America is ruled by monopolies now, and often one company is the only game in town nowadays. Utilities are different. Companies are far more abusive now. Workers are treated like disposable crap but with customers it's not much better. We are a captive audience who need necessities, and they don't care. Often there is no competitor to go to escape companies driving us crazy.
We used to be able to roll over one month's electric bill into the next. Now we can't. We can pay the electric bill mid-week but I already have been sent a disconnection notice. I have never gotten a disconnection notice in the last 20 years, even with the financial problems until last month and this month. Last month we obviously paid it in time. Two weeks late is now enough to get one. The next bill is due around Sept 2-5nd which means I got a collection notice for a bill that was due on August 4th on August 15th. [We paid this bill today]
It's more stress though. Do any of these companies wonder why everyone is broke and what it means for their future? Wouldn't they make more money if Americans had enough money to live on? I'm not an economist obviously but if you leave people without anything they aren't going to be buying your products.
Why don't companies care that no one has any money? Isn't there a certain point where no one will be able to afford their bills and they will all be out of business? Have you noticed corporations of all kinds don't seem to care about profits anymore as everyone goes broke? Is this because they are getting so much government money now they don't need us anymore? Take some time and look up how much money Elon Musk's companies got from the government. Maybe the ones for necessities are still making so much bank from abusing everyone they don't care, but isn't there an end point to all this?
Our leaders are crazed in that they don't care we don't have any money. I never have had the electric shut off for non-payment in my entire life, even during the Chicago era I paid them in time to avoid shut-offs. They mailed back my lifeline papers over some crazy quibble, lifeline is what people who are dependent on electrical medical devices to get their power outages dealt with quicker, or to prevent shut-offs. So I am not protected by that right now.
I could call my doctor to put a stop to a shut-off for a period of time for medical problems. Hey I make it my business to know these type of laws to survive. The times are shorter and shorter. That's their reaction, squeeze tighter as more people go broke. They are all psychotic. During the winter, I had one 500 dollar bill that gave me endless anxiety, but we were able to pay it.
We really don't have social services anymore. There are a few private and church programs out there, who help, but things are getting harder all over. They want American people stressed out and afraid, it gives the powers that be more control. This country is not free. We have a little freedom of speech left, but they'll stamp that out soon anyway. I'm surprised astrobots haven't shown up here to shout me down and tell me what a loser I am for not paying bills. X/Twitter was full of that crap.
Once when I got a 700 dollar electric bill one week, it wasn't in shut off yet, they didn't come after people like they do now, and I tried to go to charities to help me pay it and those people told me we needed a shut-off notice. I thought if I wait for a shut off notice, it will go off before I get any help. I was able to do a payment plan on top of the regular bills but it took me an entire year to pay it off. Keep in mind as you read this during the winter, I have to keep the temperature under 65.
An email company never leaves me alone, they always want me to pay for storage and threaten to shut the email off every other day. They fill my email box with junk mail even though I cancelled all email subscriptions and then the very next week there's more. It can take hours and hours to clean this crap out. I need this email to communicate with my doctors, get amazon locker codes from when I order vitamins, and other necessary stuff. I'm sick of it. Leave me alone!
Now I am dealing with this CPAP supply company, I don't want to give too many details, but the costs were quintupled, I was shocked by a big bill, that was multiple times more than the usual yearly bill, and I hadn't ordered more than the year before. The amount they charged insurance for some basic CPAP supplies made my hair stand on end. For weeks and weeks, I make negotiations with one of the higher ups on email. I promise to pay back the amount I owed, that still stood despite the insane cost increases, I stopped making orders except for filters which has brought me some hardships and life moves on. Monthly payments were made for some months and then suddenly paying on the portal doesn't work!
I have made all these negotiations in writing on email and thankfully kept the emails. The only reason this happened was telling them I was too deaf to use their phone line. I try to write the portal, they never help there. I decide to go pay the company in person at the local office, and the manager tells me "Oh we don't do that anymore!"
The manager mailed the address I needed to mail a check to. He was a nice guy, the system worked against him too! Computer people screwed up again! I should have been able to make payments on the computer portal but it didn't work! I was so overcharged. 500 dollars for a plastic CPAP mask is insane. For the cushions you change, they want something like 286 dollars. It is a small piece of plastic that is only 4-5 inches wide. I'm not ordering anything from them anymore but necessary filters.
