'Sorry, that's not my problem': Company attempts to charge former employee for credit card ‘late fees’, end up spending $1000 in billable hours instead

Author image for Eleonora Bader
Eleonora Bader
Jan 30, 2024 1:00 PM EST

When you quit, you essentially leave all your problems with that company behind. But what happens when your past catches up with you, and suddenly you are slapped with a fine you shouldn't have to pay?

This person received a furious email from the former company he worked at, which read that he had to pay a certain amount that had piled up on an old credit card he'd had while being employed there. The thing was, the person had already cut it up — one year ago. So what was going on? It was a fair question. Apparently, the card had not been canceled, but that wasn't really OP's problem… It was theirs.

So, OP ended up costing them a whopping $1,000. How? Scroll down to find out. Maybe next time the company will take a second to look internally, instead of reaching out to former employees who have nothing to do with card cancellations. Up next is a hilarious bunch of work memes to laugh at while you are on lunch break.

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  • 01
    2- - "Sorry, that's not my problem..." 8.5
    via Canva
  • 02
    Try to threaten me over a $26 expense report, I'll make sure everyone knows.
    via u/Resident_Job3506
  • 03
    I worked for 8 years at one of the largest advertising companies in the world. Moved up to middle management (Wheeeeeee!) but built a lot of relationships with very high execs, C-Suite, regional presidents, etc. due to my specialty and reputation. Left in Nov of '22 for my dream job. Left on good terms, turned everything in, followed all procedure in exit interview, INCLUDING cutting up my Corporate Amex as
    via u/Resident_Job3506
  • 04
    instructed (working virtually). My company was to cancel the card. Fast forward to this week. I get a nastygram email to my personal email from the guy who runs ALL corporate Amex for old company. "Your Amex ending in #### is 68 days past due in the amount of $25.95 and needs to be paid ASAP or face the consequences. We will NOT pay late charges, this is your responsibility."
    via u/Resident_Job3506
  • 05
    CCd in the email we're a number of mid- level finance folks. I laughed and then spent an hour crafting a snarky response to all, and added in the Chief People Officer, the CFO, the regional president of the Americas, and the Global CEO. BCC a couple of folks still at the company who would get a kick out it.
    via u/Resident_Job3506
  • 06
    I know my email would get through as I stay in touch with all. Essentially; Not my problem shoulda cancelled it. It's fraud (on Lyft) I haven't traveled to where the Lyft ride is for years.
    via u/Resident_Job3506
  • 07
    Did someone check to see why no activity for almost a year then BOOM charge? Did HR read the email and say Oh left? Nope. he So, over $25.95, I know ALL involved read it, including the CEO as all respond with either 'Disregard', 'Hope you're well', etc. The CEO simply responded 'Well Played!' At the rate these people bill out (It's advertising, EVERYONE has a billable rate) I'm guessing it cost them ~$1000 to read
    via u/Resident_Job3506
  • 08
    and respond. The kicker, Catching up with a regional Pres over email, I made a sale for the company Im currently at. Winner.
    via u/Resident_Job3506
  • 09
    l_identifyas_me • 1d ago Back in 1993 I finished my enlistment with the US navy. Since I was leaving active duty and saw no reason to leave the account open,I closed my account with the navy federal credit union. I made sure there were no outstanding charges left owing, emptied the account fully and closed the account. I the. Flew home to the states (I was in Japan at the time) and
    via u/I_identifyas_me
  • 10
    essentially forgot about the account. I was only in the states for a few months before I moved to Australia. Fast forward about 3 months later and my parents forward some mail to me. One of the items they forwarded was a statement from the Navy Credit Union that states that as my account balance has dropped below a certain level (I believe the balance that they had listed was 25 cents, I don't know where that came from but they
    via u/I_identifyas_me
  • 11
    thought I had left that amount in my account)I have a limited time to deposit money or I will receive a fine of $5. I sent a letter to the bank informing them that I had closed the bank prior to separating the previous year and that this was obviously a clerical error and asked if they could please correct it. Then I sent the letter and promptly forgot about it.
    via u/I_identifyas_me
  • 12
    Fast forward about 6 months and my parents send me another statement from the credit union. Apparently they did not believe my previous letter as over the previous several months they had been accruing fines on the account. At that point they stated that I owed $25 in arrears and that if I did not deposit a minimum amount I would continue to accrue fines. So I printed off the previous letter and added an addendum
    via u/I_identifyas_me
  • 13
    stating that as I had closed the account and the fines were levied well after the account was closed, that I was not going to pay it so they may as well just close out the account they think I still had open. I also told my parents to open any mail I received at their place and only forward it they thought it was important.
    via u/I_identifyas_me
  • 14
    Fast forward a year later. I have just come home to the states after being overseas for almost 2 years. When I get home I walk into my room and find a stack of statements from the Navy Credit Union. By that point the amount I supposedly owed was around $150.. as there was no local branch I called the nearest branch to me, which I believe was in California (approximately 1500 miles away. When I finally got a person on the
    via u/I_identifyas_me
  • 15
    line I proceeded to explain the whole story. I explained that there was no way n earth that I was going to pay for their sc. p and that they needed to fix it. The woman I talked to was very apologetic and said that while she could see from the computers that my account had not been accessed for almost 3 years, she could not find a record that I had closed my account. I offered to send
    via u/I_identifyas_me
  • 16
    her a copy of the receipt I was given when I closed my account. Her response was that since the account was opened in Japan, the only people who could rectify the error was in Japan. She advised me to just bring the account up to date (ie pay the fine) and if an error was discovered on their part they would reimburse me. Essentially I told her that this would not be happening, to which
    via u/I_identifyas_me
  • 17
    she informed me that not paying g it would only continue to accrue a fine until it was passed on to a collection agency. In 1996 I emigrated to Australia and have been here ever since. According to my parents, they stopped receiving the statements around 2010, by which time the accrued fine was in excess of $1000 ( don't know the full amount, I stopped paying attention
    via u/I_identifyas_me
  • 18
    to it). Maybe someone finally updated their systems and discovered that they had been ha: ing me for 17 years. To date I have never been contacted by a collection agency nor have the IRS chased me down. 4 605 ↑ Share ...
    via u/I_identifyas_me
  • 19
    AdAccomplished6511 • 23h ago i went on a business trip from san diego to Seattle back in 2008 i think, i got an email from finance that i was 2.33 dollars off of my expense report and they tried to go after me for it. I had a little thing of change on my desk for the soda machine and what not, i putt the 2.33 in change on his desk with a post it that it was from me, his boss came to me and gave me my change back and apologized
    via u/AdAccomplishment6511
  • 20
    Parking-Fix-8143 • 1d ago Better than Petty Revenge, this qualifies as Pro- level Revenge, so you CC'ed every-freakin-one. And you made a sale. Bonus! 4240 Reply ↑ Share
    via u/Parking-Fix-8143
  • 21
    lovelyfeyd 18h ago ● Excellent point about those bill rates. I work in accounting and have seen 3 or 4 people hovering around a laptop trying to figure out why something is $0.01 off. I always mentally calculate the labor cost of stupid office activities. +45 ↓ Reply Share
    via u/lovelyfeyd
  • 22
    9lobaldude 22h ago Some analyst having a power trip, ended tripping over himself. Well played! 19凸 Reply ↑ Share
    via u/9lobaldude

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advertising advertisement late fees ex employee malicious compliance email workplace stories reddit upper management i quit ceo former employee fines company card quitting charges billable hours
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