Mom & Big Sis at the Museum of Science and Industry
I pay my eighty-eight year old mother's bills every month and last night I almost had a coronary when I opened her Comcast bill. Ordinarily it's about $2.10 a month to cover the very basic cable service in her senior citizens high-rise. Well, the May bill was, drum roll please....$97.00!!! I waited on hold for 45 minutes to speak to a rep. Turns out, not only had several hard core, triple-X pornographic films been ordered, but somehow mom had signed up for HBO and something called Classic Channels.
This was clearly inconsistent with my mother's long time viewing habits that run from Fox News to CNN, with an occasional peek at the local PBS station.
Luckily I connected with a fairly sympathetic, if chatty customer service rep who immediately understood when I told him that my mother is legally blind, mostly deaf, and gets confused by the concept of "On Demand." Mom later told me she was trying to order "Billy Elliott" but after pushing a lot of buttons, she decided the remote "was broken", so she called customer service for help with that issue -- and was encouraged to try the HBO/Classic Channels package instead. "They said HBO was only $10 and the Classic Channels were FREE!" WRONG, MOM! HBO was $10 a day and the free Classic Channels offer was only good for a month (according to my new friend, the rep).
Obviously I cancelled the HBO/Classic Channels package immediately. The double and triple X Movie charges were refunded.
Now I have to go to mom's house to put "Parental Controls" on her set - because according to the rep, Comcast may not forgive the porn charges next time!
TIP:
Enter the amount, and click "Tip" to submit!
L in the Southeast
Travelight32
Amy A
Lyn LeJeune
Andrew Lawrence
bobbot
Salon.com
Comments
It's difficult when you are more than a few minutes away, but it sounds like your husband's mom is in good shape -- being able to drive at her age is a huge deal. Having a pet as a trusty companion is a good sign, too. But you do always worry - even when there is nothing to be concerned about. And we want our parents to be happy - even if it adds gray hairs to our heads.
I had to gently encourage my mom to sell her car about six years ago. She was always a distracted driver, but was becoming a danger to herself and others. Shortly thereafter, after she injured her back to the point where she was practically immobile, so my sister and I lobbied for her to move to a very nice assisted living highrise 5 minutes from my house. Believe me, although it was the best thing my sister and I ever did -- it was the most difficult. And my mother MAD as HELL. It took her a year to settle in and forgive us, but now she has friends (instead of relying on the kindess of neighbors by dint of her being the oldest person in the co-op); she has regular activities and access to transportation and a wonderful staff. Best of all she is safe. I'm relieved to have her close by, but at times she can be a challenge. SHe's always been a high maintenance sort of person, and in the best of times, it took a virtual "team" to manage her;-). Sometimes I don't know how my father did it.
After getting over the shock, I found the Comcast/porn incident kind of funny. Actually my 15 year old son set up the parental controls and only he knows the secret code....! There you have it!