WOW...woke up to a message from Roger that I had been selected as this weeks winner in the Creative Photography Contest...Thank you to the judges and to all of the other contestants. PLEASE check out all the great entries by going HERE.
OK, well a number of people have told me there is no way I will be able to not post or read next week...Keep in mind, since I began in March 2006, I have missed only a handful of posts on a week day.
Well...I might throw up a song everyday, just so all my guests have their Tuneage fix...and maybe, I will flit around and read here and there, but I am serious about shutting myself off from distractions and getting some serious writing done...
I printed out the 50-60 pages that are done and they are now hanging on the wall in my bedroom...a sheet is also there with characters and their characteristics and statistics...some of them are already mentioned in what I have written, some I need to discover where they come into the story.
I also have a timeline so that I can keep my times in order. I write scattered...jumping from one scenario to the other as things hit me..then I go back and organize and decide how the chapters will fall. I am not sure they will be in chronological order.
I really do not think it will be difficult to not post something each day. What might be difficult is not visiting all y'all...I love to come by and read you each day. I do get through my FAV SITES list over there on the right just about every day. So, you just might see me.
And of course you can come here each day and leave a comment telling me how dang much you miss me and that your days are incomplete and your life feels meaningless... bwahahahahahahahaha sorry, could not help myself there...
Well...I might throw up a song everyday, just so all my guests have their Tuneage fix...and maybe, I will flit around and read here and there, but I am serious about shutting myself off from distractions and getting some serious writing done...
I printed out the 50-60 pages that are done and they are now hanging on the wall in my bedroom...a sheet is also there with characters and their characteristics and statistics...some of them are already mentioned in what I have written, some I need to discover where they come into the story.
I also have a timeline so that I can keep my times in order. I write scattered...jumping from one scenario to the other as things hit me..then I go back and organize and decide how the chapters will fall. I am not sure they will be in chronological order.
I really do not think it will be difficult to not post something each day. What might be difficult is not visiting all y'all...I love to come by and read you each day. I do get through my FAV SITES list over there on the right just about every day. So, you just might see me.
And of course you can come here each day and leave a comment telling me how dang much you miss me and that your days are incomplete and your life feels meaningless... bwahahahahahahahaha sorry, could not help myself there...
ARGGGGGGGGGGGGG...I am sure 99% of you have had to deal with customer service people from a company you owe money. I am an expert after all that transpired in 2006-2007 being out of work for 20 months.
I am doing well getting them all paid off and that is because they all agreed to programs to allow me to make monthly payments. What I learned is, if you have Citibank in your list of creditors and you can get them to set up a program, everyone else will fall in line.
Serious...but then there is one company that has the worst customer service of any and all I have ever dealt with. Now, I do not mean bad because they are mean and snap and yell, because I do not allow that. I immediately tell the person if they threaten one more time their supervisor will be alerted and more.
This company, well their people are just plain clueless. About a year ago the end of the 9-month 'hardship' program was coming due. I got a call telling me I was behind. How could I be behind...I am on the program and they are debiting my checking account each month??
I am told the balance due before I went on the program is due. No no no...not right I say, why is this coming up now, 2 months before the deadline? I have owed it all along they say. Kooky crazy I say. then the supervisor gets on. And tells me, very forcefully that I have to pay this past due (over a grand BTW) or they will put me into collections.
OK, staying calm I ask for his name (I like getting it in case - for today, lets call him "DOOFUS")...I tell him that I am on the hardship program, they can't put me into collections. So then he says well that ends in 2 months how can you pay then?
Deep breath...Well Sir, I will deal with it then, in the meantime I am making the agreed upon payments according to the terms and maybe we can extend it, as the others have done to help me try and get caught up.
This person tells me that they do not do back to back hardships and I would have to wait a year to reapply. Well I know that they all say that but everyone else understood the situation and extended. HEY! Most people duck the calls and never pay and end up in collections. Here I am actually calling them and doing what I can...go deal with those who don't want to pay their debt. And it would have been easy to file bankruptcy (and many people suggested it), two years ago and gotten out of this, but I made my debt, I will pay it off.
