Fax machines have by and large gone the way of the dodo.

But that doesn’t mean they can’t still be a handy tool for some malicious compliance.

Like in this story… let’s dial in.

Need me to send in proof of my name change? Fine, enjoy your jammed fax machine.

So.. I was granted a legal name change a few months ago.

Long, boring story as to why.

Simply put – hated the ‘unique’ spelling of my first name and wanted to ditch my surname.

These things can be a hassle.  Wonder what roadblock OP will encounter.

Didn’t have much trouble updating my name most places.

Social security, driver’s license, insurance, yada yada.

No bumps in the road until I got to the very last thing to update.

My credit card.

Should be easy enough to change. What gives?

I use this particular credit card a lot.

I’m self employed and use this card to rack up travel points for flights, hotels, rental cars, etc.

However, if you’ve ever checked into a hotel or picked up a rental car, you’ll know the name on the card must match the name on the ID.

So I call the CC company.

Told I have to fill out a certain document and mail that in, alongside a copy of the court document.

Fair enough.

Two weeks go by. Hear nothing, so call again.

They say they haven’t received it.

I’m then informed they have a fax number that I can use to send in the documentation.

Something tells me those fax facts aren’t gonna solve this problem…

So I fax in everything necessary using an app on my phone.

Another two weeks go by. Still nothing.

I call again.

Same spiel on the other end of the phone. “Please mail or fax……” You get the deal.

Classic runaround.

I once more did what they asked. Yet another week passes.

I call…. again. Told the same darn script. I’m starting to get annoyed by this point.

I have an upcoming trip planned and need the card to match my ID.

So I ask to speak to a manager.

They give me some BS of a manager not being currently available…

Anyways.

I fax in the document and court order once again.

However, this time I decided I was just going to keep hitting send after the previous one had shown as delivered.

I thought I’d repeat the process a few times.

Just to ‘make sure’ they got it.

Hehehe. Over/under her sending this in a hundred times?

After sending it 25 times the first day, I got no response.

Next day I was sitting on my couch watching football.

Thought I’d send the fax a few more times.

By the time I realized how many times I’d hit send, I had sent it over 130 times.

Over! Did it work?

The very next afternoon I got a call from a manager at CC company.

She sounded quite angry over the phone. I just played dumb.

“You guys asked me to fax it in…”

I got my updated card in the mail 3 days later.

Like a charm. They really earned that new name, whatever it is.

How do our commenters feel?

Here’s someone who wrote a short short film about the encounter…

A classic, “This is easier in Europe,” anecdote…

A good ol’ “remember when” tale of fax machine MC.

Someone who says, there’s two sides to every story.

And an idea to optimize this malicious compliance.

If at first you don’t succeed, try 130 more times.

Or something.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.