Unbelievable.

I’ve battled through financial issues before.  Heck…I’ve never been that good with money.  Ever.

But lately I’ve been doing my best to keep up with things.  I’ve cut down on expenses (ex: I haven’t had internet access other than my Blackberry since August) and have been doing whatever I can to stay afloat, especially with my visits to see Sunshine cutting into the budget.

So what happened to me on Friday threw me for a loop and infuriated me to no end.

I have a $200 credit limit on my Blackberry.  No problem…I have no intentions of going over that amount and I understand the practise from a business perspective (i.e. no huge unpaid balances to worry about).  I knew that I would incur some roaming charges during my trip to the U.S. a few weeks ago, but didn’t know just how much I would be charged.

I received a phone call on 10/27 from my carrier, Telus.  It was a “friendly reminder” that when the new statement is released I would be over my $200 limit due to the charges incurred on my trip.  I told the caller that I would make a payment on Friday (10/30) online.  No worries.  End of call.

My phone was cut off mid-afternoon on 10/29.

I called Telus and attempted to find out just what was going on.  I tried to explain that after the phone call on 10/27 I went online to view my bill, but my bill was not yet available.  He told me that a physical bill was, in fact, mailed on 10/27.

I tried to find out just why in the world I wasn’t told that I had 48 hours to pay down my balance before being cut off.  The explanation I received was the “you were told that you were over your $200 credit limit and against the terms of your contract.”

Well yes…I know that…but I didn’t know I was going to be over my credit limit until the time of the phone call, at which point a payment discussion was made and agreed upon by both parties.

So WTF???

As of now, I am sitting at my computer with zero connection to the outside world.  I am fuming.  Pissed.  I’m still shaking from the heated discussion I had with Telus on the phone four hours prior.  I mean, I was yelling.  The person on the other end of the phone could barely articulate…much less answer my questions.  Every time I tried to clarify (“Wait…so I had HOW much on my current bill?”) he interrupted me to the point that I was cursing at him and yelling at him to shut up.

I demanded a supervisor.  He declined.  I asked more specific questions.  He didn’t answer me directly. I asked him about surcharges.  He skirted the issue. I got more and more animated and eventually, when ending the call, told him just how bad of a call he just had with an upset customer.

I emailed the company and explained the entire situation…in MUCH more detail that what I’ve written here.  I explained how they failed to explain the situation to me during the initial call.  I explained how they do not have any way for me to check my ongoing charges before a bill is generated, so I had no idea that I had gone over the $200 credit limit until the date the bill was actually generated…which was 48 hours before I was cut off.

I’m just livid right now.

I can’t check email.  I can’t talk to Sunshine.  I can’t call for assistance should something happen to me or to Ankle Biter over the weekend.

BAH!!

I just don’t know what else to think right now.  A terrible customer service experience where it really didn’t need to be.  If I was told on 10/27 that a payment needed to be made within 48 hours or else I’d have my account suspended, then I wouldn’t have waited until 10/30 to make the payment.  But again…nothing was said during my conversation with Telus and this was all a shock to me.

Until this bill is paid in full (and it might be out there until my next paycheck),  I might just have to drive around the city at night with Sunshine’s laptop looking for an unsecured internet connection…just so I can have a conversation with Sunshine that’s not via email at work.  Or sit at Starbucks every night and pay $5 for a coffee just so I don’t get thrown out.

Pissed.

Off.