2.16.2012

Paperless Ranting

I do my part to recycle, reuse, and generally try not to be wasteful. In that vein, I've gone paperless with some of our bills. That's been all fine and dandy. Until now.

We switched our home phone from Qwest (now Century Link) to Verizon recently. Qwest (sorry, I just don't like their new name - I'll get over it one of these days) is one of the companies with whom we've gone paperless. Since their account numbers are based upon one's phone number (if you have a phone with them), they had to change our account number. But they've not sent me any emails (or paper bills) with the new number. When it comes time for me to pay the bill, I have to log into our account. But the old account number (our home phone #) is no longer active. However, I don't have the new account number. So I chat online with a representative, but he can't help me without me providing the new, active account number.

Do you see my dilemma?

Some days, the technological advances and steps to go green are seriously ANNOYING. As soon as I have account access, I am promptly opting back out of this paperless nonsense. Sadly, I will not be recycling my paper bills, though. They will be shredded and I'm not allowed to give my shredding to the recycle peeps. Whatever.

Edited to add:

I contacted Century Link this morning and was very pleased with the service and outcome. I spoke with Carlie in St. Paul and she was very helpful, friendly, and cheery. She quickly provided all the information I needed to update my account, view the bill, and pay the bill. She gave us an extension for this payment, because our billing cycle changed, leaving us with a larger-than-normal bill this month.

Problems will arise in life, but it's how they're handled/resolved that makes a difference. In this case, I've gone from being very frustrated with Century Link to having a very pleasant experience with them!

2 comments:

Thoughts for the day said...

I totally understand. I want to go paperless but I like the old fashioned bill in my hand so I can refer to is should I have a problem.

bluecottonmemory said...

Paperless sometimes leaves me frustrated because that equals faceless, humanless! Sigh! I miss the human contact factor, the neighborhood business that cares about the community. Way to turn lemons into lemonade!

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