Once when I got a 700 dollar electric bill one week, it wasn't in shut off yet, they didn't come after people like they do now, and I tried to go to charities to help me pay it and those people told me we needed a shut-off notice. I thought if I wait for a shut off notice, it will go off before I get any help. I was able to do a payment plan on top of the regular bills but it took me an entire year to pay it off. Keep in mind as you read this during the winter, I have to keep the temperature under 65.
An email company never leaves me alone, they always want me to pay for storage and threaten to shut the email off every other day. They fill my email box with junk mail even though I cancelled all email subscriptions and then the very next week there's more. It can take hours and hours to clean this crap out. I need this email to communicate with my doctors, get amazon locker codes from when I order vitamins, and other necessary stuff. I'm sick of it. Leave me alone!
Now I am dealing with this CPAP supply company, I don't want to give too many details, but the costs were quintupled, I was shocked by a big bill, that was multiple times more than the usual yearly bill, and I hadn't ordered more than the year before. The amount they charged insurance for some basic CPAP supplies made my hair stand on end. For weeks and weeks, I make negotiations with one of the higher ups on email. I promise to pay back the amount I owed, that still stood despite the insane cost increases, I stopped making orders except for filters which has brought me some hardships and life moves on. Monthly payments were made for some months and then suddenly paying on the portal doesn't work!
I have made all these negotiations in writing on email and thankfully kept the emails. The only reason this happened was telling them I was too deaf to use their phone line. I try to write the portal, they never help there. I decide to go pay the company in person at the local office, and the manager tells me "Oh we don't do that anymore!"
The manager mailed the address I needed to mail a check to. He was a nice guy, the system worked against him too! Computer people screwed up again! I should have been able to make payments on the computer portal but it didn't work! I was so overcharged. 500 dollars for a plastic CPAP mask is insane. For the cushions you change, they want something like 286 dollars. It is a small piece of plastic that is only 4-5 inches wide. I'm not ordering anything from them anymore but necessary filters.
It is a lot of stress as everything is getting old and worn out attached to my CPAP machine. I will have to use my mask until it falls apart. There's no way I can afford this stuff anymore. If insurance gets charged 500, remember I get charged 20 percent of that! Their bill was actually bigger then both my surgery bill and when I had a kidney infection in the ER. It went from 100 and something to 750 dollars!
They want me to use this phone system, that takes an hour and half to get a human on the line and none of those humans once you get them know English enough to solve any problems. Their accents are so thick my transcribe and my captioning phones do not work. My husband is on the line too, to help me, and he can't understand them either. They refuse to take my payment, because of the age of the bill, I spent months finding missing payments with these folks too, and despite my negotiations and promises by the higher up on the payment plan. I get nowhere. They refuse to take my money! Isn't this the definition of insanity?
The phone company is jumping the gun too on phone shut-offs, 2-3 weeks and the phone is dead too. He just paid it. Sometimes I rant and rave, they come after us so much, I swear they are double dipping us, and we are paying double! I need to have my husband sit down and write the dates and when we paid them.
AI is going to make things really bad. Computers don't care about special cases. Computers can't figure things out. Computers follow stupid rules from linear thinkers that program them and can't figure out that someone could have made negotiations on an old bill. Computers stick you in endless loops. Many of these companies have fired everyone to save money as AI takes jobs away and now you can never get a human. Many of these companies have no common sense and write rules that are stupid. I can't be the only person that owes this place money after they quintupled their prices. How could I be the only one? Why did I have to ask a local manager and took weeks to even dig up the address to mail a check to? Who forbid local offices to take payments? Are these people insane? I'm very good at internet research, and found the main headquarters, but the bill paying address is two states away. This company is TOO BIG.
They always make you feel like the only one in the world that this applies to. All business matters are much more difficult. I'll give the hospital this, at least their computer system works. People don't seem able to deal with complex things anymore. Sorry but the vaxx damage is showing. I'm seeing massive cognitive decline out there on multiple fronts. People are emotionally checked out at the least and unable to use critical thinking at the worse. The computer garbage has made everything harder, a lot of stuff is not user friendly.
