We switched phone companies awhile ago because of a great rebate offer.
Well, we got our final bill in the mail! They charged us .70/minute instead of the usual 12! I called them up, and they tried valiantly to tell me it was their policy, blah blah blah. I told them I had a verbal agreement with them to provide their long distance until Jan 5th, not Dec 20th. They couldn’t retroactively reneg on the verbal contract without having that specified in their terms and conditions, which it isn’t.
Finally, they agreed to give us a credit back down to our .12/minute.
But I bet they have that “policy” because they know most people won’t bother to complain or will give it to their lame excuses! Buggers!
“Glitch … download” - Glitch’s final action. sniff
I hear this all the time, and I wonder why I have never once gotten any offer to switch phone companies. My friends keep telling me about these $50 checks they get in the mail that they can cash if they are willing to make the switch. Then, 6 months later, the original company sends another check to get them to switch back. I was skeptical until I saw the checks myself- he’s received three since the beginning of 1999.
Oddly enough, I work for a major communications carrier and the phone in the conference room rings at least once a week- it’s Sprint or MCI asking if we want to change our long distance service.
I don’t have an opinion on long-distance service, as I live on-campus, and get all my phone bills from the school itself. I don’t even know who our provider is. What I have a problem with is our local service provider, USWest, who will be the first against the wall when the Revolution comes. Basically, they have been walking all over the citizens, businesses, and government of New Mexico for several years now. Our phone rates are the highest out of any state they serve, and considering that we’re the poorest state they serve, that says something. The cost of a second line or a dedicated internet connection is absolutely outrageous, from what I hear from people who have tried to get these things recently. They also refuse to put any more high-speed internet connections into our state. From what I hear, there is only one as it now stands. Some months ago, some guy with a backhoe made a slight miscalculation, and a large portion of the state was 100% internet free for several days. New Mexico has one of the largest collective computing capacities out just about anywhere in the world, thanks to the presence of Los Alamos Labs, Sandia Labs, and other such Cray playgrounds, but just try connecting to them… Of course, USWest says it will do something about all of this, if the state government will just dismantle the regulatory machinery that they claim make these costs necessary. They already sponsored a bill which would turn them from a regulated monopoly to an unregulated monopoly, which the Legislature actually passed, but was vetoed by Governor Gary “Puff Daddy” Johnson, which surprised the hell out of me, because he’s virtually a Libertarian in all other respects. Well, I don’t doubt their word. I believe that if this happens, they will do all of the things they say. I also believe that they will start fucking Joe and Jane Public right up the ISDN connection. It’s almost enough to make me want to revive the lost art of blue-boxing. USWest, you can all go eat a dick, you two-bit latter-day Rockefeller wannabes. May you be hacked by anarchist cyberpunks who will program all your “We’re sorry, your call did not go through” messages to say “Go stick your head in a pig”. If you have any further questions, please press “Fuck you”. Thank you, and have a nice day.
An infinite number of rednecks in an infinite number of pickup trucks shooting an infinite number of shotguns at an infinite number of road signs will eventually produce all the world’s great works of literature in Braille.
O Glitch you are so money, man. I know exactly how you feel.
The phone company here sees fit to charge you $2 if you don’t want long distance. I call them up and say
“Can I get my long distance turned on?” to which they reply
“Have you ever had long distance service with us before?”
“No,”
“Then you must pay a deposit of $250 dollars,”
“What? That’s outrageous! What if I don’t pay it?”
“Then you will not have long distance,”
“Fine, I don’t need it, I just want this silly $2 charge off my bill.”
“I’m sorry sir, if you don’t want long distance you have to pay a $2 fee to block it.”
“But I don’t care if I have long distance or not, I just don’t think I should have to pay $2 for a service you’re not providing.”
“I’m sorry sir, that’s just the way it is.”
“But that’s insane! That’s like me asking if you want me to mow your lawn, you saying no and me charging you $2 for not to do it! That doesn’t make any sense.”
“I’m sorry sir…” click
ARRRGRRRMMMMPHHHSPLUTTER!!!
So now I have a cell phone for all my phone needs and fuck the phone nazis.
how did it start? well i don’t know i just feel the craving. i see the flesh and it smells fresh and it’s just there for the taking…
VvvV
Lexicon: Don’t let them get away with it! Don’t hang up! Demand to talk to a manager. If he tries the same stupidity tell him you are going to consult a lawyer about a possible class action suit or personal suit. Tell them you think what their are doing is illegal and unethical, and you intend to write to the editorial page of the newspaper, and contact the local news station. They’ll knuckle under, and if the don’t do it! Contact the local news station and write an editorial letter. It won’t cost you much in time or money, and maybe you’ll hit them where it hurts, the bottom line.
I used to have AT&T for about ten years. Then I got slammed by Sprint, which took all the deaf customers because they opened the Relay.
In 98, AT&T was giving a better rate so I asked to change. They said they needed proof that Im deaf so I can get that rate. Swell, visit the doc, doc gives paper saying so. like duh.
Now AT&T is charging all sorts of crap, so they come to about $6.00 per month just for those charges & no calls. Shucks, they charge $3 month even if you don’t do any long distance calls but give it back to you if you do.
GTE started that minium $3.00 crap about 4 months ago for long distance. I call about 5 minutes long distance a year. They also raised the basic rate and added a bunch of new charges. They provide the local service also. My service is now about 8.00 a month more.@#%#%ers
We have recently opened the phone market in my neck of the woods to companies like Sprint and AT & T. Well an interesting marketing ploy one tried was to have entry ballots to a contest. You have to sign the bottom to enter. Upon signing, you have agreed to switch providers, boy were there some complaints about that brainwave!
I have sent in a signed statement to my local provider telling them who will provide what. They will provide the form. I have to submit the same form to change carriers. This stops what you just referred to Poysyn.
My mother was having the long distance carrier switched at work every other month. She’s the one that pays the accounts and says who the provider will be. Instead of the normal twenty cents per minute, the bill would be for like eighty cents a minute. She sent in the form and that finished the switching.
I’m only your wildest fear, from the corners of your darkest thoughts.
Also, in Indiana (don’t know if it’s like this everywhere), you have both “short long distance” and “long long distance.”
I just discovered this recently when I got my first bill from AT&T. Previously we had been billed along with our regular phone bill. Now AT&T is billing separately. Only $1.80 in long distance charges but after they added all their bs, the bill totalled $11.94!
I had put a restriction on our account some time ago which requires written authorization to change our long distance carrier. After receiving the above-mentioned outrageous bill, I decided that now’s the time to change. So I got the form and it says that you can pick both a “short long distance” carrier AND a “long long distance” carrier. I thought I must be seeing things, but no, upon checking, I found that we have a carrier for nearby long distance calls and a carrier for all others. They may or may not be the same. In our case, they were not, and our wonderful phone company, GTE, was pulling the same bs as AT&T, charging all kinds of access charges and minimum monthly charges etc. etc.
This is a gigantic rip-off!!! From what I can discover, our new company doesn’t do this; however I’m not holding my breath.