Student Stories

My 911 Experience – Amazed by Quality of Service From the Police

Posted by Arun at When to Dial 911 and Never Carry $1100 in Your Wallet

911 cops experienceI was in the US on a company trip for about 6 months. I used to bid a lot.. Bidding is a very interesting and addictive stuff. Sites like quibids are genuine.

But there are hell of lot other sites that basically cheat people.

I won a $300 camera for just about $4.50 with free shipping. I was so happy and overjoyed. I let that bidding company to use my credit card for $4.50. It had been more than 2 months, but the product never arrived. I sent repeated emails/calls to the bidding company, all in vain.

Initially I was skeptical to call 911 for a credit card of theft of just $4.50.. I consulted my US manager and he said me go ahead and call 911.. You guys won`t believe, I was calling 911 and before even I could end the call, my hotel manager and a cop were standing at my doorstep.

I was amazed by their quickness and responsiveness. It seems that there are several cops always on the go and if anyone calls 911, they immediately they`l track the caller and send a cop. The cop was in my door step in less than 2 mins after I dialed 911.

He took down a compliant and gave me a case ID number and asked me to submit the case ID to bank.

I went down to the bank and gave my case ID and I refunded $4.50 the very next day.

The bank assumed responsibility for the internet fraud and refunded my money.

Hats off to that credit union. Since that was my first time in the US, I was amazed by quality of service of the bank and cop. In fact, I was feeling guilty that after all for $4.50, I wasted their precious time.

Imagine the same scene in India. Hardly anyone would be bothered saying, its just Rs. 250… Buzz off… I was only feeling pity, how bad the condition is in India. Forget about cops reaching out to us, even ambulance doesn’t reach n proper time in India and because of this many people are daily killed in India.

So, In all, I think if your case genuine like me, calling 911 wouldn’t cost a pie. May be this rule varies from state to state. I am shocked to hear that calling 911 costs $500. But its good for all of us to know both kinds of experience.

Photo Credit

Similar Posts

6 Comments

  1. In India, the Pizza guy arrives faster than an ambulance. I had a terrible experience when I had to hospitalize my dad. It was an emergency and I called the ambulance, they are asking me which “city” am I in. Seriously, “city”?. We don’t have a station for every city? He was having severe seizures and I told him the address, he’s like we are on the way. Waited for like 10 minutes, called him back, he’s like “We need time to get there. We don’t have a jet”. I got pissed off, hung up and took him to the nearest hospital in a taxi. He arrives at my place half an hour later and calls me back. By the time, my dad was in the ICU and he was safe. I told him that we already bought him to the hospital and he rages on me for calling them and not using their service. Balls. This is the pathetic quality of life here.

  2. I agree with the Quality Of Service, that is the rush for everyone to get here and get settled here. but you dont have to call Emergency services for credit card theft, you should call 911 if it is an life threatening emergency, not sure why your US Mananger also advised you to call 911. In situations like these you call contact your local police station. you can look up google for you city police station.

  3. This is a common mistake (of not reporting/calling 911) most people do.

    Think of it from an overall perspective. Were you the only one to have been swindled $4.5? what if there were a 100 other people who experienced the same? What if there were a million people who paid $4.5, received nothing and didn’t complain? It’d be a $4.5 million dollar scam! So any kind of reporting helps law enforcement agencies (in US) work better. Most “million dolar +” scams involve amounts less than a dollar per transaction, and since its so small, people fail to notice that they are being scammed.

    Indian law enforcement agencies are so severely understaffed, along with people’s indifference to the issues plaguing the Police system that they (law enforcement agencies) can rarely afford to give this level of service.

    btw, the credit union that refunded you the money, lost nothing. Its the global payments companies (visa, mastercard etc) that cover these kind of frauds. So, all that your bank did was, give you the refund, and ask the refund from that credit card processor.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *