Corporations, Such As ATT, Are Not People

This August blue moon ends in T-minus 68 minutes and counting as I begin this blog entry – It is 10:52 p.m. Friday, August 31st, 2012.   I was supposed to attend a blue moon party this evening, in the Blue Moon Barrio,  but I spent a good portion of the day fighting with ATT and I am not in a good mood. One thing I’ve learned over the years is that I cannot shift my mood quickly. And to pretend to do so takes huge amounts of energy from me to carry it off.   So this evening I’m sipping some white wine and watching the Doctor Who special subject documentaries on BBC America about timey-wimey, the women of Doctor Who, and the science of Doctor Who. Yes, three hours of telly time about Doctor Who as a warm up for the new season premiere of the Doctor that airs tomorrow, Saturday, after an all day marathon of Doctor Who episodes.
So why am I in a bad mood?
As regular readers know, I was traveling for a month straight from mid-July to mid-August. In order to accomplish this feat of magic from a mere economic mortal, I had to do some serious juggling of finances and going into debt.   I had to pay ATT Mobility a month late so as to make all my other payments and still have some money to eat while I traveled. It was a calculated risk, but one I deemed worth taking. I made the full ATT payment electronically last week, August 24th with more than enough time for everything to clear and post with several days to spare. The only problem is that ATT seems to have misplaced my payment. My phones got shut off today.  So I spent the afternoon at the bank, Wells Fargo, with an absolutely sweet young Branch Manager who did more than he would have had to do to help me get my phones turned back on.  He put a good face on another huge multinational monster.
I usually do not get p.o.ed when I reach a service center on the Indian sub-continent, even though I think American companies should hire American workers whenever possible. But the servant of the bureaucracy with whom I spoke with today, who was  the second supervisor in the line of people, meaning he was the third person I spoke with at ATT, was a jack ass.
I’d already opened the case to resolve the dispute, gotten a case number, went to the bank, managed to enlist the help of the branch manager to send a fax to ATT showing that the money was delivered electronically last Friday. But this particular plebian bleep bleep would only repeat the phrase, “we cannot reconnect service until the payment from you posts.” This is Friday before a holiday weekend. No resolution, no phones for until Tuesday! Grrrrrr. The bank had faxed all the details of the payment and the electronic transfer to ATT, but this guy will only say, “It has not posted, and we are within the seven days we allow for checks to post.” There was no check.  Supposedly this person had no supervisor to whom I could speak. Who in this world does not have a supervisor?
The bank manager and I are both on speakerphone in his office with this guy. We have all the legal proof that ATT Mobility received the payment in front of us, as print outs, that have been also been faxed to ATT.  This ATT guy won’t say anything that isn’t from his script that is full of statements without content.   I have to say that I am getting COMPLETELY FED UP with bozos and politicians lying, and corporations acting like they have no fiduciary responsibility to anyone other than themselves, and real live human being who act like robots.
The payment has been lost somewhere inside their payment system. I have legal proof I paid the full amount due. The bank has provided proof the funds were transferred to ATT. Yet here I am, with no phone service, the funds gone from my account, and a man without a supervisor on the phone. AARGGGHHHHH!!!!!!
Finally the guy admits that while he has no supervisor, there are other managers with whom I could speak. After another conversational song and dance, I’m put on hold for at least 5 minutes. Then an American voice comes on the line, female of course, and she lets me know that my phones will be on momentarily, and while ATT Mobility admits no fault, they will resolve the matter by September 11th, and she has every reason to believe it will be resolved.  And by the way, she tells me, they are waiving the $40 reconnect fee.  Geesh-Oh-Pete, they had better not charge me a reconnection fee for them denying me a service for which I paid because a payment that has been within their system for a week, in a subcontractor’s system she thinks, has not properly been posted within their system!
I can’t believe this crap. Then I had to go get a new passport. Dealing with the State Dept. was a breeze compared to dealing with the phone company. As soon as the new iPhone comes out, I am switching providers.
Corporations are NOT people.  I will do everything in my power to change the advantages over people given to corporations in the United States beginning in the 1980s.  I will vote anti-Big-Business.  I will vote against Rmoney, as Hubby has taken to calling him.