Press 2 followed by the #@!! sign

We have have been reviewing all of our financial statements carefully and scrutinizing our expenses. As part of this process we have decided to cut back, but not eliminate certain services like XM and Netflix. There are also a few business related accounts that we are able to close now that the end of year has arrived. While going through all of these statements we also discovered several cases where we were being charged for things we were no longer receiving. In one case it was the New York Times, which inexplicably started billing us again for a paper we haven't gotten in over a year.

These things all mean ONE thing. I have to get on the phone and work the automated answering services. That entails a careful section of departments and account numbers, until finally I get a person. When you want to cancel, you always get a person.

Except sometimes you don't. You get a ringing phone. (I know, a ringing phone?) You get disconnected. You get transferred back into to the original recording and have to start over. In more than one case, I would actually speak to someone, give them the relevant information, and then they would put me on hold or need to transfer me. Click.

I am usually not the type to be a conspiracy theorist, but I have called five different companies and experienced some sort of technical glitch with all of them. I don't like feeling like I have to put forth extraordinary efforts just to end a business relationship. I want a real person who isn't on some crazy incentive plan to retain me at all costs. A sales pitch is one thing, a disappearing act is shady.