Remembering Leslie Feinberg

A major trans and anti-oppression activist has departed from this world.

Remembering Leslie Feinberg.

NaNoWriMo Progress

That moment when you’re obsessively streaming Bates Motel on Netflix and realize your fascination with it is probably because the Bates remind you of your family.

Well, at least my relatives have given me plenty of material for writing! And neither I nor my siblings have become psychotic.

On that note, I’m almost at the 25,000 word marker for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). I’m at 24,610 words. Just about four hundred more, and I’ll reach the goal. I intend to do that today, despite all distractions (including Netflix).

The catch that I noticed last year is that the word count on Microsoft Word is greater than the word count on the NaNoWriMo site. So if I were to upload my manuscript on that site, I shall probably discover that NaNoWriMo doesn’t consider it 25,000 words yet. At least, this happened to many people last November. Apparently it’s because Word counts every little word, including “a” and “the” and may count hyphenated words as multiple words.

The Continuing Saga of Centurylink Attempting to Scam Me

Wow, I’ve been going through a big bag of snail mail, mostly junk mail and requests from charity organizations. I found an unmarked envelope from a second collection agency that Quest-is-now-CenturyLink is using, because—unlike this evil scamming company—the first collection agency took me seriously when I sent them a detailed letter of what actually happened. This is beyond ridiculous.

I just posted about CenturyLink on all my social media pages and contacted the Better Business Bureau online. I’m also mailing a letter to the latest collection agency, complete with the original letter to the scam artists and the letter to the first collection agency.

This harassment must stop. It has gone on for about a year and a half.

Original Letter to CenturyLink:

5/16/13

Centurylink disconnected my service on March 26, at about the same time that I went through a pile of snail mail and found a bill for $107. I promptly paid the bill right before the service was disconnected.

On April 5, I opened another bill from Centurylink, this time claiming that I owed $40. I paid that immediately. Afterwards, every time I attempted to log onto the Internet, I saw a message on my screen in which Centurylink claimed I hadn’t paid my bills. This was a false accusation. For three weeks, I repeatedly made futile attempts to log onto the Internet, every time seeing a message that I couldn’t use the Internet because I hadn’t paid my bills, even though my bills were completely paid off as of April 5. This went on till April 23, when I finally called (on my smart phone, the only phone I have used since December 2012) and ended my Centurylink account. The entire purpose of that phone call was to indicated that I had completely paid my bills and that I was permanently closing the account, NOT re-activating it.

Long after my account was completely paid off (on April 5), Centurylink still refused to reconnect my service.

On the same day that I ended my account (4/23/13), I received another envelope from Centurylink. For obvious reasons, I didn’t feel inclined to open it. Two days later, I opened it: a bill for $35, for Internet service I never had. Centurylink disconnected my service, refused to reconnect it, and kept pretending I hadn’t paid; afterwards they pretended I had Internet service that entire time and billed me for Internet service I never had. Every attempt I made to log onto the Internet proved futile: I had no Internet service from Centurylink, beginning March 26.

I called Centurylink yet again, two days after I called and made it quite clear that I don’t owe anything and that I’m closing the account. I discovered that the account was still “live” and  claimed I owe $35: another false accusation. While the customer service representative was on the phone with me, she put me on hold…and the phone went dead while I waited.

During a second call, I thought I finally resolved everything. I spoke with a different representative, one who claimed that the records really will show that I no longer have an account and do not owe $35. He furthermore claimed that I should disregard the last bill and that I shall receive a credit in the mail.

Going through another stack of mail, I opened not a credit, but in fact a completely inexplicable bill from Centurylink. They’re apparently pretending I paid a portion of the $35 that I “owed” for nonexistent service and pretending I owe twenty-five dollars. I don’t owe Qwest-is-now-Centurylink any money whatsoever. I wouldn’t be surprised if they owe me money.

