Periodically and for over three or more years now Maximus has either sent letters or actual process servers from the sheriff's office looking for someone who doesn't live at my address. I've called and called in an attempt to inform them the individual they're looking for does not live at that address. They promise to take my address off the file, the encounters stop temporarily then start back up again.
It's gone beyond the point of simply being annoying to a feeling of being of harassed by Maximus. Do they not know that people actually move? That old files with old addresses are just that old, and the individual(s) do or no longer reside at the address they may have on file?
Each time the clerks have been kind, the process server who came by yesterday had to listen to my frustration--after all, it's not his fault. He's given a name and address and he's just doing his job. But what about the 'collateral damage' in all this. The innocent caught in the middle?
The clerk I spoke with yesterday was nice and said she'd make a note of it, again. But there's no guarantee at some future date it won't happen again.
Is there no way for Maximus to permanently unmatch a name from an address? Not to mention the embarrassment of having a sheriff's car pulling up to your front door? The clerk even suggested that I just don't answer the door, but what I want is for them to cease and desist from coming to my house for the person period. From the way she explained it, that may be impossible.
Others have said, it's almost impossible to take any legal action against Maximus since they've been given so much power to pretty much do as they please. However, there has to be some sort of actions that could be taken from a third party stand point.
I'm all for individuals owning up to their responsibilities and doing the right thing. But innocent people shouldn't have to suffer. There are a lot of innocent people, I suspect, getting caught up in the mix. A few years ago a young man was given 11/29 only to later find out through DNA testing the child wasn't his.
Another father searched for what he thought was his two children for years and finally gave up and moved on with his life only to find out years later the children had been placed in foster care and that was only after the foster care system had placed a lien on his property for child support.
The thing is again, DNA testing would prove the children were never his to begin with. And if the foster care system to find him and place a lien on his property years later, why couldn't they have contacted him when the children were first placed in foster care? He certainly did make every effort he thought he had at his disposal to find them.
I'm not playing favorites here. As a woman, mother, once divorced with two children to feed and no help, I can understand struggle. However, I feel we all should play a role in being responsible. That goes for both the women and the men. There's too much on the market and too much information out there to prevent a pregnancy neither is prepared or mature enough to take responsibility for. And from speaking with many of the young women on a personal level, very few if any of these pregnancies are accidental. Some admit, for various reasons, they got pregnant on purpose. Waiting until a time they were ovulating, knowing that was the most likely time of the month they'd get pregnant. Sometimes misrepresenting themselves to the guy and tricking him into believing they were indeed on some form of birth-control and couldn't possibly become pregnant.
My aunts and uncles told all my brothers to never fall for that trick. They told them no matter what the woman says to always always put a sock on that thing.
We spoke with our girls but we failed to inform our young men that they must protect themselves too. Even young women who may try to trick them into a pregnancy they are both ill prepared for.
All in all, when used properly birth control works. I can attest to that fact. There should be very few to non-existing unplanned for pregnancies. Now, I know there are certain medications that may interfere with and weaken birth control, but over all birth control does work. That's why my three children are spaced four years apart, because I planned it that way. When the hubby was away on and reassigned to a new military base where family couldn't go, I used those times to give myself a 'break' from birth control. When I knew he was returning or the family would be going to meet him, I'd start popping those pills months ahead of time and still use additional precaution when I got there if we weren't planning any additions to the family at that time.
Maybe I got a little off track here with this letter. More so than anything it's about frustration with Maximus, but it's also about responsibility on all sides. That includes Maximus on creating a better system. After all, just because seemingly unlimited power has been granted to them, they shouldn't be allowed to abuse that power and certainly not to harass innocent citizens.
Brenda Manghane-Washington
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Ms M. Washington is only getting a slight insight to Maximus. I, unfortunately, have had to deal with them for years. Maximus is a big joke. They have no authority other than being a collection agency, but they can destroy your life.
I called Maximus for over a year, several times a week, only to get a recording, and no one returning my calls. I made several trips to their office to see the lady who signed the letters I received, but she was never in or was with someone.
I finally got to speak to a human, a very nice young man named Jason, who finally took care of my problem. But why did it take over a year? I was told that each agent for Maximus has over 6,500 cases to handle. What's wrong with that picture?
On one occasion, my twin brother was trying to buy a house, and his loan was refused because he had not included his child support in the application. There is only one letter difference in our names, Carlos and Arlos, and I had to take off from work and go show those folks my drivers license, before they would release the lien so he could buy a house. And then the lady told us, you look alike, it still could be him. Yeah, and I could be the Pope, but it ain't likely.
And by the way Brenda, that lady was black. Not African-American, you're only African American when you're born in Africa. I happen to be Appalachian American.
Maximus is a racket that gets a percentage from the state for collecting child support. If you have to deal with them, good luck.
Arlos Dempsey
Signal Mountain