Didn’t anyone read the last paragraph of the article?

“The Obama campaign issued a certificate of live birth in 2008, an official document from the state showing the president’s birth date, city and name, along with his parents’ names and races.”

The willingness to believe that Obama was born outside of the USA despite the overwhelming odds against it and despite all the evidence that he was born in Hawaii is why even Ann Coulter, Glenn Beck, Mike Huckabee and Bill O’Reilly all call “birthers” crazy.

The video of Ann Coulter and Mike Huckabee stating that this was a dead issue and only idiots are keeping it alive: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0rTwnIRJFA.

Even Bill O’Reilly dismisses questions about Obama’s citizenship, see the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GT1SXCQgv2A.

Hawaii has two major newspapers, the Honolulu Advertiser and the Star Bulletin, both of which recorded the birth announcement of Barack Obama on August 4, 1961. Anyone can get these announcements from the newspapers archives, anyone.

So if one were to believe all the B.S. birthers are throwing around, the conspiracy to elect a non-citizen as president would have had to begin 50 years ago with the cooperation of these two newspapers.

But it’s obvious that this goes way beyond the president’s birth. Some people just hate the guy because he’s half African-American and nothing anyone can say or do or prove is going to change that, one commentator already referred to the President as a “darky.”

So if beating a dead horse makes you feel good, then waste your time and energy and go at it, but it’s not going to change the fact that Obama is going to be the President of The United States until at least January 20, 2013.

Once again the self-proclaimed man of God, Pat Robinson, was on television spewing out more of his venomous, bigoted, and hateful thoughts, this time about why there was a recent earthquake in Haiti, 

“It may be a blessing in disguise. … Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it. Haitians were originally under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon the third, or whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, we will serve you if you will get us free from the French. True story. And so, the devil said, okay it’s a deal. Ever since they have been cursed by one thing after the other.” 

Unfortunately this not the first time, or I suspect the last time, Robertson will disseminate such vile and contemptible thoughts to the world, 

“The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.” –Pat Robertson 

“There is no such thing as separation of church and state in the Constitution. It is a lie of the Left and we are not going to take it anymore.” –Pat Robertson’s address to his American Center for Law and Justice in November, 1993. 

It would seem dotty old Mr. Robertson never heard of the 1^st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified back in 1791,

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” 

“Many of those people involved with Adolph Hitler were Satanists, many of them were homosexuals — the two things seem to go together.” –Pat Robertson on the 700 Club television program, January 21, 1993.

 Under Hitler’s rule the number of men convicted for homosexuality is estimated to be as high as 100,000.

The death rate of homosexuals in concentration camps was as high as 60%, due to the unusually cruel treatment by their captors and the persecution by their fellow inmates, resulting in the deaths of thousands of homosexuals.  Might I suggest to Mr. Robertson a viewing of the film Paragraph 175? 

Next time we’ll take a look at the underhanded ways Robertson amassed his estimated wealth of $200 million to $1 billion.

Under the terms of the National Film Preservation Act, each year the Librarian of Congress names 25 films to the registry that are “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant to be preserved for all time. These films are not selected as the “best” American films of all time, but rather as works of enduring importance to American culture. 

Established by Congress in 1989, the National Film Registry spotlights the importance of protecting America’s film heritage and cinematic creativity.  “By preserving the nation’s films, we safeguard a significant element of our cultural patrimony and history,” stated James H. Billington the Librarian of Congress. 

Since 1989 525 films have been selected, the complete list can be found at http://www.loc.gov/film/titles.html. 

Films Selected to the 2009 National Film Registry

1. Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
2. The Exiles (1961)
3. Heroes All (1920)
4. Hot Dogs for Gauguin (1972)
5. The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
6. Jezebel (1938)
7. The Jungle (1967)
8. The Lead Shoes (1949)
9. Little Nemo (1911)
10. Mabel’s Blunder (1914)
11. The Mark of Zorro (1940)
12. Mrs. Miniver (1942)
13. The Muppet Movie (1979)
14. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
15. Pillow Talk (1959)
16. Precious Images (1986)
17. Quasi at the Quackadero (1975)
18. The Red Book (1994)
19. The Revenge of Pancho Villa (1930-36)
20. Scratch and Crow (1995)
21. Stark Love (1927)
22. The Story of G.I. Joe (1945)
23. A Study in Reds (1932)
24. Thriller (1983)
25. Under Western Stars (1938) 

A brief synopsis of each film can also be found on the National Registry site. 

An exciting part of the process actually involves the general movie-going public, people like you and me.  You can submit up to 50 films for consideration to the National Registry.  Librarian of Congress James H. Billington seeks nominations for the National Film Registry. To be eligible for the Registry, a film must be at least 10 years old and be “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” The web site states, “Please do vote: the number of public votes a film receives is a factor seriously weighed during the selection process by the Librarian of Congress and members of the National Film Preservation Board.”  You never know, you could be the one to get an old favorite movie preserved in the Library of Congress.  Just make out your list and email to dross@loc.gov. 

You can send up to 50 film suggestions each year.  So far this year I have sent in the following 25: 

1. Reds (1981)
2. The Way We Were (1973)
3. The Miracle Worker (1962)
4. Wilson (1944)
5. New York PBS 19 hour Documentary (1999) Director Ric Burns
6. Cleopatra (1963)
7. Cleopatra (1934)
8. Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957)
9. Metropolis (1927)
10. Funny Girl (1968)
11. Gypsy (1962)
12. 12 Angry Men (1957)
13. Inherit the Wind (1960)
14. Joe (1970)
15. The Spoilers (1914)
16. Humoresque (1920)
17. Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1927)
18. Pinky (1949)
19. Hollywood Canteen (1944)
20. The Trip to Bountiful (1985)
21. In The Gloaming (1997)
22. Gypsy (1962)
23. Bye Bye Birdie (1963)
24. Rio Bravo (1959)
25. Longtime Companion (1990) 

So make out your list of favorite films and send them in!!

It has been stated by critics that  “isolated extremist”  a term Obama used instead of terrorist aids in the avoidance of unpleasant realities and it misleads, and that the bipartisan 9/11 Commission unanimously recommended in its report that officials go beyond using the term “terrorism” and use the term “Islamic terrorism.” 

The commission issued its final report on July 22, 2004.  I believe George Bush was still President and remained so for another four years, five months, and 28 days and the recommended 9/11 term was never used. 

On page 422 of the 9/11 Commission report they strongly recommended, “We should minimize as much as possible the disruption of national security policymaking during the change of administrations by accelerating the process for national security appointments.” 

President Obama nominated Erroll Southers, a former FBI special agent and a counterterrorism expert, to head the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) a few months ago.  Southers is the Los Angeles World Airports Police Department assistant chief for homeland security and intelligence, and the associate director of the University of Southern California’s Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events. Two Senate committees considered the nomination, and easily approved Southers with bipartisan support. 

But the Senate hasn’t been able to vote on the nomination because Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., hates unions, and isn’t sure if Southers might allow TSA workers to organize. Without that guarantee, DeMint not only opposes Southers’ nomination, but prefers to leave the Transportation Security Administration without a permanent administrator. 

The attempt to blow up the flight to Detroit would be of major concern for the administrator of the TSA — if there were one.  Instead, the post remains vacant because Sen. DeMint has held up President Obama’s nominee in an effort to prevent TSA workers from joining a labor union. 

In the wake of the attempted terrorism on Christmas, you would think that Republican DeMint would back down. He hasn’t — he still supports blocking Southers’ nomination until he knows TSA workers won’t unionize. The terrorist threat is bad, but apparently Republicans believe the threat of collective bargaining is a greater danger to air passengers. 

