Is blogging a complaint the equivalent of filing a report with the Better Business Bureau?

I get at least 3 courtesy calls at work per day. Perhaps if you work in an office of more than one person there is someone to screen these calls for you. But it’s just me here so I get them all day every day.

I was in charge of moving our office and organizing everything, and one of the things I had to do was set up our phone lines at our new office / apartment. So one day I got one of these “junk mail” calls about switching our service to Verizon, which was something I needed to do anyway. So I started talking to the guy and was like “Yeah, we have 10 lines with XO now, I want to switch to 4 lines and have them with Verizon”.

So he draws up a contract, our quoted total is supposed to be $123 a month. Not too shabby. Fine. Done. Contract signed. Everything is ready to go. So then when it comes to installing the new lines in our new office there are a bunch of issues, I’ll spare you the details, but eventually everything is up and running.

And now, now here is where my problems begin: I am still getting weekly calls saying “Our records indicate you have recently switched off of Verizon’s service”. Uh.. No… I recently left my old service and switch onto Verizon. Sweet record keeping though.

Then I start calling up this place “One Source” that I signed the contract with, trying to speak to someone about why my quote is a hundred dollars less than my actual Verizon bill. This One Source place is def a sketchy operation. My calls are dropped every time I ask the receptionist to connect me to someone. The voicemails I leave go unreturned. It’s just strange and my interaction with them has lead me to believe they’re located in someone’s basement or garage, similar if not identical to when George and Lloyd Braun soldl desktop computers out of Frank Costanza’s garage (episode title: “The Serenity Now”)



Finally today someone calls me saying, “Our records indicate you have recently switched off of Verizon’s service”. AH! So I’m like “you’re with One Source, I need to talk to someone about my quote versus my actual service.” Three people later and two dropped “transferred calls” later, I talk to someone who explains to me that there are state taxes that weren’t included in my quote.

All in all, it’s a bullshit operation. I mean I was changing to Verizon either way so they didn’t really “get” me by any means, they’re just liars and I don’t understand how this is possible. No, there are not $100 worth of taxes on my bill, you’re being ridiculous. And I’m pretty sure it’s not legal to have someone sign a contract saying they agree to pay a certain amount and then just almost double the amount when you bill them. It makes no sense. And it angers me.

All I know is, if someone tries to hold me to a contract I have ammunition to get the hell out of it.

I know this wasn’t interesting (and I left a ton out), I just needed to blow off some steam. Enjoy the weekend ☺