It's back on now, thankfully. My wife and I use the internet for basically everything. It's one of our main forms of communication, we watch our TV shows with it, I look for jobs largely with the internet, etc....
Unfortunately, we frequently forget to pay the bill. This is not really a big deal, as all that happens is a few days after it's due, some automated switch kicks us off line. Then I call the automated phone line, type in my credit card number, and an automated switch puts us back online. It takes about five minutes.
But this time when I tried to call, I was informed my balance was not the usual 30 dollars, but 50. Upon speaking with a customer service rep, it was actually like 150, because they apparently decided to send someone out to physically disconnect us. Even worse, with the holidays a lot of people were either getting service or needed service repaired, so it would after the new year before we got plugged back in!!!!
I know what some people might be thinking. "Well, pay the bill on time and that won't happen!"
That's the same thing the customer service rep told me. It's not their fault of course, its mine for not paying the bill. My problem with this is that they've never done it before. It had become an established routine, through repetition, that I don't get disconnected for missing a payment. I get shut off, and a quick payment puts me back on. I like to think of it as a little thing called precedent.
"But, but, but, they must have gotten tired of reminding you! It wastes man hours to have someone shut off your account, take a payment, and then turn it back on!"
Actually, it doesn't. It's all automated. The only human being involved is me.
I honestly think it was a mistake that they shut me off, because my service was mysteriously reconnected on Tuesday. I'm guessing that with all the extra business someone got confused and unplugged the wrong wire. I'm sure its happened before.
Unfortunately, we frequently forget to pay the bill. This is not really a big deal, as all that happens is a few days after it's due, some automated switch kicks us off line. Then I call the automated phone line, type in my credit card number, and an automated switch puts us back online. It takes about five minutes.
But this time when I tried to call, I was informed my balance was not the usual 30 dollars, but 50. Upon speaking with a customer service rep, it was actually like 150, because they apparently decided to send someone out to physically disconnect us. Even worse, with the holidays a lot of people were either getting service or needed service repaired, so it would after the new year before we got plugged back in!!!!
I know what some people might be thinking. "Well, pay the bill on time and that won't happen!"
That's the same thing the customer service rep told me. It's not their fault of course, its mine for not paying the bill. My problem with this is that they've never done it before. It had become an established routine, through repetition, that I don't get disconnected for missing a payment. I get shut off, and a quick payment puts me back on. I like to think of it as a little thing called precedent.
"But, but, but, they must have gotten tired of reminding you! It wastes man hours to have someone shut off your account, take a payment, and then turn it back on!"
Actually, it doesn't. It's all automated. The only human being involved is me.
I honestly think it was a mistake that they shut me off, because my service was mysteriously reconnected on Tuesday. I'm guessing that with all the extra business someone got confused and unplugged the wrong wire. I'm sure its happened before.
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