Billing confusion is a regular part of customer service, especially when time gets away from people.

One support agent fielded a call from a confused customer convinced he paid everything he owed.

The real problem turned out to be less about money and more about the calendar.

Keep reading for the full story!

The man who didn’t realise it’s already mid-april

In the middle of each month, we get bombarded with calls from people whose phone plans have been suspended for nonpayment.

Cue this gentleman.

Customer: I want to know why my phone is not working. I just paid my bills!

Me: One second, please. Let me look into that for you.

Soon the problem at hand became abundantly clear.

…

Me: Thank you for your patience. I see your payment has arrived; however, that payment was for the bill due in January.

Unfortunately, since your February bill hasn’t been paid yet, your phone plan has been suspended.

The customer is still quite confused.

Customer: But I just paid those bills. This is ridiculous.

Me: Yes, I see right here that you just paid a bill. However, you still have one that’s overdue by almost two months.

Customer: Two months?? It was due in February!

Me: Yes.

Customer: How is that two months? It’s March!

Here’s where this support agent rocks his world.

Me: Sir, it’s the 12th of April.

Customer: Oh… you’re right.

After that, he was actually pretty nice, and we had a pleasant conversation.

I even exempted him from the reactivation charges, as he seemed genuinely sorry, and I could sympathize with being so lost in time.

Other customers could stand to learn from this gentleman.

What did Reddit have to say?

Some customers don’t seem to grasp that bills have to be paid every month.

Sometimes all customers really need is a reality check.

Time really does fly by at times.

It’s easy to get your wires crossed, especially with a busy schedule.

Kudos to this support agent for handling this so professionally.

After a quick reality check, the call went from heated to humble.

If you liked this post, check out this story about an employee who got revenge on a co-worker who kept grading their work suspiciously low.