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aaron8301
I can't get myself to go away.
join:2005-01-03
Clarkston, WA
 ·CableOne
| Re: hahaha said by BabyBear  :Could have told her, 'Sorry but the services you had at your old address are no longer available at your new address. Please call back at a later date to see if we have added service to your area.' Actually, that's what I was expecting. | |
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en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA | Re: hahaha Yup - a 'Sorry, your number is not in our service area.' is what I would have expected from an automated service.
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Canada = Hollywood North | |
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joako
Premium
join:2000-09-07
Gainesville, FL
| Re: hahaha said by en102 :Yup - a 'Sorry, your number is not in our service area.' is what I would have expected from an automated service. Well technically if the city was annexed then it might be a new ratecenter!
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09:F9:11:02:9D:74:E3:5B:D8:41:56:C5:63:56:88:C0 | |
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en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA | Re: hahaha That would have been handled and known about for some time in advance, as would all of the above billing issues. Qwest was just sloppy in handling it.
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Canada = Hollywood North | |
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| | | | | rahvin112
join:2002-05-24
Sandy, UT
| Re: hahaha Unless the city specifically contacted the utility, notified them well in advance, setup coordination meetings and all that Jazz they likely weren't warned in advance. If they city is smaller than 100K people and the piece annexed is smaller than 30k the city likely didn't have the experienced staff to make such a pre-notification happen. Relatively small cities have a very small group of city employees that spend more time pushing paper around (building permits etc..) than doing anything else.
Annexing is almost always done to acquire a piece of commercial zoning that is bringing in good sales taxes that the larger city wants to acquire to increase their tax base (as most states divvy the sales tax back to the city where the purchase was made). These decisions are often talked about a long time but are actually executed very quickly. Failing to discuss it with utilities and affected companies is much more common than you probably realize. In fact in cities the size I listed I would wager notifying utilities and having coordination meetings would be the exception, not the rule as most city employees would take the view that the utilities would figure it out on their own.
Now why the city renamed streets should be the real question. If I was the lady I would be mad at Qwest, but I would be almost as mad at the city for renaming streets and messing up the maps billings, driver licenses, credit addresses, mortgages, and just generally making the mail go to the wrong place. Especially if the annexed city is larger than 30k as the renaming and numbering would be so extensive that it would make all GPS maps essentially worthless as well as hosing the post office for a month or two. And as a previous poster said sarcastically, the state utility commission might allow a different rate center on the acquiring city. | |
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en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA
 ·DSL EXTREME
·DSL EXTREME
| Re: hahaha Omaha has a population of +400,000... I don't think it would be an issue.
Similarly, Santa Clarita has done many annexations in the past few years (pop 170,000), and I've never heard of this being an issue here. Cities as small as Santa Clarita have their own GIS, departments, etc.
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Canada = Hollywood North | |
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| SilverSurfer
join:2007-08-19
| said by BabyBear :Thats funny, but stuuupid!  Obvious it was an automated change & charge. Do they charge you if you paint your house a new color too? This is SOP billing - if Qworst had pulled this stunt anywhere else (not in bumblefuck nowhere, NE) it most likely would have gone unnoticed. But when you're rural bumpkin, you really don't have anything better to do but comb through your bills and scrutinize every item. | |
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Mospaw
What time is it again?
Premium,Mod
join:2001-01-08
Las Vegas, NV
·Cox HSI
·Embarq
Host:
Road Warriors, Not..
All things Macintosh
Automotive
Rants, Raves, & Pr..
| Re: hahaha said by SilverSurfer :But when you're rural bumpkin, you really don't have anything better to do but comb through your bills and scrutinize every item. I don't know about that. I'm hardly a rural bumpkin, living in Vegas.
But I work for the little bit of money I make, so I make sure ALL of my bills are correct. I'd sure as hell notice a $33 charge on my bill that didn't belong there, and I would complain to have it removed. | |
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aaron8301
I can't get myself to go away.