It should also be mentioned that Republicans voted against the key TSA funding measure that was included in the 2010 appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland Security.  The appropriations included funding for the TSA that included more than $4 billion for “screening operations,” including $1.1 billion in funding for explosives detection systems, with $778 million for buying and installing the systems. 

President Obama acknowledged that the government screwed-up and is taking steps to rectify the situation.

You need to acknowledge that there are screw-ups from both administrations.  The Republicans and Democrats need to stop playing politics with the issue of national security, and the flying public need to stop bitching about being “patted down” before boarding a plane.  For those who don’t like the idea of being scanned because of “privacy issues” they should be have to board one plane and those who believe safety should come first and do consent to scanning should be allowed to board a different plane.  Which one would you want to fly on?

This is in response to those who hide behind the Bible in their opposition to Gay marriage. This is the book you are defending, a book paid for and edited by a pagan Roman Emperor. 

FACT: The Bible was not handed to mankind by God, nor was it dictated to human stenographers by God. It has nothing to do with God. In actuality, the Bible was VOTED to be the word of God by a group of men during the 4th century at the Council of Nicaea and finished at the Council of Trent when the Catholic Church pronounced the Canon closed, all under the guide of Roman Emperor Constantine. 

FACT: Roman Emperor Constantine the Great (274-337 CE) who was the first Roman Emperor to convert to Christianity needed a single canon to be agreed upon by the Christian leaders to help him unify the remains of the Roman Empire. Until this time the various Christian leaders could not decide which books would be considered “holy” and thus “the word of God” and which ones would be excluded and not considered the word of God. 

FACT: The Emperor used what motivates many to action – MONEY! He offered the various Church leaders money to agree upon a single canon that would be used by all Christians as the word of God. 

FACT: Books to include in the Bible were added or thrown out according to the group’s political propaganda of the day with the real approving editor of the Bible being Constantine a Roman Emperor, not God. 

FACT: The Christian Bible was commissioned, paid for, edited and approved by an Emperor of Rome to solidify his rule and keep the Roman Empire intact. 

FACT: The oldest surviving complete text of the New Testament is the Codex Sinaiticus, written in Greek and dating back to the middle of the fourth century, some 300 years after Jesus died. Jesus’ native tongue was Aramaic, and with no surviving Aramaic texts, the actual words of Christ are lost forever, mired in over 300 years of subjective translation by ancient scribes with their own political propaganda. In a world without a printing press, texts would often undergo drastic evolution through centuries of handwritten translations and duplication.

People say they want change, they don’t like the way congress spends money, and that the two parties are out of touch with the real world and yet according to opensecrets.org, the reelection rate in the U.S. House of Representatives, except for the 1970 election rate of 85%, has been 87% or higher since 1964.  Since 1982 the Senate also has a 87% reelection rate, and the winners in both have an average win percentage of over 60%.  

Here in New Jersey the entire 80 member Assembly was up for election.  Of the 80 members only one seat changed, everyone else was reelected handedly.  So if we are reelecting everyone running and with large winning percentages over their opponents, how upset can the citizenry really be?  By reelecting the same people over and over it’s obvious that all this talk of wanting change is nothing but a bunch of hype. 

And what of all the talk about the Republicans and Democrats being the same that it doesn’t matter who is in office?  That can’t be true either, no independent running for President has ever won.  According to clerk.house.gov there are currently no Independents serving in the U.S. House of Representatives and there are only two in the Senate, Bernard Sanders (I-VT) and Joseph I. Lieberman (I-CT). 

In New Jersey, the 10 Independent candidates for Governor garnered only a paltry 157,195 votes out of 2,354,813 cast or roughly a mere 6.3% of the vote.  Apparently people are more satisfied with electing Republicans and Democrats then they would have us believe. 

