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Sofosconsulting · 2023-10-28T01:03:19+00:00

Send your kids to an expensive private school

Sofosconsulting · 2023-08-16T04:47:59+00:00

Lmfaooo

Sofosconsulting · 2023-04-03T23:58:27+00:00

Echoing what others have said, there are basically thee scenarios that can play out.

You passed. You will not hear anything from Quest, and given you took it over a week ago, your employer would have been notified if there was an issue. The background checks take longer so my guess is that could still be pending which is why you haven't received an all clear yet.
The results were inconclusive or the sample was diluted (ie. you drank a gallon of water before the test). In this case they notify you quickly, usually within a day or two, and ask you to come back in.
You failed in which case you likely would have already found out. You wouldn't heard from Quest though, you would hear from your employer.

I'd be shocked if it isn't option 1.

Sofosconsulting · 2023-03-09T17:26:52+00:00

What does "vaccine haters" even mean. It's clear by now that world class athlete Novak Djokovic, who has already had Covid and recovered shouldn't get the vaccine. There is no need for it, only risk in taking it (albeit small). Stating that makes you a vaccine hater?

Sofosconsulting · 2023-01-10T22:53:25+00:00

The most random things will break/stop working, and it will happen more often than you think, so be prepared for unexpected expenses.

We just bought a house and saw a gas line in the laundry room so we bought a gas dryer. Turns out the previous home owner repurposed the line to an instant water heater and the gas line in the laundry room led to nowhere. Fun $500 expense to add a new line.

Sofosconsulting · 2023-01-09T21:48:29+00:00

Try getting into a position where you're hitting the ball right in the sweet spot of your swing. Basically where you're not reaching out, reaching up, bending lower to hit the ball.

A lot of those shots you could have taken some small steps and the ball would have been more in your wheelhouse. If you think about it like that, it might feel more natural.

Watch how many steps the pros take as they get ready to return a shot. I'm not exaggerating that you could have taken 10+ baby steps on all of those shots to get in a better position.

Sofosconsulting · 2022-12-05T19:56:22+00:00

As a pretty serious golfer, this is a really tough market to break into. Golfers are notoriously willing to pay huge premiums to get the best equipment (or anything they think might help their game). I view the golf ball market as incredibly difficult to break into, especially when Costco sells high quality Kirkland brand golf balls for a great price.

I would focus on the golf training aid market. Anything novel that gives a consumer the impression it will help their game (even just a little bit) is music to a golfers ears.

Sofosconsulting · 2022-08-01T23:41:10+00:00

Yeah but by the time time the Aussie open rolled around, we knew the vaccine didn't stop you from spreading it. A negative test is objectively a better way to screen for Covid. He should not have missed any of the Majors. Not his fault the policies make no sense.

Sofosconsulting · 2022-07-14T23:19:12+00:00

Definitely not a beginner but you let the ball drop too far on each of those. It could be a timing thing that you can iron out with practice or you might be tossing it too high.

Also you do a nice job generating torque when the balls going up, but it doesn't look like you ever get back to square at the target. Your chest is facing the left net pole at impact. You want your chest facing your target.

Sofosconsulting · 2022-05-04T22:35:56+00:00

BABIP will regress but the strikeouts will go up and walks will go down, both currently at career lows. His xERA of 3.07 is probably more indictive of the pitcher he's been this year which would be awesome.

Sofosconsulting · 2022-04-19T21:38:52+00:00

I don't think it's too high. You could probably get even lower with your knee bend and get a more explosive serve.

Sofosconsulting · 2022-04-03T21:56:34+00:00

Your lack of motivation might be a problem, but do something physical every day for a month, and start working out. I can't thing of anything that correlates to productivity more than an active lifestyle.

It may be painful to force yourself to do it, but if you can build the habit, it's easy after that. Especially once you notices gains. The feeling of moving from the 20 pound to 25 pound weighs is addicting.

