Harlan KY/Word to the wise

1-tonmudder

1-tonmudder

Doin my part to stir the pot.
Joined
Apr 17, 2005
Location
Greeneville TN
When in Harlan DO NOT make a collect phone call on the pay phones.Me and my wife both have cells so we have no home phone.The plan was to call the MIL's at a certain time.She got her bill today and it was $176 for 22 min.
 
This has been covered once before that I know of.
I think tomorrow I will do some investigating and see who up there I could talk to about better communications. That is ridiculous!
 
I know the fact that there is no cell service has been covered,but I obviously missed the one about the pay-phones.On Sat of the Fall Crawl I did get a page up around Pony Hill somewhere.

If it was my phone I would let them cut it off before I'd pay,but it's not.
 
Have your MIL dispute the charge. I went thru something like that once when I had bell south. Something about the charges larger than customary. Worth a try anyway
 
My first apartment, had two roomates, both chicks.
First months phone bill....450$
Apearantly, I had not signed with any specific carrier and my service was picked up by some long distance pirate that legaly charged me over 7.50 per min. Thats more than an inflight emergancy call over the Atlantic! I was able to appeal, and for a measly 2yr contract with a big known name co. I was able to get the bill reduced to 130 bucks,where it should have been.
I almost killed the chicks when I saw the initial bill.
 
A buddy of mine said it just $1.50 for his BIL to call from prison.
 
FYI, the first day I got there I made a few calls from the Evarts campground. I used cingular (AT&T) and a treo 650, which I've never thought had anything other than average reception. It didn't work after that but I bet if I rebooted my phone it would have.

Instead, I used a calling card and the pay phones by the dairy hut and at the gas station across the street. I bought 60 minutes for about $5 a while ago and I use it to call from Crawford's and Harlan. At Harlan, they take an extra 15 minutes from the card just to initiate the call. However, that's about $1.25 which sucks but doesn't make or break the finances.
 
When calling collect, you do have an option of what carrier to use.
E.g. remember all the old commercials, 1-800-call-att versu 1-800-collect etc?

I got burned on thsi once too, on my way home from a late flight, called wife for about 5 minutes.
Got the bill, $35. WTF?
Well it turns out the number I dialed, in my tired sleepy delerium, was 1 digit off from 1-800-collect or whatever I intended. I didn't realize this, and was routed through another company who "squats" on similar numbers just to catch guys like me. Perfectly legal, just a little unscrupulous.

Oh and re: $7 calls from an airplane - I *love* their slogan - "It's not the expense of the call... it's the expense of NOT making the call."
 
Yeah I used one the last time we went to Harlan and it had about 30 min's left on it and I barely got thru the call before my time was up.

If you'll look on the back of the cards it will tell you the rate at which your time is used,versus the state your in.Some places are like 4-1.
 
The payphone across the street from the dairy hut is $0.50 for 4 minutes, anywhere in the country. That is the only phone I've used up there for the past 2 years.
 
When calling collect, you do have an option of what carrier to use.
E.g. remember all the old commercials, 1-800-call-att versu 1-800-collect etc?
Click to expand...
I just punched 0 and the automated operator took over.:shaking:
 
The payphone across the street from the dairy hut is $0.50 for 4 minutes, anywhere in the country. That is the only phone I've used up there for the past 2 years.
Click to expand...

Thats the very phone I used.We stayed at the campground behind the dairy hut.
 
I had posted before, call was ~$35 for like 4 mins. I used the sticker on the phone that claimed low rates,, NOT... I looked them up on line and they have a very poor consumer record of bilking customers a ton of $$..

Next time I will bring my ATT card..
 
I made four calls for a total of 22 mins.Each call was $33 and then all the fee's and taxes made up the rest.
 
It's not that I "have" to call it's that I want to call.I'm still interseted in what's going on with my wife and 8yo when I'm gone.I was there Thur-Sun.That probably make's me whooped,but so be it.
 
1-tonmudder said:
I just punched 0 and the automated operator took over.:shaking:
Click to expand...

Yeah.... if you just hit 0, then you're at the mercy of whatever company own the phone. Case in point....
 
wow, that's crazy. i had both internet on my laptop (sprint) and cell service (sprint/nextel) within 15-20 miles of harlan. dead everywhere right in that area though. not a big deal to me, i don't have anyone i need to check in with anyway.
 
RufusTheRam said:
wow, that's crazy. i had both internet on my laptop (sprint) and cell service (sprint/nextel) within 15-20 miles of harlan. dead everywhere right in that area though. not a big deal to me, i don't have anyone i need to check in with anyway.
Click to expand...

I thought I remembered either you, Joel, Matt, or Baryn picking up a wireless signal on a laptop at the cabins?
 
Well, I called and talked to someone in the City office. I do believe her surprise was genuine! She acted completely shocked when I told her of the charges that were being charged on these pay phones. She didn't offer a solution, but she did say that she would tell the Mayor about it. She took my name and number, so, we'll see. I did offer an idea that if nothing else, some better instructions could be placed on the phones as to how to dial and not get raped.
Guess it's a hurry and wait game as for now
 
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