Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Are You Freakin Kidding Me?

I believe in being a responsible Pet Owner.
I make sure they get their shots, licenses, walked,
cleaned, etc....
The above lovely fellow is Kula as some of you know by now.
and we have a cat named Stinky (black and white)
like you could not guess that one.
.........
Anyway this past Saturday I phone City Hall to pay the pet fees.
After waiting a short while, I did get through and this is how the conversation went.
HER: Hello licensing and Planning Department, how may I help you.

ME:  Hi My name is Cindy -------, and I need to pay for my pet licences.

HER:  You can do that on line.

ME, Yes I know, I do prefer to do this over the phone please.
HER: (With a Snarky Attitude) One moment then.( She comes on the line and says)
That will be 76.00 for the three pets,,,,,

Now here is where it became difficult.

ME: I only have the one dog Kula and the cat Stinky, the other dog Sparky had gone back to the
Spca. back in early February.

HER: We need confirmation of that

ME;  I am confirming with you that he went to the SPCA and was adopted out 2 days after he was put on display.

HER: You will need to come down to City Hall, they are open Monday to Friday to confirm you no longer
have this second dog.

ME; The only confirmation I can give you is that the SPCA  will have a record of this. I am disabled and I am not coming down to City Hall, I need to pay for just my two pets over the phone.

HER; One moment.
(Now here is where the conversation went South Quickly!)

HER; There is no one to confirm you do not have a second dog.
(I am thinking to myself, I am about to confirm that I am going to lose my mind,
however not knowing what kind of a day she had, and what problems she had in her own
life I took a deep breath and bit my tongue as she continued to explain.)
You will have to pay for the three pets because they all show up on the same invoice,
and once you pay for the three pets the bylaw policy is that we do not refund for 
any pet licencing, so you should wait until we can verify through SPCA that you no longer
have your second dog Sparky......

Well Miss Cindy Crankypants showed up I am not proud to say, but I thought this was utterly ridiculous
and I have always paid and have had no problems, My concern was that there is a $250.00
fine for each pet if they get caught without a new license.

ME: So you are telling me that you will not take my money to have two of my pets licensed. There must be a place that you can indicate that the client has informed us of not having a second dog and insisted upon paying for her two pets that she states that she has.

HER:  Correct we can not do this unless you want to pay for three.

ME: Can you tell me if my pets got a ticket would there be a note indicating that I had attempted to pay the
licence fee.

HER; NO
ME, So possibly my pets could get a ticket for $500.00 that I would have to pay because you would
not take my credit card over the phone for a total of $46.00. I said that I would go to court and fight the tickets and make sure that I will be calling the complaint department as this is not how to do business.

HER: Well you can pay for the three if you are concerned about getting a ticket, but there will be no refund for the second dog. 

ME: (THINKING OMG) I said, no thank you, who am I talking too.

HER; My name is --------
ME, thank you have a very nice day!
............................................................................
Twenty five years I have worked in customer service and I know at times it can not be pleasant,but I also know having worked in management that there is always something that can be done. I just had to shake my head in dismay at the interaction above. I would give them a call on Monday to straighten this up. Then I was thinking about all the people that do not get licences for their animals, and I was just trying to do the right thing, and what if my dog had died, how would have I proved that...................................................................................................

Monday Morning
I make the dreaded phone call,
I kid you not the same lady answered the phone,
HER: Licencing and Planning Department
ME: I would like to renew my pet licences.
HER: OH , one moment please.

Within two minutes all was done on the phone by the new person without any confusion or confirmation
that I did not have the second dog. I never said anything to this lady about what had occurred on Saturday
and at five o'clock there was a message left on my phone by some manager that he was terribly sorry
for the confusion on Saturday and that they will look into changing their policy, but that they do stand by it as it is.   I felt like calling back to say it had been handled and I only had to pay for the pets that I had without
being asked for confirmation. I did not as I felt too much energy had been spent on this already.
......................
But I have to say this, Hundreds of times I have watched shows about puppy mills, horses starving, cruelty to animals, etc and it makes me sick to my stomach. Instead of wasting their energy on such a ridiculous scenario, maybe they should be out doing what the bylaws are meant to do. and that is to
Protect the Animals.
Well I hope you have your Very Best of Days,
Be kind to all people
as we too can have a bad day!

13 comments:

  1. The combination of red tape and poorly trained bureaucrats is a deadly one. Your experience sounds like a Monty Python skit!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh my gosh cinner this is unbelievable. You were very patient. Glad it all worked out for you in the end......pity the next person who calls in........:-0 Hugs

    ReplyDelete
  3. good night what a headache...you are a very patient person...i will give you that. smiles.

    ReplyDelete
  4. OMG...I would have flipped out! You did good by staying calm...and it seemed to all work out! YAY :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Glad it was a different story on Monday!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yes it definitely sounds like she was having a bad day. Glad it got straightened out for you!
    Hugs
    SueAnn

    ReplyDelete
  7. Bureaucracy. Sucks sometimes. So glad it didn't throw you into a meltdown. That whole incident is so astounding. Totally ridiculous.

    ReplyDelete
  8. If this wasn't a daily occurrence in so many people's lives, I would laugh. Exhale.

    one love.

    p.s. thanks so much for joining us in doing a random act of kindness on july 6th ;)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Good Grief!!!! Glad it worked out in the end....sometimes we just have to let a little time pass and just start over!
    Kula is so so so cute!! Looks like a very sweet dog! :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. well well well...Ms Crankypants,

    I'da just hit the crapdoor button...broke out in an array of assholes....and crapped down her piehole.

    But that is me.

    Write an official complaint Cin. It is a surefire way that something will actually get done. See if you can locate one councilperson who has pets and fire copies to their email.

    I do such a lot.

    Love ya CP !! hahahahaha!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I can't believe that! We try to be responsible pet owners too, but some organizations seem to make it more difficult. I hope next year goes more smoothly for you!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Wow...that is crazy hon...geesh..what the heck..they should be glad you are paying at all. We have rabies tags required here..but only that..and it is up to us to go to the vet and get tags. Wow so sorry hon...call me next time I will unravel her red tape...arggggggggg!
    I will agree..with all the pets in pounds here..you would think they would make it easier to adopt them...it costs almost 80 here to get a dog from the pound..then they require you to pay for spay and nueter...I can get a free one in the paper...and they wonder why folks don't come in!! Totally lost on me. All of our animals have been giveaways or strays..I love every single one of them!!!
    Hugs hon...your treat is on its way to you....

    ReplyDelete
  13. wow.....good for you !
    obviously the phone call was recorded or someone else in the office overhear the conversation....YIPPEE for you !

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for taking the time to leave me a comment. I value your opinion and your friendship.