Some Real Life excuses given to collectors:

The Customer went to the store to make a payment, but there was a sale, and she just couldn’t resist. She spent the $100 that was supposed to be paid in the account. “You should be happy”, she said, “after all, I shopped in your store!”

Customer claimed the balance was mailed several weeks ago. It didn’t go through the bank, so he agreed to put a stop payment on the cheque. He wrote a new one the following day, but the store would not accept it as he didn’t have his statement with him. He went to the bank and withdrew the $850 for full payment, but was mugged on his way to the store. He ended up in the hospital and it will be a full month before he can make the ‘minimum’ payment.

“I was afraid”, the customer said, “that with Y2K, my payment would not be processed.”

Customer claimed he couldn’t pay because he was locked in a hyperbolic chamber in a hospital due to carbon monoxide poisoning.

During a call at about 8 p.m., a delinquent Customer explained he was in arrears because he was a vampire and couldn’t go out during the day to make a payment. When asked what prevented him from making a payment at night, he said he must feed to survive and had no time. In a serious voice, the Customer mentioned some background of his vampire ‘clan’ which the collector recognized from a role playing game. The collector decided to play along and told him that revealing himself to a mortal was against vampiric law with serious consequences. The Customer got terrified and hung up. The following day, the account was paid in full.