When you are used to receiving a discount, the sight of that discount being taken away is scary.
My scare was being off the Spotify Student discount.
The thought of coughing up the ungodly amount of $9.99 a month plus tax — an amount which didn’t include Hulu and Showtime — sent a shiver down my spine.
Death was right around the corner. His target? My wallet.
No big deal, though. I went to Spotify’s website and entered in my information to renew the student discount.
The screen changed to display a frightening message.
“Unable to verify your enrollment” is what I saw in block white letters over a red background.
The shadow of death was forming once more.
I sat there for minutes, entering my information over and over. I just knew I had to have mistyped something.
Unable to verify.
I slowed my typing.
Unable to verify.
At that moment, my mind started running through the possibilities of why I had been unverified.
Was it because I graduated and was part of the 3 + 1 program? Could it be that I somehow used all four years of my discount eligibility already? Did the simulation have a flaw and I’m “The One” who has extraordinary abilities?
I knew I was in trouble and decided to pull out the big guns — customer service.
First, I was directed to Spotify’s partner SheerID who does enrollment verification.
Their website was straightforward, but my list of crises that morning wasn’t over.
In the list of countries, the United States wasn’t listed. I even checked if it was put in as America.
Now death was sitting right behind me, watching me frantically search and refresh the web page hoping the United States would appear.
I typed “oil,” hoping to magically summon them like a cheat code.
It didn’t work.
Finally, I went back to Spotify’s website and tried customer service with them.
A text box appeared as an agent began typing and asked how they could help.
I explained the story to them — minus the crazy parts.
The agent put a link into the text box and said to put in information to further verify my enrollment.
I followed the link, completed the steps and received the information.
A few moments after I finished, SheerID emailed me stating I was verified, and the agent confirmed it on their side.
I looked at my account and saw the glorious amount of $4.99 plus tax with Hulu and Showtime.
“Oil” worked — or they realized I was getting ready to put on some sunglasses and hair gel to break the system.
Either way, I’m just happy to have my discount back.