All the news stations report how pissed-off the citizenry is, they want change, this bothers them and that bothers them and yet voter turn out in Virginia’s gubernatorial election was the lowest voter turnout for a gubernatorial election in the state’s modern two-party history (1969 to 2009). Tuesday’s election turnout of 39.8 percent of registered voters was the lowest in forty years.  In New Jersey, voter turnout may have been the lowest in history for a gubernatorial election, said Cliff Zukin, a polling expert at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University. 

So with all that shouting, ranting and raving about change and throwing the bums out, a possible record low number of New Jersey voters elected a Bush Conservative Republican as their 55^th Governor with less than a majority of the vote and who gave no details about his governorship except to say he will lower taxes, while the entire Assembly, except one seat, was reelected.  No outrage here.

The very next day two more Fios representatives knocked on my door to see if I wanted to sign up.  I told them I already signed up with sales rep. Dave the day before so they knocked on the door of my neighbor, they hadn’t signed up. 

I listened to their spiel and was really confused and now angry.  They offered my neighbors a completely different bundle, package, whatever they call it, that was cheaper then the one I signed for and they have two TVs, I have only one.  They were told they could keep their current phone number, I was told I couldn’t.  They also told my neighbors about the $49.99 activation fee they would be charged, I was never told about any activation fee.  There were several other differences between what they were offering and what Dave had offered me the day before. 

I decided to go on line and do a little research about Fios bundles, fees, and monthly charges, and promotions.  What I found at http://www22.verizon.com/Residential/Fiosinternet was a hodge-podge of promotions, plans, bundles, prices, fees, annual agreements, two-year agreements, different prices for different Internet speeds, channel line-ups, phone plans and lots and lots of fine print.  I could spend hours and tons of space listing everything I found on that site; you’ll just have to check it out yourself. 

I decided the best thing to do was to cancel my order and do some more research into what plans and prices and fees would best suit me.  There was a number on the sales order form that said “Please call 888-553-1555 with questions.”  I called that number on October 14 at 12:57 pm and the girl on the other line stated that this was not the correct number that she would have to transfer me to a Fios representative.  Apparently nothing had changed since my last fiasco with Verizon. 

I spoke to 4 or 5 different people, finally the last person said it was cancelled but would not provide me with a confirmation number.  Then I called Dave A. the sales rep. who signed me up at the number he gave me, 856-685-3XXX on the same day to confirm my order was cancelled.  I also told him the reasons I was cancelling.  He said, “I don’t really care what you do.” Then he laughed and hung up on me. 

I felt relieved that the order was cancelled and that I avoided another lengthy run-in with Verizon.  I could have kicked myself for even entertaining the thought of doing business with such an inept and dysfunctional company. 

Two days later in the early morning I received a call on my cell phone; it was an automated call from Verizon confirming that a technician would be out to install Fios on October 23.  I was steaming mad and immediately called, went through the automated system and spoke to a sales rep. and explained this order was supposed to be cancelled.  Again I was transferred several times and the last person said he would cancel the order again but would not give me a confirmation number.  I repeatedly asked for some kind of confirmation that this ordered was actually really cancelled this time and the guy absolutely refused to give me anything.  

In the afternoon of the next day I called back to make sure the order was cancelled.  The representative told me there was no record of this order being cancelled.  By this time I was frazzled and wanted this to end.  I lied again and told the woman that my mother was dying and that I was moving in with her and that no one would be here on October 23; that this place would be empty so there would be no reason to send out a technician.  Again I was told that the order was cancelled, but no confirmation number could be given.  So I really won’t know if the order was cancelled until October 23 when a Fios technician may or may not show up. 

The very next evening I was sitting on my front porch waiting for a friend to pick me up when a woman approached me.  She was wearing a Verizon I.D. badge and introduced herself by asking me if I had signed up with Fios yet.  I told to please not mention the word Fios to me.  She asked what the problem was, so I told her the entire story and showed her the paper work that Dave left with me when this all first started. 

