My first mishap came when I discovered that Earthlink had charged my credit card $1800 more than they should have over the course of two years. They told me I was only entitled to be refunded for the past two months because I hadn't brought the over charges to their attention. I had to go to friends in the Public Utilities Commission to get Earthlink to do the right thing. I also had my payment method changed to a monthly billing situation. The ordeal told me that putting my all of my eggs in Earthlink's basket was fool-hardy at best. So one by one I began migrating my websites from Earthlink to MediaTemple and Value Web .

Right after that point I began working with Sky Dayton's wife Arwyn and actor Bodhi Elfman (Gena's husband, Danny's nephew) on the screenplay of her science fiction book "Resurrection." It was a cool concept and my boss, Matrix Producer Dan Cracchiolo, wanted me to develop it with the two of them. So we had our meetings and I thought it wise to forego my Earthlink exodus, now that I had reestablished a direct line to the founder. And so it was that years went by without a hitch.

And then Earthlink made the decision to offshore its tech support to Bangalore and the shit began hitting the fan on a monthly basis. So the migration began anew. This time I would move a website off Earthlink, but Earthlink would not remove it off my bill. No matter how many Hindi tech support people with their Americanized names would promise to take care of the problem, the problem and the bills would continue.

Finally, I said that's it. I am not paying for something I am not getting. And so Earthlink started mounting charges for websites they no longer hosted and pulling the plugs on sites they were hosting. Around and around and around we went. Until finally, I gave in and said I would pay the $300 they claimed I owed, but I would not give them my credit card number to abuse in the future. I would pay via bank draft. So I gave them the numbers, which they fowled up. And which put my 300 bucks in limbo, with the bank saying Earthlink was paid and Earthlink claiming it wasn't. Two months went by before this circle jerk was resolved by the bank .

Meanwhile, Earthlink decided that enough was enough and waited until December 23 rd to pull down all of my websites and shut down my email. Merry Christmas from your long-time friends at Earthlink. I went ballistic. Someone advised that I get a Visa gift card for the $300 bucks in question and pay them that way. But to do that I had to get a real person on the phone. Which is what I attempted to do all during the holidays. To no avail .

After eight days and dozens of phone calls waiting as long as 45 minutes for some idiot in Bangalore to pick up the phone, I finally got a human voice, who promptly told me I now owed Earthlink 600 bucks to restore my service. Of course my first response was to rage at said human being, which resulted in a cross-border, off shore hang-up. People were now calling me asking what was wrong and did my business hit the wall

It was obvious I had no choice but to pay the blackmail to restore my email. So off I went for another Visa Gift Card. Ten calls later I once again had a human being on the phone. She took the information on the two credit cards and claimed that the $500 credit card was registering an invalid error. After three or four tries and confirming that they had the numbers right, I was told to contact the issuing bank. Which I did. Only to find out that Earthlink had already been paid by the bank and that the error message was due to the fact that the Earthlink staff idiot had misspelled my address.

So once again I called Earthlink. Six calls later another human being. I was informed there was a $425 balance owed and my service would again be terminated on January 7 th . This time I was the picture of patience and explained my entire ordeal. They could care less. I went back to the Visa bank and reversed the charge and was told my $500 gift card would be good in seven calendar days. Back to Earthlink for a stay of execution .

I am taking the time to start your new year out with this tail of woe for two reasons and two reasons only. One. If anyone out there knows Sky Dayton personally (he's still on ELs Board of Mis-Directors) let him know for me his company sucks the big weenie .

Two. If you hear about some big tech company laying off thousands and thousands of loyal employees, don't feel bad. They probably deserved to be laid off. And those blathering idiots in Bangalore who are lining up to take their jobs will most certainly do an even more bootyass job then they did. And they will deserve to be fired when said high-tech company finally hits the wall. Perhaps 2009 will be the year we come to our senses about technology and see it for what it really is. A poor excuse for common sense .

Think Hard.

WEDNESDAY
January 7, 2009
ISSUE 227

ABOUT ME

ARCHIVE

CONTACT ME

AGENDA

MOST READ

MAD002
The Journey
to Great

MAD009
The Death of
Advertising

MAD023
The Boy Who
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Too Busy for
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The Rise and
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MAD006
The Battle for
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MAD059
Happy Birthday
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The City that
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The True Cool

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The Creeping
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The Four Great
Myths of Global
Branding

MAD026
The One True
Thing

MAD030
The Lost Art of
Persuasion

MAD021
Dare To Be
Great: The Mad
Genius of The
"Matrix"

MAD071
Boomers
Downshift
To Neutral

MAD092
Advertising
Immunity. Can
It Be Cured In
Our Lifetime?

MAD100
Breathing New
Life Into
American
Business

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