Today I'll avoid making a trip to any retail outlet or grocery store.
I do not want to cash in on "the sale of the season". Instead I will get my bills in order.

I got the online bill for my phone service today.  Dealing with the telephone company can be as convoluted and confusing as dealing with the IRS.

The local service on my bill indicated that the service had increased from $26.47 to $39.00. I have recently added new services, but the amount on the bill was still $10.00 more than I had figured the monthly bill would increase.  I set out to get to the bottom of it so I pulled up my bill and looked it over.The phone company overcharged me. I was given a $75 credit when I signed up for the internet service. The credit is listed but so is the first charge on an installment plan for ten months. So that portion of the bill on page 4 line's 7, 8 and 9 included a charge for the $75 a credit -$75 and a 7.50 charge. A tax of $5.23 was also charged. I called and after at least 15 minutes of wait time I talked to someone and I explained the mistake. The individual I spoke with explained that could not be so. I was put on hold to await a transfer to a different office, but then she interupted the wait and came back onto the line. She explained that she had checked it out and as a result was giving me a $15 credit to cover this charge and the charge that would be on the bill next month. After I hung up the phone I realized that the adjustment would cover two erroneous charges, but would not cover the added tax which could total $11.00 more dollars. So, I called again and after another 15 minute wait talked with another representative. I explained the problem and she quickly (too quickly) indicated that she too would give me a credit, a credit that would cover $6.70.  Then she tried to sell me a bundled package for $99. I told her no thanks.

 

I am not confident that I am going to get all these charge back so I am going to have to keep a close watch on my phone bill.   This is the same company that I had trouble with ten years ago.  At that time, over six months after I paid several bills they attempted to add more charges.  I was really dissappointed to learn this company had bought out the company I switched to at that time.   Monopoly is a bad thing.