I decided to call the electric company to find out how my bill was suddenly $100 higher than it normally is. I also wanted to know how my usage was double that of my highest month ever! I'm unemployed! I'm single, and I'm also mindful of waste and its impact on the environment. That means I am watching every frickin' penny going out and I don't have every light on in the house! Adding a hundred dollars to your monthly budget, unexpectedly, is not something I'm going to do... nor just accept as fact! So, I called.
Immediately, I was greeted by a recording that said they were only taking calls for emergencies at this time. Oh, bullshit you are! I decided to let it play out. They must have been counting on people hanging up, because it then listed my "normal" options in the automated menu.
I press "5," blah, blah blah...
Press "6," blah blah blah...
"All of our customer service representatives are busy assisting other customers. All calls will be answered in the order in which they are received. Your approximate wait time is 7 minutes."
Yeah, I'll wait 7 minutes to find out why you're raping me for a hundred bucks!
2:58 in... "All of our customer service representatives...."
You said that already.
Finally, I get "Carrie" on the phone. "Hi, Carrie, I was wondering if you could help me understand my bill. My highest usage ever was 596 kwh. My bill for this month, shows 1059 kwh. AND, it's $100 more than usual!"
"Yeah, that seems high. Let me grab a high bill." She puts me on hold.
What?
A ringing sound begins, followed by the beloved recording that I now know by heart and have begun translating in 3 different languages, "All of our customer service representatives are busy assisting other customers. All calls will be answered in the order in which they are received."
11:00 minutes have passed.
"Thank you for calling ____. This is Thelma. How may I help you?"
"Hi Thelma. I'm concerned as to why my bill is so high. I was wondering if you would help me understand what is going on."
"What is your account number?"
There are numbers all over this thing! I'm looking at the top, expecting to find it there... "I'm not locating it."
"It is at the top, in the green box."
There isn't a green box anywhere on my bill! But, I manage to find it and read it to her. She repeats it back to me. Then... she puts me on hold.
17:00 minutes and counting...
She's back. Apologizes for the system running slowly. We go over the numbers. She asks me to go outside and read the meter. Reads off the numbers to verify that it is the correct meter. It appears to be working.
Upon further investigation, she directs my attention to my May-June bill that was $6. (My bills are normally $35.) I retrieve the bill from my files.
"This shows as estimated. Why would they estimate my bill at 1 kwh?"
"They were changing account numbers and estimated everyone's bills at 1 to get the numbers in the system so they couldn't get readings that month."
Really?! The meter numbers didn't change. Why can't you take readings!?
"Still... that's an awfully high bill. You're telling me that it was double my normal bill for two months in a row?"
"Also, rates went up in June, so your bill will be higher."
AH-HA!!!!!! You communist corporate sodomists!
"Oh! So what they did, was estimated everyone's May-June bill at 1, so they could charge them the June HIGHER RATE for the month of May!! That's what they did!"
She begins to back-pedal.
"You can't tell me that they would estimate everyone at 1 kwh to 'change account numbers' and not have that income and profits come in for an entire month. They are trying to profit off us by charging us the higher rate they new was going to occur!"
26:23 "Let me talk to accounting."
27:54 It's the famous recording again. I'm now singing it backwards in Polish, while doing cartwheels.
32:48 Thelma tells me she's notified accounting. "Well what happens now," I ask. "You'll get a correction on your bill." Thelma tells me. I get the impression Thelma is now uncomfortable... "Thank you, Thelma."
What kind of malarkey is this!?!??!!? A giant corporate entity cannot tell me that this wasn't a calculated move. Were they counting on my stupidity? Not being able to spend 33 minutes to get to the bottom of this? Screw that!!!! Fuck that!!!! I'll tell you what I WON'T do! I won't let corporate America screw the little people just trying to survive!!!
So... I sent a news tip to the local news station...
3 comments:
Wow...
Sounds like a class action lawsuit waiting to happen.
I can't believe they would even RISK such a foolhardy move!
But then again, fools think themselves clever.
Way to stick to your guns. Even when you get the adjustment, make them PROVE every kwh they assign to "June." If they can't (how can they? they didn't bother to read the meter!) the ENTIRE bill should go on the May rate.
They wouldn't want to hear from me. I get colourful in just one language when they pull bullshit like that on me.
I agree. And one thing situations like this have made me aware of is that I am, perhaps, overly passionate about preventing wrongdoing upon the innocent. Which... may justify pursuit of "paralegalism" in my next educational venture. These kinds of things only perpetuate the sad state of the economy! When are we all going to "get real," and put a stop to it?
Prime time to make them bow. They know they've been caught. (You weren't the only one who noticed...hence the long hold). They'll probably cave under any pressure now just at the threat of negative publicity, legal or not.
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