We don't care. We don't have to care.
We're the Telephone Company.
At SBC, We're part of the problem.
We had a run-in with the telephone company today. I picked up the phone to make a call and got those wonderful "trouble tones" (doo Doo DOO! We're sorry, but…). Our service had been temporarily disconnected.
$%^@&*()!
What happened was this:
Our Dec. bill had gotten mislaid, so it wasn't paid on time. This has happened before; I simply pay both bills in the next month's check.
On Dec. 29, The Phone Company wrote us a letter (standard envelope, no special markings) to remind us that the payment was late and if we didn't pay the required "basic" service cost (approx. $21) by Jan 7 our service "could be" temporarily suspended. Note "could be" not "will be". This has happened before.
We picked up the mail from our PO box on Saturday (Jan 7). That mail contained the aforementioned letter as well as the telephone bills for January. I wrote checks on Monday and set them out to mail but they weren't yet in the mail.
On Thursday I discovered that our telephone service was not working. I told Rich. While I went to mail the checks, Rich called the phone company, charged the delayed amount on a credit card, and the Phone Company said they would turn the service back on.
Begin Rant
- They didn't even give us a 1 month grace period. Our Health insurance has a 30-day grace period. Our credit cards have a 30-day grace period and a late fee. Our property insurance has a 60 day grace period.
SBC gave us 9 days from the date of the letter, presuming date of mailing and assuming date of receipt. They actually gave us no time at all from actual receipt.
- The letter said our service "could be" discontinued.
- Neither the letter nor the envelope were labeled URGENT nor was there anything on the envelope to attract special notice.
- This is the Phone Company we're discussing, but no courtesy call was placed, no voicemail was left for us to be sure we "got the message".
- The total amount owed was less than $90.00. The "minimum" amount owed was less than $25. The time delay was less than 30 days.
We've had this number for nearly 20 years.
So much for customer service.
vlbrown-mzydt 