Freelance Writing Blog

File it Under Just Plain Nuts

Posted on July 16, 2009 by lwidmer

Some incidents are, well, just plain nuts. As I reel in the big fish this week, I’m resurrecting some of my favorites: I’m Pretty Sure I’m Right This Time Return of the Sham Job Offers Weird Client Tricks

It’s Wednesday – Have You Marketed This Week?

Posted on July 15, 2009 by lwidmer

Ah, caught you napping! Well, that’s projection. You caught me napping. I’m hopeful that by the time you read this, I’ll be sleeping in and being utterly lazy. I did get another potential project late Friday, so I’m content to jump ship knowing I can let the marketing slide this week. And you? How’s your…

His Job Makes Him Sing

Posted on July 14, 2009 by lwidmer

A little traveling humor for you as I cast and reel in this week:

Gone Fishing

Posted on July 13, 2009 by lwidmer

Yes, I’m still gone (in more ways than one). Here’s one of my favorite videos. What do you think of it? Happy Monday!

So Long, Farewell, Au Weidersen, Goodbye….

Posted on July 10, 2009 by lwidmer

Wouldn’t you know it? I’m leaving tomorrow. I get a call around quitting time yesterday from an existing client – he has a project for me. Great! I’m happy to oblige, but it really must wait a week. There’s the project I was hoping would be waiting when I return. Amen. Spent a very long…

I Can See the Exit…

Posted on July 9, 2009 by lwidmer

After I’d alerted the parents to my impending visit, the work came piling in. I’m not saying one or two projects – try six. At once. All due – this week. Luckily a few of them took less time than I expected, though they were still required detailed work and some lengthy hours. It’s a…

Technology and Your Brand

Posted on July 8, 2009 by lwidmer

Thanks again to Bob Calandra for his insights and advice on how to create value and repeat business in a shaky economy. Again, if you want to pick up his book (and I highly recommend it), you can find it at Amazon.com. One of the book’s tips is “Add Technology to Your Brand.” That begs…

Keeping Your Freelance Job

Posted on July 7, 2009 by lwidmer

When good friend and former colleague Bob Calandra told me he was publishing his newest book How to Keep Your Job in a Tough Competitive Market (available at Amazon.com), my first thought was it’s about time. That’s for two reasons: 1) the topic is as timely as it’s ever going to get, and 2) Bob…

Working for the Weekend

Posted on July 6, 2009 by lwidmer

Now that I’ve planted that ear worm firmly… Because things were slow, I decided to head off to spend some quality time with the parents, the husband, and the fish I’m about to catch (there’s confidence for you!). And because I made that decision, the work came rolling in. I mean, where last week there…

Our Business Model is You’re Wrong

Posted on July 3, 2009 by lwidmer

Thanks to Sid Prince for sending me a link to a Wall Street Journal article that’s a mirror image to my ongoing eFax problem. In the article, Jason Zweig relates his story about a defunct AOL account that had somehow incurred charges. When he received a call from a collection agency, Jason decided to call…

devonellington

July 3, 2009

UHaul. For a long time. But I'm free, I'm free, I'm free!

Chase Bank. Don't even get me started.

Dell — which outsources everything and their phone techs say things like, "women in my country do not make demands" and "I get to decide if you get a home service tech and you don't" –even though there's a 3 year at-home service contract bought and paid for.

UHaul is resolved — it's on the record that I left because of irregular accounting procedures and lousy customer service.

I switched to Mac and am in the proces of ending my relationship with Dell, and don't plan to be back.

Chase will take a little longer, but it will happen.

And I'm dealing with more of the mom-and-pop individual businesses; to hell with corporate America! I will only spend money on businesses that VALUE me and give good customer service — while keeping jobs in the US and hiring people who respect US contracts. I'm tired of dealing with abusive customer service personnel who believe that, because THEY are not based in the US, they don't have to abide by the contracts their company made with the customers. It's happened too often.

And I'm tired of employees hiding behind "company policy". If you do something wrong, it is still wrong, whether it's company policy or not.

Lori

July 3, 2009

Oh, thank God, Devon! I was wondering when you'd get that resolved. Had no doubt you would, but it's insane the amount of wrangling we have to do to get satisfaction these days.

Eileen

July 3, 2009

On the bright side, my local Home Depot seems to be bending over backwards to be helpful. Hubby and I were in there last weekend and couldn't find the lower cost air filters we usually buy. A Home Depot worker was trying to help us find them, but was unsuccessful. We were reaching for the higher priced ones instead, when, on the spot, he discounted them for us 50% – and let us buy a case of them at that price. We were pleasantly surprised, but we also had a cart full of other stuff so perhaps the guy figured he could afford to discount.

