So, I don't pay my bills as regularly as I should. As a result, I opened my phone bill for August 2002 on the 29th of the month.

Before I continue, I should point out that I usually leave my dialup at home pegged 24/7. The reasons for lack of broadband are numerous and compose a rant of their own.

Now, my ISP changed their dialup numbers in early July. I discovered this when I got home from Christian's place on a Sunday and authentication to my provider was failing. I called tech support and got an automated message telling me of the change and directing me towards another service to give me new dialup numbers. I got 'em and began using one.

Here's where the trouble begins. Unbeknownst to me, the particular number I was using wasn't really local to me. It was local toll -- not local, not long distance. $0.07/minute. See pages 2 and 31 (that's not a typo, that's just how many goddamn pages were in the bill) for the results of this, and page 1 to see the total damage, including taxes and my normal monthly service charge of about $40/month. It's not pretty.

It gets worse though. Observant visitors may notice that the date on the bill is August 10. I didn't discover this until almost 20 days later. I estimate the additional charges at around $2300, for a grand total of around 6k.

I don't really know what else to say, except that I'm a dumbass for not having checked the number first. I guess I just got careless -- this is the third phone number change I've had with this ISP, and it's my 4th provider in as many years. So, a total of 5 access number changes before now, in a 4 year span, and no problems. But fuck me raw on this one.

Maybe I can beg and plead the phone company to help me out. I got the mailing address of some guy in Sacramento who might be high enough up to bring my problem to the attention of someone high enough up to help me out. Nobody at the callcenters is authorized to deal with this much money, though. I'm also trying to enlist the help of my ISP -- maybe they can convince the telco to reduce the charges. I don't honestly know. I sure as fuck hope something can be done though. I don't exactly have 6 Gs burning a hole in my pocket. and even if I make arrangements it's gonna be some serious loot per month unless I want to take like 5 years to pay this off (hint: I don't).

As of 9/12/2002, I've begun making payments since I've gotten nowhere with various people at the phone company or my ISP on even just getting this reduced.

As I write this, it is January 5, 2004. After the collections agency apparently took the holidays off, the check for my final payment just cleared. It's over!!!! The final figure: $6,249.66 including all fees.

I received a refund check for $171.58 on January 21 '04, bringing the total down to $6,078.08. Guess those fuckers' monthly payment scheme had me overpaying them.