Pissed off so I'm sharing with you my rant. Woke up this morning, checked my email per normal & noticed one from from my Internet/TV Service Provider (Cable Co.). Opened it up to find a message saying my bill was seriously overdue (January was missed) and if not paid by Feb 27 then my services will be suspended, a process that had already started. Instructions there to visit my account online and pay by credit or debit card. Also, if I had already made arrangements for payment to give them a call.
Background: My credit rating is right near the top. I've dealt with this company for over 30 years. During that time period I have on occasion, unintentionally not paid my invoice for one reason or another. I've either forgotten, been away or thought my wife had paid it. We pay manually online through our bank nowadays. We haven't set it up automatically because there have been times when we've watched a movie or program that was an extra cost. In the past when payment was missed, I never received such a warning. When I got my February invoice on Feb 12, it was the first time I had realized January was missed and to me that should have been enough of a warning. The total owed was for both months plus a late charge. OK, no problem, we missed it and set up online payment for the whole amount for today Feb 15. I didn't like the tone of their letter and decided to call and ask about it while also notifying them the bill payment was being drawn from our account today at some time since that was one of the instructions. Having never received an email like this in the past plus the fact my name was complete with no space between my first and last names and combined with the fact they were asking for credit or debit card payment, made me think someone was phishing. I checked the internet and the phone number given, everything seemed legit, so I called.
At first I asked if the email was legit. She (Sabrina) asked me to read it to her. I did & she confirmed its legitimacy. I told her I didn't appreciate the warning and if she checked our payment history she would notice this wasn't the first time we've been late. Then I added my own threat since our loyalty to the company seemed to mean precious little and that I was considering changing ISP because of it. Those were the last words I was allowed to say. Apparently according to Sabrina, the grass is not greener on the other side (the competition's), all ISP's collect in similar manner and the email was only a courtesy warning. I couldn't get a word in and she eventually hung up, last words being 'have a nice day.' Through her whole spiel she made me feel like I was some sort of deadbeat. I thought the whole thing sounded like it was right out of a training manual complete with rudeness.
The only thing I can think of is that their policy has changed to being more aggressive, perhaps because they have had too many overdue accounts in the past. Whatever, I think my case is mild to some other collection strategies employed in the business world. I'm too old fashioned to have to suddenly deal with threats and rude call centre people representing a company I deal with. At least they didn't send someone out to break my legs. WTF has happened? Is it the electronic age, faceless companies, a new generation being manipulated to do it their way, or the impersonal relationship that now seems to exist between customer and company?