It took me a little more time, and a closer look at that last bill, to realize that Centurylink was pretending I owe them money because they pretended that I called (the first time) only to clarify that I paid off my bill and to re-activate my account—even though from the very first phone call I made it quite clear that I wanted to close the account and no longer do business with Centurylink. There is no excuse for this. By the time I hung up the phone on 4/23/13, I was under the distinct impression that the account was in the process of ending completely. I was absolutely clear from the very start that I no longer wanted an account with Centurylink. I even mentioned that I now have a smartphone and therefore have a different means to use the internet.

Here it is November of 2014, and I just went through a bag of snail mail and discovered that CenturyLink is still attempting to scam me. I had contacted the first collection agency and sent them the original letter and proved that Centurylink is in the wrong. This company is so evil that they refuse to accept the truth and have found yet another collection agency.

The Neverending CenturyLink Scam Fest

Wow, I’ve been going through a big bag of snail mail, mostly junk mail and requests from charity organizations. I found an unmarked envelope from a second collection agency that Quest-is-now-CenturyLink is using, because—unlike this evil scamming company—the first collection agency took me seriously when I sent them a detailed letter of what actually happened. This is beyond ridiculous.

I just posted about CenturyLink on all my social media pages and contacted the Better Business Bureau online. I’m also mailing a letter to the latest collection agency, complete with the original letter to the scam artists and the letter to the first collection agency.

This harassment must stop. It has gone on for about a year and a half.

November 6, 2014

Dear Afni,

In the process of looking through my snail mail, I just found an inexplicable letter from you claiming that I owe Centurylink money that I do not owe. I have plenty of reason to suspect that they owe me money. You are the second collection agency these scam artists have sicced on me. I spoke with the previous one months ago and thought the situation was finally resolved.

I am attaching the letter that I originally wrote Centurylink and also the letter that I wrote the other collection agency. I hope you will have the sense to not waste any more of my time on this attempt to scam me.

Cordially,

Susan E. Wiget

THE ORIGINAL LETTER I SENT QUEST-IS-NOW-CENTURYLINK:

5/16/13

I am wasting a stamp since Qwest-is-now-Centurylink has proved that no matter how many times I call, you continue to pretend that I owe you money.

Centurylink disconnected my service on March 26, at about the same time that I went through a pile of snail mail and found a bill for $107. I promptly paid the bill right before the service was disconnected.

On April 5, I opened another bill from Centurylink, this time claiming that I owed $40. I paid that immediately. Afterwards, I kept checking my Internet on my laptop computer, and every time I did this I saw a message on my screen in which Centurylink claimed I hadn’t paid my bills. This is a false accusation. For three weeks, I repeatedly made futile attempts to log onto the Internet, every time seeing a message that I couldn’t use the Internet because I hadn’t paid my bills, even though my bills were completely paid off as of April 5. This went on till April 23, when I finally called up (on my smart phone, the only phone I have used since December) and ended my Centurylink account.

Long after my account was completely paid off (on April 5), Centurylink still refused to reconnect my service.

On the same day that I ended my account (4/23), I received another envelope from Centurylink. For obvious reasons, I didn’t feel inclined to open it. Two days later, I opened it: a bill for $35, for Internet service I never had. Centurylink disconnected my service, refused to reconnect it, and kept pretending as if I hadn’t paid; afterwards you pretended I had Internet service that entire time, and you even billed me for Internet service I never had. Every attempt I made to log onto the Internet proved futile: I have had no Internet service from Centurylink since March 26.

I called Centurylink yet again, two days after I called and made it quite clear that I don’t owe anything and that I’m closing the account. I discovered that the account was still “live” and that it claimed I owe $35: another false accusation. While the customer service representative was on the phone with me, she put me on hold to go check something…and the phone went dead while I waited.

During a second call, I thought I finally resolved everything. I spoke with a different representative, one whoseemed to promptly take care of it. He claimed that the records really will show that I no longer have an account and do not owe $35. He furthermore claimed that I should disregard the last bill and that I shall receive a credit in the mail.

