After dealing with Young America and T-Mobile the other day, I figured I'd have an uphill battle when I actually got ahold of one of them in person on the phone. Not so. They were surprisingly helpful once we figured out what the problem was.

It turns out that the entire problem stems from Jorge F. Jorge is a high school student working at some crappy mall kiosk selling phone. When we decided to uprade Frinklin's phone on February when his original one-year contract was up, we decided to go to that crappy mall kiosk to do our upgrading. That was obviously a mistake.

Jorge was helpful at the time, and I certainly trusted him, however, he really fucked everything up. While pondering the phone upgrade Jorge informed me that although the phone we wanted was usually $200, they would knock off $50 automatically, making it's cost only $150. Then, we would receive a $100 upgrade rebate, making the phone only $50. After that, we would finally get a $25 credit on the T-Mobile bill, which would show up within a couple of months. We decided to go for it, after all it's a $200 phone for only $25. We had to pay $150 up front, and Jorge helped us fill out the rebate paperwork.

Upon arriving home later that day, I finished the rebate paperwork and noticed that it stated that the rebate was only $50, not $100. I figured it must have been a hearing issue on my part, even though "fifty" and "one hundred" sound completely different. The required barcodes and receipts went into an envelope, and the envelope went off to be processed (please allow 8 - 10 weeks for processing).

Six weeks later I checked the T-Mobile website to view the status of my expected rebate. I got what I expected "Your rebate is still being processed." While on the website, I also verified the available upgrade rebates available at the time we got the new phone and lo and behold--we were eligibe for a $100 rebate! I e-mailed T-Mobile, asking why we had only been given the $50 rebate paperwork. The reply I received had some vague reasoning that the $50 rebate is the one we should have received, so stop complaining! We don't like you! Go away!" [italics added by me, obviously]

I continued to wait, patiently, for my $50. Instead, the letter rejection letter discussed in the previous post arrived. It took four phone calls, but Young America, at last, figured out the reason our rebate was kicked out of the system. It turns out Jorge had given me a "new account" rebate as opposed to the "upgrade" rebate. I also found out that the rebate should have been $100, another paperwork error of Jorge's. After much discussion, the ($100!) rebate request has been resubmitted and a check should be issued within four weeks.

In other "upgrade" feature news; I've left two messages with Jorge about the $25 credit we still haven't received. His supervisor has yet to called me back. I'm wondering if it's worth another round of phone calls and arguing...

Posted by: Ensie at 05:23 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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All nine boxes arrived from the Bob's Hogs and Weiner Pigs Free Schlock Party (aka the Vendor Expo) today. Whee! See the pictures. Be frightened of how much crap we can unload in 10 minutes: more...

Posted by: Ensie at 08:55 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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1 Did someone say eBay?

Posted by: Richard at April 18, 2005 10:29 PM (iN3tV)

2 Oh my gosh. You need help! : )

Posted by: violet at April 19, 2005 06:12 AM (6krEN)

3 *gasp* *gape* I covet your library! That's amazing. And good luck on the BH&WP Seattle job. That would be nifty.

Posted by: eden at April 19, 2005 07:24 AM (M2PUd)

4 Richard, Funny that you should mention that, as I picked up a book on starting an eBay store. Actually, I picked it up for Eden, as she has been wondering about that topic. Violet, We do need help. Remember, you offered to help us move! You're actually in luck, as you would likely be a driver, not a mover. We are so hiring a moving company this time. Eden, Glad to see someone is impressed by it. It's mostly a big mess. We desperately need more bookshelves. I'm such a book whore. I'll send your books out to you on Friday most likely.

Posted by: ensie at April 19, 2005 03:26 PM (4k5pf)

5 You can load up on bookcases at the Ikea(s) in Seattle

Posted by: eden at April 20, 2005 04:02 PM (M2PUd)

6 That's where most of our current cases came from! (Well, from Ikea, not from the Ikea in Seattle. I even looked for one when we visited in December. Found it! It's in Renton.)

Posted by: ensie at April 20, 2005 09:05 PM (4k5pf)

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Frinklin, sister Katie, and myself attended the 19th annual Fallbrook Avocado Festival yesterday. Just in case you though that guacamole was the only way to eat avocados, let me assure you--you are wrong:

The best guac I've ever eaten

Like avocado tempura, crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside. Served with ranch dressing as dip

What we searched for all day...

Behold! The avocado ice cream!

DELICIOUS. It tasted exta creamy and smelled like ripe avocados. Just what you would expect from avocado ice cream. Now I must convince Ben and Jerry's to pick it up.

Posted by: Ensie at 08:51 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I love doing my taxes. I'm fully aware that refunds are really a bad thing, because that money that was already mine was taken away when it shouldn't have been. There're all sorts of accountant types who will explain that big refunds are not the best way to manage your money.

However, I still like tax refunds. I like looking forward to that "magic" money showing up in my bank account. When my W-2 doesn't show up exactly on time my annoyance is obvious.

I mailed my tax paperwork in on February 10th, and received my federal refund, via direct deposit to my checking account, on March 4th. I usually e-file, but my tax status made me inelligible for that 3 day refund this year. I was still comfortable with the idea of 3 - 4 weeks for a tax refund.

Now I'm waiting for my state taxes. I've been waiting since they received them on February 14th; I know that because I've called the state tax board, twice, to ask when I can expect my money to show up in my bank account.

My first conversation with the California tax board didn't go well. They claimed not to know who I was. Apparently they have no record of my married name change which occurred 8 months ago. Once I had transferred twice and informed them that no, I would not be faxing my social security card anywhere to anyone and they would change it over the phone goddamn it, I was informed that my refund was "in process" and would take 8 - 10 weeks.

It has been 7 weeks as of today. It will be 8 weeks on Monday.

Currently the score is Federal tax board 1, CA state tax board 0.

Posted by: Ensie at 07:24 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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