Verizon Math Fail

[Polenicus]

I just had to put this up here because... well, it's this sort of conceptual failure on BOTH sides of the customer service equation that makes life difficult:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCJ3Oz5JVKs

[iradney]

I have to be honest, it took me a few seconds to catch on..


Hey! It was early in the morning and I hadn't had coffee yet, ok???

[Polenicus]

Yes, but when someone takes you through it...

"Do you agree that one dollar and one cent are not the same thing?"

"Yes"

"Do you agree that half a dollar, and half a cent are not the same thing?"

"Yes"

"Do you then agree thant 0.002 dollars and 0.002 cents are not the same thing?"

"... No."

I could hear her brain saying 'That's it, I'm outta here!' at that moment.

[Aethian]

Wow....just wow...That was making my head hurt.

[PepperElf]

DAYUM.... welcome to basic math!

[Imogene]

Dur hey! Move the decimal two places to the left, and THAT'S what he should be paying.

[trunks2k]

Oh, that's from back in 2006. Here's the blog for the guy that this happend to http://verizonmath.blogspot.com/

[smileyeagle1021]

you know... I admire that guys restraint... had I had a CSR tell me that $0.002 is the same as 0.002 cents I would have gone off the deap end... and not feel guilty about it afterwards... can we give this guy a medal for most patient customer of the year award?

[draggar]

Wow, just wow - even the supervisor couldn't figure it out.

I work for their competition - I should pass that around work!

$0.002 is the going rate per KB - I wonder if they had the cents in writing or if they just said that to him?

[Chanlin]

I hate to argue semantics here but .002 cents and .002 of a cent are different.

When you receive money say $1.10 you say the .10 part as 10 cents which is 1/10th of a dollar. If I say $0.002 which is less than 1 cent I would still say the .002 part as .002 cents not .002 dollars. So .002 cents is still semantically correct.

The point here is that semantically 10 cents means $0.10 and point zero zero two cents means $0.002 not .002 of 1 cent. If they meant it to be .002 of 1 cent they would cay point zero zero two of one cent.

[Broomjockey]

What you say and what you write are different. .002 cents != .002 dollars when written, no matter how you try and spin it. This is where lawyers AND editors have their field day.

[Kali]

Buahaha I just came here to post this link, and I KNEW someone would have beaten me to it, lol.

I just cannot understand how that guy was being so patient.... really.

[draggar]

Buahaha I just came here to post this link, and I KNEW someone would have beaten me to it, lol.

I just cannot understand how that guy was being so patient.... really.

Because people who aren't are usually hung up on. He wanted it to last as long as possible with them.