This Is Why People Go To Cell Phones

When I signed up for my phone service ages ago, I had one company for local, and one for long distance. Well, recently the two of them merged. That's pertinent to the story I'm going to tell about Why People Go To Cell Phones instead of land lines.

I decided since I had a cell phone with long distance included that I needed to cancel my land line long distance to save money. So I called said company and told them I wanted to cancel my service. They transferred me several times, each to a polite person apparently working in an entirely different section of the country, each of whom tried to sell me other services or convince me of why I didn't want to cancel the service, which resulted in me being snippy after a while. I also had to cancel some features on my local service, and I got switched around again to a couple of people who went through the same spiel and tried to sell me stuff, which just resulted in me losing my cool with each of them and becoming, in short, a total bitch. Finally they agreed to cut the services. I was on the phone at least 15-20 minutes each time I had to call.

Well, I get a letter in the mail saying my long distance had been cancelled but I should be sure to talk to my local service provider to make sure they know I've cancelled it too. Since I've now talked to at least 10 people (that's what it seemed like anyway) from all over Timbuktu, and the two companies are now the same company, so the ads on TV tell us, I figure I'm all set.

Until I get a bill for last month's (unused, so they charge you a fee) long distance. I have to call and arm wrestle another guy who gets the brunt of my fury, but waives those fees. Then he tries to hook me up with a local guy (the two arms of the company still operate separately, despite what you've heard) and the 'local' guy can't help either of us. So he finally tracks down a person who can cancel the long distance service on the local end, gets it cancelled, and then tells me, whenever you cancel a service with a company, THEY CHARGE YOU A FEE. I'm paying Nine Bucks to cancel my long distance, which I cancelled TO SAVE MONEY.

In short, as I told this unfortunate fellow (who was very polite), this is why people go to their cell phones for all their service. And I told him when I reinstate land line long distance, if I ever do, I'm not using his company ever again. He tells me all land line services charge you these fees. Again, this is why people use their cell phones. One flat fee, you know what's included, and that's that. Argh!