Mar 02 2009
Fighting bills, because I have time.
Finding myself suddenly unemployed (a whole other story) I have started to spend my spare time scrutinizing our monthly bills not only to better categorize where our money is going, but to see where money can be saved.
Typically we receive our bills in the mail, open them, pay them, and forget about it. We are far too guilty of often not paying enough attention to the actual contents and charges on said bills unless the amounts seem grossly out of line, and even worse yet, we often do not pay enough attention to amounts that automatically debit from our bank account every month.
However, having a sudden increase in spare time I started to look closer and immediately noticed several problems and questionable charges. Simple enough, I figure - I’ll call the businesses in question:
1/ Fido, our cellphone carrier. They had charged me $20 for a long distance call that shouldn’t have been long distance to begin with.
2/ The Toronto Star newspaper. A 1-year promotional subscription price for which we paid $100 only a few months ago is mysteriously up for renewal already and they want more money.
3/ Scotiabank. A large payment we made against our RV last summer was apparently not applied correctly and has resulted in a large account problem that we didn’t become aware of until Friday because nobody bothered to call us and question the situation.
However, this is where the frustration begins. Why do companies just automatically assume that you are trying to rip them off, or you are just trying to be a thorn in their side when you dispute something?
The root of my complaint with Fido was a charge for nearly $20 worth of long distance for a single call. Now, I know long distances is expensive on my plan because I have an unlimited minute urban plan which despite offering unlimited minutes, also offers a high rate for long distance calls.
When I called to dispute the situation they instinctively assumed I was trying to scam them. Despite being nowhere near where the call states it originated on my bill (we were actually about 20 kilometers south when I started the call) they insisted that despite the fact that “it could be a network anomaly” that I was still responsible for the charge and no credit would be given. However, where I actually originated the call from (and to) should have incurred no long distance charge, so I remained steadfast in my rebuttal. When I pressed the matter the rep put me on hold and came back and offered me a 50% credit. Only when I pressed the matter further did a I finally get a supervisor who gave me a 100% credit.
It took nearly 45 minutes to accomplish and I’m convinced if I hadn’t pressed on I would have ended up simply eating the $20.
The Toronto Star conveniently had a computer system problem when I called and the representative couldn’t help me whatsoever, nor was he able to call me back when it was fixed, but instead suggested I call back “throughout the day” to see when their computers were back up. I have not yet solved this issue.
Of all three of today’s challenges Scotiabank was at least relatively straightforward to deal with, although it required an in-person visit to the local branch and being shuffled between several different people. In the end at least they admitted the mistake and offered to remedy it, but there was little done to address how the problem had occurred to begin with beyond fixing the results.
Customer service seems to be an increasingly lost art.
I think that if this recession drags on you’ll see it return in a big way as stores and businesses fight to get a piece of the money being spent. The last 5 years or more have been a boon time and there was so much money floating around that stores/restaurants etc. didn’t really have to fight too hard to get your money and if they lost a customer or two so be it. However now looking at the news stories of all the lost jobs and the way this is trickling down to other businesses the closing of the steel plants in Hamilton, the lack of business for scrap yards as auto makers are making less cars and of course your own situation means that there is less money out working in the economy right now and fewer people are as willing to easily parth with it. So if a company wants your money or my money they damn well better earn it and give me a reason to keep spending it with them or I’ll say FU and give my limited resources to somebody else.