British Tele-cock-up

So I found out why my internet wasn't working. BT cut it off because I hadn't been paying my bill, which was odd because the money was going out of my account each month. An hour on the phone arguing with them resulted in a bit of investigation on their part, and finally turned up an answer. When I spoke to them last year to switch the direct debit for the phone and internet to my bank account instead of my brother's, they didn't actually change over our BT account. They changed my father's. I've been paying my parents' phone and internet bill for about six months. Nice. Monumental fail on the part of BT. Thank goodness I have a really uncommon surname so the mix-up was with somebody I was related to and able to get the money back from. If my name had been Smith it could have been a million times more complicated. As it was, we got it sorted out, but I still have to wait until Monday for my internet to be reconnected, and I have to have a new phone number. It's all incredibly annoying.

Actually, I nearly forgot the most annoying part. I should point out that the account was still in my brother's name although I was paying the bills (theoretically anyway). My first call to BT was picked up by a man.

Man: Are you authorised to speak on your husband's behalf?
Me: Excuse me?
Man: Do you have your husband's permission to speak to me today about your account with BT?
Me: Excuse me?!?!

I've never put a lot of thought into the whole 'Am I a feminist?' question, but I think I must be. My hackles went straight up. I'm not entirely sure what hackles are, but they were up! First of all, don't assume that the male name on the account is my husband. Secondly, and more importantly, 'permission'? Seriously? How dare anybody think, let alone say, that a woman needs permission from her husband to sort out a problem with their phone bill. A bill that she's paying! After the long, drawn out process of getting everything sorted out, I forgot to make a complaint about him. It's probably a bit late now. Still, perhaps karma will take revenge on him. If there's any justice in the world, that revenge will involve his wife, a phone bill and a subsequent trip to A&E to remove it.