Bless You Beloved Telecomm Company

BLESS YOU Century Link!

 

Guardedly, with another call needed to Billing, but BLESS YOU for exceeding expectations and restoring RantWoman’s service faster than promised.

 

RantWoman started her day with her next round of calls to Century Link.

 

Ring. Ring. Choose the Billing and payments option. Choose the Talk to a human option.

 

Here’s the problem. Last week RantWoman was told if she pays a specific amount of her outstanding balance, she can get her high-speed internet service restored. RantWoman  found an internet connection, massaged her bank accounts to her satisfaction, commanded her bank to send the requested sum, but the bank would only send it today. RantWoman headed out of town for the weekend anyway and decided that would have to be fine. But today, Rant Woman REALLY needs her internet. Never mind all the details of why, other than work, climate change,the evolution of smart transportation networks, life on the technological edge with underpowered devices and creaky but brand new operating systems,  undersupervised and / or troubled teenagers, frets about things to do with RantMom, RantWoman’s vast capacity for logorrhea…

 

While waiting for human, computer cheerily informs RantWoman of a balance. We know, but the amount is different from what RantWoman remembers from her bank.

 

Voice of human: How can I help you?

 

I want my internet service restored NOW! RantWoman was JUST ABOUT that polite. RantWoman apologizes sort of for not being able to emit gentler requests into the karmic pool.

 

Okay. Human with nice voice looks up balance. It is closer to the high number that RantWoman remembers from her bank. Human with nice voice also wants RantWoman to pay about 2.5 times the amount she was told last week before her service gets restored.

 

But NO, that is not what RantWoman was told. Back and forth a couple of times. Human with Nice Voice gets that RantWoman has paid all she can pay for now and that RantWoman is paying based on what she was previously told. Okay, human with nice voice can restore service today but it might still take between 4 and 48 hours before RantWoman has internet back.  

 

And RantWoman might have to pay a service restoration fee.

 

(Under RantWoman’s breath: REALLY? Seriously?  What if RantWoman decides to prorate payment and not pay for the days she is without service?)

 

More questions about the service restoration fee.

 

Questions about RantWoman’s bill which comes to RantWoman’s online banking process. This is nice for the payment side, but the bill goes poof in RantWoman’s bank recors as soon as RantWoman pays anything so RantWoman hasn o way to review history and detail.

 

And why does RantWoman have less than 30 days to make a payment once the bill is issued? RantWoman sort of remembers past correspondence with the WA Utilities and Transportation Commission about this issue. RantWoman thinks she remembers noting that Qwest, Century Link’s predecessor, persuaded the WSUTC that the company would suffer grievously if customers were allowed more than 15 days to pay their bill. RantWoman is so NOT sympathetic., ut other travails loom. Not sympathetic will have to wait!

 

Human: Oh, I am payments. You have to talk to Billing about that.

 

No! Not today. RantWoman has done as much as she can handle about this topic today. If RantWoman is going to have to go deal with her next iteration of alternate internet connectivity, Billing will have to wait.

 

RantWoman does not look at her modem very often. RantWoman counts herself lucky to be able to tell when key lights are RED and when they turn white. So it was only by chance that a little while later, RantWoman happened to look at the modem and notice that a key light had turned from RED to white.

 

Could it be?

 

RantWoman would love to bound out of bed with focus and clarity to start her day. RantWoman is even riding on waves of good feeling both from a weekend retreat out of range of cellphones and from the Queen of Spades’ extravagant reception upon her return. But RantWoman seems to do better with a few minutes of sending the world pictures of mountains and articles about interesting topics. So THANK YOU Century Link for almost instant service restoration and a few precious moments on Facebook.

 

Now, bring on the rest of the day!