The bait and switch

While it may appear that I am a bitter person based on my last entry alone, I'm really not. I swear! Ask anyone who knows me. I am actually a realist with a bend towards optimism.

Now, my next gripe...

Twice this week I feel like I have been screwed. Teased and dropped. It started with TimeWarner Cable....

I get a statement telling me that my 'promotional rate' was about to expire and that I needed to call for deal or my current rate would increase. By almost $50 a month. WTF? First of all, I tell them when I call, I did NOT sign up for a 'promotional rate'. It was the cost of the service. Nowhere in the paperwork did it say that this was a promotional rate. My argument was lost on this idiot I was speaking too. I finally said it wasn't worth it and they can kiss it. She says she will transfer me to the 'retention' department. Hoping to get a better deal, I stayed on the line. Suffice it to say that the deal was better, but not good. Even so, I am pretty much between a rock and a hard place because I don't have any other options in this area to get a package of the things I want. If I drop the service, I have to go with either Direct TV or Dish for television service, ATT for internet and I can't get into ATT without getting phone service that I don't need as well. This is a small town. They know this. I am screwed. I hate feeling like I have been played. Nothing I can do about it. Bastards.

The very next day, I was looking at my mortgage statement and noticed that there was a payment if $1350.00 from my escrow account made to my insurance company for my homeowners insurance policy. My annual premium is only $430 so naturally I freaked out. My escrow balance now shows a balance of negative $267. WTF? So after an hour and a half on the back and forth with the mortgage and insurance company (happens to be the same company for me) the problem was discovered...and it ain't good. Turns out that my servicing fire department was listed incorrectly and the change caused the premium to TRIPLE. So I said there has to be something I can do about it (because my mortgage payment is going to go up $150 a month with this new rate) and they said I could call the fire marshall and get the scoop from him as far as ratings for insurance go. So call the fire marshall I did. He said that he has gotten a lot of calls this week because of the increase in peoples insurance policies but unfortunately the change was correct. He said that the rating may go back down 45 days from now and to call him back then to find out. Great. I just love making little notes for myself to call people in 45 days. GGGGRRR!