Fuck electric companies Options

[Oasis]

Our landlord sucks and he's a fucking moron. We didn't pay a deposit when we moved in then he came back two months later demanding $1450 because he happened to need cash for a downpayment on another house (we never paid him). All the bills were in his name, and our gas got shut off twice because he never bothered giving us the damn bills. Several other bills have been late because his dumb ass forgot to give them to us

About a month ago, I got home around 430 on a Friday and the electricity was shut off. I went up to Perdenales and asked to pay whatever it takes to get it turned back on. They said I couldn't do that because the bill wasn't in my name. They did say however (and so did my landlord) that they couldn't find the bill from December 1 to January 1. The landlord claimed he never got the bill and went to talk to them about it, and they couldn't find it either. They didn't have any activity for that month. I assume because the crackhead meter reader either forgot to read it or read it wrong. Either way, not mine or my landlord's fault. I had to get it put in my name to get it turned back on. I didn't want it in my name in the first place cause it'd be me paying the $125 turn on fee, plus I don't trust my roommates to pay on time. They quoted me 625 fucking dollars to get in my name and turned back on that afternoon. I had no choice but to pay. I specifically asked them what the hell the $625 was for and asked for an itemized receipt. The bitch wasn't exactly forthcoming with what the fee was for and wouldn't tell me. I was in a hurry and didn't push the issue with her. And when my landlord called and asked (he apparently had a landlord acct

Saturday I got my first bill. Nevermind the fucking bill was $469 (I assume they guessed and charged what they thought December's bill would be since they didn't have a record of it). But they finally gave me an itemized receipt of what the $625 was for. $50 application fee, whatever. $75 install fee, whatever. $500 meter tampering fee, WHAT THE FUCK? First off, I didn't tamper with the fucking meter, nor did my roommates. My landlord didn't tamper with it. In fact, I walked around the entire house find the meter to see if the lock was fucked with and I still can't find the meter.

I don't know a whole lot about electric companies and I don't trust them. First off, this "alleged" meter tampering took place when the bill was under my landlord's name. Shouldn't he be billed for this shit and not me? Second off, how do I go about getting this taken care of? It's basically going to come down to my word against theirs.' I'm going to demand they provide proof that I or someone else tampered with it. If it means me demanding that they come to my house, fine. But I for one will not give them another fucking penny until I'm refunded the $500 they stole from me. If it means they shut off my electricity next month, fine. I'm moving anyway. If they try to screw with my credit, fine, fuck them. But they won't see any more money from me.

[Billy]

Take them to small claims court.

[THECHICKEN]

Call and try to talk to highest manager possible and explain....

explain that if this isn't removed (or repaid) there will be a law suit. If you explain that it wasn't even in your name during the "tampering period" and they are thus wrongfully charging you, they should back down. If not... talk to a lawyer. You might be able to get an injunction to keep them from turning off power while a lawsuit is going on too.

[impala454]

Moral of the story, don't deal with shady landlords, and get the utilities in your own name.

Threatening lawsuits is stupid. The calmer and more polite you are with people on the phone the more you will get done. Bottom line with customer service of any kind.

Either way, my guess is the landlord pinned the bill on you since you were living there at the time. You shouldn't have paid the bill. You'll never see a cent of that back.

[FORSAKENR320]

"stupid is as stupid does, ma'am"

[THECHICKEN]

Moral of the story, don't deal with shady landlords, and get the utilities in your own name.

Threatening lawsuits is stupid. The calmer and more polite you are with people on the phone the more you will get done. Bottom line with customer service of any kind.

Either way, my guess is the landlord pinned the bill on you since you were living there at the time. You shouldn't have paid the bill. You'll never see a cent of that back.

lol.... "the calmer and more polite you are with people on phone the more you will get done"... "you'll never see a cent of that back"

Threatening to sue if they insist on STEALING $500 does not have to be said in a NON-calm manner. I am always polite, but i am more than happy to tell someone the consequences of doing something wrong (aka the benefits of doing the right thing). My guess is that if he talks to some one high enough up, and explains that he wants the 500 bucks back or else he is going to cause a mess, they'll give it back. If anything, i'd say go after landlord for the money if can't get from electric (but sounds like bigger pain to get from land lord).

