If there’s one thing that pisses me off, it’s crappy customer service.
When we were preparing to move from Ohio to Virginia, and I was setting up our phone service, I was told we would have to supply a $55 deposit. I was given an address to send a check to. I sent it on May 22. A week goes by, and it hasn’t cleared. 2 weeks–hasn’t cleared. So I call back, and I’m told that, no, they haven’t received it, but I can charge it to a credit card. Oh, yeah, and it’s only $40, not $55.
So I charge it to a credit card. Lo and behold, a week later, the check clears. Great.
I get my first phone bill yesterday, and it’s one-hundred and twenty fucking dollars! Wait just a cotton-picking minute–you have $95 in deposits from me and I get a $120 phone bill? With only one long-distance call? No, sorry. So I call them to check it out, and they tell me they’ll investigate and re-bill me.
THen, I get a call from Leigh-Anne on her cellphone today telling me our service is out. No dial tone. She’s waiting for a call and/or e-mail concerning a job offer letter. I call the phone company for her, they tell me they can’t get anyone out until Saturday. Saturday?! 2-3 days with no phone?? Uh-uh. Unacceptable. Absolutely not acceptable.
“That’s the earliest we can get anyone there, there’s a huge backlog.”
“Yeah, well, maybe if your shit didn’t keep BREAKING, there wouldn’t BE a backlog!!”
Don’t fucking get me started on Whore Atlantic. I spent the worst year of my life with them. So then this cheery telemarketer from MCI offers to switch my local service to his company. I thought it was great, so I got a good deal and switched. Then I moved, in the last week in May.
I am still waiting for the fuckers at MCI to give me my goddamned number back. There is no phone service in my house. I need to use my cell phone for everything, which is racking up a massive bill. Since I only moved a short distance, I am keeping the same number. But MCI never even disconnected phone service from my previous apartment. So the new tenants can’t get their own phone number, and accused me of flaking. At least MCI is not making them pay for it. They could be calling fucking Chechnya and no one would pay for it.
So what is taking MCI so long? One moronic bungle after another. Here’s the best one: when they entered my phone number into the repair order program, they left the capslock key on. So when my phone number came up for repair, they get something like this: @*)%**#(. And they never bother to call.
They say they are giving me a $150 credit to my account. But I’ll believe it when I see it. Monkey Cock Ingesters.
Did I mention my electric bill doubled this month?
Nyah nyah nyah. That make you feel good? Fucking pedantic indeed.
Anyway, they don’t necessarily even use normal computer platforms. If they use some industrial computer that looks like an old tandy, who knows how it might work? Unless you are familiar with the MCI repair mainframe…
Phil, the deposit may need to sit for a few months before they’ll credit it to your account. Admittedly, they should have told you this. And no phone for 3 days? WTF? I’d call every person in that damn office, and KEEP calling, until someone comes out. I’ve done this, and then they fix it just to get fucking rid of you.
My horror story seems mild in comparison. We called to have a second line installed in our apartment for my computer. My roomie and I are online almost 24/7, and we don’t have DSL, so this way we can still get calls. Called Bell Atlantic, set it up, and was told they’d be out in 2 days between 8 and 12 to install it. No problem. roomie had a meeting at work, so I stayed home. Apartment guys were coming in to fix things anyway. 12 comes…and goes. I call Bell Atlantic, PISSED. “Oh, they couldn’t make it. Maybe tomorrow?” I was shocked. I just said “No, some of us have JOBS. I want that technician out here TODAY. NOW.” Technician finally came at 6pm. Grrrrr.
You bet your ass they should have told me, Falc. In any case, once they got the $40 on the card, then cashing the $55 check constitutes a payment. That should have immediately been applied to my account balance, yielding a beginning balance of $55.00 CR.
It would have been easier if you hadn’t actually been right. I believed the apoligetic drivel vomoted by the customer service rep on the phone. It didn’t even cross my mind that either she is lying or she might be wrong.
I think you were had by Atlantic Bell when they told you to send them a deposit. The only time I was required to submit a utility deposit was when I migrated out of the dorms. I’ve lived all over, and therefore have had the opportunity to sign up with at least 4 Bell companies. As long as you have a good previous utility record, they shouldn’t require a deposit.
Of course, that only leaves about 20 other things for me to be pissed about with phone service experiences. Such as when they assign me a new line, and the first month shows $400 worth of international calls because the phone co. didn’t make sure no one was already using that particular number. :rolleyes:
PLDennison, be glad you didn’t go with Star Power. We’re still waiting for them to fix the “billing problem” from over a month ago when we switched over and they switched services on the phone lines. They set up the computer phone line with call waiting, caller ID, and all the bells and whistles while giving the regular phone line the bare minimum, meaning we were charged an exhorbant amount for going over the minimum # of calls alloted.
