Heather rants about crappy business practices, part 490
I haven't actually sent this to Washington Gas. Yet. It's not even well-written, but god it felt good to get that out. I'm at home sick, and I'm cranky, both of which bode badly for writing decent complaints to companies I hate. So I'm going to wait until I'm not so annoyed, then attempt a re-write with a touch less sarcasm, then send it off to every single person at Washington Gas.
Effing bastards. This sort of bullshit really pisses me off.
I am highly disappointed in your policies for billing account holders. I currently reside in a sharehouse in Arlington, Virginia. The previous account holder for gas at my address moved out. In our attempts to get the account switched from her name to mine, we discovered that:
I find it astounding that you are, in essence, forcing me to give you $15 for a 'fee' free of any actual service. More importantly (and infuriatingly), there is no effort required on the part of Washington Gas that could account for this $15 charge, apart from the 3 minutes devoted to typing out my name, social security number and phone number (interestingly, the customer service representative didn’t need to ask my home address. I can only assume this information was derived through osmosis, since Washington Gas refuses to associate the previous account with my ‘new’ one).
Apart from the obvious concerns in allowing account holders to add third parties to the account without the direct consent of the third party (surely this implies that others could add me to their account without my consent, resulting in Washington Gas holding me legally liable for any outstanding bills incurred on the part of people I’ve never met), I dread to think what I will have to endure from a company so unabashed in squeezing every dime from its customers.
I realize that as a private company with a monopoly over the delivery of gas to my current residence, you ultimately do not have to concern yourselves with being accountable for shady business practices. I can only hope that as society becomes more concerned with the detrimental effect of using non-renewable resources such as yours, gas becomes a thing of the past, thereby banishing your company to the musty dustbin of history.
After all the back-and-forth (and bitching from me), the CSR for Wash Gas actually asked if I'd like to add another person to the account. Yes, because this has all been such a wonderful experience, and I'd like to trap more unsuspecting souls into this mess of a company while simultaneously tangling myself further into their bullshit. Do I sound like a masochist? Jesus.
Effing bastards. This sort of bullshit really pisses me off.
I am highly disappointed in your policies for billing account holders. I currently reside in a sharehouse in Arlington, Virginia. The previous account holder for gas at my address moved out. In our attempts to get the account switched from her name to mine, we discovered that:
a) I am unable to add myself on to the account (a privilege solely reserved for the account holder)
b) The account holder is, after adding me to the account, unable to remove herself from the account
c) The only remaining option, closing the old account and opening a new one, generates an automatic $15 fee for your ‘computer’ to estimate the meter at the time that the account is opened (or a $45 fee if I want an accurate reading of the meter, which requires a call-out from a technician highly qualified in reading numbers).
I find it astounding that you are, in essence, forcing me to give you $15 for a 'fee' free of any actual service. More importantly (and infuriatingly), there is no effort required on the part of Washington Gas that could account for this $15 charge, apart from the 3 minutes devoted to typing out my name, social security number and phone number (interestingly, the customer service representative didn’t need to ask my home address. I can only assume this information was derived through osmosis, since Washington Gas refuses to associate the previous account with my ‘new’ one).
Apart from the obvious concerns in allowing account holders to add third parties to the account without the direct consent of the third party (surely this implies that others could add me to their account without my consent, resulting in Washington Gas holding me legally liable for any outstanding bills incurred on the part of people I’ve never met), I dread to think what I will have to endure from a company so unabashed in squeezing every dime from its customers.
I realize that as a private company with a monopoly over the delivery of gas to my current residence, you ultimately do not have to concern yourselves with being accountable for shady business practices. I can only hope that as society becomes more concerned with the detrimental effect of using non-renewable resources such as yours, gas becomes a thing of the past, thereby banishing your company to the musty dustbin of history.
After all the back-and-forth (and bitching from me), the CSR for Wash Gas actually asked if I'd like to add another person to the account. Yes, because this has all been such a wonderful experience, and I'd like to trap more unsuspecting souls into this mess of a company while simultaneously tangling myself further into their bullshit. Do I sound like a masochist? Jesus.