The Vent

[JillA 2]

My vent is now how my mother is planning to bring my uncle down. My uncle never has any money.

She is also expecting me to take a few days off of work and have my son take time off of school. I don't exactly agree with this and this visit wasn't planned like her June visit, she's just expecting me to drop my life because she is coming down. I was going to take a week off in June when she came down, but now she wants me to do it in a few weeks AS WELL.

Then she tells me my uncle is coming down. I like my uncle but the guy never has any money, and then I feel guilty because I want to take my mom somewhere and we have to bring him. So I told my mom yesterday that if she brought him down she'd have to have full financial responsibility of him. I wouldn't want to be put in any awkward situations because I don't appreciate it. The last time he came down for my wedding, there were sooo many awkward situations because the guy doesn't have a cent to his name. I don't even understand why my mother supports him the way she does. He has a 22 year old engaged son who lives with him, who works but pays NO rent at all or helps his parents at all, and then there's my mom buying the entire family groceries for the month. Ugh.

I have a two bedroom apartment I don't even know where he would sleep.

I wish she'd just not bring him down. This visit was unexpected and not planned and I don't feel like dealing with him for 5 days. He doesn't appreciate anything either.

That's annoying! I remember you talking about your Uncle before and how you paid for him practically the entire time he was there. At least you told her that she will have the full financial responsibility of him, so you're not expected to pull out your wallet all the time. That's not fair at all. I don't like mooching relatives, we have a few in our family as well

[MrsCat 6]

I have a two bedroom apartment I don't even know where he would sleep.

I wish she'd just not bring him down. This visit was unexpected and not planned and I don't feel like dealing with him for 5 days. He doesn't appreciate anything either.

Maybe take a photo of a dumpster nearby, send it to your mom, and say currently these are the only available bedrooms.

Seriously though, that sucks!

[Sprailenes 47]

I have a two bedroom apartment I don't even know where he would sleep.

I wish she'd just not bring him down. This visit was unexpected and not planned and I don't feel like dealing with him for 5 days. He doesn't appreciate anything either.

Maybe take a photo of a dumpster nearby, send it to your mom, and say currently these are the only available bedrooms.

Seriously though, that sucks!

It does. I understand she doesn't want to drive down alone, and she's making us drive up to Syracuse to meet her. But ya... I don't know what to say to her. I told her I don't have the space, and she says: "Okay well I'll let him know"

No mom, I'm trying to nicely tell you not to bring him down.

[MrsCat 6]

I have a two bedroom apartment I don't even know where he would sleep.

I wish she'd just not bring him down. This visit was unexpected and not planned and I don't feel like dealing with him for 5 days. He doesn't appreciate anything either.

Maybe take a photo of a dumpster nearby, send it to your mom, and say currently these are the only available bedrooms.

Seriously though, that sucks!

It does. I understand she doesn't want to drive down alone, and she's making us drive up to Syracuse to meet her. But ya... I don't know what to say to her. I told her I don't have the space, and she says: "Okay well I'll let him know"

No mom, I'm trying to nicely tell you not to bring him down.

- yeah she's really not hearing it.

[Sprailenes 47]

Hey DPX look...

http://www.forbes.com/2008/12/09/relocate-...ner=yahootravel

Canada is down as one of the worlds friendliest countries.

Edited February 23, 2009 by Sprailenes

[JillA 2]