I once paid a phone bill with a money order (not unusual - I didn’t have a checking account back then). A few weeks later, my phone was cut off. I called them (from the office, of course) and asked why. They told me that they never received a check. After about 1/2 hour of discussion, I finally convinced the guy that the must have gotten lost in the mail, and I was not, in fact, out to screw them. So he told me to put a stop payment on the money order, and send another one, and he restored my service immediately.
Fine. All is well with the world, right? Fuck no.
Two weeks later, my phone is cut off again. Why? Because I put a stop payment on the money order! The bitch I was talking to this time literally accused me of trying to cheat them, called me names, and refused to let me speak to a manager! And she refused to give me her name, the slimy wench. Probably because she knew I’d get her fired. Grrrr!
pldennison, be thankful its them and not Pacific Bell. I just married in March and moved to a new house. We had our service transferred. When we requested the transfer, they asked if we’d like one of those phones with caller id built in, availible in cordless or stationary. I said sure give me a stationary (I already loose my remote daily)for $99.
Two weeks later I receive a phone bill for $258.00, Im thing maybe I made too many LD calls. No, they recharged me for all the services I was signed up for , you know voice mail, *69, etc. They said it (the additional services) doesn’t transfer they’re set up fees, this despite the fact that I have the same number. Next week, I receive another bill this one for $415.00 (I hadnt paid the bill yet) but on this bill is acharge for $149 for a phone. I call them, tell them the phone i wanted was $99, the lady said she’d correct it and ensure I receive the correct phone.
Next week, guess what, I get three phones via UPS, two cordless and the one I wanted. Now Im really pissed, and call Pac Bell. “I under no circumstances are paying for three phones”. The lady says no problem, send the other two back. Ive paid the original bill of $256 and receive a bill maybe a week later for nearly $600, sure enough they’ve charge me for all three phones.
To may a long story short, it took roughly 10 more calls to get all the billing right, after repeated threats to cancel my service and sending all my stuff to “Seven on your side”
Fire Bell Atlantic. As Maeglin and others point out, you probably don’t want to go with a reseller because they simply aren’t very good yet. But you may have alternatives. Check with your super to see if other wireline companies have attached directly to your building.
Or, you could cut the cord entirely. You have the advantage of living in one of the best-built, competitive wireless markets in the country. I’ll bet that moving up to a big bucket of minutes with your wireless provider would cost less than your current wireline bill. So as long as you can get a cablemodem or DSL for internet access, you can kill your dialtone forever.
I tell ya, if Hell Atlantic doesn’t fix my “dirty line” problem soon, I’m going to cut the cord, and NY wireless service isn’t nearly as reliable as it is in northern Virginia.
Anthracite, where do you live? I work for a CLEC that is in competition with SWB. If you live in one of the areas we serve, you would probably be better off with us.
Hey, I got my title for a reason, folks! As to the OP:
I’m stuck with US West now Quest. And they should go ON a quest. To understand that I pay them for service, not to just take my money every month.
Every time I have a problem the first thing they do is check to see if I have “line-backer” service. I don’t. Then they say, “You know, if the problem is coming from inside the house (like this is a horror movie or something) you’ll have to pay for the repair and us even coming out there.” This is said very rude, threatening, like I should just be happy my calls go through!
Three times they have been out here because of all the noise on the line. And three times it’s a switching or software problem. Grand! I say. Fix it then. Nope. Nothing changes. Nothing happens. I would love to switch but there isn’t another company. GRRR!
Actually, deposits are held by a third party (usually a bank or holding company that makes interest off of millions of dollars in deposits), and are not accessable by you or Bell Atlantic unless you don’t pay your bill.
I had to go through this when I wanted to get my deposit back from GTE. I had to deal with the bank, because they said that GTE never told them I had discontinued service, and GTE told me that they had told the bank to release the deposit.
I hear you Byzantine - I have Useless West also. I called them out for noisy lines twice. They said it was house wiring. Finally I ran my computer line out to the US West box. They finally gave me a new pair of wires.
Fugazi – they kept saying it was my modem that was doing it. Fine, I removed that line… guess what? Still, noise. I ran the line out to the box and still, noise. They STILL won’t fix it. I call and call. I guess they think they can wear me down but since I work out of my house, I’m always available for their folks to come out. I just know this pisses them off to no end!
I figure if I keep after them they will eventually fix it just to get me to go away. But that is very poor customer service; solving problems just because someone won’t stop complaining. I wonder how many people give up after the first call…
I believed the apoligetic drivel vomoted by the customer service rep on the phone. It didn’t even cross my mind that either she is lying or she might be wrong.