Don’t Lie to me

Good Morning Everyone!  Welcome to another day.  I’ve got one hell of a story for you.  Buckle up, here we go!

About a month ago I got a notice from AT&T that my autopay discount would be reduced from $10 per month to $5 per month starting in September.  This is because I was paying with a credit card.  If I switched that to a debit card or a checking account they would keep the $10 discount.  This did not please me as you might imagine.  I wrote a letter and got a response late last week in the form of a phone call.  The person whom I spoke to told me that this would be a straight forward conversation in that they weren’t able to help me.  Well, why bother calling me back?  That’s rhetorical. 

My letter not only complained about this but also their overall pricing.  I was on a 4GB plan paying more than $30 per month but I have a second line of service with Visible and get unlimited everything (talk, text, data and hotspot) for $30 per month taxes and fees included.  I asked AT&T why they were so much higher and what we could do about that.  The response I got was well you’ve been a loyal customer for well over 30 years.  If you wanted to change to our unlimited rate plan and get a new phone that would contractually lock you into an agreement with us, we’d give you $180.  I explained that wasn’t lowering my monthly bill but raising it and throwing in an obligation to AT&T.  I wasn’t willing to be locked into a contract.  I am fortunate that if I want a new phone I walk in, pay cash and walk out with the new phone, no need for financing.  Well, uh gee what if we gave you $180 and you just promised not to change carriers, would that work?  So no contract?  No.  Okay, deal but before we move forward let’s suppose I was to cancel at the 11th hour AT&T wouldn’t come up with some lower rate plan or some other way to help me, would they?  No, I can absolutely assure you that you are on our lowest rate plan and getting the maximum discounts available.  There just isn’t anything lower.  Okay so I took the money. 

Then I learned about AT&T pre-paid which has way better rate plans in exchange for parting with your cash up front before they provide service.  Presently I am a post paid customer, which required a credit check at the time service was established.  It wouldn’t exactly lower by bill but I’d get a better deal by switching.  I went to compare rate plans with what was available in my account.  Previously I only had 3 choices total.  Magically now I have 7 choices and wouldn’t you know it one of them has a lower price by $10 to that $30 price but it’s not unlimited.  It’s 2GB per month and if you go over they charge you an overage fee but will advance you the data.  Hot spot included up to the monthly plan limit.  Unlimited talk and text. 

I thought about it and thought about it, hell I’d save $10 per month, which once my auto pay increases it would work out to $5 per month in savings.  I use Visible for all of my data & hot spot needs, as well as some calling.  I got the line because of getting back into the dating scene and not wanting to give out my real phone number.  I just keep AT&T because it’s the number that is tied to damn near everything and everyone I know or want to be able to reach me.  I could port it but I did that once and it’s super messy and AT&T has port protection in place and you have to make multiple calls before you actually talk to the right person who will finally release your number and give you a port out PIN.  It’s simply not worth the time or aggravation.  Plus AT&T to their credit for extra money has the best spam call protection I have found.  It’s $4 extra per month but well worth it. 

Last night after dealing with some frustrations at work that kept me working much later than I needed to be.  I opted to make the change.  I logged into my account and selected the $30 rate plan.  I got the usual warning screens your lowering your bill and changing your rate plan, are you really sure you want to do this?  Yeah, okay hang on were making the change for you.  Then I got an error screen, something went wrong you need to call us.  I tried once more got the same results and then called. 

I spoke with ye old average regular customer service person.  He tried to switch me to a higher rate plan and I had to put my foot down and explain exactly what I wanted to switch to.  Then he comes back with Sorry sir, that rate plan is for AT&T employees only and isn’t offered to the general public.  Did you read the disclosures?  I said of course not no one ever reads that bullshit, which is true.  It’s all a contract of adhesion that if you don’t agree to it you can’t have it.  Were all conditioned to say yes I agree and move on, which is what I did.  Well, Sir it’s spelled out there.  I asked for a manager.  The person stalled let me double check my records to make sure the information I am giving you is accurate.  Long pause, yeah it’s correct.  Meanwhile that gave me time to read the disclosures and there isn’t a damn thing in there that said it’s for AT&T employees only.  I asked for a Manager and I was told they are very busy but to hang on and a manager would be right with me.  This went on for over a 1/2 hour.  Finally just as I was about to be transferred I hear hold music and the wait just got longer.  Fuck this, I hung up. 

