bills and customer service, are we being robbed?

I have been offline lately due to a $1.75 charge from QWEST. I paid my bill from them for $73.30, and thought all was well. HAH! It was just the beginning of the most unbelievable nightmare. My phone got cut off, and I called customer service to find out why. They told me that I owed an additional $12.25 which hadn't posted on my first bill. Snarling, I went over to the customer service at the grocery store where you can pay your phone bill, among other things, and Western Unioned them their $12.25. They claimed my service would be turned back on in two days. It wasn't. I called again and THIS time was told that I owed $1.75 from an old cell phone bill (I no longer haver the cell phone) back in 2003. I said. "You're joking, right?"

They weren't. Back to the grocery store to send off $1.75. A few more days wait and still no phone service. I called customer dis-service again and was told that they never got their $1.75. I had the receipt in my hand and read them off all the numbers. They were not impressed. They said that I had to fax a copy of the receipt to some special QWEST Pay Center. By this point I was so filled with hatred and frustration, I considered just doing without a phone, but I finally went down to the US Post Office and sent off a special US Postal Service Fax with all the seals and receipts and numbers. I also got the QWEST manager's name who required me to do this.

Guess what? A week later, my phone was still not connected. I called and asked for a manager. I told them the entire story and read off all my documentation and serial numbers and asked them if they thought I was in a conspiracy with the Postal Service to rob QWEST of $1.75. This time I finally won, and am now typing this response on the Cellar.

Yeah, companies will rip you off any chance they get.