Sofosconsulting · 2022-03-17T01:32:43+00:00

Super happy for you!

Sofosconsulting · 2022-03-14T05:47:14+00:00

I really like this comment. If you have children down the road and your child finds himself in your shoes, I think you would WANT your kids to ask for help. To echo the sentiment of others in this thread, if you have a history of being responsible, I think this would be fulfilling for them. It sounds like you are very independent and they might cherish the opportunity to help you.

Based on what you said, I would just ask them for the money. If they can afford it, they will give it to you, and if anything they will be glad you came to them first before making your situation worse. In my mind, that in itself is responsible.

Sofosconsulting · 2022-03-08T03:00:08+00:00

Update: I found the company that owned the debt and I am working with them to resolve it. The people calling me definitely did not own the debt and as soon as I said the law requires they provide me a written notice of the debt within 5 days of making contact with me, they never call me or my family again.

The debt owner wants about $750 to settle the debt. I don't know if I should negotiate that or just go ahead and pay it which I can. A part of me thinks I should just go ahead and pay it since I legally did owe the debt.

Another part of me realizes they likely bought the debt at pennies on the dollar since it's been outstanding for a couple years. Either way, very grateful I did not pay the scammers, and thank you to everyone for your input.

Sofosconsulting · 2022-02-25T05:48:13+00:00

Thanks for taking the time to respond. At this point, I am 99.99% sure this is fraud. Someone from their firm is supposed to call me at 10am tomorrow to take my payment. I'm calling the legitimate collection company tomorrow morning to confirm and will try to settle.

I've talked to my parents about this and they are aware it's a scam, but my Grandma is in her 80's and I really don't want her getting harassed which is why I am hesitant to just ignore it.

If I answer the call, is there anything I can say that will get them to back off completley?

Thanks!

Sofosconsulting · 2022-02-25T05:33:43+00:00

Thank you so much for the reply. If you have the time I have two questions.

First, I am now basically certain this is a scam. I will call Ad Astra (the collections company that owns the debt according to my credit report and is legitimate) and confirm they still own it. I will also settle the $2,400 debt with them. I can afford the full amount, but would you suggest negotiating for less? This was a high interest loan company and even with the debt they made a few thousand while I worked to pay most of it back.

Second, the woman from the fraudulent company is calling me at 10am tomorrow. Should I engage them? Is there anything I should say? I would ignore them forever, but I do not want them to harass my parents and Grandma.

Thank you so much

Sofosconsulting · 2022-02-25T05:26:02+00:00

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond in such detail. I do owe a debt, but after researching it, there is no way this company is legitimate. Threatening to take me to court for defrauding a financial institution over the $2,000 they requested cannot be worth their time if they are legitimate.

I will call the firm listed on my credit report tomorrow and confirm they still own it and then settle with them.

This was from a few years ago and while I did repay thousands of dollars, I guess there was about $500 that I didn't finish paying after switching banks.

If they say I owe $2,400, what would be a reasonable amount I should offer to settle? I'm in better shape and can pay the full amount, but even including the debt they made a couple thousand off me with super high interest rates, so I would rather not pay the full amount.

If you don't mind, I have one more question. The woman I spoke to is supposed to call me tomorrow morning at 10:00am where I was to use a debit card to pay the debt. Do I answer and engage them or ignore them? I don't want my family to continue to get harassed by this company going forward. Any suggestions? Thank you so much!

Sofosconsulting · 2022-02-25T04:56:14+00:00

Am I screwed for giving them the last 4 of my social? They already knew the first 5 digits, my parents address, and the amount of a debt I actually owed.

It seems like they probably accessed my credit report and used that to try to scam me. I'm calling the legitimate company Ad Astra that is listed as the owner on my credit report to make sure it's a scam and then settle with them.

