I Hate Money

[shanmonster]

I'm having an infuriating time with the student loans people. It's a bureaucratic morass. The provincial people keep hounding me for papers from the federal people, but the federal people are keeping mum. So when I call them, I'm on hold for about ten minutes before entering telehell. I must enter my SIN two or three times, keep pushing the number 1 to prove I like English, and then, after aeons of irrelevant prerecorded messages, I finally get to talk to a mumbling man who'd obviously rather not be talking to me. He's very uncommunicative, and I keep pestering him until he finally gives me the barest amount of information. I must send them a copy of a paystub which I'm sure I already sent. I must also send them a letter explaining why I can't get a letter confirming I earned a measly $120 in the month of December doing casual work as a model. I already sent them a letter to this effect. Apparently it wasn't good enough. And no, they won't call me if there's a problem. I must keep calling them every two weeks to check on the status of my account. Only after several prompts would the guy give me a fax number where I could send the information. When I asked if I needed any sort of cover letter, he wouldn't even answer me. Finally, he said I would need to include my SIN on the paystub and the letter.

Holy crap. Have I ever gained an appreciation for customer service. This is its very antithesis.

Comments

[elanya.livejournal.com]

*loathes student loans people in all their guises*

Hate hate hate!

Just wait until they threaten to charge you with fraud. Not that I'm bitter >:p

[prolixfootle.livejournal.com]

Be sure to keep copies of everything you send (so you don't need to recreat them), as well as the dates which you sent them...

[aberrantmist.livejournal.com]

Yes, I agree. Keep records of everything! The fact you have gotten an actual human being amazes me. Have you also experienced the "Great Phone Number" run-around, where you call one number and after you get someone, they tell you that you are supposed to call the number you dialed in the first place??? :P

[zombienought.livejournal.com]

The funny thing is, in all my experience,
Canadian customer service is *way* better,
more helpful, more polite, and more intel-
ligible, on the whole, than US customer
service.

[snowy-kathryn.livejournal.com]

Both of my interest relief applications have been cancelled because of this back and forth with papers from the provincial and the federal. I can't give them something I haven't even received yet. So, now I have to start it all over again. All of those letters I pestered employers for...and the letters I wrote and the one Zed wrote...useless. Thankfully, everyone I have had to talk to on the phone lately have been sweet as pie.