I Wondered

Why I didn't have a copy of my natural gas bill when I went to pay the bills last week.  I had to call and ask for a statement.  The copy arrived yesterday and showed that I had apparently used 917 ccf of gas from their estimate on November 20 to their actual reading on December 20.  This gave me a bill of more than $500.  I looked at their numbers and realized that the estimated reading was for the former meter in the basement and the actual reading was for the meter on the outside of the house. 

I was informed that I didn't have a new meter, they had no record of it.  Was I sure? Was I there when they moved it? 

I pointed out that as the old meter was in the basement and they had no access to read it and since they had managed to get an actual reading, that they had to have read the new meter outside.  The new meter that had started out at zero on November 19. 

How did I know what date it was? 

Gee, they had managed to literally take out half the root system of my oak tree and I had pictures and the date in my cell phone.  Yes I knew what date it was. 

Long session on hold.  They had no record of it. Could I go read the meter and tell them what it said?

Sorry, I'm at work and can't go read the meter. But the usage was about nine times what I used the past two years, and that I had the bills in front of me documenting that.  Didn't that throw up any red flags?  Really the house would literally have to be on fire and fueled by natural gas to use that much. 

Well yes it was odd.  Let me check.  Another long session on hold.  The verdict.  Well, we'll have forward this to a couple of departments and we're going to put your account on hold for the next two months.  After we figure this out, we'll probably be adjusting your bill.

Idiots, the gas company is staffed by idiots.  And they have no clue about customer service.

I'm not holding my breath