join:2005-01-03
Clarkston, WA
·CableOne
| Re: hahaha said by Mospaw :But I work for the little bit of money I make, so I make sure ALL of my bills are correct. I'd sure as hell notice a $33 charge on my bill that didn't belong there, and I would complain to have it removed. I second that. Either remove the charge or remove the service from my house. The location is completely irrelevant. Qworst shouldn't be charging a customer for moving when they didn't move! The fact that the "rural bumpkin" noticed the charge only goes to show that she(he?) pays attention and is responsible with her finances. | |
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Heehaw
@sbcglobal.net
| I scrutinize my bill all the time. This enables me to correct any overcharges/errors in my bill. I even scrutinize my receipt when I go grocery shopping. Many times stores overcharge you. Another thing you need to look at is sales tax. Sometimes, you get charged tax on non-taxable items. So, while you may see this act as someone who "don't have anything better to do but comb through your bills and scrutinize every item", I see it as an act of someone who is smart. | |
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DaveNJ
No Fear
join:1999-09-01
New Jersey | Just cancel The best way to let them know you are being mistreated is cancel. If a service charge is more important then you as a customer, then its there call. | |
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| benc
Premium
join:2007-06-17
Glen Carbon, IL
 ·Callcentric
·AT&T Midwest
·Charter Pipeline
| Re: Just cancel said by DaveNJ :The best way to let them know you are being mistreated is cancel. If a service charge is more important then you as a customer, then its there call. Except there's no true alternative when it comes to POTS. | |
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BabyBear
Keep wise ...with Night-Owl
join:2007-01-11
| Re: Just cancel said by benc :said by DaveNJ :The best way to let them know you are being mistreated is cancel. If a service charge is more important then you as a customer, then its there call. Except there's no true alternative when it comes to POTS. Not only that, maybe she got special bundle pricing with a ETF attached.  That she was losing cause of 'address change' even though she still lives at same service residence. Plus if she was a ISP email server user she'd probably lose your email "addy's" even if she called back a few days later to 'sign-up' under her 'new town & address'.
This is one of those things that if your lucky to get a smart and caring CSR you can get cleared up in 1 call. | |
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IPingUPing
Premium
join:2002-08-30
Smyrna, GA
clubs: | Cox offers phone service in Omaha. | |
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| | | benc
Premium
join:2007-06-17
Glen Carbon, IL
·Callcentric
·AT&T Midwest
·Charter Pipeline
| Re: Just cancel said by IPingUPing :Cox offers phone service in Omaha. Cable Phone is just another form of VOIP, which has shortcomings that are absent in POTS. | |
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The Beer
I Love It When A Plan Comes Together
Premium
join:2001-07-24
Omaha, NE
clubs: | Re: Just cancel Cox phone in Omaha is TDM, has been in place since before 2000.
However now that Cox is bigger than Qwest in Omaha they are just as evil. | |
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| | | | shashinka
join:2000-09-16
West Boylston, MA | You need a battery backup too. Which they provide in there ata/modem/router. They like the POTs company will be out within the same amount of time because the FCC treats it the same as POTs. Different then you're vonage VOIP service. | |
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Doctor Four
My other vehicle is a TARDIS
Premium
join:2000-09-05
Dallas, TX | No wonder they're called "Qworst" Stories like this only reinforce that opinion of them. | |
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hopeflicker
They all belong in the trash
Premium
join:2003-04-03
Long Beach, CA
| Re: No wonder they're called "Qworst" said by Doctor Four :Stories like this only reinforce that opinion of communication companies. Fix4U 
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Man created God in his image : intolerant, sexist, homophobic and violent. | |
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dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ
| said by Doctor Four :Stories like this only reinforce that opinion of them. Qworst, US Worst, whatever you call them, they just plain STINK!
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You can never be too rich, too thin or have too much Bandwidth | |
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koitsu
Premium
join:2002-07-16
Mountain View, CA
| A public note to Karl To date, this is one of the best BBR/DSLR headlines you've come up with. I burst out laughing just from reading the headline -- and today I really needed it.
Thanks. 
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Making life hard for others since 1977.
I speak for myself and not my employer/affiliates of my employer. | |
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ArchAngel21x
Obama 2008
Premium
join:2001-10-28
Lincoln, NE | Re: A public note to Karl Yes it was funny, but it's not like it took an incredible amount of creative thinking. The headline just states the obvious in a very blunt way. | |
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koma3504
Advocate
Premium
join:2004-06-22
North Richland Hills, TX
| Make the City Fix it. Since the city decided to make the changes they should step up and protect their residents. that were fine the way things were to beginwith. changing street names does nothing. but waste $$$$ and in this case it seems like its wasting even $$$ all across the board. | |
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| benc
Premium
join:2007-06-17
Glen Carbon, IL
·Callcentric
·AT&T Midwest
·Charter Pipeline
| Re: Make the City Fix it. said by koma3504 : Since the city decided to make the changes they should step up and protect their residents. I agree with this. The residents didn't move, and probably didn't expect any fees associated with establishing new service.
said by koma3504 : that were fine the way things were to beginwith. changing street names does nothing. but waste $$$$ and in this case it seems like its wasting even $$$ all across the board. I won't pretend to know everything, but it's possible that there were duplicate street names that needed to changed.
