Verizon and the Perils of Monogamy…I mean Monopoly … By Whitney Farmer – Un Pop Culture

September 16, 2011 Whitney Farmer 11 Comments

Whitney runs a rock music venue on the beach in L.A.. She has an M.B.A, and she is investigating installing a hardline phone with a rotary dial.

Civil behavior (as in ‘civilization’) can come from pity and shame: Pity for whoever is the latest person to answer my call if everyone else in their company has made a mistake, and shame over not being able to control my temper the last time I resorted to begging for help.

I still don’t have internet access at home. And I don’t like or have time to do personal stuff on the computers at work. So I walk the streets like a character from Dickens trying to find a safe e-haven where I can connect.

Today, I pressured the tech support landing-party Klingon-fodder so hard that she lost her faux British accent and reverted to broken Urdu before escalating my file to the next higher level: Trisha in Compton.  I prefaced my conversations with both by saying that they are not personally responsible for all that has happened over the last two weeks, and that I would try to be the best person I could be now that they were held hostage by my phone call. And I actually think that Tricia might end up being my hero and rescue me. Truthfully, it’s not been the humans who have hurt me. It’s the tech support troubleshooting software cyber-witch who assists me in ‘losing my religion’, as my momma used to say growing up in Texas.  The silky false voice keeps me from talking with humanity and tells me that my prompts can be voice activated, but that it has trouble understanding my answers because of my exotic California accent. I guess contempt and sarcasm recognition has been intentionally omitted from Verizon’s software algorithms.

Today, Tricia from Compton discovered that the reason that the service hasn’t been working is that they had neglected to execute the originally submitted move order to transfer it to a new site. Put simply, they forgot.  A twenty-five dollar apology will be appearing on the next bill. But since my promised service still might not be up and running as promised by tomorrow, I’m preparing myself to have my heart broken again.

Natural monopolies such as utilities and voluntary monopolies that are created when consumers sign contracts are great for businesses and so by association should also be great for consumers downstream. Right?  People work in these companies, right…? But the assumption that corporations are de facto one of the people – and are in need of protected rights that has led to super PAC formulations – has never been supported historically.  Left unchecked, corporations can develop into monopolies that ultimately destroy a free market system like cancer devours its host.  For a time, economies of scale lead to increased efficiency, and the elimination of competitors temporarily leads to re-allocating resources to improve the quality of life for the people associated with the emerging behemoth. But no resources need to be allocated to innovation if the market has no other competitors. And the equilibrium created by a ‘seller beware’ marketplace has no leverage or power when the consumers have no choice. So the resources that have been freed up that previously were dedicated to staying strong in a market segment against competitors or keeping customers committed become repurposed into self-congratulations and corporate gluttony. The host economy declines as the cancer corporation thrives.

This dynamic was the basis of why anti-trust regulations developed in the United States and other developed countries worldwide.  Corporations always rebel against the constraint, and smart countries ignore their tantrums.  In the end, companies and therefore countries are strengthened by competition.

For various reasons, uneasy hybrids of a monopoly model such as federally-granted cable franchises have developed that often have mixed results in the marketplace. Healthcare remains a conundrum because a free market requires a balance of power between the consumer and business. But in healthcare, the technical dynamics are beyond the grasp of ordinary citizens, whose lives are in the balance and who feel too rotten when they are sick to be worthy adversaries against economic exploitation. So compromises are struck: Contracts are signed giving a company an exclusive relationship, if only they promise they will do what they promise and take care of us.

But oaths can be broken and trust funds can be raided and we can end up becoming an old maid and being driven mad while being put on hold as we wait for a problem to be fixed and a promise to be kept.  Our best economic years can be wasted as we pine away for companies that are not worth our loyalty.

Am I in a bad marriage, or do I have a contract with Verizon for internet?  In reviewing the transcripts of the last two weeks – or the transcripts of a few months ago when they left me hanging another time when service went down – I can’t tell the difference:

“…I don’t know what else to do. You promised me, but it still hasn’t happened.  I have absolutely no service at home.  I find myself waiting and waiting, and you don’t come when you said you would or even tell me why.  I keep asking myself if I have done something wrong, but there is nothing wrong with my equipment, and you are doing nothing to fix yours. My commitment is with you, and I have nowhere else I can go. We have had this conversation so many times before that I can’t even count. I am left with leaving early for work or coming home late while I drive around trying to find a hot spot on any sleazy corner where I can connect. Sometimes I can get away during lunch, but I should not have to resort to this. The only other option I have is using my hand held device, but that just doesn’t work for me…”

Verizon, please don’t make me beg again.

Please.

Quote of the Blog, from St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 7:3-5: “…Let the husband fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Stop depriving one another…”