I was working on my computer as I assume many of us are doing now. All at once, my online activity froze and a screen refresh brought up this announcement. We have not paid our access subscription fee and we have been cut off.
This reminds of a situation in Grand Forks when we forgot to pay our water fee and I sat in my office at the front of the house watching someone show up with a snowblower, dig through the snowbank on the front lawn, locate something I did not even know was there, and then take out this tool to turn off our water. Our lights were on and I was clearly visible in a large picture window, but the city worker made no attempt to explain his behavior.
Okay, I know it is important to pay your bills.
There is a back story here. While in Hawaii our credit card was hacked and someone tried to pay several thousand dollars of insurance fees using our account. Why someone would think this was smart, even as a criminal, I don’t understand. Anyway, we were notified and our credit account was frozen. Our situation required that a new card be sent to our home in the states and not to Hawaii. It is to arrive later today.
You quickly discover the consequences as you are contacted by the multiple services you pay automatically. We must have dozens of payments on a subscription or automatic payment plan. Many of these accounts are not even things I would remember without a nudge.
I was just thinking about the folks out there on limited incomes who cannot work because of the pandemic and how their creditors are responding. Evidently, CenturyLink is not one of those services willing to cut folks a little slack. Maybe they would if I called and explained. Luckily, I have other ways (a mobile hotspot or my phone) to reach the Internet. Many are not so lucky.