Who remembers the excruciatingly syrupy song about a weak-willed tosser shafting his love who was home in Tulsa (24 hours drive away) when he met some floozy at a highway stop? I hope Karma gave him what he deserved!
I was thinking about this useless geezer when I was contemplating ringing Telstra on Tuesday. I had been planning on catching up the endless washing pile and enjoying a spot of gardening. However a "no reply" cryptic email from Telstra at precisely 10.16 that morning had changed my plans, hopefully temporarily.
Apparently our monthly direct debit had failed. I immediately checked the bank accounts, suddenly smitten with dread about the state of our finances. To my puzzlement, there were funds a-plenty, so why the auto payment had been unsuccessful was a mystery. Added to this curious tale was a credit payment that appeared to be unattached to any of our Telstra products.
My next step was to check into "My Telstra". I confidently typed in my username and password, which generated the response that one or the other of these was incorrect. I knew the username was right, so I had a few more stabs at my password. No luck.
So, I sent a request for a link from Telstra to reset my password. No link was forthcoming... on five separate occasions. By now, I was becoming rather frustrated. Then, I decided to ring my anointed Telstra troubleshooter to complain about my current circumstances. Unfortunately, he was on leave until 28 September. As Telstra had stated that non payment of our direct debit would involve nasty consequences, panic began to creep into my fevered brain.
I rang the complaints line. Becoming flustered at the automated choices, I asked to be directed to Technical Assistance due to the repeated link failures to my email. Some bloke that I couldn't understand ended up blaming Gmail on my problems, retreating rapidly from offering any assistance and painting the finger at Google. I knew I was receiving emails from every other Tom, Dick and Harry in the known universe and that somehow the fault had to be at Telstra's end. In desperation, I asked to be put through to Billing to try and solve my other problems.
I was put through to Raydon ("It's like Braydon without the B"), a charming Australian born Cambodian lad, who spoke excellent Australian. He tried to send a link to my email without any success. He couldn't understand why the auto payment had failed, had no clue about the credit and was astounded when Telstra took $1 out of my designated account whilst I was actually talking to him. As I could hear the frazzled confusion rising in his voice, I suggested Raydon ring me back when he'd sorted these issues.
At 2.45pm, I hung up, mentally exhausted. Raydon has not rung me back. I still can't access "My Telstra". I still can't get a link through Gmail to reset my password. Telstra has still debited our account for $1. However, in a truly extraordinary move, they have credited our account $126.09 and stated we have nothing else to pay this month even though the original debit was supposed to be $156.
I honestly can't be stuffed chasing this disaster for a few days. We have the "Spring Back to Beverley" festival this weekend and Callum, Bron and Immy are arriving on Monday for two nights with us. Wednesday is Michael's hip replacement surgery day and on Friday, I am meeting with Alex's workplace co-ordinators to discuss the implications of his neuropsychological test results. Plus, I want to meet with Shannon, Alex's NDIS Support Coordinator and make an appointment to see Mark Flynn and gain Alex's full report if possible.
Do I sound like I have enough on my plate? You bet your sweet bippy I do!
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