Sallie !*@#! Mae

*** Update 1/9 ***

I decided to give it another try this morning, and this time I managed to reach a real human being (as opposed to the robots of yesterday) who listened to my dilemma and proceeded to actually help me. Are you shocked? I was! She understood what I was saying, fixed the problem and even explained how I can avoid this problem in the future. I think I was overly thankful on the phone, and even threw in a 'God bless you,' but she was nice about it. I feel SO much better now.

** ** ** ** ** ** **

Welcome to my nightmare.

Earlier this week my husband received a call from them telling us that we were "delinquent" on our loan. (Years ago we took out school loans for him, and then took another one recently for him to get his CCNA certification.) He was not pleased when they asked him if he'd like to pay over the phone by credit card, and proceeded to hang up on them. While this is not the route I would generally take, I now fully understand his frustration.

Today I decided I'd get all of this "straightened out." I'd call and explain that we'd been told we could pay both loan payments on our one account and that would be that. Some wonderful person on the phone would understand, re-distribute the money, and I'd go skipping along with the rest of my day.

Or not.

First I called Customer Care, but apparently they couldn't help me, so they gave me another phone number. Which it turns out is the number I called -- isn't that a hoot? This time I was given another phone number. And that person couldn't help me, so they gave me another phone number. And (are you ready for this?) that person couldn't help me, either, and gave me another phone number. By this time I was almost in tears and telling them that I'd already CALLED that number, which is Customer Care, only they couldn't help me!

I decided to give Customer freaking doesn't Care one more shot. This time I got Victoria, a sassy gal who gave me what for on what I "should have known." Never mind that they told us we could pay our account that way...never mind that we only have one account...never mind that they determined where to designate our payment, and somehow that's our fault. It seems our only choice is to pay the delinquent amount, and THEN dispute the late fees, etc. But she also informed me that since my name isn't on the account, she can't really and truly help me.

I give up. I called my husband and filled him in, and if they think his hanging up was rude, just wait until they get to deal with him when he's irate and not hanging up! Anyone who knows him is aware of how quiet and laid back he is -- unless there's a good football game on, and then watch out! But if he feels like he's being taken advantage of or stepped on, he's not so quiet, and I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of that.

It turns out I'm not so quiet, either. My co-worker just came over to tell me he'd overheard me on the phone (from his office!) and he loved it when I told her, "But you ARE Customer Care!" after she told me she was going to give me the number to Customer Care, which I'd just called.

*sigh*
I wish I lived in a country where having a drink at lunch time was acceptable. I could really use a glass of zin right now.