Going through another stack of mail, I just opened not a credit, but in fact a completely inexplicable bill from Centurylink. Now you’re pretending as if I paid a portion of the $35 that I “owed” for nonexistent service, and you’re pretending I owe twenty-five dollars. I don’t owe Qwest-is-now-Centurylink any money whatsoever, and I would not be in the least surprised if in fact you owe me money.

Cordially,

Susan E. Wiget

BELOW IS THE LETTER I SENT THE PREVIOUS COLLECTION AGENCY:

Dear Southwest Credit,

I do not owe Centurylink anything. I just received a letter from you proving that Centurylink is still attempting to scam me, after all these months. They are trying to charge me for restarting my internet service, even though I made it absolutely clear that I was ending my account, not re-starting my service. Essentially, they pretended I was re-starting it so that they could charge me more money. The last representative over the phone actually claimed that Centurylink would send me a check, not a bill.

Below is the last correspondence I had with Centurylink, a letter that I thought made it blatantly obvious that they were in the wrong. I wrote a letter at that stage, because three phone calls got me nowhere.

5/16/13

I am wasting a stamp since Qwest-is-now-Centurylink has proved that no matter how many times I call, you continue to pretend that I owe you money.

Centurylink disconnected my service on March 26, at about the same time that I went through a pile of snail mail and found a bill for $107. I promptly paid the bill right before the service was disconnected.

On April 5, I opened another bill from Centurylink, this time claiming that I owed $40. I paid that immediately. Afterwards, I kept checking my Internet on my laptop computer, and every time I did this I saw a message on my screen in which Centurylink claimed I hadn’t paid my bills. This is a false accusation. For three weeks, I repeatedly made futile attempts to log onto the Internet, every time seeing a message that I couldn’t use the Internet because I hadn’t paid my bills, even though my bills were completely paid off as of April 5. This went on till April 23, when I finally called up (on my smart phone, the only phone I have used since December) and ended my Centurylink account.

Long after my account was completely paid off (on April 5), Centurylink still refused to reconnect my service.

On the same day that I ended my account (4/23), I received another envelope from Centurylink. For obvious reasons, I didn’t feel inclined to open it. Two days later, I opened it: a bill for $35, for Internet service I never had. Centurylink disconnected my service, refused to reconnect it, and kept pretending as if I hadn’t paid; afterwards you pretended I had Internet service that entire time, and you even billed me for Internet service I never had. Every attempt I made to log onto the Internet proved futile: I have had no Internet service from Centurylink since March 26.

I called Centurylink yet again, two days after I called and made it quite clear that I don’t owe anything and that I’m closing the account. I discovered that the account was still “live” and that it claimed I owe $35: another false accusation. While the customer service representative was on the phone with me, she put me on hold to go check something…and the phone hung up while I waited.

During a second call, I thought I finally resolved everything. I spoke with a different representative, one whoseemed to promptly take care of it. He claimed that the records really will show that I no longer have an account and do not owe $35. He furthermore claimed that I should disregard the last bill and that I shall receive a credit in the mail.

Going through another stack of mail, I just opened not a credit, but in fact a completely inexplicable bill from Centurylink. Now you’re pretending as if I paid a portion of the $35 that I “owed” for nonexistent service,

and you’re pretending I owe twenty-five dollars. I don’t owe Qwest-is-now-Centurylink any money whatsoever, and I would not be in the least surprised if in fact you owe me money.

Cordially,

Susan E. Wiget

*

It took me a little more time, and a closer look at that last bill, to realize that Centurylink was pretending I owe them money because they pretended that I called (the first time) only to clarify that I paid off my bill and to re-activate my account—even though from the very first phone call I made it quite clear that I wanted to close the account and no longer do business with Centurylink. There is no excuse for this. By the time I hung up the phone on 4/23, I was under the distinct impression that the account was in the process of ending completely. I was absolutely clear from the very start that I no longer wanted an account with Centurylink. I even mentioned that I now have a smartphone and therefore have a different means to use the internet.

Susan E. Wiget