My mother is in a group home with severe dementia after a stroke. My brother and I sold her home. I called on October 15 and closed out her utility and paid the balance that day. They said I was good to go and the new owners were already signed up. Now I get a bill two months later saying she owes $29.00 for service prior to closing out the account even though when I paid they said that was the balance. The bill says the utility was read on December 1. This is well after I closed it and the new owners moved in. Do I have to pay this? My mother only has a little money and we need that for her care. If this is for service prior to closing out the account, how can the bill say it was read on December 1? The lady at the utility said if I don't pay they'll send to collections. I don't know who collections would contact, because it's not my bill and my mother is completely incapacitated.
I have done the exact same things a few times myself on behalf of my mother who was threatened with collections for 'surgery' on a WART from her PCP to the tune of $616! She used Compund W on the wart & billed Medicare for $616, if that isn't some nerve! Medicare wisely refused the charges and I sent the refusal statement to the billing dept at her PCPs office. They, in turn, told me they were going to send her to collections (this was after she changed PCPs), so I said FINE, go right ahead, be my guest! LOL. The matter went on for a while and was then closed out without further action.
Same thing happened to me with a $3600 bill for a 'surgical assistant' bill that my insurance denied. I told them I was NOT going to pay for ANY services that weren't covered by my insurance. And I didn't. The threats to take me to collections weren't acted upon either, after I sent them a letter (with a cc to my surgeon) stating my original intentions all along.
Idle threats to elderly people (and all the rest of us) are extremely annoying, aren't they?