Short on time (and patience)...... So no real thoughts today, just ranting......

Today, I took something personal.

Two months ago I set up an account to pay my phone bill online, thinking it would save the time of writing the check, and waiting longer for it to clear my bank. I did so, and got a nice message with a confirmation number telling me my payment has been accepted. Problem was it hadn't been. I kept watching for the payment to clear the bank, and almost three weeks later (on the day the payment was due), I called the phone company to check on it. Seems the payment was returned for some reason, that (forty minutes on hold later) nobody could really explain why. As silly as it sounds they also could not tell me 1) why I recieved confirmation if it really wasn't (I can kinda get this one as you need to have something to let you know the process went as it was suppose to even if it didn't go all the way), and 2) if (as the very nice - third person that I waited to talk to - lady on the phone told me) the check was returned as "no account found" TWO days after I attemped to make the payment, WHY WASN'T I NOTIFIED???????

Could it be that the corporation makes more money on all the fees they get to try and put past us if we don't pay close attention and/or endure agonizing time (if we even have the luxury of being able to spend agonizing time) on hold? Or is it because it is the consumer's responsibilty to "prove" that payment was made, therefore why should the corporation spend money on staff to assist customers with problems, even when IT IS THE CUSTOMER PAYING FOR THE SERVICE????? What have we allowed to happen to us? Talk about giving away your power!

Okay! Okay! I will get to the point of today..... Recieved a new bill (that nice lady I was talking about above was able to take my payment for first bill, and last month the whole online payment thing worked out fine) today, and it says in big bold letter with asterisks for emphasis "CASH ONLY". You have got to be kidding me? Here I have to say, that paying my bills early (not on time) is a big deal to me, and my checking account/debit card (I have not used credit in close to three years, because I believe many of the credit card practises are criminal, so I choose not to do business with them) was NEVER the problem, and some computer is telling me that I have to go out of my way to find a (phone) store to give them a cash payment. YOU BET I TOOK THAT PERSONALLY!!!!! And to get to the point, after spending sixty-five (no kidding) minutes - the last thirty-five waiting for the third person to pick up before giving in and hanging up -waiting I contacted customer complaint to insist they get that insult off of my bill.

Of course, there is no way for the computer to fix the mistake until the next billing cycle, but Scott (ALWAYS get a name and phone number) promised he would remove any charges incurred because of the problem. Of course it is my responsibilty to notify him if I need him to take any charges off.... and we let them get away with calling that customer service.

Isn't it interesting that he told me to make a payment by phone with my debit card ( which I did without problem), but couldn't explain to me how I could do so with a "cash only" notation on my bill? When I am in charge of the word.......

I bet you have been reading this saying "been there, done that" (or some form of it) haven't you? The bigger question here is, "What's a comsumer to do"????