What we seem to have now are too many simps and rule-followers who gave up all independent thinking and problem solving long ago. I am sure these people hate their jobs and feel desperate too, but there's some level of middle management that put the okay on these abuses, to make things as cheap and nasty as possible. There is no such thing as customer service anymore. Do places that have no competition as monopolies proliferate even need that anymore? Whoever is designing these computer systems are failing too. Some computer people may get mad at me for writing this, but there's problems with computer people they don't think holistically, and logic trees don't bring up the millions of other possibilities and complications that can happen. They don't acknowledge special cases or complications.
Are you seeing problems with companies and how they are operating now? Tell me your stories. I just want left alone at this point. Sometimes life feels like nothing but "run and pay". The medical bills are so numerous even keeping track of those is hard. At least next month, one will be paid off, until I get acutely sick again. The corporations own the government now, and they have so much power. Sometimes the bank account feels like handcuffs around my wrist with this orange bank card that controls my life. It's kind of creepy. Money is the prison cell the elite built to keep us all controlled. Everything is so crazy expensive too. The elite live swimming in money and you can tell they have no idea of what anyone actually lives on, so the higher-ups in these corporations simply have no idea. They don't care that their prices are so high, they have becoming impossible for most.
Are Companies Becoming Meaner and Greedier?
I agree these companies are getting far worse!
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, love the cartoon! Really sums up where we all are on this stuff.
ReplyDeleteThe two-week stuff is pretty crazy, though I may have erred on one point -- I think the phone is still on. I just heard a "fzzzzz" when I picked up mine, and figured, "Uh-oh," but maybe I just jumped the gun. But with all the paranoia that surrounds this stuff, my response was probably not unusual.
So we may have it a bit longer, though it may be off for a brief period, since they usually want the outstanding bill cleared by the 27th or 28th, some time before the new one kicks in, and they start banging their tin cup over your head.
You should know that Michigan pays higher utility rates per capita than any other Midwestern state -- or so I've read, in various places -- for a lot of reasons, not least the cash that DTE, in particular, spreads around. Here's another stat from Bridge Michigan that really sums up the bigger picture:
>Over 93% of all state legislators in Michigan have accepted campaign money from DTE-affiliated donors. During a single legislative term, DTE and fellow utility Consumers Energy funneled nearly $560,000 to 120 out of 148 state lawmakers.
Governor Gretchen Whitmer leads all state elected officials, having accepted $235,900 in DTE-linked donations throughout her career. Legislative chamber leaders also top the list, regularly pulling in tens of thousands per cycle.<
So it's not a coincidence that they've gotten used to getting so spoiled!
As far as computer people go, yes, I'd say their failure to think holistically is a major part of their problem, though I'd also cite an overestimation of their own capabilities, too. I've seen this, again and again, in local government -- contractors often puff up their abilities to get the gig. Nobody wants to say no, since it might affect your ability to get the bid.
I remember seeing a city council preparing to award a road work bid, and they were ready to award it to a local guy -- who was clearly the apparent low bidder. The only hair in the soup was, they were awarding the bid in late October, meaning the finalist would have only three or four weeks to complete the work before winter set in.
The mayor voiced another concern, noting that the low bidder already had two or three projects going. He said, "Now, look, I want to know that you can make the deadline, because we don't want to be laying asphalt down over snow and ice."
"Oh, that's no problem," the guy responded. "Those other jons are almost wrapped up, anyway."
"OK," the mayor responded. "I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt, but it's on you if you miss the deadline."
Now, you can probably guess what happened next, can't you? The guy fell behind on his other jobs, which meant he didn't have a prayer of making his newest deadline. In the end, the council did exactly what the mayor feared -- fired the guy, and hired another contractor to, well, lay asphalt over snow and ice.
As I recall, they scrambled to complete the job by Turkey Day, or it might have dribbled into the first week of December, but either way, it ended up being a mess. And that's the not only situation of its kind that I've witnessed.
There are a lot of layers to this onion, but sometimes, it isn't always the computers that blunder -- because a computer is only as good as the operator. And if the operator is less than stellar, well, then, so are the results, as you've found. --Mr. Peep
Thanks regarding my cartoo Mr. Peep.
