math,inhuman stupidity,inhuman patience Verizon: " .002 dollars = .002 cents"
posted by maudlin
2 years 11 months 2 weeks ago • 16391 viewstags: math, inhuman stupidity, inhuman patience
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Verizon: " .002 Dollars = .002 Cents" Related Videos
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if he used 35893kb, and they charge 0.002 cents then it would be 35893 x 0.002 cents = 71.786 cents. you don't change the increment in which things are being counted after the equals.
what they charged him, 71.79 dollars, would be represented by 35893 x 0.002 dollars = 71.786 dollars.
.002 dollars = $0.002
.002 cents = $0.00002
edit: found this in the blog, and it really explains it perfectly.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=.002+cents%2Fkb+times+35893kb&btnG=Search
For example:http://www.videosift.com/story.php?id=17334
this is mindblowing that a supervisor is beyond figuring this out!!! glad he had the soundbite!!
I think that this recording could go a long way - I'm actually more exasperated by it than I was by the AOL cancellation bit ...
Hence it's why you're taught stuff like algebra. The more math you do, the more you remember basic concepts.
For a group of call center employee's not to differentiate between two units is just sad.
Like saying .002 cents equals .00002 dollars. If you want the three minute remix, it's here.
I visited George's blog and found out that as of today, Verizon has, sort of, admitted their wrong and are finally giving him a 100% refund (as opposed to the 50% refund they were offering yesterday!).
I don't add much more additional commentary on ACS, but who doesn't love shamelss self-promotion?
I am *very* impressed with the callers patience. He's a freakin super-hero.
....and I would love to hear Verizon's response.
i think all he needed to do was explain how conversion from cents to dollars requires a extra step if multiplication, and then go into what that step would take. he keeps calling it a 'terminology issue' but its really just the conversion thats hanging people up.
This is what disputes are like with Verizon every time. I know; I've been through exactly this (different dispute) for over a month at 20+ hours of support calls. They hire morons who either don't understand what you're saying, tell you you're wrong when you're not, and things that don't help, and then pass you back into the queue for someone else to handle. My highest number of pass-offs was 16 in one call.
Advice: don't give up, keep fighting, even as you watch your sanity slip away. If you are battling about restoring a service, pray - a lot. Call headquarters directly and they'll put you through to the district manager level of personnel, where you'll hopefully find someone with more than seven brain cells.
After hearing this, I wish I'd recorded my battle with them. I'd vote for this 100 times if I could. Verizon needs to stop hiring idiots.
He should of said this:
"How do you write down 1 dollar?"
"Umm... 1.00?"
"yes. Now how would you write down .002 dollars?"
"Umm .002?"
"yep. Now how do you write 1 cent?"
".01?"
"yea. Now how do you write .002 cents?"
".002?"
"No, you just said thats how you write .002 dollars."
"Oh... .00002?"
"there you go. Now multiply that by my kb"
Thats all he had to do. He made it WAY to confusing.
I think I would have put the phone down and screamed for a bit.
It isn't really a math problem, it is a units problem, and that is difficult for a lot of people to understand, though they should have done it in high school physics.
Well, I dont even use dollars, still he explained it crystal clear in ATLEAST 10 different, equally good ways, and I find your explanation slighty more confusing, even if thats pretty clear too, I really doubt they would have understood it anyway.
Just listen to the last one again:
-Do you recognize theres a difference between 1 dollar and 1 cent?
-Of course(Thinking to herself: are you stupid??)
-Do you recognize theres a difference between half a dollar and half a cent?
-Obviously(Thinking to herself: trying to mock me??)
-Do you recognize theres a difference between .002 dollars and .002 cents?
-No.
I'd also like to remind you all of a quote Al Gore used in An Inconvenient Truth:
"Its hard to get people to understand something, when their salary depends on them not understanding it."
The way I would explain it is to avoid ALL reference to how many hundredths or thousandths there are - that's confusing terminology for anyone, we don't think like that and these Verizon dimwits won't even stand a chance.
I would say to them (and make them write these examples down);
1 cent x 35893 = 35893 cents
0.5 cents x 35893 = 17946.5 cents
Soooo....
0.002 cents x 35893 = 71.78 cents
That is less than a dollar. However you billed me 71 dollars. Go fetch.
Again at NO point mention fractions, explain that 0.002 cents is a thousandth of 2 cents or anything like that. It's logical but hell even I'm getting confused. He should have just kept the discussion entirely in cents and only mention dollars when referring to his bill.
Easy for me to say of course, I would have slit my own throat after 15 minutes.
+my forehead is sore from the slapping.
*upvote because it's good.
You got me complexed on my principles with this one.
I can say one thing though, just hearing the first few minutes of the convo it was clearly apparent that he was going about the explanation in the worst way possible. Mixing decimals and fractions in the way he did would take an understanding of decimals/fractions/conversions as well as some thought for anyone. Having a clear understanding of unit conversion he made the terrible assumption that this was simple knowledge, and went about explaining it in a confusing way for someone who just has no concept of converting units or fractions/decimals.
Here’s his main blunder: He though that he could somehow teach these people that which decades of the US Education system could not…God were you wrong.
I would have instantly opened up Google and told them to type in .002 cents times 35893. I would have also told them to type in .002 dollars to cents, or .002 cents to dollars to make sure that we understood that .002 cents and .002 dollars are not the same.
At this point it’s apparent that they are clearly to blame for the misunderstanding, if this was still a problem, only then would I venture into actually doing some simple calculations …If I did though Id make it clear that we were staying in the unit of cents do some simple calculations and then end with the kb x cents…but to be truthfully honest I know that no matter what I did, once attempting to teach them math I would just end up in the same situation he did… Tell you one thing though: I would not have given in to that bullshit, at the end I would curse someone out and demand to speak to someone who has at least a fucking 9th grade comprehension of math. The fact was simple, they were dead wrong and he was right, in no way was he responsible for paying that bill.
He really should have used some internet program for conversions, you need something indisputable to convince people this dim witted…or you’re just going to wind up with “matter of opinion…” lol WTF mates?