She could not explain or understand where he got his figures from and said she was upset that he didn’t mention the $49.99 activation fee and she was really angry when I told her what he said on the phone to me about not caring what I did.  She explained to me that people like Dave didn’t really work for Verizon, that they were contracted to sign people up from outside the company or something to that effect. 

Then she went into her spiel which lasted for some time.  She said she could waive this fee and that fee, she could give me $150 back in a gift card or maybe I’d be better off getting $20 off my bill per month instead and on and on with the different promotions, bundles, packages, HD this, extreme HD that.  She had an order form and pen at the ready.  Several times during her spiel she would say something like; you could sign this order right now and I’ll waive this or that fee.  After almost 45 minutes, my ride was late, of trying to sell me she gave up, but she did leave a paper with another offer on it and her number. 

In the mail the next day was an envelope from Verizon.  Needless to say I was anxious about it, but opened it anyway.  I swear to God this is true.  Inside was yet another promotion for Fios.  This time it said I could have all three services; TV, phone, and Internet for only $70 a month for six months, but there would be a severe early termination fee if I didn’t keep the TV service for two years and/or the Internet service for one year.  There was much more fine print to the offer, but by this time I stopped reading. 

So the bottom line here is that I still don’t know if my Fios order was ever really cancelled and it has been several days now since a Verizon sales representative has knocked on my door, called or sent a letter in the mail.  I can only pray that this episode with Verizon is over. 

Needless to say the only way my home will ever see a Verizon product in it of any kind will be over my cold dead body. 

I got to thinking maybe it was just me that was having all of these problems with Verizon, maybe I was doing something wrong until I went online.  Apparently many have their own Verizon tales of horror. 

I did a Google search on “Verizon Complaints” and it came back with 1,620,000 listings, these are just a few:

www.verizonpathetic.com

www.complaintsboard.com/bycompany/verizon-a247/bydate.html

www.thesqueakywheel.com/complaints/2008/NOV/complaint42095.cfm

www.fiercetelecom.com/story/verizon-sued-over-n-j-complaints/2009-03-19

www2.tbo.com/content/2008/apr/02/me-verizon-complaints-draw-council-concern

www.my3cents.com/search.cgi?criteria=verizon&min=300

www.consumeraffairs.com/cell_phones/verizon_local.html

www.forums.verizon.com/t5/FiOS-TV-Technical-Assistance/FiOS-Complaints/m-p/7937

THE END 

VERIZON/FIOS

STAY AWAY

BE AFRAID

BE VERY AFRAID

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

At the end of September 2009 Verizon completed hooking up my apartment complex to receive Fios.  I was really excited because the only other option available here was Cablevision and they absolutely suck.  

On October 9^th a Fios representative by the name of Dave came to my apartment to go over the Fios promotions and plans.  He began his spiel and within minutes I was lost.  He had a pink sales order form with him where he was circling items as he spoke.  

After a lengthy sales pitch filled with phrases like Fios Triple Freedom Bundle, Extreme HD, Core Service Package, Set Top Box, 25/15 Mbps, three for two, 330 digital channels, and my old favorite, Verizon Freedom Essentials, Dave quoted me a price of $119.98 plus tax per month for TV, Internet, and phone service.

I told him I was currently paying a total of $85 a month for my TV, cable and phone and I didn’t see a need to add an additional $35 a month by getting Fios. 

Now he really put his spiel on.  He told me how much faster Fios Internet service was compared to Cablevision.  I told him whatever speed I had now was working out just fine for me.  Then he told me about the 330 channels plus the on demand feature that came with the Fios TV service.  I told him I didn’t need all those stations and I asked him if there was something smaller and cheaper he could offer.  His answer was no and then remembered to tell me that the extreme HD box that I would be required to get came with a $10 a month charge, something he had failed to mention before.  I told him I didn’t need or want extreme anything.  No problem he said, then it would only be $5 a month charge for a regular digital box.  I have a digital TV capable of receiving digital signals so I didn’t understand why I needed to pay $5 a month for a digital box.  His answer was, “everyone has to get the box.” 

