I hate customer "service."

I've been dealing with the kind folks in customer service for various companies today. Groan.... (I've also noticed that ITS seems to be having an e-mail problem, as I'm almost positive that I am missing important messages that I should have received. Something I CC'ed to myself didn't arrive, so there definitely seems to be something going on. Groan...)

OK, so what have I learned:

1. Requests for refunds on services that were (a) never ordered and (b) charged to my credit card (they had previously ignored my e-mail message, where I had followed their instructions [!] and stated that I did not want the service this year and that they should thus not automatically renew me mean that they should cancel the service but not refund the $100 charge that never should have been there. (I found this out because one of the guys to whom I talked from MLB's video service indicated that I had requested that the service be cancelled but not that I be refunded.)

2. The finance department, which is totally separate from the customer service department, has the right to decline memos from the customer service department that they should issue a refund. They also do not let the customer or even the customer service representative know if the stuff has been declined (because apparently we can see this from the psychic patterns that are emanating from their brains). There is also no way for a customer to contact the finance department directly.

3. Next time, I am not going to inadvertantly lose my original e-mail requesting that I not be charged.

4. I despise automatic renewal policies because it increases the amount of customer screwage from stuff like this.

5. Earlier promises to refund my money can be revoked at will even when there is a written record of them. Furthermore, the excuse that the customer service person from before screwed up is sufficient reasoning to justify any decision on the part of the current customer service representative.

6. Customer service people at MLB.com don't have to provide their last names. While this guy claimed to agree I was being treated unfairly, perhaps my evident frustration made him feel a little scared of what I might do?

7. The MLB customer service people don't deserve the many ours of attention I have given them over the past several weeks. How many dates could I have gotten with similar temporal effort? (Do not answer this question! I'm being rhetorical. However, I have been trying to get practice at introducing myself [with real people], so maybe I will feel more comfortable about things when it counts.)

My other customer service stuff today was my fault... I had to give a couple companies my new credit card number to make sure various orders come through correctly. (The MLB people didn't want that because presumably the refund will automatically go there because the card comes from the same account, but I am dubious about this.)

Damnit, this is frustrating!

Now I need to make an important phone call because I don't know whether the guy responded to my e-mail and it's just the hiccups that have prevented my receiving them, and I need to talk to him before he leaves town after today.

Maybe I'll even be able to get some work done today...