the one in which Dawn bangs her head against a wall repeatedly

ARG!!!!

freaking automated telephone system circles of insanity!

why bother sending me a letter that says "If you would like to discuss this, you may call Customer Service at...." when if i dial the number provided, i am given endless options, none of which address MY needs (i am disputing a charge to my checking account & the offending company is demanding payment for an order i neither made nor received merchandise for)? THEN when i have exhausted every possible option given, trying to locate this promised Customer Service rep with whom i may "discuss this" & attempt the standard "hit '0' for an operator" routine, that snippy little recorded voice replies: "that is not an acceptable selection. i'm sorry you are having difficulty at this time. please call again later." AND PROCEEDS TO TERMINATE THE CALL!!!

nothing infuriates me more than a company helping themselves to my checking account, claiming that by making a prior purchase through their website, i authorized them to use that account number for all future necessary charges (ummm! NO! i *certainly* did NOT! and my bank quite firmly agreed with me). then when i call questioning this charge, they told me i had made a purchase (which i did not!) and regardless was getting charged for merchandise i never received, whether i ordered it or not! THEN when i can't get them to understand that i am absolutely disputing this yet they won't look into it so i dispute the charge with my bank & have the charges reversed, they send me a nasty little collection letter which states:

We checked our files but could not locate correspondence from you informing us of any problems which would prevent you from paying this bill that your credit card company has informed us that you do not feel you should pay. We do not have any record of your returning the merchandise. Unless there is a problem of which we are unaware, it is our intent to collect the full amount shown on the attached statement.

funny...there is suddenly no phone number listed on their website now but the one that i have been called leading only to automated purgatory. and an email address. well someone in their email department just got quite an earful (eyeful?) and if they think i am paying for this, they are in for a big surprise.

vent over. i have a hot date to go bang my head against a wall some more anyway.