At this point he says for the first and not last time during this call (and I kid you not) "Look Vinny (I never told him he could call be by my first name!?!?!?!), take responsibility for your life. You made this debt, pay it up and stop trying to weasel out of it."
I was dumbfounded. He was asked to call me Mr. Marini, he was not my friend and only my friends called me Vinny. I began to explain the situation (lost job, house sale at a loss, move, divorce etc) and he keeps cutting me off and saying things like "Well Vinny (or Vince..never Mr. Marini) will you make a payment now?"
I finally have had enough and hang up. I call again and ask the rep for their supervisor, but specifically tell them I do not want to speak with "DOOFUS"..she puts me on hold and then GUESS WHO COMES ON THE LINE..and repeats that filth he uttered earlier and I hung up.
So, and some of you know this about me, I break out Google...Find the corporate site...of course the executive's names are listed, but not their emails...AH! there is an email for the PR person...let's see, the format is lastname.firstname(at)XXX(dot)com .. OK..
We compose a calm concise letter explaining the situation, the hardship and the call and rudeness. I then send it to the CEO, the President, the Vice President of Customer Service, the Vice President of the division I had the account under, and the Vice President of their legal department.
Within 2 hours my phone rings and it is the Executive Assistant to the President of the parent company. We talk...she tells me the person that had been rude was being spoken to about the incident.
The next day, phone rings. The same woman...she informs me "DOOFUS" has been terminated based upon reviews of the audio tapes - who knows if she was blowing smoke or not. She then renews me in the hardship program for another 9 months.
Since that time I have had no less than 40 conversations with this creditor. In every case the reps are calling to ask about payments that are automatically made! A couple of months ago I got a call asking why I did not make my payment. Ummm you auto deduct. I was out at a baseball game, so I did not have access to my records. The person tells me that the auto-deduct ran out. So I suppose I was supposed to know it ran out...4 months before the end of the program?!?!?!?
After a most excrutiating conversation I finally convince him that the money was deducted (It was...I checked when I got home!) and that the last auto-deduct would be June. Cool.
I make the July payment on time for the full amount due...
Yesterday I look and see they auto-deducted for July - after receiving my payment! - So, I call and once again I get one of their clueless reps on the line whose favorite thing to say is "We will not deduct once the program is over without your permission"..OK, but the program ended in June...right? This guy then tells me it ended in July!
All my paperwork tells me June Let's count...October, November December, January, February, March, April, May, June (9 months right?)...well clowny on the phone tells me according to HIS records the program began in November...
I finally sighed, said thank you and hung up the phone.
So, if they auto-withdraw next month the Executive Assistant to the President will be hearing from me once again... sigh....
I am tempted to tell you who they are so you can stay away from them at all costs...but I am not sure if I should....Stop by Monday and see if I posted it
(bwahahahahahahah keep my hits up! bwahahahahaahahhaahaahah)
I am doing well getting them all paid off and that is because they all agreed to programs to allow me to make monthly payments. What I learned is, if you have Citibank in your list of creditors and you can get them to set up a program, everyone else will fall in line.
Serious...but then there is one company that has the worst customer service of any and all I have ever dealt with. Now, I do not mean bad because they are mean and snap and yell, because I do not allow that. I immediately tell the person if they threaten one more time their supervisor will be alerted and more.
This company, well their people are just plain clueless. About a year ago the end of the 9-month 'hardship' program was coming due. I got a call telling me I was behind. How could I be behind...I am on the program and they are debiting my checking account each month??
I am told the balance due before I went on the program is due. No no no...not right I say, why is this coming up now, 2 months before the deadline? I have owed it all along they say. Kooky crazy I say. then the supervisor gets on. And tells me, very forcefully that I have to pay this past due (over a grand BTW) or they will put me into collections.
