The Sh*t L*st

Is "Bonnie" a codename for an automatic response generator? If not, my message might have been as effectively answered by a machine. There is no indication in the response that she actually read my message.

I had contacted my bank before originally phoning SBC. As a result of the incident, I closed my account with the bank. My point in contacting you is: when I originally contacted you after speaking with my back, I was informed by your cs rep that, without the proper account no., my check would not be able to be applied. I was told that my check couldn't even be tracked, so I should put a stop payment on it. That was apparently incorrect information, because the check was applied, but weeks after it had originally been sent and after I had put the stop payment on it. That is why I requested a reversal of the fee.

Obviously, I've already wasted more than $7 of my time in contesting this. It would be satisfying nevertheless to see that something there is capable of an unmechanical act.

One other note: contacting you by email is unnecessarily difficult, perhaps deliberately so. Still, it would be a bit less insulting if one were able to reply to an email from your cs directly, rather than having to navigate back to this form and refill in all the information.

Thanks,

Tomo
________________

Dear Mr. Idokoro,

Thank you for your recent email. You would need to check with your
bank regarding in errors that might have been made with their
automatic payment service. We did however, receive this payment of
$18.95 and then payment was rejected, just like a returned check.
When a payment is returned or debited, a $6.65 fee does apply.

If you need any further assistance, please send us an email by using
the form located at:
http://sbc.com/erms/ca/res/email-us/, or you can contact our Customer
Sales and Service Center at (800) 310-2355.

Thank you for choosing SBC California. We appreciate your business
and continued loyalty.

Sincerely,

Bonnie
SBC California Customer Service
http://sbc.com/erms/ca/res/home/


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--
On Tue Dec 16 17:19:13 PST 2003, Tomohiro Idokoro wrote:
> To: ONLINECA@txmail.sbc.com
> Customer Name: Tomohiro Idokoro
> Email Address: tidokoro@hotmail.com
> Street: No Street
> City: No City
> State: --
> Zip: -----
>
> Message:
> Hi,
>
> I notice my current online bill includes a Return Payment charge of
$18.95 and a Return Check fee of $6.95, both dated 10/26. I believe
this is related to a screw-up by my former online bank (NetBank). I
had tried to pay on-line using their service, but they had listed the
wrong account number in posting the check to you. The payment had
not been posted on the date it was supposed to have been. After I
tracked down the error and talked to Netbank's customer service, I
called your customer service and was advised by a rep to stop payment
on the check as it could not be applied without the proper account
number listed with it. I followed this advice and on 16 Oct sent in
a paper check for $39.97 covering the month in error as well as the
bill for the month then current (October).
>
> I don't understand why the original payment was even applied, much
less applied then reversed with a $6 penalty to me. Perhaps the
misdirected check subsequently was applied and then reversed,
resulting in the charges above?
>
> I have paid the full amount on my current bill, but I have the
following requests:
>
> 1) Please reverse the $6.65 return check fee as this check should
never have been applied in the first place.
>
> 2) Please reverse any other penalties, such as late fees, resulting
from this Return Payment as the matter should have been resolved when
I stopped payment on the original Netbank check and sent in the paper
check from my Washington Mutual account
>
> 3) Please review my account to insure that all charges and payments
have been reconciled and that I have not been doubled bill for any
months.
>
> I have tried to do this last item myself online, but it is
difficult to find a clear history of my account history on your
website.
>
> Thank you,
>
> Tomohiro Idokoro