see, at&t signed me up for a 6-month contract back in january. for $21.99 a month. then went on to advertise the same deal for $17.99 a month. no biggie, i can deal with that. but then comes august, and i get a bill that has no bill. zero. so i call, thinking the contract is up, right, and i need to get it carried over into the future. but the customer service rep says that’s not the case, there was a billing glitch this month and lots of customers didn’t get a bill. then, september comes. and my bill is almost $80. so obviously, the contract is now up... when i called to renew, everything seemed to be going great, the lady on the other end was really helpful, fixing the bill and then transferring me to the renewal dept... where things got interesting. see, now that i’m already a customer, they won’t get me on for the $17.99 they advertise, they’ll only renew me at $24.99 a month. because i’m such a loyal customer...(?) yeah, still searching for the logic there.

so i cancelled my service. yep, cancelled it. told her that if that service is only for new customers, that i might as well cancel today and call back in a few days. as a, uh, new customer. that was last tuesday. then last thursday i tried calling back, and you know what, the plot thickened. now, they tell me that the offer is only available online, and that they can only renew me for – gulp – $32.99 a month. what? what? ok, whatever, i’m through with you people. treat me like this..... grrrr.

so i waited another few days and contacted a company i had seen advertised online, www.sonic.net, and got the same service for about $16 a month. nice. and this is what more people need to do: make the switch, vote with their dollars, and just say ‘no’ to this sort of back-handed service. because they’re not going to stop if they think they can get away with it. see, this situation is a great argument against monopolization without regulation; at&t owns the line, and at some point, no matter what, you have to go through them. even www.sonic.net states you have to have an sbc/at&t line to get service, with which whom they place the order for you. and in 12 more months (if i’m still here), i’ll have to cancel with them and renew through someone else – maybe at&t, to get the advertised deals. gay, very gay. seriously, why don’t they show some appreciation to the loyal customers who have stuck around, through thick and thin? maybe it’s a parenting problem. maybe at&t needs a spanking.

but in the meantime (the next 3-5 days for processing), i’m still without. to me, it’s sort of funny how fast the darned thing went from novelty to luxury to necessity. I’ve had high-speed at my home for the better part of two years now, and i guess i have taken it quite for granted. this week without porn is killing me. ok ok, just kidding. if the kids are looking, anyways ;-). i’m looking forward to the little niceties that come with high-speed internet, like not waiting for the weatherman to give the forecast in the morning, or finding little web pages to link to for my blog, or hell, even posting a blog in less than an hour. being able to keep up with world news is nice, as i hate watching local news about this park and that park and some cute kitten stuck in a tree. oh well; i’m learning to deal again. and 3-5 days is only mere hours from being 2-4 days.

peace.

Tags: Technology