Well, the Telus customer service guy called me back. Yep, the same guy. You may note I don’t have “customer service” in quotes in anymore, which I suppose is a bit of a spoiler.
But he was wonderful. He treated me like a human being. Funny, how far that goes!
Oh, and they didn’t turn off my phone again, so I wasn’t a frothing, raving lunatic* without internet.
Turns out the additional charges were two calls to my son James, still in the States (OK, fair enough) and a reconnection fee for turning my phone back on in December (not fair enough).
I told him whole sordid saga: the credit limit, the tethering, the Smart Hub, the signal booster … every detail. Very calmly (hey, I was calm! This time). And he listened (funny how that works — people listen when you speak calmly).
I owned my mistakes (I misunderstood three little details about how my plan worked). I admitted that the reconnection fee was mine. But I asked him to remove the fee as a gesture of good will since 1) my phone was only disconnected because I was using it to access a service I was already paying Telus for but not receiving, and since 2) I didn’t have computer access at all for two weeks because they goofed when they reconnected and didn’t reconnect my data access.
He agreed. In fact, he not only removed the reconnection fee, he also removed the data overage charge.
I told him that wasn’t necessary, that I had run over my data limit, that I did it knowingly. That charge was not a surprise, nor was it excessive.
His reply? “Hey, don’t try to stop me. I’m on a roll now!” I had to laugh at that.
Yep, the customer service rep from Telus made me laugh (which also goes a very long way).
So … it’s been a long rocky road to this point, but I have to say, they did make it right yesterday. Thanks, Telus.
*Why is “lunatic” not a derogatory word, like the “r” word? Is it because people with mental illness don’t have the kind of advocacy people with cognitive disabilities have? Should we be campaigning against the “l” word? Do I need to stop using it? Hmmm. I’ll have to think about that. I wasn’t thinking of people with mental illness when I said “frothing, raving lunatic” — I was thinking about rabid dogs. I certainly didn’t intend to slam people with mental illness. But then, I think folks who use the “r” word aren’t usually trying to slam people with lower-than-average IQs either. What do you think? Do I need to rewrite “frothing, raving lunatic?”
Tags: Telus
January 14, 2012 at 1:32 pm |
I wrote this long reply, but it sounded really “head up my butt” and I decided to delete it. Is there an advocacy group for butts, since I just spoke about them in a derogatory way?
Sensitivity is good and admirable. But I think that, since society has determined that there’s a difference between mental health and mental illness, and that health is better, comparing yourself in a negative, out of control situation to a lunatic is fair and descriptive, nothing more. Also, lunatic also means “foolish and eccentric” in addition to crazy.
Calling someone *else* a lunatic would be rude. But of course you knew that.
January 14, 2012 at 2:11 pm |
Dang! Now I wanna see the “head up my butt” reply.
January 14, 2012 at 5:28 pm |
I am glad they fixed it and made things right.
January 15, 2012 at 10:10 am |
Do NOT go overboard. We could assign all sorts if words and never have their use again!
January 16, 2012 at 12:18 pm |
LOL. Yeah, I know. I was mostly kidding, but it did occur to me to wonder if 1) people with mental illness are offended by that sort of language, or if 2) advocates of people with cognitive disabilities might be a tiny little bit extreme (and I am one of them!).
February 10, 2012 at 4:00 am |
I love the word “lunatic!” I always picture someone wild and free, dancing in the moonlight with stars in her eyes and a head full of daydreams – no, nightdreams . . . I would grieve passionately if that was to become the next politically-incorrect taboo word of the day.