I got my Ameritech phone bill today and there was no AT&T long distance charges on it, not even the monthly fees. Also Wendy's Hambergers in town has been giving me reciepts that are dated in 1998. The month and date are right but they are in the wrong year. Is this legal? Dont they run accounting off of the same system ?

-- Jeff S. (jefsta@netzero.net), December 09, 1999

Answers

Tell them if they are going to roll back the year then you expect them to roll back the prices accordingly.

-- Hawk (flyin@high.again), December 09, 1999.

Yes, it is a little known fact that purchases at Wendys and Thank you for your inquiry.

AT&T telephone charges are indeed processed by the same system that processes orders at Wendys fast food restaurants. The 1998 date is actually a workaround that AT&T has had to implement to allow your telephone calls to be processed correctly in the year 2000.

Regarding your missing long distance charges: This is a side effect of the 1998 date implementation. The next time that you place an order at Wendys, you should note that the charges will appear in the form of unordered burgers and fries to account for the balance owed.

Thank you for using AT&T. And be sure to "Biggie-Size" your fries.

-- King of Spain (madrid@aol.cum), December 09, 1999.

This actually brings up something I have been thinking about for a while now.

How legal is a document that shows the incorrect date?

Can any document with a two digit year be disputed as not being the correct year and thus not a legal document?

If someone signs a contract with a two digit year can they claim at a later date that seem as the document was not filled out correctly that it is not legal?

I see sometimes cheque books, receipt books and other things already have a printed 19 for the year, next year and onwards if someone fills out one of these with crossing out the 19 and replacing with 20 then is it legal?

If my grandmother received a notice back in 1899 that she could collect her prize that she has won no later than 1-Jun-00 could she claim it next year?

Any legal eagles out there that could possibly clarify some of this?

Regards, Simon

-- Simon Richards (simon@wair.com.au), December 09, 1999.

KOS --

LOL!!! Thanks for putting it all in perspective for us. There is after all a higher-order logic in all this. The apex of the trend to corporate mergering. Makes my mouth water for a Wendy's, just to be a part of the coming Age of Compliance.

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-- SH (squirrel@huntr.com), December 09, 1999.

didn't get my att bill either this month with my ameritech bill...

-- Vern (bacon17@ibm.net), December 09, 1999.

USWest (here in Albuquerque) billed me twice for the late November- early December time period. I called them to say I'd already paid the bill and the clerk who helped me checked and told me they had the first payment fine. Y2k problem? I asked. "I hope not!" he replied, his voice a bit choked and sounding more than a little nervous about the idea.

-- Debby S. (DebbyZ@swcp.com), December 09, 1999.

ATT has started a new policy about billing. If your ATT charges are less than about $30, it is not billed. The < $30 charges are accumulated for 3 months, then included all at once. This has been on our local TV and apparently has gone into effect in just the past 2 months or so....

-- BH (bh_silentvoice@hotmail.com), December 09, 1999.

Yes, BH is correct re: the ATT billing policy. They will hold charges for up to 3 months if you do not exceed $30 charges. I don't know whether that's $30 total or $30 per month.

What I did find out was that if you don't like that billing policy, you can call them and asked to be put back onto a monthly billing cycle regardless of the bill amount.

It can be a real 'memory game' when looking back at 3 months worth of calls to make sure they're legitimate.

I don't know what the deal is about Wendy's.

-- (you.w@ntfrieswiththat?.com), December 09, 1999.