I called from my cell phone and asked to cancel my service.  That puts you in the Retention Department and those are the folks that can wheel and deal to keep you on as a customer.  I’ve played this little game more than once in the 30 plus years I have been a customer.  I explained to the person calmly but with some frustration in my voice what I had just been through with customer service.  This person told me that it is a legacy rate plan that isn’t really offered any more and that you did have to be an AT&T employee but she’d be happy to switch me to that plan if it’s what I really wanted.  That took about 15 minutes and I had to confirm several times that it is what I wanted.  Finally, presto it’s a done deal and at the moment I just saved myself $10 per month. 

I was glad that was over with, I also got the $180 that I was promised last night.  So this situation has worked out well for me.  I kept thinking about how I was lied to and nothing will make me madder than if you lie to me.  Now I really want to leave them.  Will I probably not at this point in time but eventually yeah I think they are on the way out.  There are better deals out there.  AT&T used to have the #1 cellular network now they are #2 and Verizon is the #1 contender.  Visible is pre-paid service on the Verizon network.  The coverage I get from them far exceeds what AT&T provides.  I run both lines simultaneously and can see the signal strength for both in real time.  Visible (Verizon) is always one bar or better than AT&T on average. 

AT&T is like any large organization where the more people you have involved the more misinformation you have.  I just want the best value for my money and to part with as little cash as possible for service.  That’s what the average person wants as well.  I don’t get why they had to lie to me.  You might say it’s misinformation or a misunderstanding but nope it’s a lie.  The person who told me that I had the best rate plan possible and they couldn’t do better worked in the Office of the President, he knew exactly what he was doing. 

While I am not going to do this, I’d bet that if I called back today said I was going to cancel AT&T would make me some offer to try to keep my business and I would get an even sweeter deal.  It’s not worth my time or the aggravation.  For now I am pissed but happy.  I am taking my marbles and moving on with life. 

I understand why now after 30 plus years so many people hate AT&T.  My late grandmother worked for the bell system and I was raised and conditioned to always go with the bell or AT&T because it was hands down the best.  That was true years ago but certainly not today.  They pillage and bleed their customers just like every other carrier but they go out of their way to make sure you get the least for what your paying for instead of the best or most, which in the end I am sure is the same for all of the carriers but the other carriers do a much better job of marketing it and making it palatable and easier to swallow.

I’ve been up since 5a and this has just been eating away at me, so here it is for the world at large to read.  AT&T  eff u see kay, why owe u!

end rant.  Have a great day everyone, thanks for reading this. 

Time Poor Weekend

Friday night was spent cleaning up the house and making it some what presentable.  I was really low on energy and didn’t put a whole lot of effort into it. 

