rant on utilities

moving in to my new place has been such a headache when it comes to dealing with the utilities people. first, PECO, the electricity folks came out and turned on the power to the wrong apartment (how they turned on the power to an apartment where someone was living, and thus the power was already on is beyond me). then, when i called to complain, they claimed that the absolute first appointment they could give me for someone to come back out was a week later. i explained how that sucked in all kinds of ways, and that i really didn't want to be living in the dark for a week, with no lights and no refridgeration. surprise surprise, they didn't seem to give a ****.

PGW (the gas company) is another pain in my neck. they couldn't give me an appointment to turn on my cooking gas until tuesday 19 september. they said they'd be out between 12 and 4. so i rearranged my schedule to be home between 12 and 4. at 5 minutes to 4, i called them up, wondering if they were actually planning on coming out or not. they said that they'd be out sometime before the end of the day. what happened to 12-4? well, they said, 12-4 really means 12-8. nice of you to tell me that... but i had counseling with john from 6-7, so couldn't stay home until 8. they, of course, don't care. they just said, well, it's no problem if you're not there, we'll just reschedule. no problem for them maybe, but plenty of problem for me. i can't just sit around my apartment every afternoon, waiting for the gas guy. i hit a wall every time i tried to get any kind of info out of them about when the guy was actually scheduled to come by, or whether the dispatchers could reroute him to my place. even when i asked to speak to a manager, all i got was "there's no manager on the floor right now, i'll have one call you back." i felt totally helpless in their hands.

they promised a manager would call back. did one? of course not. but the gas guy came by at 6:45. a neighbor let him into the building, but couldn't let him into my apartment, so the whole thing was a failure. urg. yesterday i called to reschedule, and lucky for them, they could give me an appointment tomorrow afternoon (after 4, this time, which i assume means 4-8) when i've got to be there anyway to meet the cable guy. what a fiasco.