My Small Claim Against Qwest

A Story by Evyn Rubin

true and authentic, a small piece of memoir from the mid-Nineties

To: Small Claims Court

From: Evyn Rubin

Re: my case against Qwest

I am suing Qwest for $315 or more, (up to $945), because they interrupted my long distance service without any good reason, and due to the timing of this, this interruption was not only inconvenient, but caused me pain and suffering.

Last year I got behind in paying my telephone bill and made a payment schedule with a representative from Qwest, to catch up in four payments. I paid each of these installments on the days they were due and was entirely up to date on this payment schedule, yet Qwest interrupted my long distance service. This not only violated their stated procedures for interrupting service, but the timing of it created real distress for me.

Saturday morning at 5:30, my friend Raven from Santa Fe who was seriously ill, called me in a state of alarm, because she had taken a turn for the worse. She had suddenly developed a new symptom of extreme dizziness (vertigo) and was unable to get out of bed. While I tried to reassure her, I too was alarmed by this. After we talked briefly, I told her I would call her back at 6:30, while she would keep the line open for an hour, for the return calls from her healthcare providers. Then, at 6:30, when I attempted to place the call, I found I had no outgoing long distance service.

When I called 611, telephone repair, I was told my service had been blocked by mistake and therefore I would not have to pay a re-connection charge. Nor was there any payment due. The 611 worker I spoke with told me my service would be restored within a few hours and apologized for the mistake.

In other words, Qwest admitted this happened by mistake, but the timing of this made a bad situation even more difficult.

In order to call Raven back at 6:30, I now had to get dressed, take my car, buy a phone card, then use a pay phone. The nearest supermarket, which I went to first, which used to have phone cards displayed at the register, had just been bought by a different chain, and they no longer carried phone cards. I had to go to a second supermarket, It took a full hour before I was able to make the call and this was a horrible hour.

I was robbed of the comfort of my own home, being able to make my call while sitting in my own easy chair, with my cup of coffee. An unnecessary complication had been added to this already distressing situation.

During that one hour it took to call 611, get dressed and out of my house, buy the phone card, and finally make the call, I was agonized that this delay might contribute to Raven's distress, as I had told her I would call her back at 6:30. And when I finally talked with her, and she was not feeling better, I had to ask her to call me later, because I din't know when I'd be able to call out.

My point is, there was a whole extra problematic dimension thrust down on the situation, a complication that was entirely unwarranted, by their admission.

Also, about six months after the incident described here, I picked up the telephone one night to make a call, and there was no dial tone. The line was dead. I was paid up on my bill. What was wrong? I went to a pay phone and called 611. I was told the disconnection of my service had happened "by mistake."

The person I talked with said they would not charge me a re-connection fee, because it was their mistake. They re-connected my service within an hour. There were no consequences involving pain and suffering this time, only a brief inconvenience. This second incident stands in my mind as further proof that there is either a policy or a practice or a problem at Qwest that results in the interruption of people's phone service without cause.

I have perspective on this and I know this is a minor small complaint. However I pay for my phone service to be there when I need it, for routine calls, generally, or in this case for a friend's emergency. I want to hold them accountable for the problem on their end.

Post Script

Why did I not pursue this in court? I wrote up my case very well, then left it in a box of papers to find years later. I had a good case, appropriate for small claims court. Fighting a small fight helps you build clout (and character) so you are in good shape for when a big fight comes around. It would have benefited me to have pursued this.