I got a call from Verizon yesterday.
I have a bad habit: I pick up the phone when I don’t recognize a phone number, and I call back people who leave me voicemails or send me texts when it’s clear they meant to contact someone else. Usually they are grateful I called back, so they can try again or update their contact lists.
Having said that, I’m usually pretty good at hanging up right away if I hear a pause after I say "hello." That usually means it is an automated system calling a bunch of numbers at once, in which case I’m not interested. For some reason, I did wait this time… It was my cellphone provider.
They called to tell me that I have gone over my text messaging allowance, and it went something like this:
Verizon: We see you have gone over by 102 messages this month, an overage of $11. Let’s see what options are available to increase your plan…
ina: Actually I am not interested in changing my plan at all.
Verizon: But I could check out your account and figure out what happened…
ina: I probably did go over, and I’ll just watch it next time.
Verizon: But there may be a better plan…
ina: Are those plans online? Can I read about them there?
Verizon: Yes…
ina: Ok, I’ll check them out with my husband when I get home and figure it out from there.
Verizon: Ok, I can call you back when you are ready to…
ina: (Begging) PLEASE don’t call me back. We’ll figure it out.
Verizon: Thank you for using Verizon Wireless. Have a good day.
ina: You, too.
I couldn’t believe they called me to shame me about my texting usage! But they have a point. The main reason I’m over is because of Twitter: I get updates from some of my friends as texts, and I always update my status by texting Twitter at 40404.
This is stupid, because we thought that by having a smartphone with email I wouldn’t need texting as much! So I found a Twitter tool online that you can use to EMAIL your updates to Twitter. Just go to twittercounter.com, and sign up for Twittermail (free). It generates a unique and secret email address for you to email your Twitter updates, and ensures that any replies will arrive in your email.
No more expensive texting! Save your financial environment: emails are free 🙂
Hope this tip helps you save some $$$
ina