Imagine if there were two different 123 Main St.'s? How do you determine where the mail goes to? Don't say names either. The first reason is that sometimes people move, and because of red tape the information won't update instantaneously. The second reason is sometimes, for whatever reason, people will accept and hold on to mail for others. One time, my mother accepted mail for a foreign exchange student in her bible study group, who was back in her home country.
As for wasting money, you've got that right. The "new service" fee is a charge that is effectively a tax, only it doesn't even partially pay for anything useful. It's one-time, but still it's annoying for anyone involved. | |
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| Kearnstd
Elf Wizard
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ | the city should have as part of the annex made a tiny law that would forbid utilities from charging any fees for address changes with in the city limits.
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[65 Arcanist]Filan(High Elf) Zone: Broadband Reports | |
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supergirl
join:2007-03-20
Pensacola, FL
·Cox HSI
·magicjack.com
·Skype
·AT&T Southeast
| After AT&T saw this, they are now lobbying cities to make slight changes in address to charge $45 each.
Not bad compared to John Edwards's expense account for 2007:
$5,750 - Hairstyles
$795 - Shampoo
$912 - Styling Gell
$367 - Cucumbers
$5500 - Facials
$4750 - Manicures
$27,000 - Makeup
$1,259 - Lotion(s)
$1250 - Diet Coke
$175 - The L Word Rentals from Unbox
$125,000 - Bus Drivers
$250,000 - Bus Rental
Sen. Larry Craig was cheap:
$75 - Astroglide
$500 - Fine for Attempted Battery on an Officer in an Airport Bathroom
Hillary wasn't too bad:
Makeup - $12.98
(Bill Clinton's makeup was $32,000)
And, Rush Limbaugh:
$36,000 - Septic Tank Treatments
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Saving the world keeps me busy. However, I find Earth very primitive from my home planet of Krypton.
-Supergirl | |
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koma3504
Advocate
Premium
join:2004-06-22
North Richland Hills, TX | Re: Make the City Fix it. Well then i guess the legislation needs to pase some bills to make this type of extortion Illegle | |
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| | Kearnstd
Elf Wizard
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ
| said by supergirl :After AT&T saw this, they are now lobbying cities to make slight changes in address to charge $45 each. Not bad compared to John Edwards's expense account for 2007: $5,750 - Hairstyles $795 - Shampoo $912 - Styling Gell $367 - Cucumbers $5500 - Facials $4750 - Manicures $27,000 - Makeup $1,259 - Lotion(s) $1250 - Diet Coke $175 - The L Word Rentals from Unbox $125,000 - Bus Drivers $250,000 - Bus Rental Sen. Larry Craig was cheap: $75 - Astroglide $500 - Fine for Attempted Battery on an Officer in an Airport Bathroom Hillary wasn't too bad: Makeup - $12.98 (Bill Clinton's makeup was $32,000) And, Rush Limbaugh: $36,000 - Septic Tank Treatments wtf who needs to spend 5k+ on hair cuts, its like 13 bucks at the barber shop.
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[65 Arcanist]Filan(High Elf) Zone: Broadband Reports | |
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marigolds
Gainfully employed, finally
Premium,MVM
join:2002-05-13
Saint Louis, MO
| said by koma3504 :changing street names does nothing. but waste $$$$ and in this case it seems like its wasting even $$$ all across the board. The street name changes were probably mandatory. A city can only have one street with a given name. If Omaha had a street with the same name already, then the existing streets would have to have their names changed.
(There's that whole problem with 911 sending people to the correct address.)
--
ISCABBS - the oldest and largest BBS on the Internet
telnet://bbs.iscabbs.com
Professional Geographer
Geographic Information Science researcher | |
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koma3504
Advocate
Premium
join:2004-06-22
North Richland Hills, TX | Re: Make the City Fix it. well then Qworst or any other isp phone provider should not be able to charge more for services cause of the street name. all effected people should be able to keep what they had before the change. | |
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| | krichek
join:2004-02-15
Roseville, CA
| said by marigolds :said by koma3504 :changing street names does nothing. but waste $$$$ and in this case it seems like its wasting even $$$ all across the board. The street name changes were probably mandatory. A city can only have one street with a given name. If Omaha had a street with the same name already, then the existing streets would have to have their names changed. (There's that whole problem with 911 sending people to the correct address.) Maybe that's the case in Nebraska, I'm not sure. Haven't lived there since I was like 3. But I can say that there is nothing stopping other cities from having more than one street with the same name within it's limits.
