Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!uwm.edu!linac!att!ucbvax!agate!telecom-request From: NETWRK@harvarda.harvard.edu (Steve Thornton) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: I've Moved and Old MCI Calling Card Still Works Message-ID: Date: 29 Mar 91 00:53:10 GMT Sender: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Organization: TELECOM Digest Lines: 37 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 250, Message 9 of 11 On Tue, 26 Mar 91 15:18:35 hst, Timothy Newsham said: > Any thoughts or experiences from other TELECOM Digest readers on this? Yeah. I had quite the opposite experience with my Sprint FONcard this summer. I went on a solo bicycle tour, and I wanted to report back to friends each evening that no, I was still not dead. I had had Sprint for about two years, but I had never used my FONcard until then. The first night I called from the motel I was in, and got a "not a valid card number" message. I called the 1-800 number on the back of the card and (after waiting on hold for about thirty minutes, my brain turning to steam) I was informed that "oh yes, we always cancel any card that isn't used for six months". No, he didn't know why. No, he couldn't reactivate the card. Yes, he could issue me a new card, but he couldn't reveal the number over the phone, obviously, so I would have to wait until it arrived in the mail (that's a help). He was able to connect my call for me "just this time" so I could report in, and bill it to my account. Of course, as he started to do this, he accidentally broke the connection. I had to call the 1-800 number again, wait another fifteen minutes, and then persuade a new operator that "Bill" had agreed to do this highly irregular service for me. Total elapsed time from lifting the handset to dropping it back in the cradle, for a two minute call: 70 minutes. The new card was waiting for me when I got home two weeks later, but the first thing I did was kill my Sprint service. I spent a h--- of a lot of money on phone calls on that trip, counting the long distance rigamarole, and the add-on charges that hotels feel entitled to slap on. Why is it that the only "service" that functions perfectly with these telephone companies is the billing? Steve Thornton / Harvard University Library / +1 617 495 3724 netwrk@harvarda.bitnet / netwrk@harvarda.harvard.edu