OT: How to Pays Bills
 

Re: OT: How to Pays Bills
 

More evidence that Randalls are smart http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif. Pity we have that reputation as southern hicks, not to mention the shorter form I despise.

Re: OT: How to Pays Bills
 

I so dislike Verizon that it borders on hate! Since I opened this account I have had nothing but trouble getting voice messages and pictures. I can send pics sometimes and I don't do texts so they may not be working right either. In one case I received a voice message a week and a half after it was left! Mostly I don't get them until several hours later up to a day or two later. I have had the phone exchanged, upgraded, my account deleted and recreated. As soon as this account is finished later this year I am going to Sprint, anyone, but not Verizon!

Re: OT: How to Pays Bills
 

I was able to use a specialized decoding algorithm to unscramble his routing number and account numbers. Any one want to write some bogus checks?

Just send me $2.50 and I will forward the information to you. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

So many people worship their cell phones and rely upon them far to much. The cell phone company's are so corrupt in their billing practices that one must hold a duel double doctorate degree in law and book keeping just to understand their service contracts.

Half peek on peek weekend air time, out of area long distance roaming fees. Text messaging, email access, pictures, music download billing, this that and the kitchen sink.

Why can't they have one single simple billing system? Pay one fee and get all the services, no hidden fees, no misrepresented contracts, no surprises in the billing, everything is up front and out in the open so that you know what it is going to cost each and every month.

I remember when you had to pay for your ISP by the minute... oh those damn bogus charges by Prodigy and AOL....

This is why I hate cell phones. They are a huge scam and since so many people rely upon them the scams will only get more complicated, cost more money, and piss more people off, but NO ONE will do anything about it because everyone needs a cell phone now a days....

Re: OT: How to Pays Bills
 

Unless you're in emergency services, you don't need a cell phone.

Re: OT: How to Pays Bills
 

Heck, I don't really even want a landline phone that much... damn telemarketers...

You can do almost everything online now anyways.

Re: OT: How to Pays Bills
 

I don't carry one myself, but my wife does. I pay for a set amount of minutes per month, nights and weekends are free. The bill is always the same, down to the penny.

Re: OT: How to Pays Bills
 

Being in the military we found it much easier; and yes cheaper, in the long run to not have a hard line anymore. We use cell phones and keep our number when we move just changing the area code.

Re: OT: How to Pays Bills
 

Oh, and Fyron...'Pays Bills'? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Re: OT: How to Pays Bills
 

Cute, but not effective. Since the formula is effectively illegible (no ordinary clerk will be able to figure it out) they can claim you are refusing payment. A more effective older trick was to mess with the billing system by finding technical grounds for claiming small refunds (on the order of a few cents at a time) and then not cashing the checks. This forces the phone company to keep every increasing mountains of records. Of course, that was in the 1960s when "records" actually meant paper. Today I suppose it wouldn't do much damage to make them keep a few more entries in their computerized accounting records.

Re: OT: How to Pays Bills
 

The amount on the check is $0.002.

The second term, e^(i*pi) is equal to -1, which we can figure out by using Euler's formula e^(ix) = cos(x) + i sin(x), where cos(pi) = -1, sin(pi) = 0.

The third term, the summation, is equal to 1. Use the summation formula Sum = a / (1-r) for infinite geometric series where r = 1/2, a = 1, with the index n from 0 to infinity. Since the index starts from 1 in the expression, we need to subtract 1, so the term equals 1 / (1 - 0.5) - 1 = 1

Therefore the second and third terms in the amount cancel each other out, so the amount is only $0.002.

