Читать книгу Do As I Say, Not As I Did - Michael N Marcus - Страница 17
When I lived in Westchester County, New York I got TV service from Cablevision. I had 14 TV sets. Eight of them were connected to cable boxes which had monthly fees, and six of them were connected directly to the cable, and were not charged for.
ОглавлениеCablevision insisted that all TVs that were connected to its serviceeven those producing no revenue—had to be included in its records. They also had to appear on the monthly bills, even if nothing had to be paid.
The format for the monthly bill allowed just ten items, so Cablevision had to separate my TVs into two accounts. Each month the company sent one bill that included the eight cable boxes, plus another bill—with a different account number, different envelope and additional postage—listing the six TVs that had no cable boxes and no monthly charges.
The second bill showed monthly charges of six times nothing, with a total due of zero dollars and zero cents.
After several months, Cablevision’s computer noticed that no payments were received to pay the zero balance and turned the account over to a collection agency.
The collection agency’s computer then started to threaten me, detailing the dire consequences if the payment of zero dollars and zero cents was not made promptly. Phone calls to the agency and Cablevision were fruitless. The customer service people at both companies blamed the computers and had no way to intervene.
Ultimately I drove to a Cablevision office and presented a check for $0.00, and the account was credited for the “payment.”
Everything was fine for a few months until it started all over again.
Lesson: Companies are stupid.
