In my last GreenSpace column, I crowed about how easy it had been to both get and pay my household bills online.
I’d been doing it for months, and it seemed so easy! Just go into my bank’s bill-paying system, make a few clicks, type in the amount, indicate the date I wanted the bill paid and, as much as one can, just forget about it.
That was before I got an unusual phone bill this month.
So here’s an update:
The bill looked high. I clicked on the “view bill” tab.
Turns out that for my security — and how could anyone argue with that? — Verizon wanted me to register and log in, beyond what I’d already done to set up a Verizon account and email.
Fine. I put in my user name and the system said I’d get a phone call in two minutes with a temporary PIN so I could view the bill.
Not fine. Two minutes, five minutes, ten minutes went by.
Then I started calling. Fully ninety minutes after that — after a saga of button-pressing and, when I’d chance upon a human, and okay I understand you’re not the right person, then my abject begging to please, PLEASE transfer me not to an automated line, but a human who could help — we finally got things worked out.
I was able to see the bill. And, fortunately, turns out it was correct. I'd forgotten, ahem, about that 13-minute call to a friend in Denmark.
So that’s one hitch hammered out. And I still like the system. But I wonder what the next one will be.
I just started the auto bill pay with Wachovia. I recommend it to all my friends. It has made bill paying alot less of a hassle. I worried that the bills for some reason , wouldn't get there on time, but those problems have been put to bed. I'm sure there are little glitches like the one mentioned above, but all in all I can't be happier with it.— sulgerdan- thats good. As if jobs aren't going by the wayside in these great united states, you are now going to put the letter carriers out of business. One more job our children can't apply for when they graduate. College tuition is outrageous and not all kids go to college. Good job putting another profession away for good! What do you do for a living sulgerdan, maybe we can stop using what you are hocking!— mokey1057
GreenSpace - her column about how to reduce your carbon footprint in everyday life - appears every other Monday in Health & Science.
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