So, yesterday morning was December 1st, CommuterDirect had not yet delivered my Marc pass too me. So I figured I'd pay for a ticket today (annoying but tolerable), and call them.

Got into the train station, flipped out my credit card. Credit card machine is down. I explain to the woman that I don't have cash, and its CommuterDirect's fault that I don't have a pass. She says she can give me a one way for free, but I'll have to figure it out down there how I'm going to get home.

I begrudgingly take the pass, and make my way down to the office.

Call Commuter Direct, they tell me they will send one out, signature required. Of course this means that it has to go to my office. They also say that this is the only time they can do this, and they can't guarantee U.S. mail. They recommend I pay an additional fee to have tickets send out with tracking.

WTF? It's a pseudo government agency selling tickets to a train run by the government, and I can't use normal government mail service?

Then Enterprise Rent a Car calls me with voice mail. Says that when they tried to clear my account, my credit card was declined. Well, that will have to wait.

ravenrose is due for a cell phone upgrade. Crackberry curves are on special $99.95. I call sprint, ask them about it, and indeed I can get one for $99.95 with a rebate. They'll put it on my bill (which won't hit until after Yule), and I can just go down to my Radio Shack 2 blocks away and get it. Life is loking up.

Day goes along with typical work. At the end of the day I call Enterprise, and they say they are getting a decline on my card, could I please give them another card, or mail them a check? I explain to them no, and I know that there's space on the card.

I call Discover, they tell me that there's plenty of space on the card, and they look and don't even show that Enterprise tried to make a charge.

I call Enterprise back, they say that Discover needs to call them. I call Discover, they say Enterprise needs to call them. My head then explodes.


Get to train station, figuring I'd buy a one trip ticket to get home. Of course the ticket machine is down. I explain to the conductor that I don't have $, Commuter Direct hates me, and the ticket machine is down. He lets me on, and I go home.

Then on to Radio Shack, to pick up the new crackberry. Process goes seamlessly, except that after they have shut off the old phone, and given us the new one, they tell us we need to pay $127.

I explain to them that the Customer service person at sprint said it would be $99.95, the activation fee would be waived, and that it would appear on my bill. Radio Shack guy says "no that's not how its done" I begrudgingly pay $127 figuring I'll beat up sprint.

Go home, call up sprint. Get the customer service rep, who tells me "oh the previous rep was wrong, you can only do that online, via phone, or at a Sprint store." I explain to them that I relied upon their representatives statement, and I'd like them to credit my Discover card, and put $99.95 on my Sprint bill.

Needless to say, representative was less than helpful. Kept saying the same thing. Surprisingly, repeating the same thing over and over does not lead to a solution to my problem.


So, I ask for a manager, sit on hold for 20 minutes, and then explain the situation to the manager, who:

1. Agrees to immediately credit my account $70 because I'm annoyed.
2. Agrees to give me a $100 mail in Rebate form, which I can fill out and get a check for $100.

So, The result is I get $170 in credits and cash, and only paid out $127. Free crackberry and $43. I can't complain too much.

So today, I just need to do a conference call with Enterprise and Discover, and make sure that there are no weapons near by when the call goes through.