Ah, the phone company.
In the early/mid-1980s, when I lived in NYC with roommates, our phone was shut off for nonpayment. Thing is, I had mailed a check -- it got lost in the mail, although it was only going across town.
I stopped payment on the check, went across town, paid the bill in person, with cash, and got our service restored. Several weeks later, I got a bill for a bounced check surcharge. Lost-in-the-mail check had finally arrived at its destination, but because I'd stopped payment, it bounced, and I was on the hook for the fee.
I was reminded of Lily Tomlin's telephone operator routine from the '60s: "We don't care. We don't have to. We're The Phone Company."
Thirty years later, I am very happy to have a choice of Phone Companies. And email, so I don't have to use the phone as much as I used to!