Sprint, you corporate @$$hole.

` Three hundred and nineteen dollars, down the drain. For nothing. How did this happen? It all started with one particular phone bill. Unbeknownst to me, Lou had been on the phone for about 600 minutes or so over our 200 minute limit (not that he knew about the 200 minute limit), bringing our phone bill to a grand total of $254.35. No biggie. He paid me his part of the bill and I sent in my check last month two weeks before it was due.
` Then, the day before the bill was due, I got a call that if I don't pay my bill right now both our phones would be disconnected. The person who was on the phone with me said that they had not recieved my check and they would have to cut off my phone service. I insisted that I had indeed paid, so they checked to see if it was in the mail room (which I later learned is unlikely) and they said it wasn't there.
` So, I just paid over the phone, desparate not to have our phones disconnected, thinking that my check must have worked its way into the Dead Letter Office. Right after I did that, my check cleared. Problem was, I didn't know a thing about it, and I didn't even have enough money in my account to cover it.
` A few days and eleven debit card charges later, I find that my bank account contained several hundred dollars more than I had expected... but wait, what's that minus sign?
` Apparently, instead of my debit card not working when I have no money, the bank just adds 29 dollars each time I make a purchase, no matter how small. So, that alone added $319 onto my debt. Since it wasn't the bank's fault, they refused to pay me back and told me to go to Sprint to refund the overdraft.
` So I demanded my money back from Sprint. Eventually, I got the message that they would probably refund everything as long as I faxed them my bank account statement as proof of the incident. So I did, and nothing happened. Apparently, they had closed the case, and for a while I couldn't find out why.
` Fast forward to today, I talk to someone else who is in charge of this type of thing, and he tells me that it was my fault since I chose to pay them. Hey, wait! How was I supposed to know they already had my check, especially since I asked about it? I told him that I failed to make rent - which I had - and where am I supposed to get money? My ass?
` Although this isn't the first time Sprint has confused me about my billing, this is ridiculous!
` Well, anyway, I am apparently horrible at taking stress about money, and since can't afford this right now, I think I'm going to continue on my way to becoming an alcoholic. Cheers!