Today I must gripe a bit (well, maybe a lot). We recently got our phone bill, and for the fun of it AT&T decided to bill us for our cell coverage TWICE this month. We have our home phone, internet, and cell phones "bundled together" with AT&T, and our total bill this month is $415 (it's usually about $230). We discovered that we had accidentally been double charged (or so we thought) for our cell coverage, so Todd called AT&T today to inquire about it. After spending over an hour on the phone with them and speaking with several people, he was told something screwy about our billing cycles not being "in sync," and AT&T needing to charge us an extra payment to make up for this. Whatever that means! In my opinion, it's AT&T's mixup, and THEY should have to foot that bill, not us!! Todd threatened to cancel our service (we have both been with Bellsouth/AT&T for at least 15 years), and their attitude was like, "Well, whatever you want to do. We don't care." So, at this point we don't have a choice about paying the extra money. And believe me, if Todd Ryan can't get AT&T to help us out, no one can! He can be a little ruthless with this kind of crap (that's why I had him call AT&T instead of me!!). That's one gripe.
While I am griping about having to pay "extra" bills, I must gripe about our health insurance company, too. When I left my full-time job when Sydney was born, Todd and I had to get health insurance on our own. Todd is considered to be self-employed since he is a real estate agent, so insurance with his company is not an option. So, we got insurance on our own to the tune of about $480/month (with a $5,000 deductible, too!). Well, of course we never go to the doctor enough to reach our deductible, so all medical care that we have had has come out of our pocket (along with paying $480 every month!).
If you have ever had a baby, you know how many wellness visits they have during their first two years of life. Since we have never met our deductible, we have had to pay for all of Sydney's wellness visits out-of-pocket, each costing $300-$400 (and still paying that blasted $480 every month!). As much of a pain that has been, we knew that's what would happen since our insurance didn't cover child wellness visits (isn't it funny that insurance companies will choose to not pay for something that they KNOW your child will need!!!!).
Well, the kicker was this month's medical bills. I had a doctor's appointment in May and had some routine blood tests run (cholesterol, blood sugar, hormones, etc.- nothing unusual). During this past month I have received about $400 worth of bills from the various tests that were run (things our insurance company didn't cover- imagine that!). Todd also had to go to the doctor for a minor foot injury, and that cost $100. Then, we got the bill for Sydney's 15 month wellness visit, and that was $200. All in all, we had to pay about $700 in medical bills this month (all while STILL paying that $480)! Oh, but it gets even BETTER!!!
About a month ago we got a statement from our insurance company telling us that "due to the rising cost of medical care" our monthly premium was going up to $605/month instead of $480. UGH!!! What the crap?!?!? Just like the phone company, the insurance company can basically do whatever it wants because they know they have us by the b***s.
So, this month we have had to pay $700 in extra medical bills, $125 more in health insurance, and we will have to pay an extra $185 on our phone bill in a couple of weeks. Oh, and did you catch the part about Todd being in REAL ESTATE?!?!?! We all know how that market is right now!! We are holding our own with the commissions he is getting and with me working part-time, but we certainly don't have a plethora of extra cash laying around. It just gripes me that companies can do whatever they want, and the consumers are just supposed to take it. Whatever happened to good customer service and treating people like human beings?????? Call me old fashioned, but I believe in living life by the Golden Rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." I guess our world has gotten too big for the Golden Rule. I think God would disagree, though.........
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I feel for you girl. Before Dylan was born, my OB laid out what our bill would be. We paid that at the beginning of the year. We though, having a baby is relatively inexpensive. We brought Dylan home...cue the bills. We didn't think there would be other charges, but the epidural cost, the hospital cost, and his circumcision cost. And we thought we only had one charge. HA!
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