OK, staying calm I ask for his name (I like getting it in case - for today, lets call him "DOOFUS")...I tell him that I am on the hardship program, they can't put me into collections. So then he says well that ends in 2 months how can you pay then?
Deep breath...Well Sir, I will deal with it then, in the meantime I am making the agreed upon payments according to the terms and maybe we can extend it, as the others have done to help me try and get caught up.
This person tells me that they do not do back to back hardships and I would have to wait a year to reapply. Well I know that they all say that but everyone else understood the situation and extended. HEY! Most people duck the calls and never pay and end up in collections. Here I am actually calling them and doing what I can...go deal with those who don't want to pay their debt. And it would have been easy to file bankruptcy (and many people suggested it), two years ago and gotten out of this, but I made my debt, I will pay it off.
At this point he says for the first and not last time during this call (and I kid you not) "Look Vinny (I never told him he could call be by my first name!?!?!?!), take responsibility for your life. You made this debt, pay it up and stop trying to weasel out of it."
I was dumbfounded. He was asked to call me Mr. Marini, he was not my friend and only my friends called me Vinny. I began to explain the situation (lost job, house sale at a loss, move, divorce etc) and he keeps cutting me off and saying things like "Well Vinny (or Vince..never Mr. Marini) will you make a payment now?"
I finally have had enough and hang up. I call again and ask the rep for their supervisor, but specifically tell them I do not want to speak with "DOOFUS"..she puts me on hold and then GUESS WHO COMES ON THE LINE..and repeats that filth he uttered earlier and I hung up.
So, and some of you know this about me, I break out Google...Find the corporate site...of course the executive's names are listed, but not their emails...AH! there is an email for the PR person...let's see, the format is lastname.firstname(at)XXX(dot)com .. OK..
We compose a calm concise letter explaining the situation, the hardship and the call and rudeness. I then send it to the CEO, the President, the Vice President of Customer Service, the Vice President of the division I had the account under, and the Vice President of their legal department.
Within 2 hours my phone rings and it is the Executive Assistant to the President of the parent company. We talk...she tells me the person that had been rude was being spoken to about the incident.
The next day, phone rings. The same woman...she informs me "DOOFUS" has been terminated based upon reviews of the audio tapes - who knows if she was blowing smoke or not. She then renews me in the hardship program for another 9 months.
Since that time I have had no less than 40 conversations with this creditor. In every case the reps are calling to ask about payments that are automatically made! A couple of months ago I got a call asking why I did not make my payment. Ummm you auto deduct. I was out at a baseball game, so I did not have access to my records. The person tells me that the auto-deduct ran out. So I suppose I was supposed to know it ran out...4 months before the end of the program?!?!?!?
After a most excrutiating conversation I finally convince him that the money was deducted (It was...I checked when I got home!) and that the last auto-deduct would be June. Cool.
I make the July payment on time for the full amount due...
Yesterday I look and see they auto-deducted for July - after receiving my payment! - So, I call and once again I get one of their clueless reps on the line whose favorite thing to say is "We will not deduct once the program is over without your permission"..OK, but the program ended in June...right? This guy then tells me it ended in July!
All my paperwork tells me June Let's count...October, November December, January, February, March, April, May, June (9 months right?)...well clowny on the phone tells me according to HIS records the program began in November...
I finally sighed, said thank you and hung up the phone.
So, if they auto-withdraw next month the Executive Assistant to the President will be hearing from me once again... sigh....
I am tempted to tell you who they are so you can stay away from them at all costs...but I am not sure if I should....Stop by Monday and see if I posted it
(bwahahahahahahah keep my hits up! bwahahahahaahahhaahaahah)
OK...4 today...summertime tunes...those songs from my youth that just mean summer to me...
James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen, The Beach Boys and The Rascals....
Be back for real on Monday, August 4th... or maybe before... you won't know unless you come by!
ENJOY....
James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen, The Beach Boys and The Rascals....
Be back for real on Monday, August 4th... or maybe before... you won't know unless you come by!
ENJOY....
