Sweet Gummi Mary! You'd think Mrs. HM lives in an alternate universe where a job worth doing is not really worth doing. How many different service entities can make my life miserable? That's a rhetorical question. No need for you to count it up. Let's see... I've already had issues with the billing procedures of Farmer H's nurse practitioner, my nurse practitioner, my previous health insurance provider, my previous trash service, DISH, the post office, FedEx, Sprint, my bank not wanting to give me access to my own money... I'm going to run out of hands to count them on!
Wednesday, I stopped at Mailbox Row to clean out EmBee before heading to town for my 44 oz Diet Coke. I had a receipt from Newmentia for my health insurance premium. A thank-you letter/receipt from a charity I donate to every year. And something from our new trash service. Huh. That looked suspiciously like a bill.
It WAS a bill!!! That's just not possible. As you may recall, when I switched trash services, I found out that I had the option to pay for 12 months, and get 13 months of service. You can bet I hopped on that bargain like Farmer H on a Casey's donut! No way has it been 13 months already. I paid for a year's worth of trash pick-up on October 3rd. Unfortunately, I've switched out my checkbook register since I paid the trash bill. It was in with my tax stuff on the desk in my dark basement lair.
Of course I was stewing in my own juices during the whole trip to town and back. A trip that is usually pleasant, with the re-emergence of the sun, and temps just over the freezing mark. I KNEW that I shouldn't be getting a bill. Now I would have to convince the trash company of that. And in what is surely irony, I had passed the trash truck on my way to EmBee, it headed toward the Mansion.
Once back home, I fixed my lunch and headed to the lair. Before anything else, I found my check number and date, and the amount I'd paid for 12 months (plus one FREE). I can't call places like that on my cell, from the lair. We don't have good service inside the Mansion. The trash company is over in Bill-Paying Town, which is long distance on my AT&T landline service. But whatcha gonna do? I didn't want to hike back up those 13 steps and stand on the porch. I called.
Of course I got an automated message about pushing 3 for billing questions. Let it ring 12 times, then got an option to leave a message. I did. With all the pertinent facts, and the invoice number of the bill. This was at 2:00. At 3:07, I had received no response. So I called back. Got a person immediately.
Funny how she didn't ask for my name or address or account or invoice. I explained that I'd received a bill for March-May, but I'd paid for a year back in October. She assured me that everything was okay on their end. That they had just switched to their new billing software, and the letters went out without showing a credit at the bottom for the months I'd paid for. She knew all this without any data to look up my account.
Okay. Sure. If she said so. I guess I don't owe anything. I wonder how long before I get a past-due notice...
I will have to remember that explanation so I can use it as an excuse when things go awry here. My usual go-to excuse is to tell the complainer that my husband is an idiot and it is his fault. Works really good. Most of them laugh. Some men think I am mean. But, I am mean to HeWho sometimes and he does act like an idiot at times, so ...
ReplyDeleteKathy,
ReplyDeleteI think you have a good excuse. Nobody will question why you didn't check into their details.
Well at least she was calm while explaining things to you and not trying to blame you for any misunderstanding or mispayment or anything. Seems to me she knows what's going on.
ReplyDeleteRiver,
ReplyDeleteYes, I have a feeling she was getting a tremendous amount of calls, and that was the fastest way to pacify customers without getting into details of their assorted complaints.