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Blogs by Rita P Hestand
Fighting City Hall 11/5/2004 7:13:43 AM
How hard is it to cancel a service these days? With modern technology canceling anything just got harder let me tell you. Okay, it was about an hour before I had to go to work. I decided it was time to cancel my long distance service to my home, since I'd just invested in a cell phone. Now how hard can this be, it's a simple cancellation, right?
Wrong!
I dialed the number of my long distance service, customer service department. I'm greeted by instant messaging. Okay, I can deal with that...I think...if there is time to listen to the long list of available options I have to
find the right party to speak to in the first place. This takes about three minutes, because invariably I punched the wrong number and got the wrong department.
When at last I get hold of a "real" person, I'm asked why I want to cancel. AS if this is anyone's business but my own. But bearing with them, I give them a number of reasons, one of which I never use the service I'm paying for so why am I paying for it? The lady searches for my last long distance call, finds it several months ago. I sit, twiddling my thumbs, wondering why she is bothering with this information, when I have already stated that my purpose for the call is to cancel the service.
She finds I haven't used the service in months, and agrees I don't use the service. Then she proceeds to sell me another service, "which I don't want". I refuse.
After this attempt, she insists I must call my phone service and cancel from there. I ask why, since my bill is
drafted from my bank account from them. She informs me the
phonce service goes through the regular phone company and must be "blocked".
I insist that I don't want my phone blocked. I want the service discontinued. I still must call my phone service.
I call my local phone service. They tell me that the long distance service is not with them and I must cancel with the long distance service.
By now, I'm getting a little hot under the collar so to speak. I've talked to two service reps who can't simply cancel my service or won't. I'm beginning to wonder if I've entered the TWILIGHT ZONE.
I mean come on, this is simply a cancellation of servie!
I call the original long distance service back, immediately,
when I get a human voice, she tells me, I must call the phone service and have it blocked. I tell her they said I must cancel through them. She says the phone company would have to put a block on my phone. I dont' want a block, I want to cancel. Cancel! Don't they understand english?
Then I ask if I called my bank and stopped the automatic payments, if this would do the trick, because at some point I just want to darn service to stop.
No, that won't work either, because I'll still be billed for the service.
Give me a break!
So she politely, after finally realizing I am a going over the edge with my own temper, decides to get a three way call system going and contacts the phone company.
The phone company says they'll block my long distance calls for $1.50 a month. I repeat, very heatedly that I don't want a block, I want to cancel the service.
She then asks if there is anyone who would use my phone to make calls. I tell her very adamantly that there is not. No one makes long distance calls on my phone.
Finally, she offers to cancel the service for a $8.95 fee. It's a one time fee...and I should be grateful?
Gritting my teeth, and trying to control my blood pressure, I tell her fine....just make sure it is canceled.
Both parties agree that for a one time fee, I can cancel the service I no longer want or need. I should be thrilled!
All of this, to cancel one small service I have added to my phone.
Now I ask you. Why can't, with all this modern technology,
can't they simply have one little button to push to cancel a service we neither want nor need?
Perhaps doctors should look into automated answering systems, customer service reps who want to sell you more,
when you want less. It truly might stop some blood pressure problems!