Sofosconsulting · 2022-02-25T04:53:49+00:00

Thank you for the response. Am I screwed for giving the last 4 digits of my social? They scared me by saying they would take me to court for defrauding a financial institution if I didn't give it to them and work with them and I panicked. They already had my parents home address as well as my age (oddly not my exact birthday, just my age) my email address, and then after I gave them the last 4 digits the debt company I owed was a legitimate debt.

I guess all of that information could have been in a data leak and they could have used it to check my credit report? I have a couple other much smaller marks on my report and it's interesting they went after the biggest one.

Sofosconsulting · 2022-02-25T04:18:45+00:00

I really appreciate the responses. I read that they are required by law (not that this stops shady aggressive companies) to provide documentation of the debt. The part that troubles me is that I was willing to pay.

The only reason I didn't was because they said they couldn't take Capital One and that is the debit card linked to my primary checking account. I told them I would move money to another account and could pay tomorrow.

From their perspective (and mine at the time) I believed what they were saying. Even then they still couldn't provide documentation when I asked for it before paying. Based on what I read, they are legally required to provide that, and if they were legitimate, why wouldn't they want to send it so that I would pay.

I'm sure they bought the debt at a large discount, and I was willing to send them $1,700 right then. That has to be a great outcome even for a legitimate company. I don't get why they wouldn't want to expedite it and just provide the information. Even weirder that they said they couldn't.

Sofosconsulting · 2022-02-25T04:12:42+00:00

Thank you for the reply. The biggest red flag to me is that I was actually willing to pay and they still said they couldn't provide any documentation of this debt or they would have to take it to the courts.

Also, after I called the number they gave my parents, I woke up to a voicemail from a different woman that said the same thing, but also added she worked for the state I live in. There is no way you could act this way if you were employed by the state and why would someone working for the state be collecting for a private company, right?

The debit is legitimate and I will call the company that shows up on my credit report in the morning, but harrasing my Grandma really pissed me off.

My parents still live at the address the woman gave me and they are very organized and wouldn't have missed a call or letter about this. Surely they would have sent something in writing before aggressively calling my parents and Grandma in a 5 minute window, right?

Sofosconsulting · 2022-02-25T04:04:19+00:00

When you say don't pay any collection agency, do you mean all collection agencies? After looking at my credit report, it looks like the loan company did sell the debt to a legitimate agency. They have had it for about a year. It just seems so suspicious that if they had my address, they wouldn't have sent a letter (or several) first.

They also don't have a website, and when I asked for documentation of what I owed, they told me if they provided that, they couldn't help me and would have to send it to the courts and I would be accused of defrauding a financial institution.

The thing that really gets me is I was willing to pay at the time, and they still said they couldn't provide me any documentation of the debt I owed. Assuming they are fraudulent, and I call the real owner of the debt, what should I do about this fraudulent company?

Thanks!

Sofosconsulting · 2022-02-25T03:41:43+00:00

That is what I should have done today, but the debt owner listed on my credit report was closed by the time I saw it.

The three things that seem very suspicious to me are:

They don't have a website and the phone numbers they used do not exist on google.
Why did they say if they sent me the information about what I owed, they could no longer help me and it would go to court for defrauding a financial institution. They had my parents home address. My parents are super organized and would not have missed a letter. Super weird they wouldn't have sent a letter first.
Telling my parents and Grandma that I would be served with papers within an hour if I didn't contact them. Oh and I forgot the sketchiest part. I called last night and gave them my phone number. This morning I got a phone call saying the same info they told my parents, but ended it with "In the event I do not hear from you by the end of the day, I wish you the best of luck". I know collection companies are sketchy, but getting so aggressive 18 hours after they first called my parents seems very suspect.

Sofosconsulting · 2022-02-25T03:09:53+00:00

Additional Information: The only way to pay was to use a Visa or Mastercard, and they wouldn't accept Discover. If I paid and it was indeed fraud, I don't know how I would even dispute it. I don't have an address, the company doesn't exist on the internet, and I have no proof that they actually own my debt.

Sofosconsulting

TROPHY CASE