File This Under The YOU GOTTA BE #$%^&* KIDDING ME Category.. AGAIN!!!!

... it just keeps getting better and better!!

So.. if you don't know what happened with the whole Western Union thing, you can read it HERE

Or if you don't have time, then the cliff note version is that I tried to send money via Western Union Online and was told by a customer service rep that they would not allow the transaction to finalize because my cell phone was not in my name and neither is the home phone.

I know.. you just had a WFT moment. I can relate. But the important thing to know is that I specifically ASKED if there was going to be an issue with my bank account because I could not have TWO 400.00+ charges. And it's also important to know that the customer service rep told me that I absolutely.. positively.. had NOTHING to worry about.

Got that?

I'll repeat it again..

In caps .. just in case you're a little hard of hearing:

THE CUSTOMER SERVICE REP TOLD ME THAT I ABSOLUTELY.. POSITIVELY.. HAD NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT.

You know me, right? You've been reading this blog and all my other blogs for a while now, haven't you? So you know what's coming, right?

Earlier this evening, I go online to check my account balance. I always do that. At least five or six times a day. When you don't have money, you kind of get anal about keeping track of it. And guess what I found???

See that? It's an overdraft fee for 105.00.

Do you happen to see anything that looks like a negative balance? No.. you do not.

So.. like.. WTF??? right?

I dig a little deeper and find this under the pending transactions:

Ok..

So it's obvious to me that the 438.00 transaction was returned.. or taken off hold.. but not as fast as Western Union originally took it. There was only like.. no more then a half hour.. between starting the first attempt and finalizing the second attempt..

And this was a Wednesday so it wasn't like there was the weekend to contend with ..

So I call my bank and talk to Jamal. Nice guy .. very professional. I explain to him what the situation is and he tells me that TECHNICALLY I did over draft because I authorized the transaction. I told him that it was ridiculous.. and a few other things that I won't repeat here.. and when I asked him if he agreed with me, he said he did. On a recorded phone call. Props to him.

When I said, "... so I'm going to have to eat this?" I already had plans on going to the branch office bright and early and having a *cough cough* discussion with the branch manager. But Jamal told me that I needed to call Western Union.. that they are responsible for reimbursing me.

Oh. Ok. Another chance to go off on them since my first time was cut off by Tim. Cool.

So I call and get some dude that I can't understand. I'm more polite then I think the situation warrants but yknow.. I believe I'm going to have more then enough opportunity to lash out on these people.

I explain what happened and in the middle of it.. Tim comes in the bedroom from taking a shower and having overheard the conversation I had with the bank, HE starts going off about it. Now I have some dude that I can't understand in one ear.. Tim yelling in the other ear.. and yknow.. if you know Tim and how much he HATES when I try to talk when he's on the phone then you'll understand why I was like SHUT THE FUCK UP, WILL YA??

I go back to the call and the dude must have been like ".. uh uh.. nope.. they don't pay me enough for this" because the next thing I know there's a ringing on the line and some chick answers. Her name starts with a B and even though she spelled it for me, I still don't remember it. Bria.. Brianne.. Briar.. something like that.

Anyway.. it's SO DAMN OBVIOUS that's she's reading from a script ".. yes, Lisa.. may I ask how you are doing this evening?"

OBVIOUSLY, not peachy since I had to call YOU on a Sunday night, right?

Yes. I did say that.

Once again I explain what happened and she asks me all kinds of details about the transaction.. who it was going to .. where it was going to.. etc. etc. She THEN tells me that she will have my money returned.

Excuse me? WHAT?

She said to give her a few minutes and that she will make sure that my overdraft fees are returned.

OM effin' G!

She asks for the telephone number of the bank .. and then says that she will forward the information to her supervisor for approval.. then they will call the bank and I'll have my money issued in about two hours.

Could it really be that easy? Remember.. we're talking ME here!

Tim says that it makes sense that they will so willingly pay for over draft fees resulting in something they did because they cancelled the transaction.. and that would open them up to a lawsuit which would wind up costing them more then 105.00.

He also said that the bank is at fault also because the actual money NEVER left my account.

He has a thing with banks in general and think their sole purpose is to rip you off but I see his point.

As of now, there's been no activity on my account that I can see online but tomorrow morning I'll call and see what the dealio is ..

I'll keep you updated.

Comcast Is Like A Yeast Infection

Ok...

I used to have Comcast.
I used to HATE Comcast... for the same reasons why everybody else hates Comcast. Bad digital service.. bad internet service.. bad phone service..

So when our neighborhood got hooked up with Verizon Fios.. I was the first one to call to get it. I had to wait 6 WEEKS for the install but it was well worth it..

Just so happens on the day after my "special rate" expired, a Comcast sales rep came knocking at my door.

Suspicious, huh?