Susan Johnston

July 3, 2009

RCN has overcharged me for the past three months. They gave me a wireless router without telling me I was going to be charged a monthly rental fee on to of my monthly internet fees. I then called and said "I don't want the router, come pick it up!" They refused, so I mailed it back (with insurance) at my own expense. Even though someone has already confirmed that it was received, I continue to be charged for the router that I no longer have!

The worst part is that every time I call I get a different person and they refuse to connect me to someone I've talked with in the past (I always write down the peron's name), so I have re-explain my entire history (which is inexplicably not recorded anywhere in my file). Usually they act like I'm lying to them and eventually they tell me they'll resolve the issue. But then I get charged for the router the next month and there's no credit for the previous months when I should not have been paying for a piece of equipment I don't have. I think they're counting on the fact that I'll eventually give up fighting for my $4.95 + tax per month. They underestimate my sense of righteousness!

Wendy

July 3, 2009

My favorite game to play with these companies is the repeat your story 50 times one. I call to get something resolved and I get bounced around to several departments with statements like, "That's for the Accounts dept." which tells me, "That's for the service dept." and it goes on and on. I get to tell my story over and over and over again.

D.O.N.

July 3, 2009

My local telco and ISP. Returned from family visit over Christmas last year to find our internet connection dead. Really dead. I confess, I could have been a phreaker when I was young, so I tested the line myself. Yep, dead, dead, dead. Called the telco on our other line to report the problem. Telco says their files show everything's working fine. They won't help me until I go out and buy a new modem/router. I argue, but they insist, so out I go into a cold, dark Canadian winter. Phone company checks with the vendor for proof of purchase, because they can't detect it on the line (yeah, 'cause it's DEAD). Company says they sent a guy to check and everything's fine, so now I gotta do a bunch of stuff to my computers and network or they'll have to charge me for the service call. Your guy's a vampire, I wonder? I mean, otherwise, how would he have come up our walk and checked the line without leaving footprints in the snow? It goes on like this for the better part of two weeks, until one morning I look out an see a phone company van parked in the alley. "How's it goin'? Cold enough for ya?" "Line's dead," he replies. "Looks like it broke back that way somewheres," he adds, pointing toward the frozen horizon. I'm still waiting for a refund for the service I didn't get for those weeks. Don't even get me started on their call-display database debacle that resulted in hundreds of dollars of expense plus paid-for-but-never-got services before that.

Paula

July 3, 2009

Where to start?

SBC – I called in with a simple question and discover two weeks later that my voicemail was disconnected. I was wondering why I hadn't had any voicemails for a while, then one night I couldn't get to the phone and it rang six, seven, eight times. When I called SBC, no one apologized for the error. In fact they claimed I'd ordered them to disconnect my voicemail, my very lifeblood. In fact, they said there would be a $10 fee to reactivate the service I had never canceled! I made it clear that was not acceptable. They finally found several "credits" to balance it out. This was just one of many customer service problems I had with SBC and SBC/Yahoo within about a six week period.

Comcast – I caved and "upgraded" to digital cable when they had a promo for a free digital box and no price increase for 12 months (after that it's only supposed to be $1.25 more per month). Free box. Free shipping. Yet my next bill included an $11.95 charge for shipping and handling. One call and it was resolved. But how many people just paid the bill without reading it first?

Illinois Department of Revenue – I just got a letter saying I underpaid my 2008 state taxes by something like $30. I reviewed their statement and finally found where I'd made my math error. It was on one of those convoluted steps, like: "If the amount on line 12 is more than the amount on line 7, subtract the amount on line 6 from line 22, and multiply by 3.25%. Enter the greater of the values on line 14." I accept my math error, and even the 18-cents of interest. What I don't accept is a $3.50 "late payment fee" when they've already cashed my check for the bulk of what I owed.

This is why I check every bill very closely – these days no companies are above adding new fees and charges to bulk up their bottom line.

Gabriella F.

July 5, 2009

Susan, don't get me started on RCN! I watch their bills like a hawk every month becuase they're committed to increasing my bill however they can.

I think I explained in a recent post that I'd called them about 4 months ago to reduce my bill. They said they had a new plan that would reduce my bill to $110 a month. Great. I signed up.

Last month, though, I was back up to $140 per month. I called and asked why, and RCN had broken out about 20 cable channels that I got as part of my $110 package and started charging $16 a month for them. I had to cancel them.

My bill was reduced to $120, but I'll be watching carefully because I'm sure they'll add new charges.

And, Susan, did you read your latest RCN notice? It purports to be able to charge you a $5 fee for downcharges. In other words, if you catch RCN upping your bill and call and cancel the services they've added, they'll charge you $5 for the pleasure.

If I hadn't already been using my RCN Internet account for business for the past five years, I'd dump their butts pronto!