The MCI Saga

I don’t know how, but MCI manages to find new ways to screw up billing daily. The funniest part about the latest ordeal is that they weren’t even managing this account anymore. They had already sold off their residential services to Verizon, but I guess they felt as though they needed to screw me over one last time. I was looking over a recent credit report, as I’m looking to purchase a new place. I get back the one from Experian, and I notice that there’s a random charge on there from some collections agency. They claim that I owe $49.19 in long distance from MCI. The date they reported this? December 17, 2004. Remember that date.

That date is significant because it means that this was right around Christmas time in 2004. Not only do I remember this charge, but I remember the entire harrowing ordeal. I call it an ordeal because MCI came up with one of the most annoying “policies” that I’ve ever heard of to date. I was trying to connect my land line following my relocation from Boston. I get all the rest of my utilities connected in short order, and now I’m down to the phone line. Sweet—or so I thought. I call MCI (they had control over the number that I was calling from at the time) to get the service started, and they say that there’s a “hold” on the number. They say that I’m going to have to call someone in collections (Remember, this is the initial setup. I have never used a phone besides my cell.) to get the number out of hold.

I speak with someone in collections, and they tell me that the reason the number is on “hold” is because the person that lived there before me (after they ask if I’m in any way connected to this woman) didn’t pay the bill. I tell them that’s a touching story, but I don’t care. I just moved here, and I’d like to get the number activated. Remember, it’s December 15th. They tell me that they have to escalate the ticket, and it has to go through an approval process because they can’t authorize the hold release without some form of payment entering the system. I tell them this is nonsense. Then I ask them how long it’s going to take for this “process” to be completed. What’s their answer? 7-10 business days. That’s right. 7-10 business days.

So here it is, one week before Christmas and I have no phone. I still have my cell phone mind you, but that’s not the point. I’ve become quite used to the idea of having a land line. I know it’s quickly becoming a relic of the past, but truth be told, I think still think they’re pretty useful. How many times have you walked somewhere within your home only to find that dead area where there is absolutely no cellular signal whatsoever? How annoying is that? What about the times when you’re on hold for 1/2 an hour dealing with some customer service queue? Do you really want to waste that many of your minutes on a cell phone? I don’t. But I digress. The point of the story is that these idiots told me that it was impossible for them to resolve a situation with a weeks’ time. I would not be able to call my family from my new residence because of the person that lived there before me? Were these people serious?

I was livid. The first thing that I did was call customer service again to file a formal complaint. Then I called again. (I did this because customer service departments conveniently drop your call when you’re pissed off—funny how that works, isn’t it?)

I wondered why MCI was providing local service here in the first place? Why couldn’t I simply choose a different carrier? Was New Jersey that much different from the rest of the world? What did I get myself into here?

I stopped fuming long enough to call Verizon. I ask them if there’s anything that I can do to resolve the situation, and whether they can take over the billing for the number. They tell me of course they can. They can have the number working by tomorrow. Fuck you, MCI. (Even though you can’t see me, but I’m flipping them off right now.)

I ask the Verizon rep is there anything that I have to do or whether there’s any notification to provide to MCI. She says since I never had service with them, I don’t have to do anything. That’s great. My phone works and I don’t have to sit through another MCI prompt. A couple days go by, and I receive a letter in the mail. It’s from MCI. It states that I owe about $50 for service that I never received. Smoke is pouring out of my ears all over again. I call them up and speak with a representative. The rep was really nice, and apologized for the error. She says that she’ll send out an updated bill showing a zero balance on my account. I was relieved. That was up until the point that I see yet another fucking charge on my credit report, two years later. It wasn’t even the same amount that was allegedly “owed” on the final bill! The first thing that I did was dispute the charge, which was promptly dropped. I couldn’t believe that those assholes reported the wrong information to some collections company and expected me to pay for it!

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. here’s a big “fuck you” to MCI. You’ve earned it.