Stalkers in the Shadows

In the James Bond film, Spectre, the "Nine Eyes" committee chairman, "C", advocates for more surveillance.

Recently, and not for the first time, I have, again, discovered that one of the people in my past, is yet again stalking me. This time, they are operating under their own name, with ambiguous credentials for their employment. Truly, one of those moments in life where I can now look back and say that I missed a bullet,  this is a person who made their choice to depart from my life.

So what is it that keeps bringing these persons back into my life?  It's hard to believe that this person, or the previous, have any interest in what I do - they have not contacted me. (Contacted others around me, but not me.)  Lingering in the background they just seem to be watching what I do.

Perhaps lamenting the wrongs that they portrayed to me, waiting to see if such atrocities will make it into print.

Here's hoping that I never make it the list occupied by Gwyneth Paltrow, Lennon and Jodi Foster.

February 28

Today's the day the Teddy Bears have their picnic.

Feb 28. An iconic day in history.

A buddy of mine has a birthday.

A woman I once knew has a birthday -  she once sent me a pager that she was ready to settle down. Apparently not.

On Ancestry.com, my grandparents were married today.

Twenty years ago my divorce was finalized.

Thank you, Tori Amos. 

The Verizon Wireless Fraud Game

Got a bill today charging me for the fraudulent change of my account by a Verizon Wireless employee. Verizon Wireless charged me for a change they made without authorization.

Time to rectify their error - 22 hours and it's still not corrected.

Verizon Fraud Game - change your account, because it will take more of your time to correct than it does to just pay it,

Nuisance Calls Are Not a Customer Inconvenience Claims Verizon

  Day 10, and Verizon Wireless still can't get it's own Customer Service alibi straight.

  The story so far. One telephone number has been nuisance calling my personal cell phone.  I contact Verizon Wireless,  they can't block it from their end - it has to be done through my on line account. Completed.

  The nuisance calls keep coming.

  Telephone Tech Support, they block the number - the calls keep coming.

  Telephone a Tech Coach who claims the block is not present - despite hard evidence on my end. They go to block the telephone number from their end, and the number now "mysteriously" appears as a blocked number that they can't explain - but the calls keep coming.

  Today I telephone Customer Service - who confirm that no block exists, but upon further review, report that the block is on all telephone numbers - except the phone receiving all the calls. I'm calling them out - incompetent, deceitful, and failure to provide the service requested.

  "You haven't been inconvenienced in any way by the nuisance caller," the Customer Service agent claims.

  Ten days, eight calls and eleven hours on the phone to Verizon, broken sleep, and the inability of a cell phone company to fulfill their service agreement apparently is not enough for Verizon Wireless to be considered an inconvenience for their customers.

  Can you hear me now moving to @Sprint.

Verizon Wireless Bait and Switch

  There are entities, who believe that they are so far above reproach, that they do not have to supply the level of service that they bill for. The worst offenders are cell phone carriers,  and Verizon Wireless heads that list.

  I have been receiving nuisance calls from one telephone number.  Incoming calls at 11:30pm at night, 4:30am in the morning, 6:10am on Sunday morning. Inconvenient times. I know my cell phone carrier has been charging for the past 12 years for a block application - I'll call customer service and ask them to activate it.

  "I'm sorry, Verizon Wireless can't activate call blocking without changing your plan." (Which invokes a higher monthly cost.)

  Verizon Wireless Customer Service is unable to commence a call blocking service that I have already been paying for, without charging me a higher rate? (Sounds like extortion.)

  Customer Service reports that they cannot activate the service, but, I can use the on line web page to access my account and start the call blocking service.

  Later that day, I access the on line web page, log into my account and block the incoming call across all cell phone lines.

  Want to guess who calls me the next day at 9.55pm? My blocked caller. I call Verizon Wireless and sit on hold for an hour without an answer before calling it a night. The next morning, my nuisance caller is at at it again at 06:05am and I phone my cell phone carrier straight away.

  "We can't explain why your block caller is able to get through - let me put your through to Technical Support Tier II."

  "You don't have any blocked numbers," Tier II claims. I call them out and print out a copy of the on line account not only showing the blocked cell phone number,  but the expiration date.

  "Oh, well...we can't explain why your blocked caller is getting through."

  That's what I thought. Verizon Wireless can't supply the services that they have been charging me for. Why, am I still paying them?

  Can you hear that? 

Happy 21st Birthday

In Australia, it is November 17, and my youngest child turns 21 today.

It has been 4 years to the day since we last spoke on the phone.

It has been 4 years and a day since her mother said she would never allow her to visit me in the USA.

It is 7 years since her mother violated court orders and moved her 3 states away.

It is 8 years since I last flew back to Australia, and her mother withheld her from me.

It is almost 12 years since I left Australia.

Her 21st birthday marks the end. It is over.

It's too late for my girls, lessons learned:

- Manage your child child support. Make it your second job and ensure you receive credit for everything.
- As bad as it may be, stay close to your children. You cannot immediately rebuke that which is told to your children, from 7811 miles away.
 
Had I known I would lose both my children to their mothers forked tongue, I would not have left to remarry and have the family structure that was missing the first time.

I would have stayed a single, Dad.

My Favorite Photograph

When I was a child, my parents divorced. As a teenager I visited my father at his place of work one time and saw a photograph of my brother and I on his desk. It was an old photograph, taken when we first started school. 

When I asked my father about it he said "It's my favorite photograph."

Earlier this week I was sitting at my own work desk when an employee asked about a photograph of my own daughters. The phrase rolled off my tongue.

"It's my favorite photograph."

And in a moment of revelation, I learned yet another thing about my own parents divorce. My father's favorite photograph was just that, because,  that is all that he had.

The young girl in my photograph will be 21 in about three weeks. It's been four years since we spoke on the phone, and nine years since I have seen her. I have no idea who she is now.

With reverence to Ringo Starr, now, all I've got is a photograph.

Unauthorized Account Access Sanctioned by Verizon

Have you ever dialed a cell phone carrier's Customer Service division? You call in, punch in your pass code, provide your secret answer, and if you get a real person, they want to know who they are talking with. They ask for permission to access the account, and then they confirm that they can talk to you because you are listed on the account.

That's how it should work.

Earlier this evening Customer Service at Verizon Wireless confirmed by date and name, that they have have been talking to someone, who's not on the account, is not authorized to operate on the account, and who has authorized changes to the account.

It's taken 7 months to locate it and 4 hours on the phones in the past two days alone.

Who needs a better network as explained by colorful balls when Verizon Wireless sanctions unauthorized access to account.

#verizonwireless #verizon #admissionswithoutcorrections

California Franchise Tax Board Needs 130 Days to Answer A Letter

  How long does a state department need to respond to a letter of inquiry?

  14 days?

  30 days?

  How about of 130 days for the California Franchise Tax Board.

   In November 2015, I inquired about assets not received, (for the third time) following the completion of the 2014 tax returns. The California Franchise Tax Board needed 4 months and 9 days to identify which department they intercepted funds on behalf of.

  I should consider myself lucky however. In March 2016, the California Franchise Tax Board requested $30 million in funding to enable them to meet service standards. The request was made based on their policy for the timely processing of correspondence within thirty (30) days, but they acknowledge that the average turn around time has been eight (8) months, (Page 14) with 70,000 items of correspondence unaddressed.  This is further complicated by the inability of consumers to speak to a representative when they telephone.

  Is it any wonder that businesses are leaving California for other states like Texas?

  I wonder how forgiving the State of California would be on April 15 if I delayed the filing of my tax return by 130 days?