Thursday, September 21, 2006

Hydro = Ass-Hats

This weekend was supposed to be our night away at a cheesey motel. We postponed last weekend due to circumstances beyond our control. I didn't mind. What's one week, right?
Everything was a-go until yesterday afternoon. I got my hydro bill in the mail but wasn't too worried. I figured that I owed about $80. Not quite.
It seems that some ASS-HAT down at the hydro company found a bill of Hubby's for a former address. I don't know if he owes the money or not. HE doesn't know if he owes the money or not. The reason being, the bill is from 14 years ago. Yup, you heard me, 14 effing years ago. So the ASS-HATS at hydro figure that we now owe....$1203.59. No, that's not a phone number, it's my hydro bill. It's ok though, they gave me 9 days to pay it.
Maybe it's just me, but I don't think that ANYONE should be able to collect 14 years after the fact. Please. How could we possibly prove or disprove anything after 14 years? I am so mad. We were so close to getting caught up and maybe having a bit of fun, too.
What am I going to do about it? I'm going to pay the damn thing. I learned my lesson the hard way that you can't fight city hall. Or the hydro company. Going away would have been nice, but electricity is fun, too.

16 comments:

dilling said...

Big fat effing asshats... we have endless fights with hydro and fuel oil company as well, but honestly, what can you do? you have to have heat and electric!! If this wasn't a PG site, I would tell you what I normally call such asshats...

Swampwitch said...

...and how can they prove or disprove it either? No telling how many people have lived there since and the company just totalled up all the bills owed and sent one to you.

katy said...

might be wrong but over here if they havent asked you for money you owe after 5 or maybe 10 years they aren't allowed to.
i really dont see how they can variefy that he owes the money it stinks they are total ASS_HATS

Marni said...

We keep getting a bill from AT&T for phone calls my hubby supposedly made from Texas while he was stationed in the military in SAVANNAH! The guy didn't even have a phone... how could he make the phone calls? And this, too, was about 14-15 years ago.

We keep asking them to send us proof but they never do.

Ass-hats...

Camie Vog said...

I am even more convinced that you and I are living parallel lives!

The same thing happened to me 2 years ago... Except, it didn't involve seeing the high total on the bill. Instead, I get a call from my friend, who Hubby and I used to live above, saying "Hey, a guy is here to serve your Hubby with a warrent for his arrest over an unpaid energy bill". I told my friend to tell the guy he didn't know where Hubby was, and to get the guys phone number. I called the energy company to pay the 8 year old, $500 US bill with a near maxed out credit card. I then called the process server and told him to bite it, as the bill had been dealt with. He was so angry with me, because he wasn't able to collect his jive ass (eh, ass-hat?) fee for finding my Hubby.
I'll spare you the "all will be okay" schpeel, since I f'n hate it when people say it to me. ;)

Bunny said...

What complete ASSHATS!!! I can totally sympathize, every time I think I may be getting even CLOSE to caught up, something like this happens to me, too!!

Heidi the Hick said...

The worst part is, I suspect they think they can get away with it because they know some of us are just too damn tired to chase it down.

Them, and the justice system.

Damn their eyes.

Can you imagine working there? Wouldn't that turn your heart black and cold???

Biddie said...

dilling - pig fuckers? I love it!

swampwitch - I don't know HOW they got that total. My Hubby did live at that adderess, but he doesn't even know if the hydro was in his name. He lived with 2 other people..one has died and the other is just...well, nobody knows where she is. Seems like they just picked us.

her indoors - I don't know what the rule/law is here. I don't want to piss these people off by not paying, because I will be disconnected. Maybe I should look into it after the bill is paid...

marni - maybe AT&T uses the same accountant/collection agency as our hydro company! if we we're currently hydro customers, I'd tell them to stuff it, but they are the only game in town. Seriously, it doesn't occur to them that Savannah isn't IN Texas? I failed geography, and even I know that? Maybe if Mickey Mouse and Elmo didn't do their book keeping....

camie vog - OMG! They don't arrest you for that, here, thank God. Unbelievable! I'd spend more time in jail than out if they arrested you for unpaid bills in these parts! We don't even have a credit card right now, haven't for about 4 years. No savings, none. We are pay cheque to pay cheque right now, that's why this is so scary. My Hubby just called from work (while I was typing this)and told me that his boss deducted $200 from his cheque for an advance...An advance that we were told was already taken care of! It just keeps getting better! At this point, I think that the powers that be are trying to teach me a lesson - or they're just messing with me...

bunny - I really thought that was our week to live a little...It will be a full month before we have any extra $ at all now......

heidi - I suspect that if I fought this, it would turn out like it did with the gas company. If I asked for a bill, they would show me one, no doubt. I ahve no way of proving or diproving that Hubby ever paid it. He was doing his thing back then and raking in huge coin, and trying to keep a low profile, so I seriously doubt that it would have gone unpaid...Still, no proof.I could never work at a company like that. Never. ASS-HATS

CindyDianne said...

That totally sucks doesn't come close to covering it. So sorry Biddie.

Biddie said...

cindydianne - it could be worse. I worked out a payment schedule that allows me to pay it over 2 weeks, instead of 9 days, which makes it somewhat more managable. Somewhat. On the bright side, we CAN pay it, and we won't be cut off. but damn, it pisses me off!!!

Liz said...

Jesus! That is unbelievable. I don't think it's up to you to prove or not prove that he owes it. It's up to them to prove he does. I would also check into statute of limitations laws regarding bad debt collections. Time may have expired. Regardless the whole things sucks.

Biddie said...

nonny - I think that I will look into it...I just know from past expirience that I should pay it 1st. I don't want to give them any excuse to cut me off. I can't imagine that it IS legal to collect after 14 years. My God, they could just start giving everyone notices! Who keeps reciepts for that long? It's scary, you know?

Molly said...

Is there such a thing as small claims court in Canada? Or some overseeing agency that could look into the (over)charge? Are they charging interest? Was the bill for more than a year's worth of electricity? Did you call the company? If so, what did the ass-hats say? If you are committed to paying the outrageous sum, can you work out some payment plan?

Too bad you did not go away to the cheesy motel. A night of romance would be much more soothing than paying for yesteryear's electricity.

Biddie said...

mdj - my payment plan is this - $500 today, $324 on the 29th, and the remaining $300 on the 6th. Wasn't that generous? I am going to look into this further, but if I would not have agreed to pay at $500 by today, we would have been cut off on the 25th.
It seems to me that we paid this same bill a couple of years ago.
It is so frustrating. They know that we don't have a choice...Anyway, I am just thankful that we could pay it this week. Barely.

Anonymous said...

I really would tell them to go jump if they had decent staff they would of noticed this missing money 14yrs ago, I really dont think they can claim it back so long after.

Biddie said...

ladydtd - I felt like them something else..You would think that they would have noticed the money 14 years ago.....I still think that Mickey Mouse and Elmo do their accounting.