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Admin
Hmmmm, wonder if Bobby Tables might have had better luck?
Admin
The real WTF is that he didn't try that FIRST.
Admin
He hacked their website?
Admin
Hey, uhm, I hate to be offtopi but.. I've seen crecently more grammar mistakes in the artiles recently.. I think that calls for a WTF
Admin
Ow! The facepalm hurt that time.
Admin
Isn't that illegal? :P
Admin
(Captcha: decet)
Admin
With $59 for a name change, wouldn't it have been easier to tell them just to cancel the account and then open a new one?
Admin
Can you implement that feature on TDWTF, so we can all fix the spelling/grammar mistakes instead of complaining about them?
(just kidding, obviously)
Also, as a result, the name should be changed to WikiWTF.
Admin
Admin
You are now standing in the dense thicket bush of WTF. Beware for once you have found a WTF there are many more buried further below and around you.
What do you want to do?
Admin
And risk being knocked offline for a month?
Admin
Hopefully, making this change didn't muck up their database. If he finds himself being billed for $NULL, he'll know that the name is unchangeable for the "good" reason that it is part of a primary key. Obviously the account would "have to be" removed and re-added manually, hence the $59 fee. ;-)
Admin
Admin
The WTF is quite amusing and you have a laugh.
You are in a large clearing. There is a Zen master sitting on a treetrunk. As he sees your bracelet he starts to laugh very loudly.
Admin
I remember paying for a name change. That was way cheaper, only 30 euro per line containing the old name. Lucky me, only two lines contained the wrong name. So I was only billed 60 euro.
Admin
Admin
I would have canceled the account and opened a new one with a competitor.
Admin
TRWTF is that he didn't add " Esq." __ /hg
Admin
So he still got charged and made the change himself? He's the WTF, not the DSL company.
Admin
What he actually changed was not what costs $59. To change the billing name on the phone account costs $59, a charge incured by Telstra, whom wholesale PSTN services to iiNet.
What he did was merely change the billing contact in iiNet's system. He shouldn't have been quoted $59 to do that as it takes about 5 seconds for a customer service rep to do over the phone. The name in their internal system for the phone contact will still be the same as the old one.
Admin
So what would you do? Phone them and raise hell, then wait a month to see whether they manage to fuck up and not make the change again and/or bill you again? Tell them that you want the fee back because you made the change yourself and have them file charges of illegal tampering?
If you want to stand up for your rights and fight the system, pick a better cause than a $60 charge and some incompetence.
Admin
I love the oh-so-subtle blurring of "John Doe"'s surname in that image...
Admin
and the full name in the text...
Admin
For a $59 fee just to change the name, I'd have hung up on them, gotten a different provider, then told them where they could stick that $59 fee, and to cancel the service. That's just ridiculous.
Admin
Looks like somebody's fortunate enough to have some $60s to burn.
Hey moneybags, send me sixty bucks.
Admin
He's not exaggerating. In Australia Telstra owns all the phone infrastructure, so iiNet would have to outsource the disconnection and reconnection to them.
Telstra are notorious for having a two week queue to do anything. (Of course, if you signed up directly with them it'd be done the next day).
Admin
The REAL 'Real WTF' is that the web application uses (what is supposed to be) constant data as input rather than just ignoring it completely.
If anybody needs me, I'll be sitting over there ->
Yours, Dr Obvious.
Admin
It's probably australian dollars, which comes to around..... .002 dollars American.....or maybe dollars Verizon....
Admin
I don't know how to "F".
Admin
iiNet is actually one of Australia's best organized ISPs. Their website is extremely well designed and easy to use. To me it seems quite likely that they really wanted to be able make name changes available online, but some government regulation or other forced them to lock the function, and so they complied in the least effective way possible.
Admin
That's what we call a WTF around here.
Admin
Have I got a service for you! Service offered: nothing Fee: $59 Please send me a cheque made out to "cash".
It is a well known fact that if you call and complain, you will likely get some sort of compensation. I would probably would have reverted that hack job, and then called to complain. I am willing to bet they would have refunded the fee and then completed it for free.
Either that, or I would have hacked the account to send the bill to "Accounts Payable" and forwared it back to the ISP... FREE INTERNET!!!
Admin
That's almost, but not quite, the way to handle this.
Once he suspected that he could accomplish this himself, he should have immediately called and raised hell all the way to the top to get his fee refunded. No, he doesn't want the name change any more, it probably wouldn't happen again, so just forget the whole thing. Be insistent.
Once the fee is refunded, then he makes the change himself without telling them. If it didn't work, he's really out nothing (except his wasted time dealing with iiNet), and if it did, he gets what he wants and successfully bypasses the fee.
Admin
Actually 59 Australian dollars are about 30 euros. Still ridiculously expensive...
I wonder if you can use that Firebug to bypass JavaScript validation and enter the name and address of the prime minister. Now that would be funny (for too short a while though).
Admin
I do this all the time without aditional plugins. I'm using Opera.
Admin
After working with some of the wonderkids at TimeWarner, both in Customer (non)Service* and their techie group*, this story does not surprise me.
*Not all are idjits, some have been very good at their jobs. But all you needed was one idjit with a lazy boss checking his/her work.
Admin
Is the last name that is blurred out really "Doe"? The original name was John Doe? Not understanding why that was blurred out...
Admin
Actually, after all this, I'm thinking of getting Firebug myself.
Admin
On the subject of bad ISPs, my cable provider in Chicago, RCN, stores account passwords in plain text. And uses your account password as identity verification over the telephone. No joke.
captcha: suscipit
Admin
Admin
I tried changing my title to King, didn't work :(
A lot of forms get screwed when you add new options to a select list they weren't expecting :)
Admin
Admin
The Zen master vanishes in a puff of logic.
You are on a long, curving, sandy beach. Your bracelet has started to glow. There is a polar bear here.
Admin
The clink-clonks have an old saying:
'Today is a good day to doe'.
Admin
Clearly the next step is to change your name to something incredibly inappropriate. Then call them really pissed off for calling you a "cock sucker" and get a bunch of free service.
Admin
Admin
Or sue them for sexual harassment.
Admin
...Until they track down who exactly called you a cocksucker in the first place and they found it came from your IP address...
I lol'd.
Admin
The OP's housemate had a legal service agreement with the ISP. That's what he paid $59 to transfer into his name. If the former housemate was smart they should have cancelled the service when they left. OP could have gotten the service reconnected in their name like a new customer.