I think I may have found a way to use TPTB very own system against them. What I am about to explain is not necessarily the end all be all, but maybe
some insight into things we could do and expand and evolve this into other areas to make things happen. I think there may be some potential here to be
used for other purposes and in other ways, I am only presenting a concept.
The premise behind this is that I have a family member that I have barred from having a cell phone and in one way or another ends up getting one
anyway. So, being a determined and relentless individual that I can be, I was hell bent in stopping it. So I called the cell phone company that is
green in color and is named after an insect and was prepared with my story that I thought that would get this phone disconnected. I was prepared by
using the defense that I am in charge and they are supplying a minor child with a device without parental approval.
The call went like this.
Operator: Hello, thank you for calling XXXXXXX, how can I be of service to you?(my call was transferred overseas and there was a language barrier to
contend with)
Me: I would like to see about disconnecting a service.
Operator: Certainly sir, what is the number and your name?
Me: I gave the operator the phone number in question and gave them my name.(as I was prepared to play the "I am the parent card")
Operator: Can you verify the date of birth on the account.
Me: Sure can, and provided the DOB.
Operator: Thank you (called me by my family members name instead), I will take care of this. You need to be aware that any credit left on the account
will be forfeited.
Me: No problem.
Operator: May I ask why you are disconnecting the service.
Me: No longer needed.
After that we parted ways, and within 10 minutes the phone was no longer working.
This is the second time I have done something similar, however, I will not discuss the first time because I may have pressed my luck a little far on
that one. But this time, I think I used a culture that they do not entirely understand against them. It seems to me, that before all this
globalization crap took hold and when the operators you would deal with was always an American and would usually be on top of things as to how things
actually work in the US, I do not think that had this been 10 years ago I would have been able to pull this off as easily as I did. Quite frankly, the
operator I dealt with did not really ask me the right questions to have the service disconnected, as an example the times that I have moved and had to
disconnect utility service I had to answer a butt load of questions to prove I was who I said I was. The great thing about it is that I never lied one
time, they did not challenge me enough so that I had do what I had to do to get it shut off.
Just thought I would throw it out there, and maybe the information could be of use.
I think this exposes a weak link in the system, with potential to exploit to the fullest to benefit us if used properly.
edit on 22-6-2011 by Skewed because: (no reason given)