PAY....YOUR.....BILL!!!

[tenzilkem]

I maintain a job on the currently handling issues for a cable company. Mentally, I am needing alcohol to remove the stupidity of the callers, Here's some gems....

A "gentleman" calls in to order big ppv wrestling event, his acct is dlqt by a huge amount (close to 400 and another 500 with his next bill coming due with all the porn and wrestling crap he orders). After a little over 30 days the computers halt pay per view services until the bill is caught up. It seems the customer never recieved his bill in the mail and is now 40+ days late! He tells me since he never got the bill he isn't delinquent! Well, he didn't get his event, he didn't pay his bill and hung up on me. Yep, let's see you get that wrestling tonight dude.

Another guy calls in also to order the same event, well his bill is one day late. Sucks, but yeah one day late is still late. Says he sent in the check...that's nice, it takes about 10 days for a mailed in bill to process. Says he will pay over the phone if we can send the check back. Sorry, when it comes in and if a payment was made via phone or a payment center....that check just is put towards next months bill. He can have the payment halted but that's all that can be done to stop the payment. Gets made, hangs up, gets guy next to me same story, customer says he will disconnect if we don't give it to him, nope, and even supervisor comes by to say, not happening!

And a quick one here non bill related. Customer is upset that she can't watch tv, bill is caught up, no video issues in her area. She is convinced the : that separates the hour and minutes on her cable box is causing her tv not to come on. Nope, that just means as the : blinks that is the passing of the seconds. Her tv when the power button is physically pressed is not an issue with her cable company but her tv. She screams it worked yesterday!! Well, still not our issue, I try to get her the number for her tv manufacturer and she hangs up. She calls in and the lucky bastard next to me gets another one of my misfits that disconnected from the call with me. She screams at him the same thing, she wants a manager who proceeds to tell her nope not out issue, but if she really wants someone to come out from us to check it out, since its not our equipment we can send someone out for a $50 service charge and we still can't guarantee he can fix it since he's just going to make sure our equipment isn't at fault and the soonest he can be there is Wednesday! Yep, she hung up on him too.

[Syriilord]

Call 2 did make a reasonable request, but from my reading of it, he started getting sucky when he found out he couldn't have what he wanted.
Which is how most sucky customers start out

[workerbee222]

Dear departed FIL used to repair TVs for a living. He allowed people to save face a lot, by suggesting before he came out that the customer try "reversing the polarity on the plug." Before plugs had a wide and narrow end, they would fit into the socket either way. This suggestion allowed the customer a few moments to crawl behind the tv, realize it was unplugged, and "fix" the problem them selves.

By the way, my tv wasn't working the other day, either. I unplugged it for a few seconds, and plugged it back in. Problem solved.

Usually, there are several mail notices before the disconnection actually takes place. I've been late paying all kinds of things, I know.
I also know enough to act humble and apologetic for creating the problem and extra paperwork in the first place.

[cinema guy]

OT: Tenzilkem, I love your avatar. It's very witty.

[tenzilkem]

On the 2nd guy, I am sorry but when you are late you are late. That system was put in place so they don't run up their bill higher by ordering more and more things they can't afford. It might suck, but they retain full access to all their other normal channels. It might be fun to get ppv, but if you can't pay the bill on time it might be worth thinking about saving money where you can. Had he paid the amount owed he would have the ppv in minutes easily and it wasn't a high amount he owed either.

[Android Kaeli]

There's no reason what so ever that the first two customers didn't call in to pay for their late service, bill or not. I've done that recently, because I didn't recieve a bill and even though I requested a new one sent to me, that one also went MIA. So I called in and paid it that way, simple as using common sense: if one way won't work, find another way.

The third one is just crazy.

[chainedbarista]

It seems the customer never recieved his bill in the mail and is now 40+ days late!

*calls bullshit on that one* why not just make a call and, i don't know, FIND OUT FOR YOURSELF? you order something, it costs; those charges don't magically appear or dissapear. if the bill is awol, call the company and find out.

stupid people.

[Legal Eagle]

There's no reason what so ever that the first two customers didn't call in to pay for their late service, bill or not. I've done that recently, because I didn't recieve a bill and even though I requested a new one sent to me, that one also went MIA. So I called in and paid it that way, simple as using common sense: if one way won't work, find another way.