DeleteMaybe the phone is still on and the line's gone dead, they aren't maintaining those lines very well. I should call us and see what I get off my cell phone. Remind me to do that later. See if you hear it ring or not.
They are so quick to shut it off, I understand why you thought it got cut off.
I really really think they are double-dipping us, it's not every 4 weeks for one bill, seriously.
That's sad about utility bills in Michigan, I've heard Texas is high too.
Sheesh business as usual. People don't realize to what degree big business is OWNING all our politicians. Our government basically has been purchased by megacorporations and they are going crazy with power.
Weren't these called BRIBES in earlier days. When a politician got PAID OFF to service a certain company? They aren't providing a service or anything to them.
I am glad you understand what I mean about the computer people, they never see the big picture. Seriously what kind of retard thought, let's not let anyone pay on any bill more than 12 months old, like no one would be in debt to a place charging 500 dollars per CPAP mask? That's a special brand of dumb. They think they know everything, these were the kids who got straight As in math and maybe their heads all swelled up big. They do over-estimate their abilities.
I'm surprised that low bidder guy didn't do the city job first and then attend to the other stuff. Yeah too many of them probably push the envelope. Some of these companies too should stick to the old adage if it's not broke don't fix it and make it broke. They seem really into doing that so someone can MAKE MONEY to screw something up especially in the computer world!
Yeah, the cartoon really says it, that's for sure! As only you can.
ReplyDelete>Seriously what kind of retard thought, let's not let anyone pay on any bill more than 12 months old, like no one would be in debt to a place charging 500 dollars per CPAP mask?<
Oh, I don't know, probably the same one who left you the single option -- pay the entire amount, however absurd it is, since we both looked and looked, and don't see a "Custom Amount" in there (like you do with the electric bill, for instance).
I still think there is some funny stuff going on with their billing -- haven't they been implicated for something like that, in the past? I'm going on memory, from the articles you sent me.
The absurd part of all this stuff is that it's pushing me away, in the other direction -- the door marked, As Little As You Can Get Away With.
Because, at this point, I'm worn out with all of their constant meddling -- the endless "forced conversions" that somehow don't seem to filter out all the spam flooding my inbox, for instance. What's up with that?
If they can take away options I like, it seems to me they can find some better way of filtering out Col. Igbo from Nigeria, who's struggling with that strong box of $30 million that he just can't wait to leave me.
And sure, maybe it won't bring them down now, but if enough people start taking their presence elsewhere, they may well be singing a different tune before long.
>Maybe the phone is still on and the line's gone dead, they aren't maintaining those lines very well. I should call us and see what I get off my cell phone. Remind me to do that later. See if you hear it ring or not.
They are so quick to shut it off, I understand why you thought it got cut off.<
Don't forget, we'd also had issues with that line, too, that we wound up having to fix. So maybe that was in the back of my mind somewhere, too. Anyway, I'm tired of twisting myself into a pretzel for all these people -- it's not like I can go down in the basement, and print it on demand (though it'd be a hell of a lot faster, even if it's slightly illegal!).
At some point, they may finally figure it out, but only after they go broke -- since hardly anybody has any money left over, once they're done shelling out for all their (ever-declining) services. --Mr. Peep.
Yeah even if we wanted to pay them the whole amount, because it was over 12 months, they just erased it, but then it was still written on my main "dashboard". Nothing these people do makes sense. This company is big enough to have millions of customers. I can't be the only one who made a payment deal or is behind on the bills.
DeleteSome of the stuff they decide to do is absolutely senseless. Yes they are mentioned in some articles for dubious things, remember when I posted those on social media?
Yeah I think we should rethink our own digital life. I plan to keep this blog and being deaf, it is easier to write friends, message and email, but we need to distance ourselves more from screen life. Maybe we should do what one friend has done and go back to cash and all checks, though we know the checks got very expensive and I'm not sure some people are even taking checks, anymore though I had to send a check to that one company.
The constant demands for IDs, and Codes, is freaking me out. Riddle me this...why are people we are PAYING, aka giving them money, wanting special codes? Like there's criminals trying to GIVE THEM MONEY. We don't want your filthy dirty money! They put some time factor in so you have to speed type it in, and hope an email is working, the emails they always threaten to shut down for lack of storage and with more demands for money. We were wise I think to refuse a smart phone until I went deaf and needed one to communicate with people. I'm tired of the forced conversions too. I swear some of these emails are delivering us mass mailings to clog up our inboxes and then demand money for more storage as they made it harder to remove stuff.
