Great, I'm a fucking idiot

[trinityvixen]

I had too much goddamned sugar today, that's my excuse.

I just called Time Warner Cable to FREAK OUT all over the poor guy who answered the phone because I mistook my renewing my magazine subscription for an out-of-sync, over-billing on Time Warner's part. (Which has, to my defense, happened before.) I mean I really, realllllllllllllly flipped the fuck out about this and lectured the guy about how fucking irresponsible Time Warner Cable is. I then didn't wait for them to tell me to go suck eggs (as happened last time) and immediately call my credit card company for info. The guy on that line is super friendly and gives me just that extra bit of info--the word "subscription" in fact--and I start flashing back to some point in this almost blissfully continuous long weekend (I took off today to watch the inauguration; best use of a personal day ever!) to when I realized that my Entertainment Weekly subscription was almost up.

Since I can't call back and apologize in person, you all will be my karmic cleansing and witness my apology: Sorry, Joe! My bad! Egg on my face! I am made of fail! This event proves to me two things: one, holy shit, girl, don't do your goddamned banking so late at fucking night when you're not thinking clearly about anything except sleep (which, due to your massive fail, you will be getting less of--more karmic realignment!); and, two, Science H. Logic, see #1.

I did discover that Time Warner had, for some mysterious reason, dropped my credit card again, as they had done last time. I got to update it. So maybe the panic attack was worth it to correct the billing error that, as debt delayed often does, would surely have come back to bite me in the ass another day had I not fixed it. So perhaps I was destined to find and correct a non-existent error in order to correct a real one. The fact that I received a notice this same evening from my bank telling me that I'm an even bigger dipshit than this little anecdote would indicate contributed to my paranoia in no small way. (Short version of that anecdote: I need to be more careful about amounts when I deposit and make sure I am actually depositing those amounts.)

Comments

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

Last week, I almost called PSE&G, because I thought they hadn't sent us a bill for December, and I didn't want to risk having to deal with them shutting anything off for non-payment because they forgot to bill me.

Of course, then I found the bill sitting in a pile of mail I'd absent-mindedly moved to the dresser at some point.

If it had been [Fucking] Comcast, I wouldn't have bothered to check if I'd been the dumbass, and just done what you did. It's easy to assume it's their mistake when it always has been in the past.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Honestly, my sort of absent-mindedness about picking up and putting down stuff is what led to me automating the billing in the first place. Of course, that's given me loads of trouble, too, but I haven't had to worry about late fees, I suppose, which are the bigger hazard given how likely I am to forget to pick a bill back up again.

And now I'm wondering if I don't have a utility bill lying around on my desk. Mmm, have to check that out.

But yeah, this had happened once, with almost the same inaccurate amount. I think I need to be more careful about when I charge things. Generally I am, but I just lost track with cleaning and celebrating. Got away from me.

[ecmyers.livejournal.com]

I just pay all my bills on the same day every month, right after getting my paycheck, through my online checking account. And I try to get all my bills sent electronically or just check them online, to save on paper and annoyance. Once you get into the routine, it's pretty easy to keep track of it. I don't want to rely on autopayments, especially since I want to monitor the flow of money in and out of my account.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I like to monitor this stuff and I do. I check and make sure that things are billed on time correctly. I prefer to do it with the credit card instead of online checking because that is a charge rather than a debit. Which means that I can challenge erroneous charges if necessary before money is taken from any of my accounts. I also pretty much exclusively pay my credit card bills online, so I do all my review there and can do it all at once instead of having to check bank statements against bills. If the utilities bill would allow me to put it onto a credit card without charging me extra, I would. As is, I prefer to have the paper check and mailing to serve as my physical connection to that bill.

Shorter version of above: I am paranoid about auto debits from bank accounts in a way I am not about credit cards because credit cards don't "count" in the same way.

[osmodion.livejournal.com]

Instead of feeling bad about it, consider the service you performed for all the other people that had their lives ruined by Time Warner. They wouldn't let me get cable internet without a credit check and social security number, but somehow they decided my name is Shannon after all the paper work was completed. They refuse to fix it without a COLOR copy of my drivers license and a NOTARIZED affidavit. Time Warner is an incompetent company run by morons. Anyone working for them, even if they're perfectly nice people, should be aware that they are employed by a despised company and what that entails.