I'm Surrounded By Idiots

     Sigh...I really hate calling call centres. I may have mentioned that in a previous post. I have been dealing with two rather extensively lately and I'm OVER it. Telstra is the first culprit. I have might have mentioned before the whole T-Box saga. Brief recap is I chose the non-contract option to try out the T-Box (it is cable television combined with free to air digital channels). I had it for about 6 weeks and returned it because it was a piece of shit. I hated the design, the concept, the delivery, and the presentation, not to mention the service - absolute shit. I returned it in January, but have had to deal with Telstra several times since then. They can't seem to locate my T-Box so wanted to charge me for the cost of it, even through I hand delivered it to a Telstra employee and stood next to him while he documented this on my account and gave me the reference number. They can't seem to grasp the concept that I did not sign a 2 year contract, rather chose the non-contract option for which I have the paperwork for to prove this. After raising it numerous times beyond the poor call centre employee to their supervisor and then to that person's supervisor, they tell me they have sorted it out, and apologized for their mistakes.
     All through this they kept calling me to beg me to subscribe to the T-Box again. I finally lost a gasket and told them very bluntly that it was a piece of shit and to stop calling me. They promised to stop calling me. They didn't. And then I got my latest phone bill from them and see that I have been billed for the goddamn T-Box contract cancellation. Sigh...so I call again, get yet another idiot call centre employee and go through the entire saga again.  She dared to comment "I'll take this charge off your account because you didn't realize you were signing a 2 year contract". I came unglued...I explained to her that I am not some dumb blonde who glossed over the paperwork when I signed up - I knew exactly what I signed up for because I did it online first, and then called them and confirmed several times that I did not want the contract option, and have paperwork to prove I did not sign a contract. A few gulps later she put me on hold, saying she had to speak to her supervisor. When she came back she simply told me the charge has been removed from my account and she was sorry for any inconvenience they may have caused. I politely told her if I have to continue to deal with this crap from Telstra, I'll be dropping them like third period French. Total bluff, because there are no other mobile phone or internet providers in Alice Springs, but SHE doesn't know that. I was simply pissed.
     Enter the second unpleasant call centre mess. In Australia they have something called Salary Packaging. This is where a salary packaging company organizes to take a portion of your salary to pay for things such as car payments, loan payments, monthly bills, whatever, depending on the limits set by your employer. They take this portion prior to your income being taxed, so you are only taxed on the remaining amount. My previous salary sacrifice company rep was a fucking idiot that I was so tired of dealing with by the time it was all organized. She kept sending me documents for other people, which contained all of their very personal information like bank accounts, employers, salary, home address, signature, etc. Despite my advising her of this the first time she did it, she did the same thing 3 more times. I thought she was as dumb as a bag of hammers...then I spoke to the gal with my current salary packaging company. I had to change companies when I changed employers.
     Oh boy...so they sent me what I am to believe is my annual report of my salary sacrificing package. I only salary sacrifice my car package, which includes my car payment, insurance, registration, tire allowance, fuel allowance, and a small repair budget. The term of my car lease is fixed, based on what I signed when I first picked up the car from Toyota. I know exactly when I got it, and how long the terms were for. I picked it up in May 2011, and we signed for a 46 month term because my work visa at the time was for 48 months, but I was 2 months in, so we ended up with 46 months. Given it is currently May 2013, that would tell me there are 22 months left. You would think it is not a difficult calculation. I was wrong. I have received 4 copies of my annual report, all of which were incorrect at 47 months, 43 months, 40 months, and 7 months. I offered to accept the 7 months, but somehow I think Toyota may figure it out. They tend to want ALL of the money owed them, not just some of them. I have painfully tried to explain this to my salary sacrifice account manager, but for some reason, she continues to make mistakes in the paperwork. When she asked me if I wanted her to continue to send me the reports, I told her not to bother sending me anything unless it was accurate. She failed to listen and sent me yet one more inaccurate report. Sigh...I'm surrounded by idiots...