The meddling and interference is getting on my nerves too. I hate all the codes and endless steps and passwords and BS.
Think about that email they decided to erase of mine, mentioned in the Super Old lady article just because I didn't sign in enough times in the last year, and no one warned me. It was connected to another email, so all their stupid "fail-safes" don't even work.
Yeah maybe we better lower dependence on these systems. We really need to think about it. Maybe go back to more cash? I don't know.
Yeah all of us should stop twisting ourselves into pretzels, these companies are giving less while demanding more. I think too many of them have control over our lives and it's getting scary isn't it. As I have talked about we need to scale back. Maybe we should just shut that phone off and call it a day, I know it's easier for you to use for work, but maybe the constant hassles and their double-dipping isn't worth it. Everyone may be in a place given this economy to see what they can give up and do away with. Why have these people drive us crazy when they really aren't doing much for us?
LOL about producing it in the basement, but they'll probably demand more codes on their end. Jump all these hoops before you can pay us. These elitists don't even understand real life, they are too arrogant to care that everyone is out of money and forgetful that even the money for their "necessities" they hold us captive with, is growing short in supply and what that means for their long term survivals as companies.
I never trusted anybody who wanted to fully plugged in -- to me, it sounded like hell! I had some differences of opinion over this issue with some folks, as you know, but what crystallized it for me was seeing two friends of mine taking nonstop calls from their SOs -- about 15 minutes to half hour. It reminded me of that Animals reunion album title from '76 -- Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted. :-) Because we were! Finally, I got to the point of saying, "And you guys want me to get one of these things, because..." And they just laughed, because they knew I had them on that one.
ReplyDelete>I swear some of these emails are delivering us mass mailings to clog up our inboxes and then demand money for more storage as they made it harder to remove stuff.<
Yeah, the stupid things that these companies do is certainly a bigger and bigger turnoff. As I've said, I'm thinking of just emptying out a lot of my inboxes, and dumping them onto USBs -- because if they're just gonna use that as an excuse to milk you, what's the point? I wonder how long it'll take before many other folks out there reach similar conclusions.
I'm actually researching different options. There's a search engine from the Netherlands called Startpage, for instance, that doesn't track you, and doesn't do the AI thing. They also offer email, though it costs ($7-9 per month), but it may be something to look at later.
They do point out, and I think it's a fair observation, that -- in the end -- a lot of those "free" email services aren't free at all, when they allow all sorts of spam to flood you, and attempt to build profiles, and/or targeted ads, based on what they scoop out of it. As you know, Euro privacy laws are a lot stronger than in the US, so that may be something to consider.
The whole cash-card thing is definitely a conundrum, though in my experience, there's still a fair number of places that do take checks, but don't necessarily advertise it. One of the big issues, for me, is what a friend of mine pointed out on Facebook, in a list of reasons why you should rethink the whole card thing -- one I remember stated (roughly), "Debit cards are one of the biggest drivers in our current cost of living crisis, because of the fees associated with them, as merchants have to raise their own fees to keep up with them." That thought definitely resonates for me.
I go back and forth on the land line, so we'll just have to play it by ear. But we have just two and a half years to go, anyway, before they pull the plug on supporting it, so there's no real rush to beat them to that punch. We'll have to figure some other workaround for it by then, I guess, which will probably happen when we get closer to the eleventh hour. Funny how that works, but we have a few other things to deal with first, and that's just the way it goes. But certainly, after all of these experiences, I'd say, the less dependent you can make yourself on these characters, the better. --Mr. Peep
Yeah being plugged in all the time can suck. We refused smart phones for years and years for a reason, remember we didn't want anyone bugging us when we were out. I know I had to get one for being deaf, but I am glad we did that. Some of the people who had the SOs checking on them constantly it was insane, and one guy it was literally every 20 minutes. We couldn't even have a real visit with him, and that guy ended up breaking up with that lady anyhow. She seemed to be a control freak. I don't think he was allowed to have any friends and the whole situation was weird. Remember that other male friend we had too, whose girl friend kept him on a very short leash? Life is sad when a man can't even leave home to talk to a few friends, and we are happily married, no one had to worry that they were going to have someone "steal" them. It was just nuts.
