i've got a problem with sun cellular. a huge problem.

i've forgiven you for the generally weak signal. even if sometimes i have to stand outside the dorm with one hand outstretched to catch whatever microwave signals filter in through the trees, i don't mind.

i've forgiven you for the bills that never arrive on time, for the mentally-challenged (oh, we're so p.c. right over here) customer service person who asked me to give directions to get to pearl drive in ortigas when it's just about become the katipunan road of pasig.

but to cut me off like that, for three, and possibly more, days away from text messaging and phone calls to clients who do not have landlines less than a week before a huge criminal trial -- that i cannot forgive.

i've been good. i settle my bills the day they arrive. i even round it off and try to pay a little more than my bill, just so next month's bill won't be that much of a shocker. i try to use my sun phone to call my parents in the US, my clients, my students, my friends, and my boyfriend even just so i can generate enough revenue for your struggling company. whenever anyone asks whether i'm happy with my sun phone, i say "yes" believing that one day, you will finally come through for me.

but come on, if we have another year and 4 months before we can call this relationship quits, we have to settle our problems.

listen up.

first, i do not want to pay off bills that have not arrived yet. that's why it's called postpaid. give me the bill, i pay it. my mom trained me that way. do not, i repeat, do not have your collection people call me on a bright cheery wednesday afternoon while i'm doing my grocery to tell me that i have to pay a bill that has not arrived yet. had i been the kind of person to do that, i'd have stuck to my prepaid line.

second, i hate having to call back simply because the line was cut. a hotline is a hotline. i do not want to deal with everything i have to say in four minutes. i cannot say everything i have to say to your customer service representative in four minutes, especially if he happens to be mentally challenged. i am mad, i am pissed, i am fuming and hungry and sleepy. being polite over the phone is the least of my concerns. whatever glimmer of politeness i have disappears when i have to call three times, and give my name, my cellphone number, my middle name and birthday for verification, and repeat the root of my complaint every single time!!!

third, review your policies. i have a P1,000 credit limit. my bill amounted to P779.80, due on august 16, 2004. my running balance is P380++. i paid my bill last july 31, and according to mentally-challenged customer service representative, they received my hard-earned P780 on july 31, 16 full days before it was due. yesterday i got my services redirected. yes, you got my payment, yes my running balance is now well within my credit limit, but you're sorry you cannot return my outgoing services until i pay another P180 so that my outstanding balance is 20% of my credit limit. i'm sorry but no matter which directions my neurons fire this morning, i do not understand why i have to make another payment, especially when i have not been billed yet for those services (go back to number 1).

i never thought i'd say this, but i miss my globe. humongous bills and all, globe never let me down. globe was with me in the middle of the ocean to bacolod, in the middle of bangkok hopelessly lost with only a cellphone to find my way back to my aunt, and while the pilot and i were starting our relationship and all we had between us was his bangkok simcard and my P2,500 globe credit limit.

sun, sun, sun. take your crummy free phone back (i never really got used to texting using that anyway). take your inspirational what-nots that i never subscribed to anyway. you're a lousy cellular service provider.

hrmph.