So last week I posted how my entire life in tax documents was missing. They have been found. Post Office tracked the signature card down for the Certified Mail Return Receipt delivery I paid for.

And who had it? Well the woman I spoke to at the CPA's office! Ms Corinne G. told me it never arrived there because she didn't log it in. Post office found her signature on the receipt. I called one of the partners and he kind of brushed it off but I told him I was not sleeping due to worry about identity theft, and I need the packet found. I had re sent the information and they had received the second mailing and seemed to want to let it go at that. So he went to the office and made them search and they found my information in a "back office". I think the Ms. Corrinne G. was angry with me because I insisted she mail me the worksheets for tax prep instead of me printing them off. It's about 30 pages and my printer was just not up to it and kept jamming. I do my own book keeping and just put numbers on their information "Organizer". So she mailed it to me under duress and I think she got revenge by hiding my documents.

Don't tell me it doesn't happen. I worked with a bunch of women in a corporation in a classy company and you would not believe the stuff they pulled on management and each other. Anyway, my documents are safe for now and they said they are mailing the packet back to me with my tax return. That is if Corinne G. doesn't do the mailing I suppose.

A friend, a newbie landlord needed to back up important documents for several eviction cases, by printing things out and putting them in the active file! My friends are computer experts and thought that a back up on some drive is sufficient! IT's NOT!

So the NIGHT before the final court date my friend needed to print out all of their evidence against their tenant. Since an owner these days can't evict for "Non-payment" of rent, you only can evict for "cause".

So a tiny fluctuation in voltage fried the computer they used to store tenant/property information. All of the notices, letters, pictures, etc had to be recovered from the hard drive, something that is going to take more than a few hours before court.

Second they pictures they saved on their digital camera could be sent directly to their prints, both weren't working with the wi-fi setup.

So my friends came to court late with little evidence. Since the owners had made claims as to why they needed to evict this tenant, the Judge wanted to see their proof. Lets of warning. Notices and picture. As you could have guessed, case dismissed.

The cost of a surge suppressor, $4.95.

The cost of a back up printer, $50

The cost of a UPC Power back up and suppressor, $100

So because this millionaire owner was penny wise and pound foolish, the didn't spend $150 on backing up their proof and lost the eviction where the back rent exceeded $12,000. It going to take another 3 to 6 months to go back to court, by then they will be owed over $20,000 in back rent...The tenant is judgment proof anyways.

Glad to hear your documents were found and apparently no harm done other than lost sleep.

Consider getting ID Theft protection from Zander Insurance. It covers all type of ID theft (including lost documents with sensitive information), not just credit monitoring. $1 million coverage potentially paid out if there is a loss, and they assign you a case manager to make all the contacts necessary to undo the damages.

Cost is cheap: something like $7 / month for an individual. I have a family membership for $12.90.