DeleteI do think some got rude to us, answering their phones over and over, and these were healthy women too, not someone like me who may need more care calling in.
Yeah I had that thought you want me to get one of these because? I don't even think anyone has my cell phone number, I don't answer it, LOL or even know how to answer an incoming call. I just use text for everything or they contact me on Facebook.
These companies just seem to want to play stupid and piss all their customers off. Makes me wonder if the people on conspiracy boards claiming they are going to shut the system down are right because why piss off those who keep you in business? It is strange to me.
I know I'm pissed off because I think man maybe I should go through accounts and write every email address on paper. I lost some files I wanted to keep too with the email they wiped, I never lost the password and they gleefully told me, oh you were gone too long. Well no one warned me. This by the way is why I print out so many of my medical files, you think these computer files couldn't get wiped out? They erase crap all the time. I know I have 3 huge boxes of medical files in here and that blue plastic container of the last two years. If the hospital and my house call doctor files all went off line, I would have to depend on paper.
Hmm Startpage sounds interesting. I do use Brave [a non tracking browser] sometimes and Yandex to escape the censorship people. [especially on items related to Covid and conspiracy stuff] I would like one that declares itself to be AI free.
Yeah they do targeted ads, and I think they are downloading our emails and making profiles on us, even the ones they erased. It's kind of creepy. Like finding out what you know. I'm glad there are stronger privacy laws in Europe.
I think some places have to still take checks for the elderly, there's a lot of very poor people who don't own computers or have internet. We may have to plan ahead for our old age, as maybe the day will come where we are separated from the grid, I won't get a Digital ID. Homeless people may still conduct some emails etc, at libraries, but their contact would be far less.
Yeah if those debit cards cost fees, that means they are increasing the price on everything. It is easier to pay online than write checks and find the stamp, but I am starting to wonder about this stuff. I also hate the bank knowing my day to day business. [why does she buy so many vitamins and supplements, etc.] Debit cards let them know WHAT you are buying and WHERE too.
Yeah I figure the landline will be shut off at a certain point. I don't like talking on the phone anymore as you know, it's too hard. Some friends said they wanted to stick to text because the captioning stuff is limited. I know in person I have to do best I can with the transcribe phone, I thought maybe I should learn ASL but I have found it difficult to learn, and no one else here knows it. Thanks for rethinking the phone and for your posts Mr. Peep. We need to be less dependent on these characters, they are going nuts with their codes, control and just endless daily hassles.
David Brooks wrote a great article on this in "Mother Jones":
ReplyDeletehttps://link.motherjones.com/public/32480203
I was talking to a friend recently who said, "We did fine without the internet and without carrying around phones."
You'd be amazed at how much you interact with your neighbors (a lot more) and how well you get along with the people in your neighborhood too, mostly (except for the curmudgeons maybe).
In my grandmother's old photos, which I no longer have and were taken out of my house without my permission, it showed how many people were in the streets (a lot), how "hanging out with friends" was practically a neighborhood and even a whole-town ritual, and how it generated happiness (lots of smiles and laughter when the camera was scanning them).
We're going to have to go back to that life eventually, even if we're kicking and screaming, because all of these electronics (and now data centers) use up so much energy, and quickly, and because energy is finite.
That's a great article, I may share that elsewhere. When we lived in our rural area, that place was really behind the times, even into the mid 2000s no one owned a smart phone. I remember just the level of conversation, now I could hear enough to talk to people then though that would end and I had to use hearing aids, but people cwould talk about everything and anything. I had the small good church I miss and the art and music co-op. I think things did change, even in the 70s as a kid I remember the neighborhood parties and block parties and church events and it seemed people were far far more social active and that ebbed away. I think some of that did disappear before the technology came along but the technology really has made people isolated now and killed social lives. Yeah people used to "hang out with friends". I still do with a few friends but I know all these people who don't even seem to have friends and it's kind of weird now, everything is work or just doing formal stuff, like the idea of "hanging out" would offend them. I think we will have to go back to that life too. We need third places back too! [places we can see other people where it doesn't cost money to be there] Thanks Lise
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