My last address was on a street with a duplicate named street about 2 miles away. The house numbering was the only thing different. | |
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| | rahvin112
join:2002-05-24
Sandy, UT
| said by marigolds :said by koma3504 :changing street names does nothing. but waste $$$$ and in this case it seems like its wasting even $$$ all across the board. The street name changes were probably mandatory. A city can only have one street with a given name. If Omaha had a street with the same name already, then the existing streets would have to have their names changed. (There's that whole problem with 911 sending people to the correct address.) You make me laugh. Yea they can have only one street name per city right? And if they don't obey this rule you just created the whole city goes to jail in a super secret CIA prison right?
I'd wager more than half the cities in my county have at least half a dozen streets with the same name on different sides of the city. Hell half of them are probably mountain drive, or evergreen place, or oakdale circle. In fact all the developments that went in during the early 2000's probably all pulled street names from the same list of 50 street names.
Don't make up rules and think they are real or that anyone with any sense is going to believe you. | |
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marigolds
Gainfully employed, finally
Premium,MVM
join:2002-05-13
Saint Louis, MO
| Re: Make the City Fix it. said by rahvin112 :Don't make up rules and think they are real or that anyone with any sense is going to believe you. The specific rule is that the street segments must have a different combination of direction, name, type, address range, and parity. There is also a rule about continuity (how far apart two segments of the same street can be), but that one is ignored for older streets.
Look up the NENA standards and the draft federal 911 standards.
(I maintain a 911 system for a metropolitan county, do you?)
--
ISCABBS - the oldest and largest BBS on the Internet
telnet://bbs.iscabbs.com
Professional Geographer
Geographic Information Science researcher | |
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| Kearnstd
Elf Wizard
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ | Zip codes are all you need to have similar street names and not screw up the USPS/UPS/Fedex.
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[65 Arcanist]Filan(High Elf) Zone: Broadband Reports | |
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marigolds
Gainfully employed, finally
Premium,MVM
join:2002-05-13
Saint Louis, MO
| Re: Make the City Fix it. [BQUOTE- krichek ]My last address was on a street with a duplicate named street about 2 miles away. The house numbering was the only thing different.said by Kearnstd :Zip codes are all you need to have similar street names and not screw up the USPS/UPS/Fedex. Having a different address range would be considered being two segments of the same street even if the segments are two mils away from each other. Since many states require address ranges to be ascending from city center though, renumbering is not an option when streets duplicate in name and address range.
e911 does not use zip codes (since most people do not know the location of any zip codes other than their home address zip codes), so while it would be okay for USPS et al, it would not work for 911 services and that is what drives addressing.
--
ISCABBS - the oldest and largest BBS on the Internet
telnet://bbs.iscabbs.com
Professional Geographer
Geographic Information Science researcher | |
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jjsk8r85
join:2005-02-17
Belleville, MI | ... There is no such thing as WOWT anywhere in North Carolina. | |
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BabyBear
Keep wise ...with Night-Owl
join:2007-01-11
| Re: ... said by jjsk8r85 :There is no such thing as WOWT anywhere in North Carolina. Typo. Karl's fingers were probably wet from wiping the laughter tears from his eyes as he typed NC instead of NE.  | |
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LBDSL
Lightning Bolt
VIP
join:2002-01-07
Auburn Hills, MI | Re: ... Actually I bet it should be a local NBC affiliate | |
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BabyBear
Keep wise ...with Night-Owl
join:2007-01-11 | Re: ... Yeah that works too. :')
Turns out Elkhorn is right next door to the original village of Boys Town. See could have been worse they could have been annexed by Boys Town. | |
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Corydon
Cultivant son jardin
Premium
join:2008-02-18
Denver, CO
clubs:
·Comcast
| I won't argue that $33 is pretty outrageous... But they didn't exactly do nothing. They just didn't do anything at her house.
The address would have to be updated in a few different places, like their billing system, the directory listing, the database that E911 uses, etc.
Even if most of the process was automated, someone had to sit down and put together the scripts to change each address. | |
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bjl
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Laguna Hills, CA
| Re: I won't argue that $33 is pretty outrageous... said by Corydon :Even if most of the process was automated, someone had to sit down and put together the scripts to change each address. Yeah, but did the development of the scripts really cost $33/address? I doubt it.
