Monday Morons

Happy March. And just where have the last two months gone? Scary.

BT put me on “incoming calls only” yesterday. Nice of ’em – no warning, no messing, try to make a call, and get told that it’s been diverted to BT, and that I should call them in office hours. Yup, Monday – Saturday. Hardly guaranteed to put me in a good mood for calling them this morning. As any reader with half an IQ point will know, I don’t handle incompetence well. So I call them today.

“a) Why was my phone cut off on a Sunday, when I can’t speak to the department at all ’til Monday?
b)Why was it cut off at all?
c) Why wasn’t I warned about it, or told what the keff was going on?

Answer a)
“Our system didn’t realise it was a leap year, so it thought it was cutting you off today”
(I’m virtually speechless, but still manage a brisk “And how is that my problem?“

Answer b)
You haven’t paid your bill.
What bill?
The one you received in December.
I say again, what bill?
Well you must have received it – our system says we sent it.
Does your system check with the postman? Or send it recorded?
No
So how do you ‘know’ I’ve received it?
Well, our system says we sent it.

Answer c) We sent out a notification.
Is that the same system that sends out the bills?
Yes.
Got news – I didn’t get the reminder either, you know, for the bill I haven’t paid because I haven’t received it.
You must have received it. We sent it out.

And then they’ll wonder why people get rude on the phone to customer services. I didn’t get rude, I should point out – just queried the competence of an organisation that says “you must’ve received it, we sent it out”, but won’t accept the same reason in return when told “well you must’ve received my cheque, I posted it to you”.