Oh, Mah Holy Hell!, Y'all!!! or Telephone Troubles, The Resolution..

When I hung up the phone from talking to Verizon's customer no service department on Saturday, I was less than happy with the experience. The person I spoke with had offered to credit 50% of the $188.75 roaming charges that were on my bill from my trip to California. That's roaming in MEXICO. When I told her that would be unacceptable, and asked to speak to a supervisor, she said someone would call me on Monday. And I thought, "yeah, sure" but I told her, "Yes, that is what I want."

So, yesterday when was at the laundromat, my cellphone rang, and do you believe it was Verizon? The very same person I spoke with on Saturday told me she had discussed my bill with her supervisor and they had agreed to take off 100% of those pesky roaming charges. Just like that. No further discussion, begging, pleading, or letter writing required. I thanked her very much.

But then, it made me wonder why put those charges on there to start with. I think maybe there are a certain percentage of people who just pay the bill, no questions asked. And there are probably another certain percentage of people who make the call to ask for a credit, and the first line person offers 50% credit, and they are happy with that, and pay it. And Verizon laughs all the way to the bank.

I am not normally so cynical about things like this, but dang it, 50% of that bill would have been almost $95.00. That is a lot of money out of the customer's pocket and into Verizon's, just for using your cellphone service in an unfortunate location. And their TV ads, the "Can you hear me now" ones, as well as the newer ones that tout their "network", what a crock. Those adds make you think you can get service anywhere you go. I was sitting in a deck chair, at the beach, in a well populated town, and couldn't make or receive a call.

And to be honest, I didn't even try to use my cellphone because IT actually told me I was roaming, and I was afraid those charges would accrue. But when I tried to use my internet wireless card, no such message was received. That wireless card was picking up three bars, but when I tried to connect, it was very, very slow--it took me OVER AN HOUR to get to my g-mail account to try to read my email. That was the only time I tried to use it, the rest of the time I went to the coffee shop. So, for ONE HOUR of internet usage, that was incredibly slow, I was charged $188.75.

So, now that my rant is over, the point I would like to make here, is that if you are traveling near the border, either with Mexico or with Canada, and you use your cellphone, pay attention to your next bill. You could be roaming in devious territory.

Oh, Mah Holy Hell!, Y'all!!! or Telephone Troubles, Again...

(Sorry, Hotfessional!, but this situation calls for the use of that bit.)

My vacation to California is coming back to haunt me! Remember how I told you that I couldn't get a signal in our motel room, and I had to go to the coffee shop to get online? I got my Verizon bill today and DANG! they are charging me $188.75 for roaming in Mexico. Even though I never once used my phone in Tijuana, and I certainly didn't take my computer over there and get online. And I just used the wireless card in the room the first night to try to get online but it took just about an hour to get to my g-mail account. Just look at this:


Global Roam - Mexico kilobytes -- 37,750 37,750 188.75
Total Roaming $188.75
Total Usage Charges $188.75

Their customer no service department actually told me that since they could not determine where the usage originated, they could only offer me a 50% credit. And of course I said "That is unacceptable." The supervisor was not in today and will be calling me back on Monday. Then she jabbered on about how I could have set my account to have alerted me to there being roaming charges being accrued. Which I had no idea I could do, since I was not going to a foreign country, I was only going to California. Like she was trying to make it MY fault that I was being charged ridiculous charges for roaming in Calfornia.

Just as information, I walked into the Verizon store in National City, California while we were at Best Buy, which was right next door, and talked to one of their people. He told me not to worry, that if I got roaming charges on my bill they would take them off. But, he didn't note my account that I asked the question. So, I guess Verizon thinks I am lying about not using my service in Mexico--at least that is what they implied. There WILL be follow-up.

Today Was A Good Mail Day...Oh, and Project 365

I love getting snail mail, more than I love getting email and comments on my blog. Because I am a gyspsy, traveling around the country fulltime, I don't get mail often. Our daughter, Becky, has the key to our post office box in Georgia, and has been sending us our mail for 8 years. Thank you, Becky!

In today's mail bag there were lots of goodies! First, there were two Christmas cards from people who love me. Ahhh, I am loved, after all. Second, there was a refund check from that nasty telephone company, remember them? It wasn't much, but by dang it, that is MY money. There was also a check from the cactus guy, ooooooooo, and it was a good one too, Thank YOU Robert!

And last of all but best of all, I finally got my passport! Yippee! Now I can go to Mexico.

And I do want to apologize for falling down on the job of posting my project 365 photos. I will start up again, starting where I left off, next week. I am not really loving being in Phoenix, I feel like all the tension of being in this huge town, driving in all the traffic everywhere we go, has stiffled my creativity. Yeah, as if. But seriously, I will be doing Project 365, Day 59 next week.