Paranoia by Debbie Mascot
Best Buy my patuti. Marc got Jurassic Park III for Christmas. But it's the "full screen" version and we want the wide screen version. It came from Best Buy. (I'm having trouble writing the word "best"…). We returned it to "Best" Buy. (That felt better). We were told that without a receipt, we would only get the lowest price it had been in the last 30 days.
Jurassic Park III in full screen unopened, but without the receipt was worth $12.99. Jurassic Park III in wide screen cost $21.95. Just for fun, we asked if we returned Jurassic Park III and got Jurassic Park III what would happen. We'd have to pay an additional $8.00, because at some point in the last 30 days, even if for only 1 minute, Jurassic Park III was on sale. EIGHT DOLLARS for nothing. I don't think so.
We took it back to Walmart and did an exchange.
And for any Best Buy VIP folks… while we were there, because we were so happy with our service, we spent an additional one million dollars ($1,000,000) on movies and software. You could have had that, but instead I hate you.
Everyone is trying to rip me off. They are lining up around the block. Out to get me.
We have the AOL and Pacific Bell story (read it here... and here), the Best Buy story, the Earthlink story. What? You haven't yet heard the amusing Earthlink story? Go get a glass of water. It isn't a long story, but it fits right in with the flow.
I've switched to Earthlink. When you go online and you have Earthlink, it takes you to a page called "start.earthlink.net." Well, it tries. Mine had an error message. So I clicked Help which takes you to a page called "support.earthlink.net." Well, it tries. Mine had an error message.
I tried for three days and still got the same error message. So I emailed customer service. I got an email telling me that I needed to "Clear My Cache." In case you don't know, this is the thing that customer service people have decided takes over "Reboot." Used to be that any problem you had they'd say, "Reboot." Now they say "Clear your cache." I cleared my cache. support.earthlink.net still errored.
I emailed them again.
They emailed me back.
Guess what they said to do?
Yep.
"You can find the answer to your support question by going to support.earthlink.net." Fun. I figured it out myself.
One day later….
My auto finance company is out to get me, too. In November I got a really nice letter from the car loan people, Franklin Capital. "Because we know December is a tough month for bills, for only $25 processing fee, we will waive your car payment for the month of December and tack it on at the end."
Yay! I sent the $25. The car payment is one thing that I *DO* have automatically deducted from checking. In December, it was automatically deducted from checking. And so was my $25. So much for the nice flippin' letter. I found this out when my bank statement came. Why am I overdrawn, I thought. That's why. I called them to see what they were going to do about it, but they are only open until 5:30 on Fridays and it was 5:20 when I called. They were closed... Yes... I know.
Adding to the list of people who hate me (to remind you, so far, it's AOL, Pacific Bell, Best Buy, EarthLink and Franklin Capital), let's not forget Hotlinks.com. When I first got online many years ago, I found that I needed the same bookmarks at work that I need at home. For accessing my favorite genealogy, etc., sites. I found this site called, Hotlinks, (don't go there) and put all my favorites there. It's awesome. Well, it was. It was easy to use and share and it was free. "Was" is the important word. Now, suddenly, after 3 or 4 years of saving EVERYTHING there, it's gone. All gone. (say it like in A Christmas Story when the Bumpas hounds eat all the turkey)
They want $15.00 to let me look at it again. They have my email address. They could have warned me. But they didn't. Now I have to fork over the cash or lose the favorites. I found this out this weekend when I was wanting to put favorites on my new computer. They can kiss my patuti. I'll recreate my favorites list and add them to the list of people who are out to get me.
Maybe one day I'll be really famous and powerful and all these people will be sorry.
One day later…
Well, add Cingular Wireless to the list. I paid this bill. I paid it late, but I did pay it. And not TOO late, either. But I went to call Marc on the way home yesterday and it connected me to Cellular One's customer service department.
After a 7 minute wait for customer service (I didn't know why I was on the phone, so I pushed "1" for customer service) and explanation of why I didn't know why I was calling, I was transferred to collections and put in the Muzak system from hell for 14 minutes. Why? Well, my $104.54 payment was entered into their system as $10.54. So they shut my phone off for non-payment. I was told to go to the bank, get a copy of the check and fax it to them and when it was all worked out, I could have my phone turned back on.
"May I please speak to a supervisor?"
I was seething and put on hold. They agreed to turn my phone back on, but I'd have to get the check resolved right away. As if it is my fault they have people who 10-key worse than I do.
They truly are out to get me.
In summary, I hate all companies. Period.