Saturday I woke up super early.  I went out for breakfast at IHOP.  I went to spy on a guy that I like, who just got a new house in town.  He’s married so no chance anything is going to come of it.   I got cat litter/treats at Target, then on to the Cat Food Store and picked up canned and dry food.  Then I went home, switched vehicles and went to have the truck Emissions tested.  Then back home, put away the cat food.  Then went on litter box patrol.  By then we were looking at 12 noon.  I got the children their lunch and decided to rest.  I caught up on Social Media and sat and waited for the AT&T installer to show up.  I was given a window of 1-3 and I was really hoping he would show up at 1p but that wasn’t the case.  I settled in for a nap and when I woke up it was 2 pm.  I was starting to have second thoughts and decided to call to cancel.  That was the best move I could make.  They made me a better offer and I wound up getting an extra $100 rebate card.  So I went ahead with the install and after about 2 1/2 hours we were done.  Problem, the phone didn’t work.  So he had to make an adjustment, then the phone came to life.  I tested the alarm and it worked.  I noticed on our corded phones both lines (1 &2) lit up.  Back when my partner was alive, we each had a phone line, so I got us two line phones, so that each of us would have access to our lines in different places in the house and we didn’t have to go scurrying off for the phone.  I didn’t think anything of it at the time.  We went over the TV stuff and he was on his way.  Then I realized, we have a problem.  My line started to flash, which means it is in use.  After a couple minutes I figured out, there is a short on the line.  Well I didn’t have time to deal with it, but I tried to troubleshoot it quickly and failed.  I had to leave for dinner plans I had made with friends.  I had to drive like 80 to 90 mph and do some weaving, all on a very empty tank.  I made it spot on time.  I went to look for my friends and couldn’t find them.  Normally I make reservations but they couldn’t take us, so I said lets chance it.  I now know that if they can’t take us, don’t bother showing up in person.  The wait was 1 hour and 45 minutes for a table.  The place was packed from stem to stern.  So I called to find out where they were and told them about the SNAFU (Situation Normal All Fucked Up … just in case you wondered what it stood for).  They said they were close by but it took them like 10 minutes to finally show.  We decided to switch and visit P.F. Chang’s.  None of us had been there and all of us had wanted to go.  So we walked over and the wait was 45 minutes.  We said okay.  It was more like an hour but eventually we got our table.  There was a good sampling of man candy.  I found a server/busser that was the apple of my eye, he was perfect in every way.  Blond Hair, Blue Eyes, killer twink body.  I just couldn’t get enough of him.  I digress.  The food was really good.  I got Combo Fried Rice and we did Crab Wontons for an app.  I surprised my friends and picked up the tab, which was horribly expensive to feed 3 people and of course they had drinks so that didn’t help.  It’s not a good time for them right now, considering the stress of job loss looming so I figured I would hopefully give them a boost.  We headed out and it was close to 10p.  By the time I stopped for gas and made it home it was 10:45.  I should have relaxed and went to bed.  Nope back in telephone mode to figure out the issue.  Turns out that the phone in my office was punched down twice so that was the issue.  I had to remove everything and add it back, instead of going slow and testing as I went, I just went gang busters.  Then I had to rip it all out and do it over the right way.  By now we are looking at 1:30a.  Then I wanted to arrange the new Uverse equipment and get rid of the cable boxes, so they were all ready for me to take back.  It took a lot of time.  I had to figure out how I was going to keep my VCR & DVD working.  Thankfully COAX was the answer and both still work fine.  Now it’s time to get ready for bed.  It was 2a.  I knew that it would be 3 or later before I was asleep and I wouldn’t be worth a shit on Sunday.  I had to play with Uverse a little bit to try to figure things out, pretty straight forward and simple.  It’s just a matter of learning a new remote. 

