jousting with customer service

This was the theme of the day today!

I have some eyeball issues that require yearly visits to an eye doctor, rather than the store-front glasses-fitting places preferred by my eyeball-insurance company.

Afore-mentioned eyeball-insurance company supposedly will cover part of the out-of-network costs, although I got a response from them saying I had "already exceeded my yearly benefits." Which seemed odd, as this was my first attempt to USE this particular insurance.

So bureaucracy #1 consumed 15 minutes of my life, ending with William telling me, "it was just a clerical error that caused that message. Your check is coming."

Call me "dubious" about that one. But I'll wait and watch the mail.

Bureaucracy #2 was Philips customer service regarding a defective dvd recorder.

I bought it. It never worked.

I called customer service Saturday, and cheerful-man said, "of course we'll replace it. Fax us the proof of purchase, and we'll call you right away."

Fax sent Saturday.

No call.

Fax sent again Monday.

No call.

I call back after work.

"Oh, we can't support it because you don't have the serial number." (It was a refurbished unit, and the number had been obliterated.)

Hmmm ... do you think it might have been helpful to call me with that information? Or did you think I'd just forget? Cheerful-guy from Saturday told me it wouldn't be a problem when I asked him a question about that very issue.

So ... back to company-it-was-ordered-from, who will take it back, but don't have any more. Though there WAS a cheaper unit by a different company for sale, so I ordered that ... as Philips is now one of my lesser-favored companies! Another 20 minutes of my life to Philips, and 15 more to company-it-was-ordered-from.

AND ... if you think it's boring to read ... imagine how much MORE boring it was to DO. Almost an hour spent with customer service folks today. I believe there should be a trophy of some kind coming to me.

I've been enjoying my friend Deb's new blog. She's writing daily about the Scriptures, and it's been a blessing. If you get a chance, pay her a visit!

She's inspired me that I haven't been blogging hardly at all recently about what I'm reading. I will endeavor to rectify that situation!

Which reminds me of my second accountability point - exercise. It's actually been going well. I was on the elliptical yesterday after work, and lifted weights today.