Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Thank You For Fucking Me Big Time

So I get this call from a robot yesterday saying that I should check my phone bill balance. Now I signed up for this phone in April so I was sort of expecting to actually receive a bill sometime before the due date so I don't have to use ESP to write them a check. So instead of calling them I figure I'll go in so I can maybe look at a bill instead of hearing a number. The guy that I talked to when I started my plan was fairly knowledgeable and had won the employee of the month like two months in a row.

Apparently it really falls off after him.

I was helped by seriously two of the least intelligent people I've ever met before.
The conversation went somewhat like this:

Me: Hey I got a phone call that there was a problem with my bill, which is strange because I haven't gotten one yet
Dumb: Let me have fifty seven pieces of information to verify your identity.
(Like I'm going to steal someone's phone and then go enquire about my billing status)
Dumb: It says here that it was due on the 16th of May, did you not get a bill?
Me: No I haven't received anything yet
Dumb: So you didn't pay because you haven't received a bill?
Me: I thought it was a better plan then coming up with a number in my head.
Dumb: Well do you live.....(my address)
Me: Yeah apartment 932
Dumb: Oh it doesn't say that here, that could be the problem
Me: Yeahhhhhhh
Dumb: Well it says that you owe $147.
Me: That seems fairly high.
Dumb: Well you owe this for the phone plan, this for texting, this for activation fees...
Me: I was told they were dropping those when I signed up
Dumb: Oh really, you also owe pro-rates for the rest of April
Me: What exactly is that?
Dumb: Well since you didn't sign up on this certain day of the month, we decided you needed to pay $1-$2 a day in April until you got to that day.
Dumb: But it says here that you owe the same amount next month....
Me: Yeah I don't think so
(By this time I am getting woozy from the abundance of stupidity, and the other employee joins her behind the counter)
Dumber: Yeah it says here that you owe $147, did you want to pay that today?
Me: I wasn't planning to pay that much
(He starts breaking down the $147 again, exactly as his counterpart just had)
Me: Philip said that he was dropping the activation fee
Dumber: When did you sign up for this?
Me: April
Dumber: Well it became company policy in May not to do that
Me: Well you have Phil call me tomorrow
(I start walking toward the door)
Dumber: You know you can check your balance on your phone.
Dumber: Have a nice day.

SLAM

On the way home I get a cell phone call saying that Dumber had called Customer Service and they thought they could drop the activation fee for me. I say "good" and hang up the phone. They call me back a minute later and say that they need the last four digits of my social security number to put that through. I have to tell him twice for him to type it correctly and finally I say "Are we done?", hes halfway through yes and I slap my phone closed immediately. Never before have I felt so much that I was just getting screwed terribly. I wont pay the bill without seeing a hard copy of the fees. Hopefully I can be persistent enough tomorrow to have them drop any late fees also. But god this is a pain in the ass.

2 comments:

Stefanie said...

What phone company are you with so I can avoid them???

Mike Robertson said...

at&t