Some of you may remember my rant about the phone company. A couple of years ago I woke up to find no phone service in my home. When I got to work I called them and after the usual treasure hunt to get to a person who could help me, I was shocked to discover that as far as they were concerned, we had willingly had our phone service discontinued. It seemed that some fly-by-night company sent them a form letter that said that we had agreed to move our service to this new company. I mean, it was on letterhead, so I guess they had to believe it! Apart from all of this, and the argument that ensued when they wanted to charge me for reinstatement of my phone service, and the fact that it would take 3-5 business days to even get my service back…the kicker for me, the real absolute unbelievable kicker was that after all of it, they had the nerve to tell me that my husband would have to call them and request the service be reinstated because the account was in his name. Even as I write this, I still can’t believe. Never mind that they took away our service in the first place because some letter arrived in their mail, signed by neither myself nor my husband, and never mind that we had requested by phone and by letter at least three times in the past that my name be added to the account, but no. He had to phone. You may be able to tell that I am still not over it. By the way, we are no longer with that phone service provider. There are some things you just can’t forgive.
Recently my daughter and I were on a trip to New Jersey. One night while chilling in front of the TV in our hotel room, we discovered a new channel. We liked it and decided to find out about adding it to our tv satellite package when we got home. The other night I thought about it while I was channel surfing and finding nothing to watch. I got out my last bill and called them. Naturally, it took awhile to get through and I sat through several renditions of “please note, this call may be monitored for training purposes” and “your estimated wait time is five minutes” followed two minutes later by “your estimated wait time is five minutes”.
Eventually I got through to a person and happily gave her my name, address and account number.
I explained what I was interested in. She asked me to hold for a moment, and then came back with “I am afraid I can’t help you. The account is in your husband’s name. He will have to call and make the request”. Sigh. I know, I should have seen it coming.
I tried again. “On [insert date here – which I remembered because it was recent and the same day I got my hair cut] I was in your office with my husband replacing some hardware and we requested at that time that my name be added to the account”.
Silence.
“I have no record of that on the account. Your husband will have to call and request the change”.
Maybe, if she had at a least said she was sorry, I would have just let it go.
“Let me ask you a question”, I said. “I have a User ID set up on your website where I can go and make this change myself. Silly me, I thought it would be easier to call as I had some questions. However, if I can go and do this online, even though you say I have no authority on the account, then why can’t I do it on the phone with you?”
“One moment please”. I pictured her putting her hand over the phone and whispering to the person beside her.. “Got a real winner here!”
“Ma’am, you will have to get your husband to call and make any necessary changes”.
“Okay, I just want to make sure I understand. You are saying I personally have no rights on this account, correct?”
“Yes ma’am”.
“Okay. It’s good to know that if something were to happen to my husband, I am not responsible for any outstanding balance owing on the account, having no rights on it and all.”
More silence. I could feel her rolling her eyes through the phone.
Before she could hang up on me, I added “Thank you for your help, and please note that this call may have been recorded for training purposes”.
I know, but it made me feel better.
Recently my daughter and I were on a trip to New Jersey. One night while chilling in front of the TV in our hotel room, we discovered a new channel. We liked it and decided to find out about adding it to our tv satellite package when we got home. The other night I thought about it while I was channel surfing and finding nothing to watch. I got out my last bill and called them. Naturally, it took awhile to get through and I sat through several renditions of “please note, this call may be monitored for training purposes” and “your estimated wait time is five minutes” followed two minutes later by “your estimated wait time is five minutes”.
Eventually I got through to a person and happily gave her my name, address and account number.
I explained what I was interested in. She asked me to hold for a moment, and then came back with “I am afraid I can’t help you. The account is in your husband’s name. He will have to call and make the request”. Sigh. I know, I should have seen it coming.
I tried again. “On [insert date here – which I remembered because it was recent and the same day I got my hair cut] I was in your office with my husband replacing some hardware and we requested at that time that my name be added to the account”.
Silence.
“I have no record of that on the account. Your husband will have to call and request the change”.
Maybe, if she had at a least said she was sorry, I would have just let it go.
“Let me ask you a question”, I said. “I have a User ID set up on your website where I can go and make this change myself. Silly me, I thought it would be easier to call as I had some questions. However, if I can go and do this online, even though you say I have no authority on the account, then why can’t I do it on the phone with you?”
“One moment please”. I pictured her putting her hand over the phone and whispering to the person beside her.. “Got a real winner here!”
“Ma’am, you will have to get your husband to call and make any necessary changes”.
“Okay, I just want to make sure I understand. You are saying I personally have no rights on this account, correct?”
“Yes ma’am”.
“Okay. It’s good to know that if something were to happen to my husband, I am not responsible for any outstanding balance owing on the account, having no rights on it and all.”
More silence. I could feel her rolling her eyes through the phone.
Before she could hang up on me, I added “Thank you for your help, and please note that this call may have been recorded for training purposes”.
I know, but it made me feel better.
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