I really despise Verizon. When I moved here we signed up for their "Triple Play" which is cable, internet and phone for $99.99 per month. Which is a good deal. So anyhoo for the first month you get HBO for free, which we never even watch. The catch is, you have to cancel it after 1 free month or they will charge you on the next invoice. I marked it down on my calender after 30 days to call and cancel, which I did. So the next month, lo and behold we have an extra charge of $13.99 for HBO on the bill. Knowing I cancelled I called and said that I cancelled this last month, why is this on the bill. They said it was an error, they see I cancelled and to short pay the invoice by $13.99 which I did. The next month I get a bill with 2 charges of $13.99 (the short paid amount and a new one) for HBO. I was pissed at this point so I called b*tching and the guy said so sorry, HBO is now cancelled but short paying an invoice is not policy here, don't know why the guy told you to do that. Pay the FULL invoice, and next month you'll have an $82 discount on your next bill to make up for all of this overcharging and inconvience. So I do that. Then today get ANOTHER bill this time for the full amount, so they took off the HBO but the $82 refund is not there. So I call again even more pissed that last time. After being on hold for HALF an hour, they say oh sorry, your voucher/refund was denied by management. This is because we have no record of you calling to cancel HBO, and we record all calls. Are you kidding me right!? I called so many times and talked to a bunch of incopmetent idiots that told me different things to do, and none of that worked! So now I paid for 3 months of HBO which I didn't want overpaid one bill and now not getting any refund. All the anger in the world didn't make a difference, this "customer service" person said there is nothing they can do. Oh really!? Comcast here I come!!

And don't even get me started on Verizon Wireless, that's a whole other vent. But let's just say I'm switching cellular providers too because Verizon in general SUCKS!

[MrsCat 6]

^ Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. That's unbelievable Jill!

[Udella&Wiz 325]

I can confirm that verizon is useless - we have the same thing - on paper it looked good and we saved money in comparison to Cox

HOWEVER - HBO didn't get turned off and this whole negative billing thing - just pay and we'll deduct it from your next bill seems to get them confused because if I under paid, they acted like I hand't paid my full bill.

Finally after almost 6 months our bill is the APPROX amount per month that they promised us - almost worse then the way Rogers billed

I'm with ya all the way

I really despise Verizon. When I moved here we signed up for their "Triple Play" which is cable, internet and phone for $99.99 per month. Which is a good deal. So anyhoo for the first month you get HBO for free, which we never even watch. The catch is, you have to cancel it after 1 free month or they will charge you on the next invoice. I marked it down on my calender after 30 days to call and cancel, which I did. So the next month, lo and behold we have an extra charge of $13.99 for HBO on the bill. Knowing I cancelled I called and said that I cancelled this last month, why is this on the bill. They said it was an error, they see I cancelled and to short pay the invoice by $13.99 which I did. The next month I get a bill with 2 charges of $13.99 (the short paid amount and a new one) for HBO. I was pissed at this point so I called b*tching and the guy said so sorry, HBO is now cancelled but short paying an invoice is not policy here, don't know why the guy told you to do that. Pay the FULL invoice, and next month you'll have an $82 discount on your next bill to make up for all of this overcharging and inconvience. So I do that. Then today get ANOTHER bill this time for the full amount, so they took off the HBO but the $82 refund is not there. So I call again even more pissed that last time. After being on hold for HALF an hour, they say oh sorry, your voucher/refund was denied by management. This is because we have no record of you calling to cancel HBO, and we record all calls. Are you kidding me right!? I called so many times and talked to a bunch of incopmetent idiots that told me different things to do, and none of that worked! So now I paid for 3 months of HBO which I didn't want overpaid one bill and now not getting any refund. All the anger in the world didn't make a difference, this "customer service" person said there is nothing they can do. Oh really!? Comcast here I come!!

And don't even get me started on Verizon Wireless, that's a whole other vent. But let's just say I'm switching cellular providers too because Verizon in general SUCKS!

[Marilyn. 340]

so all told.. the car repair came to about 1800 dollars...

on Friday we were kind of freaking out because we were denied the credit card but then the guy said we could pay him as much as we could and the rest he would take in post-dated checks.... I was still concerned where we would come up with the money but we did our taxes on Saturday and we are getting a pretty big tax return that will be more then enough to cover the bill

[Sprailenes 47]

Wow! Thats a lot Marilyn!!

good thing you found a way to pay for it though.

[Marilyn. 340]

yeah there was a big list of things they had to replace ...

cylinder head gasket set

valve cover gasket set

manifold gasket set (intake and exhaust)

radiator fan motor

radiator hoses

thermostat

water pump

almost half of the bill was labour though

[DeadPoolX 9]

Hey DPX look...

http://www.forbes.com/2008/12/09/relocate-...ner=yahootravel

Canada is down as one of the worlds friendliest countries.

I guess I got lucky and somehow found the non-friendly segment of the country!

