November 21st, 2003:

Oct 31st: Jess and I purchase new cell phones and new cell phone service from AT&T Wireless. The sales lady informs us that, if we give her our old cell phone (from Verizon Wireless) we’ll get an extra $50 off each phone. We do so, happily.

Nov 2nd: We realize AT&T wireless’ data rates are too expensive and attempt to return the phones within our "30 day no-risk trial period". The store tells us that their systems are down and cannot process our cancellation.

Nov 11th: I call AT&T Wireless customer care to cancel my service. I am told that their systems are down and that they are unable to cancel my service. I ask for a supervisor and he cancels my service without a hitch.

Nov 11th — later: We return to the AT&T Wireless store to bring back the cell phones we purchased. They refund us the money we paid for the phones. When I ask for my old phones back, they check the back room and then inform me that they have already been shipped off to… where ever they go. They tell me that the only option I have is to contact the store manager.

Nov 12th: I call the store manager. He’s not in the office.

Nov 12th: I call the store manager. He’s at lunch.

Nov 12th: I call the store manager. He’s gone for the day.

Nov 13th: I call the store manager. He’s not in the office.

Nov 13th: I call the store manager. He’s out to lunch.

Nov 13th: I call the store manager. He’s gone for the day. I put up a fight and they then tell me that he’s working at another store for the afternoon and they give me that number.

Nov 13th: I call the other store. They inform me that he isn’t there and that I should try his cell phone. They give me the number.

Nov 13th: I call his cell phone number. He’s rude. He’s uninterested in talking to me. He informs me that there is some literature that goes along with the "$50 for your old phone" deal that states that the phones cannot be returned to the customer. I inform him that, if this literature exists, I was never made aware of it. He tells me that the AT&T Wireless customer care may be able to help me.

Nov 13th — driving home from work: I call AT&T customer care. After 2 transfers I am in the right call center. I very nice, although new at his job, man tries to help me. He puts me on hold after hearing my story so that he can contact his resolutions team. Every 5 minutes or so, he comes back to let me know he’s still working on it. I get into some backroads and my cell phone drops the call after about 50 minutes.

Nov 13th — at the grocery store: I call AT&T customer care back. I wait 15 minutes to speak to someone. He is rude. He doesn’t want to help me. However, he does manage to inform me that there are no notes on my account in regard to the conversation that I had with the previous rep, nor are there any notes on my account from the resolutions team. I get frustrated. I hang up.

Nov 18th: I call AT&T customer care again. I get a nice lady named Alisha. She is very apologetic. She seems very helpful. She takes all my information. She takes information about the store manager. She contacts her resolutions team. She tells me that they are going to work on it and that someone from that team will be calling me by tomorrow. She said that she was leaving a note for herself to check my account tomorrow afternoon and that if noone had contacted me, she would call me back to find out why.

Nov 19th: No one called.

Nov 20th: I call AT&T customer care again. I am placed on the phone with a nice man named Chris from Washington State. He tells me that there are no notes on my account from Alisha or from the resolutions team. He asks me to explain my situation again. I do. He contacts the resolutions team. After about 40 minutes of being on hold, he informs me that there is little they can do for me. He says that, if I’d like, they can refund me the small cost ($20 or so) of the service that I used, but that the replacement or substituion of those phones would have to be taken care of by the store manager. I inform him that the store manager asked me to call them. He says that he’ll note my account saying that there is nothing they can do and that I should call him back and tell him so.

Nov 21st: I call the store manager. He’s not in the office. I ask for his supervisors name and number. They give it to me.

Nov 21st: I call his supervisor. He’s not in the office. I leave a message with my name and number.

Nov 21st: 2 hours later. No call.

Outcome: Jess and I have gotten nothing, have paid $20 for service that would have been less expensive had they accepted my cancelation on the date I tried to cancel, and are also without two Verizon Wireless cell phones that belong to us.

First, I’d like to say thanks to the many, many people who’ve purchased prints from my camera fundraiser. I’m so grateful for your support and I appreciate your consideration.

Secondly, I’d like to say thank you to Emily. She finished the first batch of prints and I must say they look amazing. Additionally, she did it at a total cost of $0. The more I can save on printing and shipping, the more I actually collect… so that’s a very good thing.

Jess and I will be mailing out all of these prints (from the orders taken last week) tomorrow. So, if you ordered something, be sure to check your mailboxes next week. And I’ll give a new order of stuff to print to Emily on Monday. So, for those of you who’ve purchased something this week, your order will be placed on Monday. Additionally, for those of you still thinking about ordering, if you order before Saturday night, you’ll make the Monday order as well.

We’re still trying to decide exactly how to ship them. I originally purchased 8.5×11 bubble envelopes, figuring that should keep them pretty safe. But Emily told me that her photo lab uses something akin to a USPS Priority mail envelope. Joel suggested I use a combination of a paper envelope, corregated cardboard and tissue paper. I don’t know what to do. Does anyone know the best way to mail a photograph?

Even though I was assured that a sheet-rocking company would be here some time yesterday to replace the sheet-rock in my pantry and laundry room because of the mold, I didn’t trust them. So, yesterday, around 10am, I called for a Status update. The apartment lady, "Julie" a.k.a. "The Whore Bitch", told me that they had called in late and wouldn’t be there until 1pm. Fine I said as she hung up on me mid-sentence.

I got busy at work so I didn’t have a chance to call again until after 5:30pm, when they were closed. So, I just hoped for the best and headed home. Sure enough, the "sheet-rockers" had been there. As evidence I’d like to cite the piss all over the rim of the toilet in my second bathroom. However, upon inspection, no sheet-rock had been replaced. The company merely painted over the mold in the pantry and called it a day. They might have gotten away with it had they actually read the service request — assuming one was even written. You see, it’s possible that I would have assumed that they replaced the sheet-rock and then did an incredible job cleaning up after themselves and putting all of my pantry items back in their exact locations. However, the didn’t even bother to touch the wall in the laundry room. And, since the wall in the laundry room is shared with the wall in the pantry then, obviously, they didn’t replace the sheet-rock.

To make matters worse, they are horrible painters. Sure, the painted the walls just fine. It even matches. But, I guess these painters really were sheet-rockers, because they had no concept of the use of masking tape. All of the baseboards, the parts of the bottom shelf in the pantry, and the lower portions of the door frame were brushed accidentally. And, since they are a different color than the walls, it doesn’t look so good.

So, now I get to fight with the apartment complex for yet another day. I’m so excited.