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Credit Card Woes

Posted on by lwidmer

I got a call from my bank yesterday checking on some recent charges. This happens a lot, and I’ve always been very glad for it. I wasn’t sure about one charge yesterday, so the woman on the phone put my account on hold. Thank God she did – today the charges appeared. I had no…

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Is That Your Final Answer?

Posted on by lwidmer

I just picked up a brand-new client the other day. It was one I’d mentioned a few posts ago that a friend in the company had recommended me to. Mind you, I don’t have any assignments yet, but I’ve now completed paperwork that’s put me on the list of “approved contractors”, according to the contact…

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McDonald’s Economics

Posted on by lwidmer

Whether the current administration admits to a recession or not, we’re in one. How do I know? It’s simple – go to your local McDonald’s. You’ve been to one. Even I’ve been to one, and I’m a vegetarian (live for the fry-and-shake combination). Take a good listen to the person waiting on you. Notice anything…

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When You Just Don’t Get It

Posted on by lwidmer

Working on a project now with a regular client. In the past, I’ve had zero problems interpreting what they want/how they want it. Perhaps I’m tired, old, or some other form of out-of-it, for this time I’m just not getting it. They’re kind enough not to say so, but multiple revisions later, it’s obvious we’re…

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Have You Nominated Your Favorite Yet?

Posted on by lwidmer

It’s time once again for Michael Stelzner’s Top Blogs For Writers nominations. Go here to nominate your favorite. But be aware – you get one nomination. And your nominee must be nominated twice or seconded in order to be considered. I’ve cast my vote already, but if I could, all of the following would be…

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The Posts That Got You Talking

Posted on by lwidmer

I’ve decided to try something a bit different here. Some blog posts obviously get a bit more attention than others, and I thought it would be fun to revisit the ones from the previous month that had you busy commenting. I’ve looked at the posts from August, and here are the two most-commented-on posts: The…

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Promises, Promises

Posted on by lwidmer

Heard from my favorite client yesterday – they’re back to needing monthly newsletters again. Hooray for several reasons; the work is interesting, the people are great, and they pay on time without fail. Hooray, indeed! Despite working under a post-migraine fog, yesterday brought an inquiry from one of the major companies in the area looking…

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Lots of Work, Little Cash

Posted on by lwidmer

How many times have you been there, too? The work – you’re drowning in it. Yet the cash for that work? Let’s just say Casper makes more appearances than your checks. At the moment, I have about $7K in outstanding invoices. Only one is just slightly overdue. Taxes are due on the 15th (you do…

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Recurring Client Issues

Posted on by lwidmer

The meditation group I belong to teaches us about life’s sanskara, or the stuff that keeps coming up throughout our lives that must be dealt with. For example, suppose you keep meeting the same type of person as you’re dating. No matter how far outside your comfort zone you look, that new person soon starts…

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It’s Unlimited, With Certain Limits, Of Course

Posted on by lwidmer

I once signed up for a new phone service that promised me unlimited calling. It wasn’t one of the big companies, but rather a startup company offering great rates. The first month, it was wonderful. For just $30 a month, I could call my sister and talk for an hour, or call my mother, or…

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  1. writtenexpressions Avatar
    writtenexpressions

    It never ceases to amaze me the lengths that some companies will go to in order to alienate their customers . . . this reminds me of the cell phone company (sadly, I don’t recall which–I just know it wasn’t mine) that “fired” customers who called customer service too frequently.

    Reply
  2. Leigh Avatar
    Leigh

    I sort of understand the need for usage caps – why should you pay the same $50 per month to download 100 GB of data as someone who downloads 1 TB of data? However, I don’t advocate baiting and switching or not letting customers know ahead of time that there is a cap.

    I just signed up with Skype for their “unlimited calling plan” – they make it very clear that the unlimited means “fair use” and is capped at 10,000 minutes a month. I can live with that, and I trust Skype more as a company now that they made that clear up front.

    writtenexpressions, I believe it was Sprint who fired the customers. It cost less to lose a customer than it did to provide customer service.

    Reply
  3. Devon Ellington Avatar
    Devon Ellington

    What “service providers”? There’s no such thing anymore. Our current administration has set it up so that Big Business is allowed to profit from anyone below them by screwing them regularly without consequence.

    Reply
  4. Amanda Nicole Avatar
    Amanda Nicole

    Even though I’m saying this from a Canadian perspective, I’m with you, Devon. I’d like to start seeing the service part–and that doesn’t mean more telemarketing calls–of all the service providers we deal with on a daily basis.

    Reply
  5. Irreverent Freelancer Avatar
    Irreverent Freelancer

    I have DSL through my phone company, so this doesn’t apply to me per se. However, all I can say is that when Comcast took over my former cable company about two years back, service and prices got shot to he!!. My phone company occasionally ticks me off (like when they recently decided to up my monthly fee to “cover the cost of increased use of their IT department”), but not to the degree I suspect Comcast would. Many days I’m connected to the Internet for 18 hours, and more often than I’d like, the majority of those hours are getting used.

    Reply
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