Sunday the children were all over me at 630a.  I fended them off.  Then they came back around 8 and I said one more hour.  9 am came and they just didn’t give up.  So I got up and started moving.  I fed them and got dressed.  Off to breakfast where I ate way too much.  Then to the grocery store.  Then home.  I put away the groceries and then left to get a hair cut.  I had a coupon and well long hair drives me nuts.  I waited a little bit.  This hot looking twink walked in and I was sure to get his name as he gave it to the receptionist to check in.  Damn, he looks gay, acts gay but couldn’t tell a thing by his Facebook page.  I thought about asking him out and even offering to pick up his haircut but decided it wasn’t worth it.  Still I got to stare for a while and that was fun.  Then back home where I did what I never wanted to do in the first place.  Climb up on the roof.  I did it twice.  My late partner was into Amateur Radio and we have this monstrosity of an antenna on the house.  You have to put up guy wires, to help keep it in balance.  The one that goes towards the front of the house broke like 3 years ago.  We tried to fix it when he was alive but failed.  We always said when the weather got warmer we would tackle it.  After he passed that was the last thing on my mind.  So as you can imagine the thing was leaning and while it wouldn’t break or fall off the house, it could damage the damn thing.  I hate it because it is an eye sore, I have wished it to break many times.  Well I figured I should finally get off my ass and fix it.  So I did.  It was scary as hell and while the view was nice from the roof top, I quickly figured out that if I ever really wanted to take my own life, jumping from a high rise wouldn’t be an option.  I thought for sure I would have to call the Fire Department to get down but I managed on my own.  Still I had my phone and wireless panic button with me, just in case.  When I was a child I was on the roof of our carport and it took my brother plus my grandfather to get me off the roof, that is when I knew heights were not for me.  After the repair I drank a pitcher of ice cold water and relaxed in front of the TV as I prepared to tell the Uverse system what shows to record for me.  I made a list from TIVO but I knew a few of them so I just did those.  I still have plenty to add.  Then I PTFO (Passed The Fuck Out).  I woke up and was sore and had very little energy. The children pestered me once again so I got up.  I fed them lunch, it was 4p and they wanted lunch.  I finished cleaning the house and started laundry.  Then after a couple hours I made myself a pizza.  It was really good.  A Freschetta Brick Oven brand pizza, 4 meat.  I added a shredded cheese blend, because I love cheese.  Then topped that with fresh ground pepper and finished off with a sprinkle of the left over Parmesan cheese that I had.  In to the oven and after 18 minutes, into my belly.  Spicy, I went a little too heavy on the pepper.  However, that caused me to eat less which all things considered is very good.  I have left over's for breakfast or lunch, whatever the case maybe.  I am working on finishing up laundry so that I can get a shower, because I really need it. 

About the Uverse experience, the installer was a guy who was chunky but professional.  He said that he had been doing the job for quite sometime but a couple of his moves and I thought it was his first day on the job.  I did manage to get a free HDMI cable and an extra remote out of him, for no charge.  AT&T doesn’t give much away so I was thankful.  He kept asking me after he was done, if there was anything else he could do for me.  The first time I figured he was being professional the second and third time I started to think he is hitting on me.  I wanted to ask is there anything else that you want to do for me.  I have a tendency to read guys wrong and think they are flirting with me when they are just doing their jobs.  I know that desperate times call for desperate measures but he didn’t do anything for me from a physical perspective but he was very professional and I really liked that. 

I am thankful now that I no longer have to forward my home phone to my cell phone. I use the Find Me Feature so you call my house and it rings at home, plus up to 5 other numbers.  I just put in my cell phone and that seems to work out fine.  I added the office but figured out in testing, someone could wind up in my voice mail at work and I DONT want that, so I removed the number.  If there is ever a day that I am expecting a call I can always logon and add the office number.  Most everything with this system is controlled via an online portal.  You can make changes to your account easily on-line.  Plus control all of the features of the phone.  On the TV you have a menu as well that you can do a wide variety of things with.  I have the 450 package, which is everything under the sun in the way of networks and movie channels.  They have the Here Channel (gay TV) which I can add for $7 per month.  I have plans to stop by an AT&T store tomorrow to see if I can reduce the cost by removing the sports channels, they have an extra sports package and I have it but won’t ever watch it.  When I was being sold this by the door to door person, I was told that I could remove sports and save $7 per month – so that would actually allow me to add Here if I so chose.  I really wanted to downgrade to the next lowest package but you loose HD and that is $10 extra, add in the cost of the movie channels that I want and it’s a little more expensive than taking the package that I have.  While it’s still very early in the game I am really happy and think this was a smart move especially given that I can record 4 shows at once and no more worrying about will the DVR get the channel right.  I am used to my skip button on my TIVO which allowed me to easily skip commercials when watching a recorded show.  I have the ability with Uverse to fast forward but still you have to get it just right or else you are in to your show or still watching the last commercial.  I will get used to that and the remote eventually.  My biggest concern was the alarm system and down time.  The installer told me that unless the power goes out or the modem fails that the system will be up and live.  They don’t have down time and weather doesn’t affect service, just like cable.  The only difference is I am getting a little bit better deal, which is what makes this all worth it.  I am paying like $5 more per month for TV but given the fact that I have so much to choose from and the DVR, I think it’s worth it.  Plus now no charge for the wireless box, which works from a Cisco WAP (Wireless Access Point).  Basically you are outfitted with a modem and it’s separated in 3 areas.  1 for TV, 1 for Voice and 1 for Internet.  TV and Voice both come over the internet but that access is restricted so if you elect to do all 3, you get special access to the Internet and they have a business class firewall built in, so they thought of safety as well.  The cable modem is the basement and the Uverse modem is in the Living Room, so I would need to do some wiring changes but it’s pretty simple to flip the switch and move on over.  I have unlimited calling local and long distance and call even call Canada free.  I don’t have an international long distance (which costs more) but I wouldn’t use it if I did have it because all of the people I know and call are either in the US or Canada. 

