Letter to AT&T
Thanks for the quick response. I fully understand how these things are tracked and also understand the rules with respect to roaming charges. I also know that, despite the fact that IMEI numbers and SIM numbers are supposed to be completely unique, it is not impossible to fake such information on a device, knowing the proper technical skills. I've seen people do this. I'm not claiming this is what happened in any way, but that paragraph about the tracking isn't really relevant, because we simply did not use that phone on the 30th of December.
The problem is, despite all that, we absolutely (100%) did not make or receive that 8 minute call. We were in Italy, at my parents house all day preparing for a new years party. Her phone was plugged in and charging next to our bed all day. All calls we made were from landlines that day. Even if it rang, we would not have, and did not answer the call. So if it did ring, i understand we may have been charged the 1.29 for the minute that is incurred as a result of the connection, but we absolutely did not answer the phone. Especially to have an 8 minute call that we knew would cost an excessive amount. I realize this is now our word against this sophisticated tracking system... But this just simply did not happen. There are, however, a few roaming charges on my account that are fully valid. We were extremely vigilant about our usage, and limited any calls to my phone, unless they were incoming calls that were immediately refused on her phone, as noted on the one 1.29 charge on her line, prior to that 8 minute call.
The fact is, we pay a lot of money for these two phone lines. Too much actually. This charge will only make a nominal difference on our bill, which i have paid diligently for a long time now. It would be nice if a basic courtesy could be applied in this situation, and that our word can be trusted. We never complain about our excessive bill, and honestly only continue to pay for ATT's service because of the exclusivity of the iphone on your network. However, if a common courtesy cannot be granted here, it is one more straw on this camels' back. We are extremely close to just cancelling our accounts all together, and moving to a company who will not only provide us with more reliable service, but will not over charge for it either. I can get a similar plan on almost any of the competing networks for much less. And at this point, with the latest Android devices, leaving the iphone behind doesn't seem as big of a deal as it did a few months ago.
Letter to Comcast
I'm simply writing to thank Vince (employee #02F) for all of his help. I have had a set of unfortunate and upsetting experiences with Comcast for the last few weeks. Which Vince was able to finally clear up and explain.
I was misinformed about my rate plan by the first phone technician. Later to find out I was not getting what I thought I was paying for. I was also still dealing with a telephone line that was never properly installed and left dangling across my basement for the last year... Yet another technician was sent out to help, but left having done nothing to ameliorate my situation. He even suggested I reduce my plan to a minimum/basic plan, since Comcast couldn't deliver the type of internet connection I was expecting. (This has since been fixed with Vince's help). He went on to recommend an electrician to fix my phone setup. Although, I was under the impression that his whole reason to come out (Sunday Feb 14, 2010) was to fix the line, as I had clearly explained when I made the appointment. He mentioned that a "phone line specialist" should have been sent out instead...
I was also able to fix my phone line situation. This I did on my own, after trial and error with the existing phone wiring. Having solved the connection issues, I realized how easy it would have been for a knowledgeable tech to have done this as was expected. I decided to call Comcast to reduce my rate-plan and spoke with Virginia. She went through the steps of doing so, and initially said she would transfer me to the credit department, for a credit towards the rate change. Assuming she had a momentary lapse of forgetfulness, she ended up transferring me over to "networking/internet", telling me so, but not giving me enough time to stop her to remind her that I needed billing instead... This may sound confusing at this point...
This is where things changed and became more clear, as a result of a great employee named Vince. He should be commended for his work with Comcast. After chuckling a bit at my mishaps, (mostly laughing with me...) he went on to explain the actual situation. Two months prior, the support person I spoke with had misinformed me. I called to upgrade my internet connection and was told I was paying for what should be 16Mb/s and that an extra $10 would get me up to 22Mb/s. I signed right up for about a month was psyched with the significantly higher bandwidth. Then, things changed around December and my speeds were much lower, never better than 15. Vince clarified the situation by noting that my plan went to 16Mb/s sometime in December, probably after someone realized their initial mistake...
Anyway, to cut to the chase... Vince was able to explain everything well. He also guided me through modifying my existing plan to a different plan which would provide me the things I needed. This plan was also going to save me a few bucks. My bill was already outrageous, and this made it a less outrageous. I'm now getting what I was told I was going to get, and am clear on where my money is going. For years I have blindly shoveled money into the Comcast pit, not really getting what was advertised and never really understanding why it cost so much.
At least now it makes more sense, despite it still being a little overpriced. In any case, my main point here is that I wanted to commend Vince for his work. He was clear and sympathetic. He helped me understand what my real options were, and spoke to me with knowledge, rather than reading from a flow chart. And I believe he went out of his way to provide me with more help than he was obligated to give me.
Snowy Day Korean Stew
Boneless short rib meat, stewed in a blend of soy sauce, garlic ginger and hot peppers. Mixed in later for a second round of stewing are some fresh carrots, potatoes and some onion.
Sriracha hot sauce goes great on this along with a nice bowl of steamy white rice.