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Feeling Charitable And Thinking About Donating Your Old Cell Phone Or Computer? You Might End Up To Regret It...Here's Why! Plus: Those Bottom-Feeding Tele-Terrorists Are At It Again...Here's How To Fire 'Em!
February 19, 2004
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Dear Ben: I’ve got a "heads up" for people who donate phones intended for battered women’s shelters. They’d better be sure to delete their personal phone "directory" before they give them away. We were told that when the phones were refurbished to dial "911 only calls," the memory would be deleted, but this wasn’t the case. We received several calls from New York area codes; apparently the woman who received the phone had an "agent" who suspected her of "setting up business" on the side. He tried to find out who we were by calling us one night, using the personal numbers programmed into the old phone by my wife.
Larry, via e-mail
Dear Larry: I had to re-read your e-mail a couple of times before I figured out what you meant by the term agent (he means "pimp" for those of you following along at home). I’ll sleep much better now, knowing that some of our charitably-donated cell phones are ending up helping some working girls in New York.
You’ve got a great point, Larry: Assume nothing when ever you either donate to charities or give something like a used computer to a trusted family member. I’m not picking on charities–they do the best they can with what they’ve got–but they’re usually under-staffed and over-worked...and if anything can slip through the cracks, it will. Don’t assume the recipient of your charitable act will have the technical expertise to delete a pre-existing directory of phone numbers, or erase a hard drive loaded with all of your personal and confidential banking information or correspondence. If you don’t know how to delete an entire directory from a soon-to-be-former cell phone, stop by the retail storefront of the cell phone company that sold the phone in the first place, and ask one of their customer service reps for an assist.
Computer hard drives are much harder to erase or "wipe" that most people realize. Computer expert Ronnie Neighbours of Arlington-based www.takeithomecomputers.com tells me: "Most people fail to properly delete all of their old information on their computers before turning them loose. We charge $45 to do it right–it takes a couple of hours–and there are programs that’ll do the same thing. Norton’s utility program includes a "hard drive wiping" function and costs $30-$50. Or call the customer service number for the manufacturer of your computer and ask them who made your hard drive. Locate their website and download the free "wipe utility" all of them offer."
Ben’s Bottom line? You’d better make sure you thoroughly delete all information from cell phones and laptops before you give them away or sell them and they (inadvertently) end up in the hands of the bad guys.
Ben’s Bottom line? You’d better make sure you thoroughly delete all information from cell phones and laptops before you give them away or sell them and they (inadvertently) end up in the hands of the bad guys.
Dear Ben: Can a credit collection agency force you to pay by demanding they take the payment out of your checking account? They’re telling me I must let them do an "auto withdrawal" every monthly and won’t accept a check.
T.S., via e-mail
Dear T.S.: I know this might be hard to believe, but debt collectors have been known to lie in the course of their daily duties. Of course you’re more prone to a verbal-whipping if you’ve ever written them bad checks in the past, but my position’s consistently clear on this one: Never pay a third-party debt collector for a past due credit card or medical bill. You’ve got federal law (the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act) on your side; it empowers you to fire third-party debt collectors by sending them a certified (Cease & Desist) letter. Invoke your rights under this law and deal directly with your original creditors–and shut down the reign of threatening phone calls in the process.
Dear Ben: My mom died in 1997. I just received a bill from a collection agency telling me we owe $1,187.27. I don’t believe we owe this money but unfortunately, I only kept Mom’s records for two years after she died. Can they try to collect on a debt after this length of time?
Torre via e-mail
Dear Torre: They can try, but it’s not an enforceable debt after four years. Tell ’em to buzz off.
Dose of Dover For The Week: Don’t know how to write a Cease & Desist letter? A free copy’s posted on my website: www.bendover.com/cdletter.asp.
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