This business with my electric bill gets stranger and stranger. We have an employee assistance program that supposedly helps employees with all kinds of issues, whether legal or medical or financial. It's supposed to be a help line. I've "used" it--if you can call it that--a couple of times several years ago and was less than impressed by the service. You call this number (naturally it's out of state) and go through a phone tree and when you finally get to speak with a person what they will do is give you a list of phone numbers in your area that you can call.
Well, I need a lawyer so I called the person in charge of the plan, and said that I had used the service before and had not been happy with it but I would give it another try because maybe they'd changed. I told him my biggest beef was having to call California for a number I can look up myself, and that I didn't really have time to wade through their list of lawyers to find the one that specializes in what I need to know. She said she'd look into it. Turns out, that's all they do, is just send the list of phone numbers. So what good is the service? She said something about employee discounts. I wonder how much my company is paying this out of state company for this--I hope it's not much, because I smell another racket at work.
So, anyway, I call the number or try to. First time I call--this is no joke!--I get a recorded survey about cruise ships. I can't go any further until I answer their damn survey so I just press buttons here and there until I come to the end of the survey. I've never been on a cruise ship and can't afford to, but I did win a cruise for two. Then the phone went to a busy signal. I called again to make sure I didn't get the wrong number and same thing. I waited about an hour. Now they are sorry because they are busy waiting on other customers, please call back later.
This is supposed to be a 24-hour hotline, for crying out loud. This is supposed to be for people who are experiencing problems. What if the issue I was dealing with was a mental health crisis? I am going to let the person in charge of this program know about this. And, no, I am not interested in using it anymore. I do not have time or energy for cruise ship games. Forget the employee discount, I don't think it's that great anyway. I'll find a lawyer on my own the old fashioned way.
Well, I need a lawyer so I called the person in charge of the plan, and said that I had used the service before and had not been happy with it but I would give it another try because maybe they'd changed. I told him my biggest beef was having to call California for a number I can look up myself, and that I didn't really have time to wade through their list of lawyers to find the one that specializes in what I need to know. She said she'd look into it. Turns out, that's all they do, is just send the list of phone numbers. So what good is the service? She said something about employee discounts. I wonder how much my company is paying this out of state company for this--I hope it's not much, because I smell another racket at work.
So, anyway, I call the number or try to. First time I call--this is no joke!--I get a recorded survey about cruise ships. I can't go any further until I answer their damn survey so I just press buttons here and there until I come to the end of the survey. I've never been on a cruise ship and can't afford to, but I did win a cruise for two. Then the phone went to a busy signal. I called again to make sure I didn't get the wrong number and same thing. I waited about an hour. Now they are sorry because they are busy waiting on other customers, please call back later.
This is supposed to be a 24-hour hotline, for crying out loud. This is supposed to be for people who are experiencing problems. What if the issue I was dealing with was a mental health crisis? I am going to let the person in charge of this program know about this. And, no, I am not interested in using it anymore. I do not have time or energy for cruise ship games. Forget the employee discount, I don't think it's that great anyway. I'll find a lawyer on my own the old fashioned way.
