I guess I’ve got to suck it up: Intuit’s crack consumer team is never going to contact me. I sent them a nastygram on Feb. 8 concerning an overcharge for tax services rendered. Nine days later, nothing.

Customer service doesn’t have to die in the Internet age, but Intuit has proved that they can kill it. But, just because you can hide behind your computers and ignore your customers, doesn’t mean you should.

In other customers-are-always-wrong news, I received a late notice from Progress Energy today. (Progress has a history of being unfriendly to this customer, but it’s a monopoly, so what can you do?) I was late paying my bill, which was due Feb. 10. I paid it Feb. 11 on the Web.

The Progress people found it in their black little hearts to generate a late notice on screaming blue paper the day my bill was due. You read that right, folks; the notice is dated Feb. 10. I wasn’t even late yet when this notice trailed off their laser printer.

Is that normal? Grace period - heard of one? Hell, even my credit card company allows for a 10-day grace period. Are Progress customers historically such deadbeats as to justify this kind of asinine corporate behavior?

It was the same when I moved to St. Petersburg: In the name of Progress, they charged me a two-month deposit. I was told when I initially called that it could be waived if I passed a credit check. I have recent copies of my credit report, and they bear no blemishes. They went on to charge the deposit and told me they “were under no legal obligation to disclose the criteria on which they based my failure.” Nice.

The customer, you see, is always wrong. And we have the lawyers to prove it.