[vox] [OT] pacbell making life miserable again

[Matthew Johnson]

On Thu, 2003-06-26 at 07:38, Peter Jay Salzman wrote:
> hi all,
> 
> we just were given a late fee by pacbell for not paying our phone bill
> on time.  however, we paid our phone bill in full, early, with a check
> for the proper amount.
> 
> as it turns out, for some reason i can't begin to guess, our check was
> cashed for the wrong amount.  in other words, the check was made out for
> X, but was cashed for Y, where Y < X.  thus "we didn't pay the full bill
> on time" even though we sent in the proper amount.
> 
> the pacbell business office was unhelpful and even downright surly.
> their response was basically "if want, you can try to get the late fee
> taken off if you don't mind spending a long time waiting while the
> proper people get around to taking your call".
> 
> who is likely to be culpable here?  pacbell certainly could've been
> nicer, as in "wow, that totally sucks.  i'll take the late fee off your
> bill right away".   but who is actually at fault?  pacbell?  the bank
> that pacbell uses?
> 
> and if pacbell is at fault, is there some agency i can report this to?
> 
> pete

That does suck :(.

When you called, did you ask for their first names? You could also ask
for their manager, or next in line. Sometimes you just end up with the
crappy agent who does not want to help.

Matt