Better pay that Cell Phone Bill!

[BailOut]

Originally Posted by GeneW

Please.... no diatribes about "capitalism"

Capitalism and apathy don't always go hand in hand, but the larger a corporation is allowed to become the more apathetic it seems to get. Unchecked capitalism is what allows metacorporations to exist and I don't know anyone that can name a single metacorporation that they just can't live without.

In this case a single cellular bill, or even just $20 of it, was worth more to Verizon than a human life, and more than a peace officer's direct request. I hope they get the holy bajeebus sued out of them as that seems to be the only thing that even hits a metacorporation's radar these days.

[GeneW]

Originally Posted by BailOut

Capitalism and apathy don't always go hand in hand, but the larger a corporation is allowed to become the more apathetic it seems to get. Unchecked capitalism is what allows metacorporations to exist and I don't know anyone that can name a single metacorporation that they just can't live without.

Verizon, Brian, is a public utility and is tightly controlled by Government agencies at the State and Federal levels. FCC and many many state public utility commissions, plus oversight by Congress and numerous states legislature.

A more publicly responsible company might have had more latitude to be nicer than this "Partnership between government and industry". Higher profit margins to be generous and customer relation concerns, for example.

What do utilities care about public opinion? They're "locked in". Right?

Originally Posted by BailOut

In this case a single cellular bill, or even just $20 of it, was worth more to Verizon than a human life, and more than a peace officer's direct request. I hope they get the holy bajeebus sued out of them as that seems to be the only thing that even hits a metacorporation's radar these days.

You may be confusing the responses of a single operator and billing service with the policies of an entire Corporation. I suspect that you are either self employed, Brian, or work for a small firm. I say this because if you worked for a medium to large Corporation you'd know how fluid policies can be on some middle and upper levels, while on "lower" levels middle management is terribly risk aversive and thus will not "take chances" like letting "overdue" customers go for "free". I agree that's not a wise policy but that's their policy.

The ones making the decision are disassociated from the people on the ground, and the person talking to the people on the ground is not making a decision. Decision making I'm sure was kept to "management". Too bad that they issue policy directives, emails and such. It's going to be easy to ID who made this policy, or failed to make it.

These clowns go before government boards many times a year to argue rates and rules. They're basically partners of the Government, given a charter to have a near monopoly in exchange for obeying the Man's edicts and not "gouging" the public. A partnership between Government and Industry.


Given the absence of "rant" I'll spare the board any bed time stories courtesy of Uncle Alexander.

Gene