I'm peeved at NTT (the Japanese major telephone company). I have a NTT cell phone. Here in Japan, only outgoing phone calls are charged. Incomings are free. And in general, I use the cell phone for incomings because I'm out so often from meeting with people and teaching classes. So here's the situation. I get my monthly bill, and it's about $40 over what I think it should be. Problem is that NTT never shows a breakdown of the phone calls. On the bill it shows how much I'm charged for all the phone calls I make, but it doesn't show where I called and how much each phone call cost. So, by looking at the phone bill there's no way to check if I've been overbilled. At this point I'm not too annoyed.
So I go to the local NTT cell phone shop in town (about a 10 minute walk). I tell them that I think i'm overbilled and that I'd like a breakdown of my phone calls for the last month. He's gives me this weird look and says that he can't do it. He says, "Sorry, but you'll have to go to the Tomakomai shop personally if you want something like that." Tomakomai is an hour and 45 minute car drive from where I am. At this point, I'm annoyed. I'm wondering, is it worth 3 hours and 30 minutes of driving to clear up something that's worth $40? Not only that but I figure in the gas money (which is about $4 a gallon in Japan) and I really start to wonder whether it's worth it. So basically, I ask the clerk at the local shop if there's anyway we could get the information without going out to Tomakomai. Call them up, have them fax the information over... email, something. I mean, this is the information age! To which the clerk says, "We have this policy because we want to protect the privacy of our customers." At this point i'm really annoyed. I don't care about my privacy at this point. i just don't want to pay an additional $40 that I don't think I have to pay. And that's what I say.
So the clerk says, "Well, if you don't pay this bill by the end of the month, we'll be forced to cancel your subscription." I know that. I know how to pay a bill. I know what happens if i don't. I'm just really annoyed by the fact that NTT can overbill somebody and get away with it because of the huge inconvenience it is to even check if you've been overbilled! Oh yeah, and of course, the Tomakomai office/shop is open only on regular business hours when normal people are working. AAaahhh!