Monday, thankfully I have an extra day off due to the Martin Luther King holiday.  I have an 11a doctors appointment and a 2p therapy appointment.  I plan on eating out for supper and then wrapping up loose ends here at home, getting the trash out and preparing to go back to work on Tuesday.  I am not excited about it because well it’s work, but more so because this is my last full week and weekend of peace and quiet.  Next Monday I will be on-call for a week.  Then a week of rest and back at it again the following week, which is when we change up to 1 person on call for the entire company.  That will be a jumping time I am sure, but the on-call hours won’t start until 11pm, most of the calls during the week are over with by 10p.  However, we do get calls at 1 and 2 in the morning, that will be the challenging part.  Then after that I am done until the end of May, when the next part of the schedule comes out.  My boss has it figured out that everyone will be on call 1 week every 13 weeks, do the math and that is 4 weeks per year.  Not bad at all.  However, if someone leaves that will shorten up the time, get a mass exodus and it could be a real pain.  They take good care of us, so I don’t foresee that happening.  The two things that I would love to get rid of in my job are phone time and on-call.  I have done my time in the trenches and deserve a break but this is what I signed up for.  If there is a next job I will be sure to make sure there is no phone time or on-call time.  The phone part should be easy to eliminate but the on-call part not so much.  That is pretty much a given in the IT field. 

Okay so I have rambled far too much.  I hope that all is well in your world and that you have had nice weather like we have had.  It’s time for me to follow my fortune cookies advice and “Relax & Enjoy yourself.”  Take care and I will talk with you peeps later. BTW there is a new podcast episode up, if your interested!

Luck–I am missing it

Ever heard the saying if it wasn’t for bad luck I wouldn’t have any luck at all?  Yeah, that applies to me. 

Seems like most times I wash my hands just after I am done, I have to urinate.  Easy fix try to go before you wash your hands.  I do and get nothing.

Can’t seem to get the winning lottery ticket, we only get a number here and a number there.  Then again I think this applies to most of the population.

My horoscope said that I would be getting a job today.  Instead I got e-mails from staffing agencies for either jobs that I would have to move for or jobs that were local but only paid $10 per hour and were temporary.  I never really did put any faith into horoscopes but they are fun to read.  As the great Dr. Sheldon Cooper (from The Big Bang Theory show) says they are pure hokum.

We have a sick little girl on our hands.  It’s the shy one, you know the one we can’t touch and have to capture once a month.  Well she threw up yesterday morning a couple times and that was it.  Today I noticed she wasn’t chowing down like she normally does and as of a few minutes ago she has diarrhea.  That means I’m doing laundry. 

Today was just a normal day.  I got lots of sleep once again, not sure why but I enjoyed it. 

Tomorrow we have to visit the unemployment office and my partner has a doctors appointment.  Plus we need to hit up the grocery store and the pet food store.  It will be an expensive day just in gasoline alone. 

I am over anxious for some reason to pay my landline phone bill.  Turns out my bill hasn’t cycled yet so right now there is a $0 balance.  I guess I am afraid I will run out of money.  I just hate owing anyone anything, especially since I’m starting over.

For years I have listened off and on to Suze Orman a well known finance guru.  I bought one of her books, I like her that much.  That says a lot because I am not a reader!  Anyway, I saw her show the other day on CNBC and she said be proud of your finances, don’t hide.  Even if your bankrupt let people know it.  After all your finances don’t define who you are as a person.  I got to thinking about it and yeah makes sense.  That helps me to deal a little bit better with Bankruptcy. 

