Unshelved by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum
comic strip overdue media

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

I am stunned

I have just gotten off the phone after trying to make payment arrangements with a couple of companies to get an extension until the next time I get paid, on the 25th.

Vonage couldn't change the date temporarily, but there's a 53-day grace period where it would periodically try to get the payment from my card. Unfortunately, since I pay through my checking debit card, this would bounce my account several times, putting me further and further into the negative. So the customer rep got with my supervisor, and came back with this: since I've been such a good customer (no problems at all), they were willing to credit my account for the month so the payment wouldn't be triggered. No repayment necessary, just a gift from Vonage. Wow, right?

Then I called RealArcade. After a rough start over trying to spell my name and e-mail address to a non-native speaker (the call centre was in India), I explained that I was happy with the service but had to cancel due to financial issues. He was perfectly willing to cancel my account, but offered to credit a month so that I wouldn't have to pay this month and could take it back up in November, still getting my game credit for the month. Wow, again!

Maybe this dealing with things directly has its merit. Anyway, thank you Vonage and RealArcade. You really made my day. I'd recommend them to anyone else. What are the chances of two big companies wanting to keep me as a customer enough to do this?

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