Have you ever noticed how paying bills makes personal income transfom into the greatest disappearing act of all time? The Great Houdini would struggle to make these dollars vanish as quickly. Everything is necessary but I still marvel at how bills seem to stack themselves up and join in a collective one-two punch that takes the wind out of my financial sails.
This month I wasn’t expecting any surprises. But, when I opened my cell phone bill, I was shocked. It notified me that I had used 61KB of data during the last pay period. That amounted to hundreds of dollars in fees.
On top of that I had no idea how the usage rose to that level. I discussed it with my wife and we were both dumbfounded. On my way back from my weekend trip of ministry I learned that our phones had been disconnected.
My wife and I were up late discussing her phone call with the Verizon representative. That discussion ended in a draw. I would have to go into their store for a personal visit.
I didn’t sleep well that night. If I hadn’t done anything to misuse my phone, who did? Maybe someone had hacked into my system.
Have you ever had someone break into your private life and steal what was yours? Experiencing the awful feelings of being a victim has no parallel. You feel so violated. All of your sense of security evaporates and you feel vulnerable, helpless.
The Verizon people were amazing. they researched my records but no one could find out how that many KB’s were used. Remember the 61 KB’s? That was last month. In the current billing month another group of three days racked up even more usage.
Now the total bill had surpassed four digits. I was sick to my stomach. How could I find the funds to pay for this unexpected bill? But, the Verizon people were magnanimous!
They realized that the oddities were not purposeful. Also, they observed that this unusual activity was not consistent with my pattern of cellphone usage. Instead, they took my pattern of activity and contrasted that with this unusual sporadic activity.
I was relieved to be facing serious charges but having had others assessing the facts and then vindicating me. Verizon waved the fees! They told me how much they wanted my wife and me to remain loyal customers. God blessed me!
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June 4, 2009 at 10:50 am
Nikole Hahn
Tony gave me some bills to pay. There were two notations for Verizon. What I didn’t realize is one was for the verizon wireless account and one was for the phones. I paid both on the cell phones. Our wireless was disconnected and I had to be on the phone that day with them.
I explained the situation and the girl on the other end was so nice. She corrected the problem, recconnected our wireless, and even waived the fee one time for me. I could have cried in happiness. I wanted to blame Tony and Tony kept telling me he included the bills with the handwritten list. We realized we were both wrong. I should have known and should have investigated why I had two payments to make to Verizon and Tony is now notating which one is for the wireless account. It worked out wonderful. They are such nice people.
June 4, 2009 at 11:36 am
brucefong
Isn’t it stunning how much fear comes with bills in the mail? Yet, Verizon seemingly knowing that takes such a gracious approach to their customers.