[HMWH]

sounds like the issue is more with the landlord.


"calmer" could help, but i would continue on with more persistant

[woody]

get the whole story, scan a copy of the bill with the charges and email consumerist.com

[Oasis]

I went in there, was civil, and got the whole story

Will (landlord) requested that the power be shut off on 10/31/08. After that he tampered with the meter and turned it back on. When I went in there on 1/23, we'd had power for the last 3 months even though it was under no ones name

How do I know he did it? Because he's been calling Kris and letting him know what our bill was every month since. And my other roommate thinks both will and kris are in cahoots and splitting the $

He stole from Perdenales and from us. This is gonna get real interesting. I had to take my first day off work though cause I need to find another place to live asap

[impala454]

lol.... "the calmer and more polite you are with people on phone the more you will get done"... "you'll never see a cent of that back"

they were two separate statements. one, referring to how you should treat an agent in general, the other referring specifically to will's problem.

Threatening to sue if they insist on STEALING $500 does not have to be said in a NON-calm manner. I am always polite, but i am more than happy to tell someone the consequences of doing something wrong (aka the benefits of doing the right thing). My guess is that if he talks to some one high enough up, and explains that he wants the 500 bucks back or else he is going to cause a mess, they'll give it back. If anything, i'd say go after landlord for the money if can't get from electric (but sounds like bigger pain to get from land lord).

empty threats is all it is, and they know that. threatening a customer service rep doesn't get shit done. and stealing is a stupid word to describe what they've done. it's not as if they went to his house and took it from his wallet. they billed him, and he paid it. it's not like he can go to the police and have them arrested or something.

will that's cool that you got the story, i figured it was the landlord. Jeff and I both know how that goes... If you rent again try and rent from a management company where they have everything spelled out and correct.

[chook]

speak softly and carry a big stick, will do you best.

[THECHICKEN]

empty threats is all it is, and they know that. threatening a customer service rep doesn't get shit done. and stealing is a stupid word to describe what they've done. it's not as if they went to his house and took it from his wallet. they billed him, and he paid it. it's not like he can go to the police and have them arrested or something.

Empty threats? To say that they wrongfully charged money and that if they don't return it there will be legal consequences is not empty threat. Thats serious shit, and a service rep will respect that. Maybe someone like you would think its empty threat but i've dealt with many reps on phone to know that if they are at fault, they will change their tune if you tell them you aren't going to just bend over and take it.

[pysex]

Maybe they're mad that you keep calling them Perdenales instead of Pedernales.

Perdenales is the dumbfuck country Texan way of saying it.

[Mommy]

I saw the thread title and knew this was started by Will.

[impala454]

Empty threats? To say that they wrongfully charged money and that if they don't return it there will be legal consequences is not empty threat. Thats serious shit, and a service rep will respect that. Maybe someone like you would think its empty threat but i've dealt with many reps on phone to know that if they are at fault, they will change their tune if you tell them you aren't going to just bend over and take it.

Yeah, sure you have. "I'm gonna sue you", "oh my gosh sir, ok we'll give you whatever you want! Just make sure you don't sue us!" The first four years of my career was spent writing software for a customer service company. So "someone like me" would be someone who's listened to far more customer service calls than I'd ever care to listen to again (I developed their call recording system). In all that time I worked there we had zero lawsuits from anyone. 999 out of 1000 it's just the customer not understanding what happened and upset by it and it's a knee jerk reaction empty threat. Threatening to sue doesn't get any more done than cussing out the agent.

[Spectatrix]

Maybe they're mad that you keep calling them Perdenales instead of Pedernales.

Perdenales is the dumbfuck country Texan way of saying it.

It's the way all the locals pronounce it... just like we have weird pronunciations for Manchaca, Guadalupe, Koenig, and Burnet.

