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I opened the phone bill this morning and found dubious charges from two companies I'd never heard of. Which also apparently managed to slip them in last month in such a way that they weren't on the bill I'd received and paid, but were now listed as past due.
I called Verizon and the automated message started with a warning that, because of a "work stoppage" (apparently they're afraid of the word "strike") there were fewer agents available. Nonetheless, when, after going through bits of the phone tree and not finding a specific right choice, I said "agent" they put me through to someone in less than a minute. Someone who wanted to chat about the weather and such, in between helping me and making an attempt to sell me their internet service, but he did in fact help me.
The agent calmly said that yes, he would reverse both this month and last month's crammed charges, and put an anti-cramming block on my account. I thought I'd had one on years ago, but apparently it vanished; be that as it may, it will be blocked again as of tomorrow. I also have a confirmation number for the reversed charges: NY00113355109.
Under the circumstances, I asked him to check that my long distance provider hadn't been changed (there should be a block on that as well), and he confirmed that. So I thanked him, said he'd been very helpful (they say they may record calls, in which case that might benefit him), and hung up.
Then I went to my bank's website and paid the phone bill, for the amount without the bogus charges. I usually pay bills on Saturday, but we just picked up yesterday's mail this morning, and I decided to get this over with rather than wait, which I am now glad of.
I called Verizon and the automated message started with a warning that, because of a "work stoppage" (apparently they're afraid of the word "strike") there were fewer agents available. Nonetheless, when, after going through bits of the phone tree and not finding a specific right choice, I said "agent" they put me through to someone in less than a minute. Someone who wanted to chat about the weather and such, in between helping me and making an attempt to sell me their internet service, but he did in fact help me.
The agent calmly said that yes, he would reverse both this month and last month's crammed charges, and put an anti-cramming block on my account. I thought I'd had one on years ago, but apparently it vanished; be that as it may, it will be blocked again as of tomorrow. I also have a confirmation number for the reversed charges: NY00113355109.
Under the circumstances, I asked him to check that my long distance provider hadn't been changed (there should be a block on that as well), and he confirmed that. So I thanked him, said he'd been very helpful (they say they may record calls, in which case that might benefit him), and hung up.
Then I went to my bank's website and paid the phone bill, for the amount without the bogus charges. I usually pay bills on Saturday, but we just picked up yesterday's mail this morning, and I decided to get this over with rather than wait, which I am now glad of.
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My landline provider, meanwhile, hasn't managed to bill me for any calls at all in the going on for six months I've had the account. (It's an unlimited evening/weekend plan, so there aren't that many billable calls anyway, but there should have been some.) I have an open ticket on it, which means that every Monday morning they send me an email to say they still don't have an answer. Last week I made a couple of would-be helpful suggestions, which at least got me the information that it isn't just me. (They're really an ISP reselling BT service, and the phone service is just a sideline for the convenience of ADSL customers.)
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The other's name is a noun beginning with P followed by a spelled-out 1.