Trials and Tribulations
"The planet revolves supposedly man evolves but no problems are solved."
Ras Kass – Ordo Ab Chao from the Soul On Ice album.
Beyond my typical delays in updating my blog once again this the delay was from forces out of my control. This incident takes form in the shape of a company called Earthlink. Yes Earthlink, the same company who a few years I had for dial up internet service. During those days I must admit that Earthlink provided me with the best experience of any dial up ISP that I was a subscriber to. I can say this because during my dial up days I went through a lot of ISP MSN, AOL, Net Zero, Zeno or whatever it was called, and a few other off brand ISP as well. So when Earthlink gave me a call during the second week in October claiming that they were offering DSL I could not pass it up.
The initial offer over the phone was $19.95 for 12 months and then $39.95 after that. Not to bad I must say. Whenever I signed up for any service I am make sure that I ask how much is going everything going to cost to get me started. Just a little something I learn from my early cell phone days and long distance and local phone providers as well. You know the whole this service is 20 or 30 something 99 a month, yet when you receive that first bill it is anywhere from $10 to $20 more that stem from all this taxes and fees that are not mention when you sign up.
Back to the point so I carefully the Earthlink representative how much when everything cost me initially to get going. By that I meant how much was I going to pay for shipping and handling? Will there by an additional charge for the modem and if so how much? The young lady from Earthlink said that shipping and handling will cost me $19.95, why was the shipping and handling I never will know considering that my modem etc did not arrive for another 11 days. So I know that $19.95 charge was not for overnight or express shipping lol…
Well finally the package arrives it takes me no longer than 8 minutes to get started and I am off to the races so far so good. Well two days after I receive my initial package I receive my first invoice a bill for $29.95… I guess that should have been a RED FLAG for me because after a quick call to Earthlink they said that the $29.95 charge was a billing error do not worry about it we will credit the charge to your account. Phase 1
My schedule is very hectic but one thing that I try to do is to check my secondary checking account that serves to pay my bills. Well after paying the phone bill and the light bill I wanted to check my balance and what did I find out? My account was overdrawn what in the world… Well after scanning the my latest charges I noticed that I had a charge from Earthlink for $120 P.S. Again this is my secondary account that serves to pay my billing everything is budget so it does not make such as a $120 charge that I was not expecting cause me to become overdrawn though to be honest there is not that much more money in my primary account sue me hey I am a student. Phase 2
Now it is time to call Earthlink to see what is going on. Only four days with this company and already two invoices. The people in billing from Earthlink said that the charge was my first month of service and installation fee. Basically $19.95 for the DSL service and then $99 for an installation fee. I said what installation fee, I installed everything myself and that was quickly switch over to someone had to go and check the lines to see if the DSL would work. I was not going to accept that because no one told me about a such charge and of course Earthlink said they did but I quickly reassured them that no one did not because they was no way in the world that I was going to be able to afford that. So Earthlink decided to refund the charge back to my account but I was quick to explain that my bank may charge me for my account being overdrawn. Earthlink’s response was if that happens go to your bank and have them fill out and form showing the charges and then fax it to us. Yeah right, I am not doing anything it is your fault and you should take care of if it happens. Luckily for me I transferred some money over from my other account to cover the overdraft because it took Earthlink almost two weeks to refund my money.
To be continued
Ras Kass – Ordo Ab Chao from the Soul On Ice album.
Beyond my typical delays in updating my blog once again this the delay was from forces out of my control. This incident takes form in the shape of a company called Earthlink. Yes Earthlink, the same company who a few years I had for dial up internet service. During those days I must admit that Earthlink provided me with the best experience of any dial up ISP that I was a subscriber to. I can say this because during my dial up days I went through a lot of ISP MSN, AOL, Net Zero, Zeno or whatever it was called, and a few other off brand ISP as well. So when Earthlink gave me a call during the second week in October claiming that they were offering DSL I could not pass it up.
The initial offer over the phone was $19.95 for 12 months and then $39.95 after that. Not to bad I must say. Whenever I signed up for any service I am make sure that I ask how much is going everything going to cost to get me started. Just a little something I learn from my early cell phone days and long distance and local phone providers as well. You know the whole this service is 20 or 30 something 99 a month, yet when you receive that first bill it is anywhere from $10 to $20 more that stem from all this taxes and fees that are not mention when you sign up.
Back to the point so I carefully the Earthlink representative how much when everything cost me initially to get going. By that I meant how much was I going to pay for shipping and handling? Will there by an additional charge for the modem and if so how much? The young lady from Earthlink said that shipping and handling will cost me $19.95, why was the shipping and handling I never will know considering that my modem etc did not arrive for another 11 days. So I know that $19.95 charge was not for overnight or express shipping lol…
Well finally the package arrives it takes me no longer than 8 minutes to get started and I am off to the races so far so good. Well two days after I receive my initial package I receive my first invoice a bill for $29.95… I guess that should have been a RED FLAG for me because after a quick call to Earthlink they said that the $29.95 charge was a billing error do not worry about it we will credit the charge to your account. Phase 1
My schedule is very hectic but one thing that I try to do is to check my secondary checking account that serves to pay my bills. Well after paying the phone bill and the light bill I wanted to check my balance and what did I find out? My account was overdrawn what in the world… Well after scanning the my latest charges I noticed that I had a charge from Earthlink for $120 P.S. Again this is my secondary account that serves to pay my billing everything is budget so it does not make such as a $120 charge that I was not expecting cause me to become overdrawn though to be honest there is not that much more money in my primary account sue me hey I am a student. Phase 2
Now it is time to call Earthlink to see what is going on. Only four days with this company and already two invoices. The people in billing from Earthlink said that the charge was my first month of service and installation fee. Basically $19.95 for the DSL service and then $99 for an installation fee. I said what installation fee, I installed everything myself and that was quickly switch over to someone had to go and check the lines to see if the DSL would work. I was not going to accept that because no one told me about a such charge and of course Earthlink said they did but I quickly reassured them that no one did not because they was no way in the world that I was going to be able to afford that. So Earthlink decided to refund the charge back to my account but I was quick to explain that my bank may charge me for my account being overdrawn. Earthlink’s response was if that happens go to your bank and have them fill out and form showing the charges and then fax it to us. Yeah right, I am not doing anything it is your fault and you should take care of if it happens. Luckily for me I transferred some money over from my other account to cover the overdraft because it took Earthlink almost two weeks to refund my money.
To be continued
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