“I’m calling from MCI. You probably get a lot of calls like this . . .” They were the only words he got out before I lost my normally mild-mannered demeanor and launched into a tirade that will no doubt accelerate my children’s vocabulary development . . . and not in a good way.
If CEO Michael Capellas is serious about fumigating the stench of WorldCom from his reconstituted MCI, he should forget about wooing bankruptcy judges, federal regulators, Wall Street financiers, telecom analysts or even those of us who aspire to shape public perceptions from the safety of our trade-press soap boxes.
No, Capellas should instead march into the nearest MCI customer call center and start cracking a few heads.
Here’s the short version of the tale, minus all the cuss words:
Mrs. Buzz phones me here at the office a week ago to report that a friendly MCI representative had called our unlisted home number to alert us to the fact that we were being double-billed for long-distance service: by Verizon, our local carrier, as well as by MCI.
This couldn’t be, I assured her, as we had months ago switched our long-distance to Verizon from MCI, severing all ties with the latter. Perhaps the MCI gentleman was merely trying to persuade us to switch back. These phone companies are not exactly known to be paragons of virtue when it comes to making their intentions clear, I told her before forgetting the matter.
A few days later the persistent fellow calls Mrs. Buzz again with the same story. He wants to talk to me, he says, because my name is on the account and he’s not getting very far with her. This time my wife asks for his name . . . and he stammers before hanging up.
Mrs. Buzz, being nobody’s fool, decides this is odd enough behavior to warrant investigation.
Our local and long-distance charges are on the same bill, which we pay by having the balance automatically deducted from our checking account. We don’t retain the records month to month because, well, there has never seemed to be a good reason (file under “lessons learned”).
My wife decides to call Verizon first, figuring that Verizon is our current phone company and that James Earl Jones wouldn’t lie to anybody. Sure enough, we were being double-billed. Verizon had put the stop through to MCI when it received our long-distance order, and MCI had indeed stopped billing us . . . for awhile. But for whatever reason, the billing from MCI had resumed without our authorization.
Whether this was a bona fide slamming or merely a clerical error, we do not know. Nor do we much care, because the result is the same. Verizon said they’d credit our account for the overage we paid and also make sure there was no repeat.
I suppose we should look at the bright side: MCI called to alert us to the fact that MCI was ripping us off. Who knows how long the extra charges might have continued without that heads-up?
But the story doesn’t end there.
The ever-dogged MCI chap called again last Tuesday on a day when I just happened to be home tending to Mrs. Buzz, who was ill, as well as our 21-month-old triplets, one of whom was buck-naked on the changing table when the phone rang.
“I’m calling from MCI. You probably get a lot of calls like this . . .”
They were the only words he got out before I lost my normally mild-mannered demeanor and launched into a tirade that will no doubt accelerate my children’s vocabulary development . . . and not in a good way.
If he calls again, never mind complaining to the proper authorities: I’m going to find the chap and slap a Huggies No. 4 across his mouth.
As for giving business to MCI again anytime soon? What do you think the chances of that might be?
Tales of this nature always generate “I can top that” attempts. Bring ’em on. The address is buzz@nww.com.
