Author Topic: The $5000 phone call  (Read 5114 times)

AMandM

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The $5000 phone call
« on: August 24, 2016, 11:52:24 AM »
Another story to illustrate the principle that it's always worth making a phone call.

My daughter was scheduled to spend this fall semester studying abroad, in a program that cost $5000.  She was told when she was accepted that the fee was non-refundable for any reason.

Well, man proposes....  She decided to enter the convent this fall instead of going back to school, so she withdrew from the university.  We received her last bill, showing the fall tuition charges cancelled, but not the study-abroad fee.  Figuring there's nothing to lose, I called and asked if they could cancel it, and they did!   

BTDretire

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Re: The $5000 phone call
« Reply #1 on: August 24, 2016, 11:56:37 AM »
Congrates!

slappy

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Re: The $5000 phone call
« Reply #2 on: August 24, 2016, 12:42:44 PM »
That's great! They probably had a waiting list of people willing to pay the $5k, so it didn't cause them any harm. Nice job making that call!

Jack

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Re: The $5000 phone call
« Reply #3 on: August 24, 2016, 12:46:15 PM »
How long did it take? If it took six minutes, you can tell people that you got paid $50,000/hour!

AMandM

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Re: The $5000 phone call
« Reply #4 on: August 25, 2016, 12:25:38 PM »
I did have to send a follow-up email, so all told my pay rate was probably "only" $30,000/hour. ;-)

JCfire

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Re: The $5000 phone call
« Reply #5 on: August 25, 2016, 01:00:27 PM »
Another story to illustrate the principle that it's always worth making a phone call.

My daughter was scheduled to spend this fall semester studying abroad, in a program that cost $5000.  She was told when she was accepted that the fee was non-refundable for any reason.

Well, man proposes....  She decided to enter the convent this fall instead of going back to school, so she withdrew from the university.  We received her last bill, showing the fall tuition charges cancelled, but not the study-abroad fee.  Figuring there's nothing to lose, I called and asked if they could cancel it, and they did!

Crazy, I just called 10 people and not a single one of them agreed to give me $5000.

Jrr85

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Re: The $5000 phone call
« Reply #6 on: August 25, 2016, 02:29:38 PM »

Well, man proposes....  She decided to enter the convent this fall instead of going back to school

I'm sorry, I think you owe some sort of story here.  A man proposes to her and she is so mortified she goes off to join a convent or what?  I don't think you can ellipsis over that in good faith.  Or does convent mean something different in your area (or maybe denomination)? 

Northwestie

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Re: The $5000 phone call
« Reply #7 on: August 25, 2016, 02:35:24 PM »

Jrr85

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Re: The $5000 phone call
« Reply #8 on: August 25, 2016, 03:09:12 PM »
Maybe I'm not getting the joke - but OP means:  http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/quotations/quotes/man_proposes_but_god_disposes.html

Well, turns out it wasn't a joke as much as it was me showing my ignorance with respect to that phrase.  I somehow had never heard that saying even though a quick google search shows it's apparently pretty common. 

Inaya

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Re: The $5000 phone call
« Reply #9 on: August 25, 2016, 04:04:25 PM »
Maybe I'm not getting the joke - but OP means:  http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/quotations/quotes/man_proposes_but_god_disposes.html

Well, turns out it wasn't a joke as much as it was me showing my ignorance with respect to that phrase.  I somehow had never heard that saying even though a quick google search shows it's apparently pretty common.
You're not alone. I had the exact same thought.

AMandM

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Re: The $5000 phone call
« Reply #10 on: August 30, 2016, 05:52:58 PM »
Jrr85, your reading of my words never occurred to me... so I guess together we inadvertently made a pretty good joke!