Sad But True

Keeping an eye on news feeds is part of what I do on a daily basis.  I see stuff I may need to know so I subscribe to the feed.  Firefox is set to scroll the feeds across the bottom, and as I go about my day, when my interest is piqued, I peek.

This particular habit is why I stayed with Firefox through the recent glitchy releases.  Chrome won't provide this essential function.  I don't have time to actively go looking for things to read, no way!  I mean, how else would I know that Amazon will rent you goats to mow your lawn??  Gotta be a feed ticker.

The headline that caught my attention was "AT&T bills 83-year-old $24,298 for using AOL dial-up".  And yes, some people still use dial-up.  This one was a must read.  We have all had issues with our internet providers, every last one of us.  But $24k???

You can probably guess that they gave him the runaround.  First call, bill over 8 grand, they say "It's a problem, we'll send somebody out there". Cue game show buzzer. NNNK!  No visit, meter keeps ticking.  Second call, over $15k they say, panic ridden senior citizen (of course they are charging late fees), and YOU STILL HAVE TO PAY US :) NNNK!!  This time, though, they did actually show up, and they fixed the problem.  It was his modem.  This should have been shut off as soon as it messed up, but no, we'll let it run like this for a while.  Good for the bottom line . . .

So, how much ya think he pays monthly for that modem and how many years ago ya think that modem was paid off?  If he wasn't renting it, they wouldn't have fixed it!  So you still owe us, only now we want not fifteen but t w e n t y four thousand dollars!!!!  ICFBI!! Or can I?  Thank goodness this particular senior had been paying attention to his news. He knows people are getting ripped off all the time, so he calls a reporter!  Good thing this particular reporter was with the LA Times, because as we know the small newspapers have all dried up. Whaddaya know, with the harsh light of public scrutiny, the problem disappears. Read it here.   Sad but every word is true.