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flickr gallery
photo blog (rarely updated) | |
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Eddyisgreat
Premium
join:2003-01-21
Seattle, WA
clubs: | I'd be angry too if they didn't flick no switches ??!! | |
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Chuckles
Premium
join:2006-03-04
Saint Paul, MN | Must resist. Haha! Now I want to put a $40 charge on a customer's account with the description as "nothing".
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kustomerservice.net | |
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jgkolt
Premium
join:2004-02-21
Lakewood, OH
clubs:
| automation Automation is great but you lose the personal touch AND RATIONAL when everything is automatic. They feel the error rate is so low they can deal with the mistakes as they happen as they are rarer than billing everyone manually. I am not against automation but here the customer needs to be aware of their finances and qwest should not quibble one bit over the charge and erase the charge. Around me place and circle could be two totally different parts of the city.
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3 free for you/3 free for me: Free Stock Trades : PM Me | |
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fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20
| Un-News "The Qwest spokesperson also said other residents of Elkhorn should not see the same problem on their bill, that this was just an isolated problem that should not have happened in the first place."
Its funny how these little facts get left out.
As much as I hate Qwest.. they've put forth plenty of effort to make my life miserable over the years, shit happens.
Most of this, I'm sure, was done via customer service. The accounts were grandfathered rates to which customer service, I'm sure, can't put back on the account with out some MAJOR escalation, if they are like any other phone company. This is, most likely, where the ball was dropped. I'm also sure that the CSR, most likely in a different state, had NO clue what happened.
To bash Qwest, as is the goal in this thread, their follow up is horrible at best! But, I also believe that the CSR's weren't given the right information to understand what happened, and I'm sure the customer, as often happens, doesn't stand their ground, sits back and takes a weak stance against the problem.. and I'm sure a major push for supervisors/managers wasn't done either. (Elderly people generally don't do this)
my2cents | |
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| macaholic
Premium
join:2003-08-31
Jackson Heights, NY
| Re: Un-News uh Qwest got caught doing something dumb... even if it was isolated, this unwanted publicity makes sure it does not happen again. Fine by me...
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"You don't subject minority rights to a referendum." Justice Minister Irwin Cotler of Canada | |
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| | fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20
| Re: Un-News I agree... however, let's be honest about this here.
They charged me for a month of service that I didn't have a phone line. (had it turned off) I had to weed through a few bad apples... it took me a few bills to get it settled.. does that mean I have a national explosion? Does it mean that I have an action item for the local news to make it sound worse?
Yes.. this issue is BS.. and YES, this a pretty bad one.. was it a MAJOR one? Yes! But... is this really a small issue being sensationalized.. that's my question.
I haven't seen anything that points to a wide spread problem.. more of one from the book of "strange and odd problems"...
I'm just not one to blow something out of proportion is all. | |
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Buckethead
join:2001-07-30
Saint Paul, MN
| said by fiberguy :"The Qwest spokesperson also said other residents of Elkhorn should not see the same problem on their bill, that this was just an isolated problem that should not have happened in the first place." Its funny how these little facts get left out. The little facts seem to get left out more often then not to grab a headline and stir up the masses here. | |
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babwas
join:2005-04-09
Omaha, NE
·Cox HSI
| Qwest mistakes The city is changing a lot of addresses in Elkhorn to match Omaha. This was done to make the streets match the naming within the rest of the city. As much as Elkhorn liked to think of itself as a separate city, it is nothing more than a suburb of Omaha. From what I understand the rest of the address changes did not involve extra charges and Qwest claims she is the only person involved. They have written it off to a poorly trained CSR and have since removed the extra charges. However her bill will most likely be higher because now she will have the joy of paying city taxes. | |
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D1sclaimer
join:2007-11-03
Bennington, NE | This Sucks LOL. I live in Bennington right outside Omaha and Elkhorn. This sucks for them. They were so pissed off when they got officially annexed a year ago. Qwest is their only option out that far out of Omaha. | |
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The Beer
I Love It When A Plan Comes Together
Premium
join:2001-07-24
Omaha, NE
clubs: | Re: This Sucks Elkhorn has Cox, it's not that far out. | |
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pcdebb
Buttercup sees you
Premium
join:2000-12-03
Tampa, FL
clubs:
| scary i just moved into a condo, and it's on the tail end of a major address reassignment. I just changed my address, and will have to change it again in a month. from what i understand it's supposed to be free as long as I provide the letter sent to me from the county, but i'm sure i'm going to have a headache with someone.
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a time for change... | 1st & 10 | Ham is good | |
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Smith6612
Premium
join:2008-02-01
united state | LOL! That's rediculus! Qwest at it again... | |
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Qwest Charges $33 For Doing Absolutely Nothing
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