Sometimes, things are a pain in the ass. Sometimes, they are a pain in the ass with an extra kick of annoying.

Last month I got an "overdue" bill from Time Warner Cable for the account we had (and closed) at the old house. The bill was for $3.80. Turns out when I called Suzy in Mexico, it for some reason takes them forever to actually bill you for some calls. I was pretty annoyed that I had to pay anything on a closed account, and didn't like that I had to waste a check and a stamp for $3.80. And, really didn't like that the bill said "Overdue" all over it, even though I hadn't been billed before for it. But, I payed it right away.. in it's own envelope so it didn't get confused with my new bill (which I was also paying the same day).

Friday, I get a "disconnect notice" about the $3.80. Although they are free to disconnect the already disconnected account, I don't like that the bill mentions "a possible collection fee". When people mention, to me it's really "threaten", anything about collections I get pissed. I have an excellen credit score and have maybe been late on 2 bills in the past 15 years or however long I've been paying bills.

So, pretty pissed off about this (remember, it's $3.80) I called up Time Warner. The guy on the phone couldn't handle this for some reason. The woman who could wasn't at her desk. He said he'd call me back, but didn't. I had given him the check number, and I told him the check had cleared on 9/21 (which it had, I was looking at my bank statement at the time).

I called again this morning. I go over the whole thing again with the guy. After going in circle of "The check cleared", "It shows you have a balance", "Great.. but the CHECK CLEARED", "The account shows the balance", "THE FUCKING CHECK WRITTEN OUT TO TIME WARNER FOR MY ACCOUNT HAS CLEARED" for too long, he asks "Can you fax the cancelled check, front and back?". I just say "No, let me speak to a manager." A few minutes of being on hold and he comes back saying "Your account has been credited", "Well, I paid it so it should be."

And that was that. I've now spent about 40 minutes of time on this $3.80 between being on hold and talking to these people.

I swear, moving can be a pain with billing. Between this, my garbage collection people billing me under a different name, Mobil totally freezing the account and my mortgage company sending me my invoice 2 days before it's due it's an added pain nobody needs.