an american, a russian, a nigerian, and an indian walk into a supermarket in a small town in the middle of Germany....
comic relief aside (doesn´t that sound like the beginning of some bad joke?), my life does feel a bit surreal these days. After spending a bit over a week in copenhagen, I headed down to Kassel germany through a variety of transportation methods. Trains, ferries, cars (hitching), and walking. I arrived at my new home on saturday evening last week.
This week has been filled with....lots of drinking actually. And international meals. I live with an italian, a nigerian, an egyptian, and a german guy. and upstairs from us are 2 more floors, filled with people from russia, ukrain, kyrgistan, malaysia, canada, palestine, brazil, india, and zambia, to name a few. we still are waiting on another person from s. africa, and there is a guy from korea who lives with his family (so he misses all the parties).
but aside from alcohol consumption, soccer games in our backyard, and wondering around this little college town, we´ve already had some fascinating conversation about trade unions, workers, politics, and that global plague we call capitalism. I´m really excited about this semester! I feel like its the first time I´m really going to be engaged in the subject matter. I mean, when I did my bachelors degree, it was in Labor Studies, but it was really a bit of a cake walk. I was already working for union, and aside from some great labor history, I don´t think I learned too much.
I am anticipating a complete language melt down at some point, as my brain will probably explode. I am taking one course in spanish (I have no idea why they offer a course in spanish in germany for english speakers, but I was excited to see it!), and the rest of my classes will be in English. I´ll also have a German course, AND they have portuguese classes. But, the portuguese classes are part of the normal university here, so they are for German students.... as in, my book, and much of the class may be in German. They won´t say "cat = gato", they´ll say "katze = gato". But I´ll see how it goes.... I´ll be in Brasil in February, so it can only help.
Tschüs!
domingo, 16 de setembro de 2007
update on cingular
I won! They credited my account so I now have a 30 dollar positive balance and 1 more bill for 29.99.
I´m actually quite surprised. I thought my letter was a bit over the top.
I´m actually quite surprised. I thought my letter was a bit over the top.
terça-feira, 4 de setembro de 2007
Fuck off Cingular
Dear Stewart Smith,
Lets back up a minute here. I already requested my plan to change to the 19.99 plan beginning on the 7/26 - 8/25 billing period (the bill that says 6/26-7/25 for 73.58 as you bill in advance for the time). Texting and insurance were also supposed to be cancelled. I called numerous times to correct this! First in June, then in July before I left. Since then I have called twice internationally from Europe.
While I appreciate the adjustment you made to the current bill, the above stated bill charged me 50 dollars more than I was supposed to be charged. The next bill (my current one) is also charging me 50 dollars more than I am supposed to be charged. And I will have another bill before my contract expires!? For who knows how much.
Since I will only have 1 more bill after this, that is supposed to be for 19.99 + taxes, the total for ALL THREE BILLS should be LESS than what I have already paid! Since I paid you 73.58 for the first overcharged bill, if you charged me nothing for the remainder of my contract, I would have overpaid. Or you could refund me 50 dollars for that bill, 50 dollars on this bill (instead of the 23.14), and bill me correctly for my last and final bill.
I am so tired of having to deal with this from Germany. It is the last thing I want to be thinking about while in another country. Please realize that every dollar we are discussing is for a phone that I AM NOT EVEN USING!
The whole time I lived in the U.S. that I used cingular (and at&t for years through my work as well), I was very happy with the level of customer service and never really had any problems. Now that I am trying to cancel my account, it has been horrible! I know all of the cell phone companies try and stop you from cancelling. But I am not cancelling to go to a competitor. I am cancelling because I live in Germany now!!
I propose this: I will not pay you another cent. My 73.58 debited from my account on 8/18 is more than enough to bring me to the end of my contract (had I been billed correctly). I consider my end of the contract fulfilled.
19.99 + taxes 7/26 - 8/25
19.99 + taxes 8/26 - 9/25
19.99 + taxes 9/26 - 10/23
= 60 bucks + taxes.
I paid 73.58 on 8/18. Technically, you owe me money, but I don't care. I just want to be done with this!
I would prefer to use cingular / AT&T again when I return to the United States. Do you want to screw me out of 50 bucks a month now and loose me as a customer for life? or will you honor the agreement and let me leave with dignity, so I might use cingular / AT&T again for another contract in the future? This is insane.