I asked him if I could keep my current phone number and that was pretty much a non-issue, he said I could not keep my old number and even gave me my new one. 

So now my monthly fee for Fios would only be $115.98 a month.  I told him again I didn’t need or want 330 channels.  He said that was what the offer is and no other options were offered. 

Then he went on to explain how I would get $150 back after being a good customer for 60 days, in the form of a gift card or I could waive that and get $20 off my bill per month for six months instead, which by the way equals $120 not $150.  He explained that my bill would be $95.98 plus tax for the first six months and then it would be $115.98 for the next 18 months. How he was coming to these figures was beyond me. 

However my service with Cablevision was so bad that I was thinking about signing up with Dave and getting Fios.  I told him I was very hesitant about doing anything with Verizon in light of the nightmare they had recently put me through.  He wanted to know what happened, so I told him the whole story.  He said I must have been mistaken because he had never seen a Verizon phone plan for only $19.99 a month.  I asked him to hold on a second and I went and got all the papers and bills, including the original offer that I wrote earlier.  He looked at it and was surprised, now he had seen the offer for himself.  So I asked him if he could understand why I was hesitant about signing back up with Verizon. 

He said he understood, however he was Dave and he would never let anything like that happen to me again.  He gave me his phone number and assured me that if there was any problem to call him and he would personally take care if it.  This guy assured me up and down that he would move mountains for me to solve any problem with my service if one should happen.  He smiled and shook my hand, assured me that everything was on the up and up and scheduled an install date for October 23. 

To be continued

My November bill arrived and the balance due was now $112.97.  $72.12 was listed as past due charges and if I didn’t pay at least that amount they were going to shut off my phone.  The new charges totaled $40.85.  My bill was now out of control.  In my 50 years on this planet, I have never ever had a $100 phone bill.  

I thought I would try again to cancel this service, so I called the customer service number on the bill (1-800-837-4966).  When I finally got through to a human being I told her I wanted to cancel this service and I asked for her name.  She asked me why I was cancelling and said her name was a Miss Cavall.  I wasn’t going to go through the whole story with her, I told her to never mind why and to just cancel the service. 

Miss Cavall told me she was unable to cancel service from her department, that she only had dealings with Fios customers.  I reminded her that I got this customer service number off page two of my regular phone bill and that I didn’t have Fios.  It didn’t matter, I was put on hold.  After seven minutes, I know the time because I was keeping track, another customer service person got on the line and wanted to know how they could help.  Again I asked to please cancel this service and they wanted to know why.  This time I lied and told her that my mother was dying and I was moving in to her place to take care of her.  “No problem,” said the woman and after a few moments I was given a confirmation number (NJ00015111009) for my cancellation which would take place on December 1. 

Finally I began to believe again that somewhere there was a God.  The nightmare known as Verizon that started back in April was finally going to end on December 1, nine months later. 

NOT! 

The bill I received that was dated December 15, 2009 was by far the most bizarre and convoluted bill yet.  Credits, charges, charges, credits the bottom line was that there was no new charges, however there was $55.29 in past due charges, an amount I was definitely going to dispute. 

However Verizon beat me to it.  On February 18, 2009 I received a letter from the I.C. System Inc Collection Agency in St. Paul, Minneapolis for the $55.29.  As per the notification on the letter I sent out a letter to them within 30 days disputing the charge and I let them know I had no intention what so ever of paying a penny toward this charge.  I never heard from them again. 

On February 24, 2009 I received a letter from the Collection Company of America in Norwell, Massachusetts for the same $55.29 charge.  Again I sent a letter within the 30 days disputing the charge.  I never heard from them again. 

On May 25, 2009 I received a letter from The CBE Group Collection Agency about the same $55.29, and again I sent them a letter back disputing the charge.  I never heard from them again. 

