General

OK, I'm moving my notes over to this blog entry...

Recently I had some problems connecting to the Internet for which I needed to have QWest come out to examine the lines as they say. I hate this because they schedule a four-hour block of time and require that you be on the premises when rarely is it a problem in your house, rather it's often a problem at the "junction box" for the apartment complex. And, of course, they tend to arrive in the last hour if they arrive at all on time. This means I lose at least four hours of billable time, plus the time before and after the appointment. For example, they gave me a block of 10 Am - 2 Pm so it makes no sense for me to rush into work at say 8, work for an hour or so only to have to rush home to get there by 10 Am.

But since I had no internet connectivity at all for about a day and a half I figured I needed to stay on the premises and hope they arrive early. They did not. They did not arrive at all in fact. ~ 1 Pm I called asking when the would be arriving. ~ 2 Pm I called and told them they failed to make it to my premises in the specified and agreed upon four-hour time period.

Since I had no Internet connectivity and since all my TV comes through the Internet now a days, I had nothing else to do for that time period but to play video games. This also means that I was right by my front door which opens to my living room where I was playing Playstation games. Every once in a while I'd get up and look through the window looking for a QWest truck.

At around 3 Pm I finally saw somebody who looked like a service tech walking around outside so I went out to meet her. She told me she was from QWest and I should be all fixed up now - that it was a problem with the main connector or something like that and handed me a piece of paper that looked like one of those things you hang around a door knob that she had signed. I checked the paper to insure she timestamped it, which she did and I thought to myself "I'm gonna need this as evidence".

In trying to report this all I was given was the number of the "claims" department - 866-567-4801 - option 1 then 6. I've called an left several messages for a call back because that number seems to be only for claims against telephone service. I have yet to receive a callback.

The phone message mentioned something about sending in an invoice to show you've incurred damages so I thought to write up an invoice to bill QWest for lost wages and send it in. Let's see what they do with that...

Meantime I started looking up for possible process servers: Omni Legal Support Group or Serve Now

7/20/2009: Called the QWest number above but selected the Arizona section - still says she'll be out of the office til Monday 7/20, even though this is Monday 7/20. Left message.

Later, Patty, from the Arizona section, called back. Registered Agent is:

CT Corp 2394 East Camelback Road Phoenix, Arizona 85016

7/27/2009: Spent approximately 2 hours researching on the network regarding Arizona consumer law, contracts, process servers and how to proceed in small claims court. (Ref; http://legal.asua.arizona.edu/sc_ct.html).

According to California law this

1722. (a) (1) Whenever a contract is entered into between a consumer and a retailer with 25 or more employees relating to the sale of merchandise which is to be delivered by the retailer or the retailer's agent to the consumer at a later date, and the parties have agreed that the presence of the consumer is required at the time of delivery, the retailer and the consumer shall agree, either at the time of the sale or at a later date prior to the delivery date, on a four-hour time period within which any delivery shall be made. Whenever a contract is entered into between a consumer and a retailer with 25 or more employees for service or repair of merchandise, whether or not the merchandise was sold by the retailer to the consumer, and the parties have agreed that the presence of the consumer is required at the time of service or repair, upon receipt of a request for service or repair under the contract, the retailer and the consumer shall agree, prior to the date of service or repair, on a four-hour period within which the service or repair shall be commenced. Once a delivery, service, or repair time is established, the retailer or the retailer's agent shall deliver the merchandise to the consumer, or commence service or repair of the merchandise, within that four-hour period.

(2) If the merchandise is not delivered, or service or repair are not commenced, within the specified four-hour period, except for delays caused by unforeseen or unavoidable occurrences beyond the control of the retailer, the consumer may bring an action in small claims court against the retailer for lost wages, expenses actually incurred, or other actual damages not exceeding a total of six hundred dollars ($600).

7/28/2009: Visited http://www.superiorcourt.maricopa.gov/justiceCourts/courtsandsections/smallclaims/ and investigated how to properly file (2 hours)

7/29/2009: Filled out complaint form (1 hour)

7/30/2009: Delivered complain form to court (30 minutes)

7/31/2009 Sent service to QWest (10 minutes)