One of the producers over at the lovely This American Life radio show was overbilled by MCI (which has since merged with Verizon) for $946.36 and was sent to collections and told lie after lie that they were going to fix the problem. It’s not until host Ira Glass gets involved and starts recording the customer service calls that her issue is finally resolved. The account is credited, the company apologizes, and the Senior VP of Customer Service send her a gift basket of cheese chocolates and crackers. Aw. You can listen to the story here, it’s the second act, about 30 minutes into the show.

It’s clear, sometimes the only way to get a company to not screw you over is to become a threat. Luckily, you don’t have to work on a national radio show to get leverage, you can employ many of the wonderful techniques described in The Ultimate Consumerist Guide To Fighting Back.

253: The Middle of Nowhere [This American Life] (Thanks to Mike!)

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