kaplanr@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu (Robert Kaplan) (03/13/90)
Just when I thought Brandeis Telecommunications had gotten as bad as it could get, comes this month's phone bill. Checking the calls carefully, I found _four_ calls that my roommate made. Now, Brandeis uses six-digit accounting codes, and at least in theory, calls made with one's access code will appear on one's own bill no matter what phone the call was made from -- very much like a phone credit card, though our numbers bear no relation to any real phone number. Well, all four calls were made with my roommate's access code, _not_ mine. So somewhere in the billing computer, it is looking at what extension the call was placed from instead of the access code used [this problem has never happened in reverse; since the phone line is registered in my name, meaning collect calls and the like show up on my bill, not his]. And it's not like the technical problems with the system are the worst part. When I went in to complain, the lady there told me that I should first attempt to collect the $10.59 _directly_from_my_roommate_! Imagine if AT&T were to suggest that to its customers! Needless to say, I told her that I had already wasted more than enough of my time, and that Brandeis Telecommunications could figure out its own billing, and that maybe I'd just use an AT&T card from here on. This is not at all an isolated problem; people here have had nine-hour calls to Brazil and other oddities on their phone bills for months now, and there's nothing we students can really do. Of course, New England Telephone isn't allowed to connect a direct line to my room ... and I'm willing at this point to pay $15 a month just so I can get 10XXX dialing, answer supervision, reasonable billing, and twenty-four-hour-a-day operator service. Any other ideas? (And no, I can't afford a cellular phone :-) Scott Fybush Disclaimer: This may not be my own opinion. "Help me, my home phone is a COCOT!"
Len Jaffe <hawkwind@kentvax.kent.edu> (03/18/90)
In article <5124@accuvax.nwu.edu>, kaplanr@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu (Robert Kaplan) writes: [College phone horror story...] Let me tell you about the phones at Kent State. I lived in a dorm made up exclusivly of 4 person suites. Each suite had a phone and every 2 suites shared a bathroom. This maent 8 peolple with access to two phones. Ohio Bell would non-randomly assign the phone to one resident of the suite. This lucky individual would be the person with the lowest social security number. I'm originally from New York State so my SSN begins with a zero and all my roommates' SSNs began with a 2 so the phone would always be assigned to me. The phones are rotary. There are no individual codes to protect people from someone using the phone for which you are responsible to call Germany after his phone gets shut off for not paying the $500.00 he has already racked up. Don't laugh! It happened to one of my closest friends. The billing office's attitude has always been, "The phone is in your name, so it's your responsibility." I have been called by collection agencies and had my credit rating threatened over calls I did not make, calls by people who did not live with me. Thanks for letting me let off this steam, it has been building since 1984. Leonard A. Jaffe || "Who needs information?" Telotech, Inc. /\ - Roger Waters 23775 Commerce Park Rd. \/ "It ain't easy being cheesey." Beachwood, Ohio 44122 || - Chester Cheetah Uucp: ...!uunet!cwjcc.cwru.edu!ncoast!telotech!lenj Phone: (216) 591-0240 I don't speak for Telotech and They'll probably never let me.