[THECHICKEN]

Yeah, sure you have. "I'm gonna sue you", "oh my gosh sir, ok we'll give you whatever you want! Just make sure you don't sue us!" The first four years of my career was spent writing software for a customer service company. So "someone like me" would be someone who's listened to far more customer service calls than I'd ever care to listen to again (I developed their call recording system). In all that time I worked there we had zero lawsuits from anyone. 999 out of 1000 it's just the customer not understanding what happened and upset by it and it's a knee jerk reaction empty threat. Threatening to sue doesn't get any more done than cussing out the agent.

Glad you can't read... nice seeing you back man.... any big moves where you have no internet coming up again?

"im gonna sue you" isn't what i said, but thanks, glad you've listen to people calling in.

[chook]

Glad you can't read... nice seeing you back man.... any big moves where you have no internet coming up again?

"im gonna sue you" isn't what i said, but thanks, glad you've listen to people calling in.

...there will be a law suit

[Billy]

Too easy, Chuck.

[Mommy]

It's the way all the locals pronounce it... just like we have weird pronunciations for Manchaca, Guadalupe, Koenig, and Burnet.

The Guadalupe thing annoys the hell out of me having grown up in a predominately Hispanic city.

[impala454]

Glad you can't read... nice seeing you back man.... any big moves where you have no internet coming up again?

"im gonna sue you" isn't what i said, but thanks, glad you've listen to people calling in.

I wasn't quoting you I was giving a sarcastic example of what some dipshit would sound like calling in threatening to sue someone if they didn't wipe their ass for them. But the other Chuck pretty much showed how you were wrong anyways so now you just look twice as dumb.

[pysex]

The Guadalupe thing annoys the hell out of me having grown up in a predominately Hispanic city.

Guadaloop
Perdenales
Manshacka

[chook]

hah, I grew up calling it Guadaloop, but say it properly when refering to Our Lady.

[THECHICKEN]

Explaining that there would be a law suit if they don't give money back is quite different than the Impala "omg im going to sue you"

The suit is the stick in chooooks example

Its ok though, i know its hard to understand that when there is a valid suit its ok to explain that they need to consider what you are saying or else face possible suit.

[impala454]

it is hard to understand, because it doesn't work (except for you apparently).

[chook]

it is hard to understand, because it doesn't work (except for you apparently).

It legally works but it costs too much for yourself and really pisses off people, unless you are a lawyer yourself.

[impala454]

No I don't mean that a lawsuit doesn't work. I mean threatening one doesn't work. They know that 9999 times out of 10000 it's just a bluff.

Case in point let's ask chicken how many people he's actually sued, vs how many he's threatened to sue.

[THECHICKEN]

No I don't mean that a lawsuit doesn't work. I mean threatening one doesn't work. They know that 9999 times out of 10000 it's just a bluff.

Case in point let's ask chicken how many people he's actually sued, vs how many he's threatened to sue.

You realize that 98% of all suites are settled and never go to court right? Why do you think that is? Its because one (or both) know that a case will either be a loss for one or BOTH of them, thus they settle (almost always) to the person with better case. You can politely tell someone that you have clearly been cheated and you don't want to Sue but if they reasonably look at the situation they would lose a suit if i HAVE to file one. Usually the other side (if you explain instead of saying "omg im gonna sue you") will do the right thing to prevent having someone from filing suit. There is a right way and wrong way. Im not arguing that saying "omg ima sue you" will work, im saying that if you explain to them that you WILL sue if you have to, and that its in their best interest to hear you out and listen, you can get them to do the right thing.

Thats why i told him to talk to someone high up and EXPLAIN. I know im a lawyer in training, but im also not a "omg ima sue" type of guy. But i'll be damned if its not an option with 500 dollars, and you can explain that to a service person and they'll behave accordingly if you do it correctly. I know the internets isn't best way to convey thoughts, but give me a break guys.

[impala454]

lol "I'm a lawyer in training" that's even funnier than "I'm going to sue"

[THECHICKEN]

k...?

[HMWH]

i once had a pet cat