But my point is the guy in tale 2 did pay his bill, he sent in payment, but because of the payment system in place in the company he was treated as if he hadn't paid.

[Andara Bledin]

But my point is the guy in tale 2 did pay his bill, he sent in payment, but because of the payment system in place in the company he was treated as if he hadn't paid.

He claimed he sent in his bill. Until it's been processed by accounting, it's so much hot air as far as the CS guy is concerned.

If he's mailing in his payment so close to the due date, that's his choice, and this is the result.

Since he obviously knows that he can make payments over the phone, he should have done that in the first place and avoided the time to post and delays incumbent with mailed payments.

^-.-^

[Ben_Who]

"Bill? What bill?" is a pretty common way to attempt to weasel out of making a payment. I've used it a couple of times myself (yes, 20 years ago when I was first living on my own and rolling pennies for gas money; I haven't always been the mature, successful professional you see barely standing before you today) but I've never used it to pretend a bill isn't DUE, but just to stall for time. "What? Bill? Well, let me get that check right out to you then...No, I don't have a credit card..."

At some point I'd like to make a list of all the things irresponsible "customers" have convinced themselves of to justify their behavior. "I didn't receive the bill = I don't owe a bill" is stunningly common.

Love, Who?

[PepperElf]

OT: Tenzilkem, I love your avatar. It's very witty.

o dang... i just noticed that. ROFL.

and yeah. interesting how watching sports events are SUPER IMPORTANT.
but paying the bill on time isn't...

[MoonCat]

interesting how watching sports events are SUPER IMPORTANT.

"But I was going to pay the bill with my winnings from the bet I made on this wrestling match!"

[tenzilkem]

Personally, I'd love to reactivate someones services for ppv just on their word that they say they have sent in the check, but the reality is that so many of em are full of shit. My electric bill doesn't show up, I go online to see what it is. They have the same option to do so, hell they don't even have to have it at home they can go online ANYWHERE and access the website. So the excuse I never got it doesn't fly. You have the means via phone or internet to get it. You know the bill comes due once a month whether you recieve it or not. I have little sympathy for folks when they are too lazy to attempt to be responsible for themselves. That's why cable companies set up options to stop them from running up the bill higher.

And the avatar came from a picture put on a Doctor Who forum. Yay for some Doctor Who love!

[Teefies2]

While I agree with everyone that most SCs claim they didn't get a bill and therefore they don't owe it, or "the check is in the mail" BS, I have to share what happened to me this month.

I have a bill that's due on the 12th of every month, I know that & I send the check out on time every month. This month, I got my statement (dated the 15th) that stated they had not received any payment from me and tacking on a late charge (which BTW was higher than the actual interest they charge!). I called, because I knew I had sent the check on the 7th (okay, I probably should have sent it a day or two earlier, but money's tight). This is what they told me "Your bill is due on the 12th of every month, you must send it in time for us to receive it by then BLAH BLAH BLAH (you're a deadbeat)". Thing is, I sent it on the 7th, but they claim they didn't receive it until the 19th. Allowing for two weekends in there, that means my check took 8 business days to reach the office that is two states away. Now I know the PO is having money issues, but 8 business days for 1st class mail? ARGH

Sorry, I had a point when I started, but I seem to have forgotten it. Thanks for letting me vent and sorry for the threadjack!

[Peppergirl]

I totally forgot to pay my cell bill once. I remembered about a week and a half later and did a bill pay request from my bank account.

Stupidly, I didn't call my cell company and give them a heads up that it was being processed and they shut my phone off the day after I sent the payment.

So yeah, it was in limbo between my bank and them, but I had to pay it again in order to get my service restored.

Totally my fault, I had to pay it again and had a credit on my next bill. A day late is still late. Sure, it would have been nice if they had turned my phone on when i called and explained that it was on the way, but ultimately it was on me for screwing up. Therefore, I 'sucked it up' and paid it again.

I didn't take it out on the agent or whine and cry about their policies. I had a choice - I could have waited for the e-payment to come through and go without cell phone service till it did, or deal with *my* and pay it again and have a credit on my next bill.

We can thank all the low lifes out there who lie and scam to get around the rules...they've made it so there's no flexibility nowadays.