[Gypsyangel 11]

I really despise Verizon. When I moved here we signed up for their "Triple Play" which is cable, internet and phone for $99.99 per month. Which is a good deal. So anyhoo for the first month you get HBO for free, which we never even watch. The catch is, you have to cancel it after 1 free month or they will charge you on the next invoice. I marked it down on my calender after 30 days to call and cancel, which I did. So the next month, lo and behold we have an extra charge of $13.99 for HBO on the bill. Knowing I cancelled I called and said that I cancelled this last month, why is this on the bill. They said it was an error, they see I cancelled and to short pay the invoice by $13.99 which I did. The next month I get a bill with 2 charges of $13.99 (the short paid amount and a new one) for HBO. I was pissed at this point so I called b*tching and the guy said so sorry, HBO is now cancelled but short paying an invoice is not policy here, don't know why the guy told you to do that. Pay the FULL invoice, and next month you'll have an $82 discount on your next bill to make up for all of this overcharging and inconvience. So I do that. Then today get ANOTHER bill this time for the full amount, so they took off the HBO but the $82 refund is not there. So I call again even more pissed that last time. After being on hold for HALF an hour, they say oh sorry, your voucher/refund was denied by management. This is because we have no record of you calling to cancel HBO, and we record all calls. Are you kidding me right!? I called so many times and talked to a bunch of incopmetent idiots that told me different things to do, and none of that worked! So now I paid for 3 months of HBO which I didn't want overpaid one bill and now not getting any refund. All the anger in the world didn't make a difference, this "customer service" person said there is nothing they can do. Oh really!? Comcast here I come!!

And don't even get me started on Verizon Wireless, that's a whole other vent. But let's just say I'm switching cellular providers too because Verizon in general SUCKS!

I'm a little worried about Verizon as well. We have home phone, internet and cell phones with them. Keep planning to get TV too, but haven't gotten around to it.

Anyway, we moved in November and I noticed in January that we hadn't received a bill from them. So, I called them and they had our address wrong. So, they provide the service to our address but can't mail us a bill to that address. It takes 2 calls to get them to change the address and actually send us our bill. Then they ask if I have a phone number where they can reach me because the bill is now kinda high. Um ... you provide us with our home phone and cell phone services, so any one of those would work. It's a little silly if you think about it for a minute.

And the cell phones ... we're on a family plan for $60 a month that somehow costs about $100 a month. Go figure.

[JillA 2]

It's nice to hear I'm not the only one who has had troubles with this company. What ever happened to customer service

[DeadPoolX 9]

And the cell phones ... we're on a family plan for $60 a month that somehow costs about $100 a month. Go figure.

Are you doing any of the following...?

1. Making long distance calls inside or outside the country (both depend on your individual plan).

2. Calling others before the 9:00pm cut-off (before that time, all calls will cost minutes off your plan).

3. If you use up your monthly allotment of minutes, each and every call (whether sending or recieving) will cost you.

4. Using text messages (there's a small fee each time you send and receive).

5. Sending e-mail (without a plan that allows this, e-mail will cost each time you use it; with a plan, you'll have a set monthly fee).

6. Using your cell phone outside the country (if you use your cell phone in Canada, it'll cost a LOT more).

7. Using the Internet.

Any one of those -- much less a combination -- can make the monthly bill skyrocket. There are plans you can add to whatever plan you already have that allows all of the above, but it'll cost more per month. If you don't make use of most or any of those on a regular basis, then you're better off paying the fee when you use them. If you are making a lot of calls to Canada or want to make calls when in Canada, I'd strongly recommend a phone card.

For reference, Verizon isn't the only provider that does this. Most, if not all of them, do something equivalent. In Canada, it's the same case. I have a cell phone with Telus and if I call someone in the U.S. (without a plan specifically set up to do it), it'll cost me a lot more. The cut-off time and minute allotment remain, as well.

My wife and can call/text each other without any cost or using minutes (Verizon is similar in that you can call any Verizon cell phone for free). E-mail and Internet use aren't an issue for me since I have an unlimited data plan (I've got a blackberry, so it's practically necessary).