fucking utilities company!!
 

the sheer fucking incompetence of these people... trying to fix a water main and broke the gas main. and it's the second time in a fucking year on this block! once again there's fucking hazmat trucks and cop cars all over the place and fire dudes with the face masks on and the breathing tanks keep telling me to go back inside.





i'm gonna go smoke a cig while i go check it out more... you know, see how close i can get. i'll keep you updated....

Don't have a near-death incident!

http://www.darwinawards.com/

keep the camera rolling, man.

My run-ins with these companies are usually a little more innocuous. For example, getting pissed off at the recently instated practice of a 2.45 percent surcharge for paying my monthly electric bill online with a debit or credit card!

on a related but inane note, my water was temporarily cut off yesterday by the city guy who thought he was opening (the water) for the new tenants of my soon-to-be ex-house.

i need breakfast now.

Mine was temporarily cut off last fall when we accidentally missed a bill in the mail. I'm pouring water for the coffee and it trickles to a stop.

I hadn't been too worried because other places I've lived you get at least a 30-day grace period and several reminders. Nope, not here in good old South Carolina. You have about 7 days past the due date--which falls only about 15 days after the billing date--and then the men come out to turn the handle.

the scene outside my apartment right now:

HAH you've got the same crappy blue recycle bins that we do.

that shit just blows down the street here. what a joke.

PS: you get burly points if you ask the fireman for a light.

...weirdest thing... they just all rolled out at once. empty street - dead silence outside. last time it was a day and a half ordeal that required digging two large holes in the middle of the street that they didn't fix for six months.

...i don't know whether to flee, or be relieved...

BOOM!!

hehe they sound crap, get rid of them and take over their trucks

they're just passing on to you the fee from the card company. Why should I, a cash payer, subsidize your convenience? Is there any online option without a fee? I think cash payers should get discounted

So you walk to your utility company's branch and hand them cash every month?! How nice for you.

I'm sorry but I live in the real world where most of my transactions take place through my checking account by debit card or online banking.

And you know what? I bet my utility company is making a fairly hefty profit. I don't think credit card/debit card transaction fees are going to break their bank.

I'm surprised. I hadn't taken you for a money-loving Republican.

No I write a check and put a stamp on the envelope and drop it in the mail. (hmm, that stamp is its own 1% "surcharge" now that I think about it). I used to pay in cash at the supermarket when I lived in VT to save the postage cost. Money was that tight.

What I do think is cheesey in your situation is they did a bait and switch on you - got you onboard and then hit you with the fees. I don't know what utility company serves your area, and I'm sure we could look up their financial statement, but again, why should I subsidize the credit card fees you incur?

I've always maintained I am a free thinker...after being in the workforce for a few decades I have more respect for the challenges of business than I ever expected and I'd be lying if I said I didn't like money. Or finding it on the ground. But I don't 'love' it, it is a means to an end.

But you know, your tone conveys that paying online is the norm. Online payments are a new feature in the universe, they aren't normal anymore than growing ears on the back of genetically engineered mice is normal. Paying in cash has a many thousand year history.

utility is the only bill I pay each month. No phone, no cable, no internet, no credit accts, I've followed Jello Biafra's plan of REDUCE and REMOVE your investment in the System. Take less and give little.

So, besides the postage, you pay the bank for a box of checks, don't you? And you pay your bank service fees? For maintaining an account and so on? So I guess I don't see much difference, unless you really are talking about taking cash to a utility clerk's cashier window.

haha, we have this sort of expertises here too.

2.5% of a $300 utility bill (common in winter) is $7.50

checks are cheap (if you order the basic kind) and i pay no bank fees. say $1 all included?

BUT ANYWAY.

a funny story: the cunts at my local utility office will CHARGE YOU for taking your cash. but they'll take a check at no extra charge. why? don't ask me why people are this stupid. they are.

are they recycle bins?/boxes? Thats so odd. Our recycle bins are regular wheelie bins.. but like double the size of our rubbish bins.



ummmm more differences... debit doesnt have a surcharge here.. only amex/diners.. credit usuallyjust has a minimum charger, like $10 or over... sometimes $20 if its a crappy place.. to cover the %fees.


strange country.

Woo hoo! Let's a celebrate, no?

yr meant to be able to write a check on anything. is this true? or bs..

I'll quote T. Rex: It's a rip off.

They do it because they can. Utility companies are monopolies. There's no one else I can go to around here for electricity if I don't like this company's policies. So they know they can charge me whatever ridiculous additional fees they want.

maybe in theory, but in practice, i'd say hell no. you'd need at least the officially printed routing & account numbers, so they can be read by computer.

I totally can't believe you dont have a selection of service companies to choose from. How can that happen?

We have so many. :confused:

but if you took it to the bank? teller inputs it anyway. I have no idea it was just one of those random things people tell you..

Yeah, we stopped ordering checks and have tried doing everything online, but we keep running into things like this. It is interesting how every company in the world wants you to use the latest online payment setup gimmick, even appealing to altruistic environmental ideals (e.g., saving paper), but they'll make it expensive for you to do so.

We might just go back to writing paper checks.

We just don't. We live out in the boonies. I don't think there are even very many in the nearby "big city." I've never lived anywhere there's been a choice. Not for electricity, water, or even cable (alternative being satellite, of course). For telephone and Internet, yes, but not on anything else.

Water is a quasi-public entity, controlled by watershed/municipality.

It is ridiculous. Here you can book to go to the movies online, but its a $2 surcharge. WTMF? the whole idea is that there is not someone being paid to lsiten to me ask for the tickets I want. It's meant to be cheaper!!

mang, if you get hm quicken i think, it will print you checks. i use quickbooks for busines but for personal no.

--

yo, maybe try this?

http://www.checkprintingsoftware.com/

I'm 90% sure that here water is council provided. But yr energy stuff so gas and electric, plus phone and internet, you have a lot of choices. Prob around 10+ for energy and 5 or 6 for phone, zillions for ISP.

eh. The energy bit is good, we get discounts if we pay on time, have both accounts with the one provider etc. I dont know a bill I can't pay online.

yeah, like I said, Rip off! I'd rather pay that money interacting with a real human being (even if it's some bored teenager at a movie ticket counter) than fritter it away into anonymous cyberspace.

Oh, but the best part is.. if you dont want to pay the $2, you get to go stand in a line of 40+ people while there is only one or two people serving. and then you might miss the movie. Its evil.

They've changed lately. Its so wrong. :(

like this one?

Hot mama!

that's clearly a man, i can see the beard.

it's a hooker.

is it real?

who cares? it's a man!

Who cares? It's hot!

I'm glad we've moved on from utility companies. I was starting to get bored with that topic.