America is great. You want to know why? It's because corporations are allowed to roam free like the bufallo! Buffallo? Anyway, they free graze on our hides and pretty much do what they damn well please with just the slightest interest in providing an actual service or product. Regular readers of ThePete.Com know my adventures with Apple and now I add Sprint PCS to my corporate shit list. These guys are astounding.
WHILE I was on the phone with them last night, they cut off my service. It's OK, though, since it's free to call customer service on my phone. (We ditched the landline because Verizon was charging too much for something we never use.) Anyway, the guy can't take my credit card payment (it's all of 4 days late) without charging me a $5 processing fee but, I can hang up and dial *3 and make an automated payment for free. Yay. I hang up and see a text message saying my phone service has been disconnected. I can still dial *3, however. So I do. I pay $72 which was what the guy said I was past due and wait for my service to be restored. They say it could take as long as 4 hours.
So, I wait.
And I wait some more.
And more.
Finally, this morning I call up and complain (*2). It turns out the guy told me how much was past due without telling me it wouldn't be enough to restore service. Nice. So I ask how much that is from the collections woman (yes, my bill is 3 days late and it's in collections). Another $40 is what they need. Seems they've tacked on my current charges already and somehow I'll still owe another $105 after this--there's GOT to be a mistake here since I NEVER go over my 1000 minutes.
Flegm.
^^my new swear word^^
Anyway, so I give the woman a check over the phone and point out how the guy I spoke with last night (a chappy called "Quentin") claimed I could see what my current charges were online at sprintpcs.com. I told him I didn't believe him because I've gotten conflicting info from telephone operators before (see my MacStories category). He insisted that I'd see the same thing he saw on his computer. I told him: "No offense, but I don't believe you."
So, after I get off the phone with him (I should have done it while I was on the phone with him) I check my account on the website. Guess what--all I saw was April's bill. WHOOPS. Thanks Sprint! So I mention this to the collections woman and all she says is something like "Yeah, no, I know."
Of course, the real irony in all of this is that I'm in the process of getting a new dayjob and if they can't reach me because my phone service is disconnected, then they may decide that I'm a 'tard for not having my cell bill paid off. Too bad they have no way of knowing that I always pay that damn thing off. I have a very strong feeling that there's something screwed up about how high that bill is. Like I said, I never go over my 1000 minutes.
Thanks to their stupid system, I can't even look at what they are charging me for to see if it was indeed my screw up or theirs (their's?).
Why can't it just be simple? Every time you use your cell phone, it should trigger a script on a computer that pulls a minute out of your balance, which is recorded in a database. Then, their website could draw data directly from that database to give users an EXACT amount of minutes used. Instead, they use a system that isn't exact, isn't in real time and is confusing. I mean, why is there a difference between total minutes and total credit available?
The whole experience inspired me to give Skype a try. I voice-chatted (voice-chat?) online with my pal Tammy for about an hour, or so, and paid nothing for it. The connection was so clear it almost sounded like she was in the room with me. Sheesh. I just wish I could get Skype for my DS so I could walk away from my desk without carrying my laptop with me.
OH WELL, enough of my anti-corporate venting session. Just needed to blow off some steam. I'm sure you all can understand that!
May your day be crappy-corporate-customer-service-free!
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