In my normal routine of going through some bills and organizing some paperwork on my desk, I came across something that has been on my mind...and I want to gripe about it. Let me run a scenario by you.
Imagine a nice lazy afternoon in the mid 1950's. A small Mayberry type town with my little General Store being one of the only places to buy goods in town. As I stand behind my counter, a customer comes in and buys a bag of coffee, and some flour. I ring up the register to a total of $10.00. Of course this doesn't sit well with the customer so i explain that $2.00 is for the goods, and the $8.00 remaining is a customer charge. That's right, it costs you extra for me to wait on you. absurd? I think so!
In just about every transaction you deal in today has some sort of service fee, convenience fee, ,or customer fee. think about that. That is the price that company expects you to cover for the right to do business with them. What the Hell? When did all this happen? I thought that if you had a business in America, you valued customers and went out of your way to keep them happy.
I have been noticing this for some time on my bills and receipts. Its not OK to charge me for things that I assume are part of the service. I first noticed it on my Entergy bill several years ago right after the gulf suffered damage from a hurricane. There was a sizable charge on my bill, I cant recall exactly what it was called, a recovery fee I think. When I asked an Entergy representative about this, I was told it was to help recover the companies losses sustained by excessive overtime and repairs to the region effected.
The other day I was paying a bill over the phone and was told that i would be charged a service fee for fee collection. Now i am having to pay, to pay. ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME??? I have to do you the honor of paying you a fee to take my hard earned money. Utilities are the worst because they have you over a barrel, you have to have them...so you pay it. Insurance is the same way..we are mandated that we have to carry it, so the insurance companies as a whole keep raising premiums because they have us..they own us.
Oil Companies say they have to raise gas prices due to market speculation over middle eastern turmoil. Speculation...anyone remember economics class...this means guessing. They continue to tell us that they have to raise prices to adjust to global rise in production costs...they think. Then at the end of the fiscal year, all the gas companies post HUGE, RECORD profits!! I keep waiting for my refund check due to over-speculation, but it never comes.
If we turn the tides on companies, would it favor us for a change? I remember when Hurricane Gustav came through, we did without power for 3 days..3 days..and I live in the city. Valiant attempts to preserve all my frozen and cold food fell slighty short. When i mentioned to Entergy that I would be sending them a bill to compensate for all my losses, they actually got really huffy with me. Threatening to bill the cable company for lost work wages when I have to take the afternoon off to wait for a service tech to arrive.
Subtract money from your cable bill for the 100+ channels you never watch...ever!
I just want to know when good customer service went away and arrogant business started ruling the earth. When businesses stopped trying to pamper the customer, and started catering to stockholders. we as consumers are in control, we just forget because we are bullied and pushed by big business.
Alright, I am finished bitching for tonight. I will make an effort to be more positive in my future blogs so everyone leave comments and sign up to follow me so we can argue about what I rant about.
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