bills.
i probably would just trash them from now on - it's not your credit! :)
I get mail for the previous owner who has been dead for at least 7 years. I just throw it away.
Yeah, I've always just done the Return to Sender thing. Although at my old apartment I did keep getting things for one lady who apparently never changed her address. Like you I finally opened one out of curiosity and it was a fairly hefty check--a credit back to some account she had closed. I still sometimes wonder if she ever got her money back...
I second the return to sender suggestion. That is supposed to make the company contact her and ask!
I'd be annoyed too! Good luck.
Yeah, RTS that shit. How annoying.
Now, when I get stuff for other people from Republican candidates, I throw it away. Is that so wrong?
This would drive me nuts!
I say go with the "return to sender" suggestion...I don't know what else you can do!
We get mail occasionally for previous residents. If it looks like junk, I just trash it, but something like that I'd mark RTS and drop it in the mailbox.
Oh crap...that reminds me...did I change my address for my health insurance? I've been a less than exciting patient lately though...
We sometimes get weird mail too. Once we wrote "not at this address" on the outside of one of them. The mail lady actually left us a freaking note that says not to deface mail!
We were just annoyed because we had no idea who this person was, and no matter how many times we left it in the mailbox with the flag up, it stayed in our mailbox.
I'd do the RTS thing to. How odd. Living in an apartment I get mail for several former residents, one I opened accidentally because it was so official looking and said something about being served so I just ripped it open, turns out some former resident owes a shitton of money and is being sued for lack of repayment. Nice. :P
You have received a reward from the Nest...come by and see :)
Bradley
The Egel Nest
That is so wierd. Not like it takes alot of effort for her to change the address.
Wait?! They can't change her address but they can knowingly send you statements of benefits? Isn't that violating a HIPPA regulation somewhere?
Periodically I make up a sheet of labels that say:
RETURN TO SENDER
NO LONGER HERE
REMOVE FROM LIST
I stick 'em on the envelope and toss them back in the mail.
But then, I'm a crank.
I second the red sharpie "return to sender" because it means you probably have to (a) go to Target, (b) buy SHARPIES!, and (c) use SHARPIES! I like them. Can you tell? I'd do this for a couple of weeks, then start throwing them away (or collecting them for proof of evildoing, but let's hope not).
Seven words for you "Return to Sender - Not at this Address"
Just write that on the envelope and leave it for your mail man!
And I LOVE that you actually started reading the mail - hysterical!
i would contact them like you did and if no response. Just throw it in a nice little box or a big box and someday maybe you will run into her and can chuck the box at her. full of her mail! Or go to one of those doctors offices and drop it off with a note saying change your address damn it I keep getting your mail.
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