Let's Hear It For Automated Online Billpay...
 

Aug. 27, 2004. 06:08 AM

Man lay dead in bed for two years Condo fees and bills were still being paid Body finally found in mummified state WINNIPEG—His telephone number was still listed in the telephone directory and his condominium fees and bills were automatically being withdrawn from his bank account. No one knew Jim Sulkers had died in his bed almost two years ago. Neighbour Sam Shuster said residents in the complex often wondered where the man they knew only as Jim had gone, but were told his condominium fees were still being paid. "How can that happen, for God's sake. Two years!" Shuster said yesterday of the man who had been a resident in the building since the mid-1980s. "I used to ask the president of the board of directors where in the hell is he? She said all she knew was the bank gets the monthly money so we don't worry about it." Sulkers' remains were discovered Wednesday. Manitoba's chief medical examiner, Dr. Thambirajah Balachandra, determined he had died of natural causes. Sulkers, believed to be in his 50s, had multiple sclerosis. Balachandra said there were no signs of trauma and he was able to quickly rule out homicide, suicide or accident as a cause of death. But because the body was in a mummified state, he could not determine an exact cause. He said a newspaper dated Nov. 21, 2002, was found in the man's apartment and a wall calendar was opened to November 2002 — evidence the man died nearly two years ago. A cousin, Kim Dyck of Winnipeg, said she lost contact with the man after his mother died about 10 years ago, but relatives had attempted to make contact with Sulkers last summer when they were in the city for a wedding. "They knocked on his door and he didn't answer," she said. "You assume he isn't home. You certainly don't assume he's dead." She said the man's bills must have been covered by a pension cheque automatically deposited into his bank account. Neighbours said Sulkers' mailbox had become full several times and was always emptied by a letter carrier. Canada Post spokesman Brian Garagan said letter carriers are required to clear full mailboxes and inform a supervisor, who calls the condo owner. He said the corporation was trying to determine if that policy was followed. He said Sulkers' mail delivery was halted at some point but he wasn't sure when. He said he would be talking to the letter carrier on the route. Marcel Baril, executive director of the Family Centre in Winnipeg, called the situation bizarre and sad. "It's odd that we live in a society where technology can take care of our affairs like that, even if we passed away two years ago, and nobody's noticed." A spokeswoman for the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada said the disease itself was not fatal but complications could be.Canadian Press

Okay, I'll be the one to ask the obvious -- didn't anybody notice a bit of an ... aroma coming from the condo?

I really hope he remembered to turn off the air conditioning before all of this happened, or that electric bill is going to be INSANE!

What I think is odd is that people are focusing on the autopay aspect, and not on the fact that a guy could be dead for two years and no friend or close family member ever noticed.

Well, assuming he died in November of 2002, and that he was found in a "mummified" state, it's likely that he didn't smell too bad at all. He spent the first several months dead in the winter, and the remains wouldn't have reeked too badly in the cold, dry air of his condo. So, I can see why nobody ever noticed a stench...

I love autopay, personally. I write one check a month for electric/water (since it's a co-op), and every thing else is paid online. And, the couple of times I completely missed a payment deadline, I played Caveman Lawyer ("This box with flashing lights confuses me, I swear I submitted that payment") and the late fees were not assessed. They were just happy I was using (or attempting to use) the service.

Beautimus!

You can use online bill pay without using autopay. My wife and I still like that one tiny little illusion of control...

Still it never says how they found him or who finally opened the door to find hiim.

What I don't like about autopay is if you have a dispute concerning your bill, and you don't have autopay, you still have your money. With autopay, they have your money while the dispute is being resolved.

Yeah, that's true. I do use the autopay feature for a couple of bills, but I was referring to online pay, because if I had used autopay, the payments wouldn't have been late. D'Oh! :)

I only use it for fixed costs, like phone service, auto insurance, mortgage, etc. Nothing where the amount fluctuates month-to-month.

Yup. I use on-line bill pay for all of my bills, but only use auto-pay for my car payment...

This is the exact same reason I sent that Visa Debit card back to my bank and demanded my ATM card back when they auto-"upgraded" everyone. We use our Visa card for darn near everything we used to spend cash / write checks for (online bill pay takes care of the rest of the things we used to write checks for), and the reason is that on a dispute I haven't actually lost any money yet. With a debit card, you may get your money back, but you've been without it while they resolve the issue.

Well, the other reason we use the Visa card everywhere is the 1% applied to our next Disney trip :D