Several months went by and I didn’t hear anything more about this $55.29 charge, not from a collection agency or from Verizon.  I figured my perseverance paid off and I had won my battle with Verizon. 

NOT! 

Recently I did a credit report check with Experian and found that Verizon has the $55.29 listed on my credit report as an unpaid debt which has affected my credit score.  So in the end Verizon won this battle.  Stay tuned for part 6 which involves my encounter with the screwed-up world of Fios.

I called several Verizon customer service numbers before finally getting a real person.  I told her (Miss Rodriguez) I wanted to cancel my service.  The woman asked me why; I hesitated to go through the whole story again, but I did.  “Oh,” she exclaimed, “that’s no problem.  I can put the Verizon Freedom Value plan on your account for $19.99 a month and I will credit you on the next bill for any over charges.”  Then she proceeded to apologize for the actions of all the other customer service representatives that I had spoken to before.  She said she didn’t understand why they didn’t just do what she was doing.  Needless to say I was very happy.  This woman sounded sincere in her apologies and she also sounded like she knew what she was doing.  So I agreed that if she could do all of that, then I would keep my Verizon service. 

My next bill arrived in the mail and I anxiously opened the envelope.  The bill was dated August 7, 2008 and had a due date of September 2.  The total amount due was $75.63.  Miss Rodriguez did come through and the Verizon Freedom Value plan was the only plan listed on the bill, however there were no credits given. 

Account Summary:

Previous Charges        $85.41

Payment Received      $35.41

Past Due Charges        $50.00 

New Charges:

Verizon (page 3)         $20.06

Other Providers             $5.57

Total New Charges     $25.63

TOTAL DUE              $75.63 

This time I sent in a payment of $35.63 and decided to wait until the next bill before calling customer service again.  To tell you the truth I just didn’t have the energy to fight my way through the automation only to repeat the whole story to different representatives again. 

September’s bill came in dated September 7, 2009 and the amount due on Oct 2 was $81.06.  The Verizon Freedom Value plan was on the bill, but at a price of $39.99 along with $33.80 listed as Verizon local toll charges; even though no numbers called were list, probably because I made no toll calls.  The credits and charges on this bill were mind-boggling; I had no clue what they were doing on this bill. 

Page 5 Restatement of Charges: 

Basic, New Charges credit of $2.92

Non-Basic Toll, Past Due Charges  $28.54

Non-Basic Toll, New Charges  $33.80

Non-Basic Toll, Total $62.34 

Other Past Due Charges  $11.46

Other New Charges  $10.18

Total Other Charges  $21.64

I never could figure out what “other charges” was all about, especially Past Due Other Charges of $11.46, since “Other Charges” on my last bill were only $5.57?  I sent in a payment of $25.00. 

October’s bill came and had an amount due of $97.12.  A $97.12 phone bill for a person who makes on average 20 or so calls a month, and they usually are under 3 minutes and that’s in a busy month.  Again there was page after page of charges and credits and now I was being charged $9.25 for Caller ID. 

Back into the customer service abyss again.  This time I again asked to speak to a supervisor.  The customer service representative reluctant and unwilling to get me a supervisor and at one point I thought she was going to hang up on me.  Suddenly another voice was on the line identifying herself as a supervisor, I didn’t believe her, but when on with this saga anyway.  Again I explained the entire morbid details of my situation.  Her response was that she couldn’t do anything for me in her department, but she gave me a number and said this was a direct line to my local Verizon business and they would be able to take care of my situation.  I dialed the 1-800-427-9977 number and was told that this was a New York number and that they couldn’t help me and that I needed to call a New Jersey number.  This time I hung up.  I was at wits end; the bills were getting out of hand and there was absolutely no one to go to or no way I could see to get out of this mess, this was now going on for eight months.  I sent in a payment of $25.00. 

To be continued