Re: OT: How to Pays Bills
 

Heh...that math was beyond me, for the most part. Actually, I could probably decipher the third term, and then possibly the second if I consulted some resources. Damn, I really do hate math! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif

But it's an awesome way to get back at the bastards! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Re: OT: How to Pays Bills
 

Easiest way to pay bills.... just change the name and address on the bill to your neighbors or to just send it to one of the oil companies..hehehehehe or the local walmart http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...es/biggrin.gif

Re: OT: How to Pays Bills
 

I don't think a court would agree with you on that. Or maybe what I should say is I have never seen a law on books in any state that effectively says you must word any form of business so an "ordinary clerk" can understand you. Besides who would define an ordinary clerk? What if Kamog was the clerk? What about me with a degree? Would you consider me ordinary? I couldn't make heads or tails out of the formula. Not trying to start an argument with you. I honestly could not figure out how what you said could be considered a "reasonable claim". Maybe I am just over thinking your observation. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...es/redface.gif

Re: OT: How to Pays Bills
 

I've discovered a great scam here in the UK with gas & electric suppliers.

They have developped a great new trick over the last few years called "estimated meter reading", which is a fancy way of saying "legalised theft". Basically they can't be arsed to send a monkey round to read the meter, so they just guess at he numbers! You get a bill through with a meter reading, but hidden somewhere on the bill is a little letter "E" that means "Estimated", meaning the meter reading bears no resemblance to reality whatsoever. And, surprise surprise, their 'estimates' always err on the side of "massively overcharging the customer".

My last bill was for £80, having just spent a similar amount a few months earlier. So I read my meter and found that I should have actually still been in credit after my last payment- but they were going to take £80 away from me, the theiving little ****es.

So I phoned them up and, using their automated phone service, supplied them with an accurate meter reading and they amended my account. However, it occurred to me that I could just as easily supply them with an 'estimated' meter reading every time I receive a bill. I wonder how low I could make the numbers before they came knocking on my door. Do you think they'd notice if my readings actually started getting *smaller*?

Re: OT: How to Pays Bills
 

Around here we have a mix of "actual" and "estimated" readings, so everything works out when they do an actual reading (their estimates also tend to be fairly accurate). Also, when you move, the final bill is always an actual measurement.

Re: OT: How to Pays Bills
 

Sprint is one of the select few companies that gave me such bad customer service that I refuse to voluntarily do business with them. I used to have a long-distance account with them, and it took me three months and something like five e-mails to get the information I needed to sort out a billing dispute.

Re: OT: How to Pays Bills
 

Thanks for the info capnq. That was on a land line right? Either way I will keep that in mind when I go searching.

Re: OT: How to Pays Bills
 

I'm sure the same can be said for every company in the world. I used to have verizon and when I cancelled my contract they tried to pro rate my minutes. I had to go through several floor monkeys before finally getting to a head ape. Then I had to deal with several of them before I finally managed (by force of sheer will) to convince them to take the charge off. Honestly, it depends on who you get when you call in. Having worked in Customer service you have to realize that about three fourths of those ppl don't care about you, your problem, or even their jobs. They show up, they make money pushing buttons and talking then they leave. That is their job to them.

Re: OT: How to Pays Bills
 

There ought to be a law.

Re: OT: How to Pays Bills
 

lol There ought to be alot of laws that there aren't and alot of laws that there are shouldn't exsist. I'd have to say, we don't just need one new law, we need a complete review and overhaul of the entire law system. Not to mention tax, schooling, public health...hell, the ENTIRE system needs to be looked at very carefully and changed.

Re: OT: How to Pays Bills
 

When someone can be arrested/sued for defending their home against an intruder...Yeah. A complete overhaul.

Re: OT: How to Pays Bills
 

Exactly.

Edit: And the person who was trying to harm/break in can sue or their family can sue the person defending, Exactly.

Re: OT: How to Pays Bills
 

Yes. It being a land line was part of the problem. I'd been a Sprint customer for years, long before the merger with Nextel. The customer service drones kept claiming I wasn't giving them a valid account number. I eventually realized from the way one of their replies was worded that they thought I was inquiring about a wireless account.

Dropping Sprint made me realize that I could cover my long distance needs far more cheaply with prepaid phone cards.

Re: OT: How to Pays Bills
 

I discovered the same thing. Unless you actually use an amount of LD time equivalent to your monthly plan charge you're just subsidizing the phone company. I dropped my LD plan and will use a 1010 number or prepaid cards when I (occasionally) need to make LD phone calls. Practically everything you used to make LD phone calls for can now be done with 800 numbers or your web browser or email by now.