Anyway.. so he offered me this deal that would only cost me 79.00 a month with HBO included.. free wireless modem.. free first month.. 100.00 credit.. weekend getaway to Jamaica and the use of his Class C RV for four weekends a year.

I'm joking about the last two.

But Marcus was a cool guy.. he wasn't this swarmy loungy-lizard sleaze ball. I told him about my experience the last time and he told me that Comcast basically got their shit together.

Yes.. I will sell my soul to save almost 70 bucks a month!

He promised me a next day install :: a Sunday :: and sure enough, the two dudes showed up at around 1pm.

I should have known that it wasn't going to be this easy. I mean really.. there is no small print in the contract of my  life that even SUGGESTS that anything I'm attached to will be easy.

The two dudes tell me that they are here to install.. but they have no paper work so they really don't know what they're going to install.

Um.

So I tell them that I have the paperwork from Marcus and will that help? Oh..most certainly they assure me. I show them where the two tv's where the needed to be hooked up and basically told them to make it as easy as possible. Wanna drill threw walls and run cable wires around door frames and across rooms? Go for it, Bucky.

Actually.. they didn't need to do any of that because there was existing cable hook ups and leads or whatever the hell they call it from the last time we had Comcast so no drilling or climbing or nailing.

All they needed was THREE FREAKIN' HOURS.

Yea. You read that right.

They kept on calling the office and doing this and doing that and finally, they got the cable and internet on. We were so stoked to actually have something working that I didn't even think to try the PS3 online until after they left.

And then it didn't work.

And neither did my  laptop.

The kids computer worked... of course because GOD FORBID if they're inconvenienced.. but none of my shit did.

Since their computer was connected to the ethernet cord, Tim figured that it had to do with the router. So while he was off doing something, I called Comcast's Customer Support and explained to them what was going on.

The chick told me it was my equipment.. not theirs. Um... noooooooo... I may not be a genius when it comes to these things but I'm not an idiot either. Apparently, Debbie the Customer Service Rep was. So before I told her to eat snot, I politely told her that I would have Tim call back since he understands these things better then I do.

Score points for heaven there.

And Tim did call.. and nothing they tried worked and finally after about an hour, the customer service rep he talked to scheduled a tech to come out on Tuesday.

Like.. I had to be without my laptop for like TWO DAYS????

So be it. I did entertain myself before the internet and I'm sure I would be able to do it again.

And I did.. and finally Tuesday came and the tech came and fixed whatever was wrong and everything was happy except I never did get the free HBO that was suppose to be included but I was way too busy doing other things to worry about a channel I never watch anyway.

So all was fine.. well.. and good until tonight and the Season 5 premier of Dexter and that fact that I had forgotten all about it and never called up to subscribe to Showtime.

"Not to worry" says the man who as I type is snoring so God damn loud that I had to put the close captions on the tv! :: yes, I can multi-task :: he does something with the remote On Demand and sure enough subscribes to Showtime ON DEMAND.

NOT the regular Showtime channel that's going to premier Dexter in like .. an hour and 15 minutes!

I had left my cell phone down at the deli so he suggested I go online and order it via Comcast's website.

Ok.. so "suggest" is too soft a word.

But I go online and when I enter my account, I see the bill.

Remember Marcus? The really cool sales man? The one who WROTE on the Service Order that I would get a 79.00 package.. my first month free AND 100.00 credit?

Yea.. my bill reads 126.00.

WTF??

But ok.. ".. deal with THAT tomorrow, Leese" I'm told by the bald man. "Just go to the Live Chat"

Fine.

So I go to Live Chat and I get a rep named Julie. I tell her what I want and she asks me for my account number, full name, address and last four digits of my social.

I give her everything.. she thanks me in that robot way that customer service reps typing off a written script do.. and then comes back and tells me that my social does not match their records?

Huh?

Nooooo... that IS my social and maybe someone at Comcast just typed it in wrong. However, I DO have all the paper work from Marcus and from the installers and was there anything on THERE that I could give her to verify who I was and get me Showtime in time for Dexter.

She ignores that and asks me for the last four digits of my driver's license.

But I never gave my driver's license number to ANYONE at Comcast so how is that suppose to help?

The bald man tells me.. with a degree of certainty.. that they can check my name and stuff. I tell him.. with a degree of certainty.. that he's an idiot.

But I give it to her anyway .. because it's only the last four digits.. and again she tells me that it doesn't match and that I would have to physically go down to a Comcast office with two forms of id.

And that's when the "rage" that's in my blog's title rose up and I went INSANE on this poor woman who I'm sure ran from her desk crying and screaming that THIS is NOT what she signed up for and there was NO PAYCHECK big enough in the WORLD to justify dealing with the likes of ME!

Showtime was turned on about 15 minutes later and according to Julie.. it would be free.

Which means.. I'll probably get another bill for double the amount.

But I did keep a transcript of the convo and I will call the billing department AND Marcus tomorrow.. and then probably get Fios back.