Sincerely,
Steven Toff
P.S. My contract did allow for cancellation without an early termination fee. When I signed up for my contract, I knew I might be moving out of the country and the salesman wrote on the contract that the cancellation fee would not apply if I moved outside of your coverage area.
But when I called, the customer service rep on the phone said that hand written part would not be honored. However, she advised me to switch my plan to the 19.99 plan for the time I would be gone, to save me the difference versus paying the cancellation fee. Naively, I thanked her for her advice and did just that.
I have since talked to a lawyer who advised me that the hand written section, signed by the employee who gave me the contract, would in fact stand up in arbitration. Despite the expert legal advice I accepted from a customer service rep.
P.P.S. - Speaking of arbitration, I have read the contract cover to cover as well as Cingular's Terms of Service Agreement, and there are other reasons why I could cancel without an Early Termination Fee. My plan changed without my permission, my rate for texting changed, you unilaterally changed my contract and assigned the entire arbitration procedure, waiving my right to participate in a class action law suit. All these changes constitute a violation of the contract and allow me to opt out without the Early Termination Fee, as outlined in your own Terms of Service Agreement.
Lets back up a minute here. I already requested my plan to change to the 19.99 plan beginning on the 7/26 - 8/25 billing period (the bill that says 6/26-7/25 for 73.58 as you bill in advance for the time). Texting and insurance were also supposed to be cancelled. I called numerous times to correct this! First in June, then in July before I left. Since then I have called twice internationally from Europe.
While I appreciate the adjustment you made to the current bill, the above stated bill charged me 50 dollars more than I was supposed to be charged. The next bill (my current one) is also charging me 50 dollars more than I am supposed to be charged. And I will have another bill before my contract expires!? For who knows how much.
Since I will only have 1 more bill after this, that is supposed to be for 19.99 + taxes, the total for ALL THREE BILLS should be LESS than what I have already paid! Since I paid you 73.58 for the first overcharged bill, if you charged me nothing for the remainder of my contract, I would have overpaid. Or you could refund me 50 dollars for that bill, 50 dollars on this bill (instead of the 23.14), and bill me correctly for my last and final bill.
I am so tired of having to deal with this from Germany. It is the last thing I want to be thinking about while in another country. Please realize that every dollar we are discussing is for a phone that I AM NOT EVEN USING!
The whole time I lived in the U.S. that I used cingular (and at&t for years through my work as well), I was very happy with the level of customer service and never really had any problems. Now that I am trying to cancel my account, it has been horrible! I know all of the cell phone companies try and stop you from cancelling. But I am not cancelling to go to a competitor. I am cancelling because I live in Germany now!!
I propose this: I will not pay you another cent. My 73.58 debited from my account on 8/18 is more than enough to bring me to the end of my contract (had I been billed correctly). I consider my end of the contract fulfilled.
19.99 + taxes 7/26 - 8/25
19.99 + taxes 8/26 - 9/25
19.99 + taxes 9/26 - 10/23
= 60 bucks + taxes.
I paid 73.58 on 8/18. Technically, you owe me money, but I don't care. I just want to be done with this!
I would prefer to use cingular / AT&T again when I return to the United States. Do you want to screw me out of 50 bucks a month now and loose me as a customer for life? or will you honor the agreement and let me leave with dignity, so I might use cingular / AT&T again for another contract in the future? This is insane.
Sincerely,
Steven Toff
P.S. My contract did allow for cancellation without an early termination fee. When I signed up for my contract, I knew I might be moving out of the country and the salesman wrote on the contract that the cancellation fee would not apply if I moved outside of your coverage area.
But when I called, the customer service rep on the phone said that hand written part would not be honored. However, she advised me to switch my plan to the 19.99 plan for the time I would be gone, to save me the difference versus paying the cancellation fee. Naively, I thanked her for her advice and did just that.
I have since talked to a lawyer who advised me that the hand written section, signed by the employee who gave me the contract, would in fact stand up in arbitration. Despite the expert legal advice I accepted from a customer service rep.
P.P.S. - Speaking of arbitration, I have read the contract cover to cover as well as Cingular's Terms of Service Agreement, and there are other reasons why I could cancel without an Early Termination Fee. My plan changed without my permission, my rate for texting changed, you unilaterally changed my contract and assigned the entire arbitration procedure, waiving my right to participate in a class action law suit. All these changes constitute a violation of the contract and allow me to opt out without the Early Termination Fee, as outlined in your own Terms of Service Agreement.
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