It Pays to Pay Attention

[BlancheNoE]

I received my phone bill a couple of days ago and noticed a 12% increase. Being that I'm always curious about how these things happen, I called my AT&T customer service representative.
"Well,.." he said, " give me a minute here so I can figure it out."
"Take your time." I said, knowing exactly what was going on from the information on the bill I held in my hand.
" It looks like your service price was increased by 6% " he said.
"Yes, I know" I said, ",..and what about the other 6 % ?" I asked.
" Hmm,..." he pondered. After a minute or so he spoke again. " It looks like that other 6% is a one time service change charge."
" Yes." I said. " It appears you increased my monthly price and then charged me a one time fee for increasing my monthly price. I don't think that's very fair," I said " do you ?".
" I'll tell you what ma'am, " he said, " here's what I can do for you. I'll adjust the bill and knock off the change of service charge,..how's that?"
" Well," I said, "considering I never changed my service, I think that's the least you could do."

I'm considering canceling the service all together. This is the second time in two years they've pulled this one,...and I can't help but wonder about the 4 or 5 million customers that either didn't notice or didn't have the time to inquire. That's a sweet, easy 15 million dollar influx in one shot.
I'm in the wrong business,...or on the wrong planet. Why is this legal? This will continue unless we act together and make it much more expensive for entities to pull shit like this than not. If every person that was charged a "one time change of service" charge called when their bill increased, the phone company would have to hire so many customer service reps that it would no longer be lucrative for them to blatantly try to screw us when we're not looking.

Okay,..now ,..let's see,...levity,..levity,....OH ! Did you hear the one about a Pope and a caveman and Sarah Palin walk into a bar,...oh never mind I'm pissed.

[Chig]

That google thing looks interesting. Too bad about the invite only. It looks like you get a whole new phone number which may not reflect your area code as well.

[SydTheSkeptic]

You don't have to use a computer. If your computer's not on, it gets forwarded to whatever phone number you've set it to.

[SydTheSkeptic]

Chig, it didn't take me long to get the invite once I sent it.
And you can choose from a number of area codes, including your own.

[BlancheNoE]

Okay, Rams wins. Rams, do you have any special bundles right now? Can I pick my color of cans?
,...and when you say string, is that twine?,..cotton or hemp? Do I have to sign a contract?
I'm not interested in the pigeons at all. I have a dark green car.

[Chig]

Syd, what is in it for Google? I mean I know they want to control, spy on and analyze the universe.... but what else?
Actually I heard Google is making their own web based operating system and applications which are linux based to rival the Mac OS and Windows and all the office applications, and other software. Google is starting to scare me more than MIcrosoft.

[SydTheSkeptic]

Chig, I hear ya on that. That's why I'm keeping my land line but I didn't know if there was some way for you to figure it all out for yourself like you did the cables.

I figure I'll just use it for long distance and a few other things but never for private calls. I mean, no matter what we do, there's no telling if someone's listening in. Yeah, I'm paranoid too. I use a lot of Google's apps because they're incredibly practical but I'll never use any of them for sensitively personal stuff. I'll use 'em for school and bookmarking mostly.

[SydTheSkeptic]

You are forgiven, bitch.



;o)

[NatureJunkie]

I confess that I hardly look at my AT&T bill except to make sure that the numbers are ones I've dialed. I have a land line with no long-distance service. Instead, I use the 10-10-9-8-1 service, which comes out to three cents a minute and has no monthly fee. I started saving a bundle just on long-distance once I dropped that service from AT&T.

But the rest of the tiny charges on my bill and the increases that come once in a while, what can I say? I know they're bleeding me with a death by a thousand cuts.

[Timber]

I had a credit card company bill me a service charge and late fee several months ago on a card that not only had no balance, but that I had also closed. It took a lot of complaining for them to finally remove the charge. I also wonder how many people just go ahead and pay stuff like that without questioning it... it is ridiculous.

[SydTheSkeptic]

Timber, same thing happened to me. I threatened that I would contact my state's attorney general if they didn't stop calling.