So that wraps things up from here.  It’s unseasonably warm and there is no end in sight, at least not this week.  It’s AC weather.  Time to work on switching out my wardrobe from long to short sleeves.  Love short sleeves!  I hope all is well in your world.  Thanks for dropping by.  I will talk with you peeps later!

Simple Change made Complicated

So I called the Phone Company this morning.  I wanted a simple change to add Call Screening to my account.  I got a foreign speaking woman who told me that it would be better to change packages because I would get all of the features I wanted as well as unlimited local and long distance calls.  She quoted me $31.00.  Wow at that price I couldn’t pass it up.

So I waited as she processed the order.  The order part was done and she came back to say she was incorrect the price was $59.00 per month.  SAY WHAT!  She wrapped up the call before I had a chance to get a word in edge wise.

So I called back.  I wanted to know the price of the Call Screening Feature by it’s self.  Seems that was a bit complicated and I got hung up on.

I called back and got someone else asked the same question.  They went through a lot of rigmarole asking questions and restating what I had already said, so they could be sure they understood me.  Huh, either you get it when I say it or you don’t.  It’s pretty simple.  Since I could see I was getting no where, I asked for a supervisor.  Then I got hung up on again. 

Now I’m about ready to kill and madder than a Honey Badger.  So I called back and spoke with yet another person.  Turns out the Call Screening Feature isn’t available in my area.  So I had them cancel the order and went back to service as it was before I called. 

Me and the phone company never have gotten along.  I always call with simple requests but their employees can’t seem to fulfill them.  I just don’t understand why.

What was really surprising to me is how quickly that order processed through.  Just a couple years ago you could call and make changes to your account and they wouldn’t process through for a couple days.  Today if you call by the time your done with the call the order has processed.  Amazing how they were able to speed things up.  Also they don’t charge those one time installation charges.  I guess since VOIP has come into play they want to be sure not to loose any customers. 

If it wasn’t for dependable service regardless of the weather, I would ditch my traditional landline phone and switch to a VOIP service.  The other thing that is holding me hostage is our house alarm.  It will work on VOIP but with my luck our house would either catch fire or be broken into when the VOIP service was down.  The Fire Department and/or Police would never know and we would be left holding the bag.  I know they make back up cellular connections but that is expensive and now isn’t the time for me to freely spend money.

My other upset of the day was at TGI Friday’s.  I knew I had a bunch of reward points and haven’t used them in a while.  So we ordered and got yummy food as well as great cold drinks.  Then I go to pay and find out you can’t redeem your points in the store any longer.  You have to go on-line and redeem them, wait for a coupon to be e-mailed to you and then bring that with you to the store before it expires.  It’s all a gimmick, they are hoping that either you forget the coupon or you forget to use it by the expiration date and forfeit your points.   I liked the old system better where you could redeem in the store, it was easier and much more convenient.  Still it was a great meal.

The mail brought me the latest edition of the Under Gear dot Com Catalog.  Who’s on the cover but none other than Mario Lopez modeling his new line of Underwear.  Super HOT.  I don’t care if he cheated on his wife he could do what ever he wanted to me, I’d be his prisoner for a day or longer!  One thing that most of us gay men have in common is this catalog, no matter where we are living we are sure that it follows us.  Even if you don’t order there are some good looking underwear models!

I finally got my bank statement and have been waiting patiently for it since I started using my debit card on a daily basis.  I was seriously afraid that I might not balance.  Sure enough I found an error.  Turns out I forgot to log one of my Unemployment checks.  So now I’m more money ahead.  I’ve never come up with a negative balance and I have never bounced a check in my life.  Those are traditions that I plan to uphold. 

On the Job Hunt I found 3 jobs that I applied for on-line tonight.  Typically Monday’s are a bust.  I know that I’m so not qualified for one of them, but applying certainly can’t hurt anything. 

So that’s a wrap for Monday.  I’m off to surf the web and see what is new with the rest of the world.  Talk with you peeps later!