As if they knew I was ready for more posting material, Cingular went ahead and sent me a statement today for a cell phone account--an account we closed about three years ago. It shows an account balance in our favor: $1.17 credit, just as it has every month for all these years.
When Diana and I were married, we decided to economize on the cell phones. We figured with a pager and a land line, one cell phone ought to be enough. We therefore cancelled one of the numbers. I faxed Cingular (AT&T wireless at the time) a note notifying them they were no longer authorized to automatically charge my credit card, and we sent in a check covering the balance for the final bill.
But then they charged my credit card anyway. As if to say, "What are you going to do about it, punk?" they flaunted their disregard for my specific written and signed deauthorization. Despite that I had at that point a balance of $0 and had closed my account, they charged the amount that was shown due on my last statement. Peeved, I called the credit card company and disputed the charge.
Big mistake. They are still punishing me, as the statement in my hand attests.
Now, I feel like I've spent the better part of my adult life participating in customer service phone calls. It doesn't bother me particularly to call in to sort these things out, unless there has been a history of repeated incompetence in dealing with a problem. I quickly realized with AT&T wireless, that I was going nowhere fast. The CS person was so friendly and willing to help me out that she insisted on sending me a check. I was reluctant because I explained that with a charge in dispute, they wouldn't be owing me money in a week or two. They sent a check anyway. And then the credit card dispute was ruled in my favor. And then I owed them the balance again. So I sent a check again.
Magically, all these futile charges going back and forth to settle this debt created a dollar and seventeen cents from nowhere. But, as they explained several months later when I politely asked if they would stop sending me statements, they could not issue a check for less than $10, so I would never see that dollar and seventeen cents. And because the balance is not 0, the statements keep coming. Despite my repeated calls to them asking them to please save a forest by keeping the dollar for themselves and not sending me any more statements, the bureaucracy that is Cingular is incapable of troubleshooting this stuck cog.
We will not be sending them a forwarding address in June.
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2 comments:
Somewhere in there, before they started sending us bills with a $1.17 credit, a customer service representative called to ask what we wanted to do about the balance of approximately $10. I told her to go ahead and send us a check. She said "no, you owe us $10. It's past-due, and if not paid promptly will be sent to collections." I told her we didn't owe them anything, and to go back and review customer service logs if she had any questions about it.
We didn't hear from them again . . . until the statements started coming.
That's funny! Well, sort of. Irritating too. Maybe someday if you are bored you can send them a check for $8.83. Maybe then they'll give you the $1.17.
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