Wow... I'm just... wow.

Ok, so my story starts off with a phone call on Monday night from a collections agency. It was a recording that just said 'Call us, it's urgent.' So I looked up the number on google and found out who the company was. I was thinking to myself "I have nothing that would go to collections.. wtf?" So I call them. They tell me that I have an unpaid parking ticket from January 23, 2004 that is unpaid and has been sent to collections. WTF? I was super surprised to find that the guy from the collection agency was being helpful and gave me the details of the ticket. It said I had stopped in a no stopping zone somewhere in Richmond. Weird... I never go to richmond, and I worked in Burnaby at the time. Ok, so I got the ticket number from him and called Richmond. It took 3 days to get in touch with someone there. Today, I was given all the details of the ticket and such... and I'm just beside myself that this kind of crap even happens.

So the ticket stated that I stopped in front of Burnet Secondary School at 3pm on January 23rd to pick someone up, and that the driver was in the driver's seat. Uh... what? I asked why I had never received this ticket, and was told it was mailed but then got returned to Richmond cus I had moved. Odd, I always make sure ICBC has my correct address as soon as I move. Besides, in 5 years don't you think they could look it up again before sending it to collections?? Ok, so then he says that since I never found out about the ticket that he could get the collection on it reversed and that he'd reduce the ticket to $30 (the original amount) but that since it was so long ago and the dispute system had changed, I was unable to dispute the ticket. Well... ok, whatever... 30 bucks is fine, I have no problem paying it. I was just worried about the hit to my credit. So then I ask him "Now, I know I can't dispute this, but does the ticket say what kind of car it was?" His response: "Yes, it says it was a Toyota." WTF! My car is a Ford and my license plate has always been on my car. So he says to me "I'll call ICBC and check to see what that license plate is registered to."

He just called me back and told me that he's canceled the ticket outright, as the car that belongs to this license plate is a ford.

First off, YAY! I got it resolved! But really, WTF!!!!! Had I just said "oh, 5 years ago.. hmm.. I don't remember that, so I'll just pay it" I would be out $60 for a ticket that wasn't even for me! Obviously some cop needs to get his eyes checked. I'm glad I was persistent enough to get to the bottom of this.