Greed

At what leftover portion of the bill would you consider to not be a 'greedy' action by the company? A nickel? A dollar? ten dollars? a hundred? Where is the breaker line?
 
If someone didn't pay me what they owed for that long, then got someone else to give me the money only because they were forced into paying up, I'd want my freaking penny too.
 
$1600 hydro bill + disconnect notice.
disconnect notice has gotta be at least 3 months.

Figure hydro even generously at $200 a month.
 
Guess it's another northology symptom. I'd chuck in a penny for anybody that came through.

As to where to draw the line...that's up to each company. But a penny is a pisspoor place to draw it.
 
That's not exactly what happened, you softie liberal fighting the corporate machine :p

She got this disconnect notice, so she got all these agencies to pay the bill for her. The bill got paid off in spurts, she didn't bother to do the math to make sure it was paid in full, and the computer on DDay saw it wasn't paid up, so it did it's thing. The company itself forgave 400 something of it.

It's not like she walked up to the counter and was short a penny and they all pointed and laughed at her.
 
I'm starting to think she did it intentionally to draw the media stink. Theres probably a long 6-8 month legal battle going on here with the company mailing collection letters every 10 days. At the very end there was probably the final legal notice to pay up or suffer the consequences. The penny mistake was probably intentional to see if they really would do it. The ensuing media ruckus might net her a tidy bundle of sympathy donations.
 
As the power company guy said, there are many programs for help available to people who fall behind on the bill. Was there any effort on her part to investigate that? Or did she just not pay for several months, and then short-pay the bill?

Cutting off her power may not be nice, but it doesn't yet sound unreasonable.
 
Um, as someone who heats with electric, one winter can easily add up to $2000. And if you don't have it on budget (or have lost budget by not keeping up your monthlies) you can (I have) be slapped with an $800 bill twice in the space of two months. And hydro Quebec has no qualms about pulling your power with only one month of unpayment ... if your payment background is sketchy. Their only limitation is that they cannot, by law, cut your power during the heating season. But the instant that the heating season (and who decided this) is over, they can and do pull your meter.

BTW, my case. The first year when I bought my place. since I had no payment history with them, I wasn't eligable for budget. I seriously ate it that winter. Come spring, I still had $400 outstanding, and got a message that I had 30 days before getting cut off. No three warning. No grace period. No excuses. I made it, but it was seriously tight for a few months afterwards. Granted, at that point, my electric bills were $20 a month. Before next heating season, I was on budget, and I'm damn well not getting off it.
 
*SnP thankful none of you own utility companies*

It's an elderly woman on Social Security. You wanna cut her electric off over a penny, go right ahead. Take your penny. Sleep with it at night. Nurture it and cradle it to your bosom and gloat over its shininess and its incredible economic importance. It all comes back someday.
 
Wanna bet it's a settled account...not what she owes.
said Willaims, who went to the state Department of Human Services for help in April and was told the agency would pay most of the bill.
Click to expand...
 
SouthernN'Proud said:
It's an elderly woman on Social Security.
Click to expand...
it's a 41 year old. Elderly? And yes, Welfare paid some, the Sally Anne paid some, the utility paid (settled, forgave) some. Her onus, what was left after the agencies paid out was a penny. Had she done her math and made sure her debt was settled, the puters never would have done what they did.

It seems silly on the surface, but it's her own damned fault.
 
*Looks around with a bewildered expression and can only conclude that he's in some bizarre, parallel universe where attitudes are reversed...*

:lol:
 
chcr said:
*Looks around with a bewildered expression and can only conclude that he's in some bizarre, parallel universe where attitudes are reversed...*

:lol:
Click to expand...

*wonders why anyone would think I would condone shutting off somebody's electricity over a friggin penny*
 
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