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Before You Buy... |
March 8, 2010
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When a loved one dies, you don't have time to grieve right away.
For the first day or so, you have to do mechanical stuff. Meaningless stuff in the overall scheme of emotions, but stuff that needs to be done anyway.
Today, in addition to going to the mortuary, I had to deal with Progressive to cancel car insurance, Farmers to cancel renters insurance, Qwest to cancel DSL, and DirecTV to cancel satellite.
All were wonderful to work with. Sort of. The first three companies on the list were great. DirecTV, on the other hand, was (and remains) somewhat of a challenge. They were sympathetic and anxious enough to cancel the satellite, except that they wanted $20 per month for all the remaining months on the contract. Dead or alive.
Actually, if my daughter was the billing contact, they would have been happy to waive their cancellation fee. That's probably because being dead and all, she's judgment-proof. But because the DirecTV was a Christmas present, I had the bills sent to me. And because I'm alive, I can still pay.
I called Customer NoService twice. Each time I was read the manual, and each time I asked to speak to a supervisor. Each time I asked to speak to a supervisor, I was put on hold. Each time I was put on hold, after about 20 minutes, I was disconnected.
Now I'm not an unreasonable guy. I'll call twice just to make sure that the first time was an unfortunate accident. I won't call three times, though, especially when I have fairly important stuff to deal with like burial vs. cremation or whether to have a viewing or just a memorial.
Instead of calling a third time, I Googled DirecTV senior management and sent off this email:
Dear (Vice President of DirecTV who shall remain nameless):
This past December, I bought a DirecTV subscription as a Christmas gift for my daughter. Because it was a gift and I didn't want the bills coming to her, I put my name on the account, although the service address was hers.
On Friday, my daughter, 27 years old, was found dead in her bed. She was pregnant with my grandchild.
I want to cancel the subscription. That's fine, your people will do that. But they want to charge me $20 per month for the duration of her subscription.
I was offered to transfer the account, or put it in suspension for six months, but those are not options. We have no need for this. It was a gift for my daughter and now she's gone. No amount of television will bring her back.
I have talked to DirecTV customer service personnel twice. Each time, they have refused to waive the cancellation fee. Each time, I asked to talk to a supervisor. Each time, I was put on hold for 1/2 hour and then the phone was disconnected.
All I want is to cancel the account and have DirecTV waive the cancellation fee. Your company's poor customer service has already ensured that I will never be a customer again. But the lack of sympathy for a grieving father simply adds insult to injury.
Please contact me at this email address and I will send you the account information. As of tonight, I have not heard back from this person. If I do, I'll let you know. If I don't, I'll follow it with snail mail, certified.
I'm not being pissy, but I really don't need this shit right now.
Before you sign a contract with anyone for anything, make sure you know who you're dealing with. That's all I'm going to say. If they do the right thing, you'll be the first to know.
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I have received dozens of emails of support in the last day. Many of the emails were personal stories from those who knew my daughter and loved her. Many of them don't show up in the Comments section because they are first-time writers and haven't yet verified their email addresses. When I get a break from doing mechanical stuff, I will go into the database and switch on all the comments manually.
I would like to use many of these emails during Carina's memorial ceremony. If you don't want me using your words, please let me know.
Speaking of the memorial, it will be at 1:00 PM Friday at Callahan-Edfast. If you plan to attend and knew my daughter, please write down a couple of sentences and be prepared to speak at the ceremony. This ceremony is not about me, it's about her. It would be really great if you can share a sentence or two with the rest of the world about how she affected your life. Don't be shy, none of us are public speakers.
In lieu of flowers, we would request a contribution to charity. I have a charity in mind, but I want to do a little vetting first. I'll give you contribution information in this space tomorrow morning, in the death notice that appears in the paper, and in tomorrow night's blog as well.
DONATION INFORMATION
In lieu of flowers, we ask that you donate to:
NARSAD, The Brain and Behavior Research Fund
60 Cutter Mill Road, Suite 404
Great Neck, New York 11021
Please specify that the donation is being made in memory of Carina D'Andrea so that we may send you a thank you note, and that the money is earmarked for Bipolar Research.
You may donate online at http://www.narsad.org/
Click the donation button at the top left of the page and choose "Memorial Donation" on the resulting form. There you can specify Carina's name and that the money be used for Bipolar Research.
If you wish to send a check to the above address, the online donation page allows you to print a donation form to accompany your check.
Donation envelopes will also be available at the memorial service.
Thank you all for your love. |
©2010, Geoatomics LLC. All rights reserved.
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