Wherein it is Inferred that I am a Liar...

[ShinyObject]

My Comcast bill is $3.00 too high with charges for directory assistance. I teach computers and live on the internet. I can't remember the last time I used an operator or directory assistance, in fact until I heard it from Customer Service I couldn't even remember the number to use if I did want to call. Why call when I have Google?

So I called about my bill and was tersely informed that I called 411 three times and it was "in the computer" so it had to be true. I pointed out that I live alone and unless someone is breaking in with express purpose of dialing directory assistance (or the dogs have somehow learned how to use the phone) the charge is in error. She coldly repeated that it was "in the computer" and that she could give me a date and time. I repeated that I did not use directory assistance as I have the internet and would appreciate her looking into the charges. Rinse repeat....twice more.

I say I'm not trying to be a sucky customer, I just want to try to find out why there are charges on my bill for a service that I never used. She heaved a sigh and said she could remove the charges this time "as a courtesy" but the next time I would have to pay for it. I told her that there was not going to be a "next time" and that there had not been a "this time." Rinse...repeat.

I finally said I don't have time to waste calling about $3.00 in charges. I was about to say that if I owed it I would just pay it. She interrupted me to tell me that she didn't have time to waste arguing about charges that I did use.

That's when I went Medieval on her ass and told her to take off the fucking charges and not call me a liar! I was so mad I hung up. I was angry at her for basically calling me a liar and I was angry at myself for losing my temper at her. At this point I don't care if she didn't remove the charges, but I will be looking at my bills more carefully in the future and my next call with be quickly escalated to a manager if I get even a hint that they think I'm lying. All she had to do was tell me she'd look into it and I would have been satisfied and checked to see if the charges would have been removed on the next bill. So I've felt bad about being a sc all day. Sigh

[fma_fanatic]

Yes, because those of us who work all day and have pets must have really really smart pets.

AT&T tried to tell my ex many years ago (1998ish) that it had to have been our cat who made an operator assisted call. That one was fun, because there was no way in hell that we would have made an operator assisted call to a number we called frequently, and really? Are you that stupid as to feed us the line that our pet did it?

I think we finally had to take it to the FCC. They did eventually remove the charge, but gave us the "we're just doing this as a courtesy" line. It wasn't long after that that we switched to Sprint (long before they got out of the landline business).

I can understand going medieval if someone insinuates you're a liar. I don't appreciate it when people do that to me, and it happens a lot more than I care to think about when I have to deal with vendors at work.

[Mr Hero]

On the bright side you stayed clam and collected until the operator starting bringing her own opinion into it.

[BeenThereDoneThat]

You were not an SC. How dare she tell you you're wasting her time?? If I spoke like that to a customer and my superiors listened to the call I'd be in some really deep shit. No idea how the 411 calls got onto your account if you didn't make them, since you would think it would be an automated thing, but even computers make mistakes (yes, really ) and she had no right to be rude to you about it. I don't like it when customers yell at me, but I don't give them a personal reason to, either. You can bet I'd have had the same reaction as you to that beeyotch.

[MoonCat]

Don't feel bad. She was rude and unhelpful. You started out nice and she got nasty.

It might be interesting to hear the dates and times, though. You might be able to prove that you weren't home at those times.

[RottenFruit]

I do understand your reaction. It is also my personal red button: Do NOT imply that I lied and do not imply that I did not perceive what I did.

[FormerCallingCardRep]

When I got out of the hospital after Little Bits was born, I got a phone bill with 900 number calls made starting two hours before Little Bits was born and going until the next morning. I called then about the calls and when I explained that there was no one at the apartment during that time frame due to our daughters birth, and offered to send a copy of her birth certificate to prove it, they took the calls off our bill.

We found out a couple of days latter that our new neighbor had gone into the shared basement and patched into our phone and cable lines.

[blas]

Hey, it's ok.

I nearly lost it with my bank when they insinuated I was a liar when I went to them about a double charge at McDonalds. Is it possible for people to eat there twice in one day? Certainly. But to get the same meal, twice in two hours? No. And they had sent me a letter saying that they had considered the charge valid, because of the "timestamp". Well, that was incorrect. I only went there once.

So I had to go all "I know the manager!" card and call up my cousin and have her ruffle the feathers of the higher ups and get my $5 back. She agreed it was either a double swipe or a mistake, and it shouldn't have registered as twice in two hours.

And don't get me started on AT&T. Before they started shutting us off for non-payment when my mom HAD paid the bill, there were two or three months where they had internet charges on my portion of the phone bill, and I didn't have internet on my phone!

When they start getting lippy and calling you a liar or trying to insert their own opinions, or best of all, when they get all apathetic, you can't help but get upset.

[MoonCat]

I had a guy at the gas company get quite nasty on me once when I called about a bill that I couldn't understand. Well, I was already upset when I called due to having money problems, and I ended up crying on the phone--not intentionally, I just snapped. He magically turned into a nice guy, explained why the bill was so high (some idiot in the past year had adjusted a billing period to more than the usual 30 days...never found out why) and ended up giving me a little extra time to pay. I guess he just couldn't handle hearing a customer cry.

[Redbeard]

You need to call back and ask to speak with a manager. All of those calls are recorded to an internal database and saved for a year. Speaking to a custome like that is grounds for the old heave ho, and if she was that rude to you, she's definitely been that rude to other customers. All you need is to tell them the date and they'll be able to bring it up or check the account notes. Every agent that pulls up an account in that system is immediately logged

[Hellzar]

Something similar happened to my Dad when we had a land line. The bill was 2X what it normaly was and it had a bunch of charges for text messaging and stuff like that he called and told them it was a land line and they gave him the "We will reverse the charges as a courtesy this one time but next time you will pay" line and he ended up canceling the service that day.

[ShinyObject]

I hadn't realized how common it is to be considered to be a liar. Maybe the rising tide of SC has made customer service leery of all calls about billing. However, if I'm being civil, just refund it - or explain why you can't, note it on the chart and let it go. If I'm a SC it will be picked up on the next call. Maybe this chick was having a bad day. She certainly wasn't having a good one when my Irish temper flared and I yelled at her. I would have preferred to end the call with a pleasant "thank you and have a nice day." Fortunately my next service call went much better.

If the call isn't taken off my next bill I will call again and simply ask for a manager. There is no use stressing out someone who probably can't do anything about it anyway. When I call and I'm ticked off I usually do this telling the service person that I want to talk to someone who gets paid to get yelled at. They usually think that's pretty funny.