Doesn't Anybody Keep Promises?

A few months ago we changed over our phone service from Verizon to Brighthouse. This enabled us to save a few hundred dollars a year by bundling the cable television, high speed internet, and phone into one package. My sister warned me that she has had nothing but trouble with her phone service from Brighthouse. More money in our pockets meant we were willing to take the risk. Shortly thereafter, we had trouble with the internet service. They repaired it fairly quickly so we were still o.k. with our decision. For the last few weeks three of our four phones have had bad static and ended up not working at all. The remaining phone that works is located in the bedroom so we've been running a lot and missing calls. My husband did the usual thing of calling for repair, waiting on hold for a half hour and finally getting a repair appointment for the following week. Naturally, someone had to be home between the hours of 2:00 and 5:00. At 6:30 they showed up. No call, no apology. After a few trips up into the attic then back out to his truck while making several calls back to Brighthouse for advice, the technician decided there was a short in the line. He didn't "do" lines though and stood right in our kitchen and made another call into Brighthouse to set up the appointment for the following day for the lineman to come. This time it was between 11:00 and 2:00. Today, I called Brighthouse at 4:00 wondering where the repair person was. They informed me there was no appointment made for a repair today. We went back and forth for awhile before he put me on hold for 20 minutes listening to some terrible jazz music. Tomorrow they will supposedly come between 11:00 and 2:00. The support person told me they would give me a check for $20 because they were not on time for the first appointment. I asked what they would give me for not showing up at all for the second one. He said, "There wasn't any appointment." Finally, he gave in and promised a week of free phone service. I said I hoped it would begin after I had working phones. I just don't understand why they even bother to give you a time window if they don't honor it. It would be better to say they might show up if they feel like it. Then you wouldn't be so disappointed. People today are very lax with their promises. It's as though they were raised by wolves. I was raised to follow through and keep my word.

I was home all morning waiting for Brighthouse until 1:30. I left my husband home to finish the waiting while I ran over to visit mom. The schedule of activities at the home noted a sing along at 1:30. Music is the only thing left she enjoys so I wanted to be sure she attended. I called to be sure she wasn't in the middle of a permanent for her hair. They weren't going to start her for awhile so I suggested postponing the permanent until next week in order for her to go to the sing along. I raced over to get mom, telling her they would do the permanent next week and just wash her hair later today because we were going to go to a sing along. She was thrilled. We went across the street to the other building and there was no one there. No singer, no people gathered, nothing indicating a sing along. After questioning several people to no avail, we returned to mom's building where I took matters into my own hands. I found a few old-time cd's, put them in the cd player in the main living room and proceeded to sing to my mother for an hour. She sang along a little, smiled often, and we even did a little chair dancing. Edith, another resident, swayed to the music as well. It was a poor substitute for the promised sing along but it was better than nothing. I had told mom we were going to a sing along and I was going to give her one even if I had to do it all by myself. She gave us a wonderful childhood and always kept her promises. I never once remember her changing her mind or disappointing us by failing to keep a promise. The least I can do is try to compensate for the failed promises of the institution where she lives. I put a call in to headquarters and got the answering machine. I promise they will hear about my disappointment when they return my call.