What kind of a handle is
stabguy? Like
Castle Anthrax, it's not a very good name. I am a guy, but I've never stabbed anyone. No. It came from my cell phone number which
spelled (808) STAB-GUY. Don't try to reach me at that number. You see, Working Assets stole the number from me, and now they're trying to steal $120.
Update [2005-5-24 15:44:22 by stabguy]: This dispute may be resolved. I got a call from Holly at Working Assets headquarters in San Francisco. She gave me a full credit, her full name and her phone number. Wow, that's never happened before! It's almost as if Holly had read this diary. She repeated some details from it and at one point I thought I heard her say in a passionate whisper, "Stabguy".
I signed up for Working Assets long distance service four years ago, mostly because of their progressive politics. An unscientific
dKos poll says that 60% of you Kossacks are also Working Assets customers. Everything went fine until last year when I responded to an offer to switch my cell phone service to Working Assets Wireless. There was a 30 day free trial period, so what did I have to lose?
The wireless equipment was crap. I returned the two phones after only 10 days. Good thing I sent them by certified mail with return receipt. The first thing Working Assets did was to slap me with $300 in early termination fees for failing to return the equipment within 30 days of activation.
You know the famous FCC ruling that you can take your number with you? Working Assets refused to release my numbers to my new wireless provider, holding them ransom for $300. A representative literally laughed in my face about it. When I told him that he could shove the numbers because I had already allocated two new numbers, his response was a desperate, "You can't do that!"
Of course, I had evidence that the phones had been returned early. A supervisor eventually issued a credit to offset all wireless charges. I just paid the long distance (i.e. land line) portion of my bill. The credit appeared on my next statement, but so did some new charges for wireless service. Another phone call, another credit. This pattern has repeated every month for the last eight months.
When a supervisor guaranteed that there would never be another charge for wireless service, I guaranteed that if there was I would close my long distance account. The next month there was a new charge for wireless and I closed my Working Assets account. The supervisor who closed my account zeroed out my wireless charges for the umpteenth time.
Now I continue to get bills for wireless service. Closing my account was not enough to get rid of this nuisance. The amount is always different. Now they want $120. Phone calls no longer result in credits. Now they can't even agree on what the $120 is for.
I'm open to suggestions on how to resolve this. My advice to Working Assets customers is to avoid the wireless service. They pay Sprint for the use of their network, and Sprint is a red company according to buyblue. Working Assets also offers a credit card, an MBNA credit card. I don't feel badly about dumping Working Assets.