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Man Bills Phone Co. for Shoddy Service And the check Is in the mail -- seriously

By  SCOTT ROSS

Updated 6:15 PM EDT, Fri, Jan 9, 2009

Related Topics: Howard Schaffer

9 Comments   Post a comment Post a Comment

The phone company finally gets smart.

The phone company finally gets smart.

 

At one time or another, everyone has known the special vein-popping rage of waiting for the phone company to get its head out of its backside. One courageous man had the good sense to submit a bill.

Howard Schaffer of Howard Schaffer Media Marketing in Colonie, NY, moved his small operation last fall, just about two miles down the road. Rochester-based One Communications promised to send his phone number along with him, but warned it would take several days.

The days dragged into weeks.

A resourceful man, Schaffer borrowed a phone line from his neighbor and asked his employees to use their cell phones.

Finally, on Nov. 21, thanks to in part to a helping hand from Dan Higgins, writer of The Advocate column in the Time-Union, Schaffer was back in business.

Schaffer then calculated what he owed his staff and landlord for the use of their phones, as well as the 20 hours of his own time spent on the problem. He then presented One Communications with an itemized bill for $5,481.16.

Incredibly, and much to their credit, One Communications has cut Schaffer a check and dropped it in the mail.

Comments (9)

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  • JPL Friday, Jan 16 at 10:49 AM FLAG COMMENT RE: Kat- We dropped AT&T for the same reason- POOR SERVICE. They wanted to know why we left them- we sure loved telling them why!!!!
  • BP Thursday, Jan 15 at 12:38 PM FLAG COMMENT Just goes to show that going with the smaller company rather than the big Verizon's will get you better service, eventually
  • Kimmber Tuesday, Jan 13 at 7:49 PM FLAG COMMENT Colonie, NY is a small town of about 80,000 just norht of Albany. My family grew up there, it's a nice place to visit during the spring and fall but wouldn't want to live there...
  • cyn507 Monday, Jan 12 at 2:33 PM FLAG COMMENT verizon sux but not as bad as comcast cable!
  • Kat Monday, Jan 12 at 11:34 AM FLAG COMMENT I applaud the guy. I had terrible problems with my phone company (Verizon). I went round and round with them and finally switched my land line and cel service to other providers. After all that Verizon had the nerve to contact me and ask what they could do to get me back as a customer. I told them they should have thought about that when I first asked for the help. Duh!

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