Right now I'm so angry I could spit. This is bad because I don't plan to rant about the low lifes who put explosives on a plane from Yemen. I'm going to rant about my gas company. Yes, my gas company, we choose our gas company in Georgia just like most of us choose our cell phone provider.
Before I moved here I thought this was a good idea. There would be rate competition and if I didn't like the service a provider gave I could change. That is at least once per year for free. I did my due diligence and decided on Georgia Natural Gas.
Everything went fine until yesterday afternoon. I noticed it was taking an extra long time for the water to run hot. I stocked it up to my impatience. Later Andrea said there was no hot water for her shower. I took a peak at the water heater and instead of seeing a blue flame, I saw a black void of nothingness. So I looked at the furnace. I couldn't really see anything so I turned off the light and still saw nothing. I wasn't alarmed because I had opened the utility closet that morning to look for the dog carrier. (It wasn't in there. It's still missing.) I thought opening and closing a door that is rarely moved might have blown out the pilots. The funny thing was I didn't smell gas.
None of my neighbors knew how to light the water heater so we skipped our showers. No big deal for one night.
I called the apartment maintenance first thing this morning. I told them I needed my water heater lit and my furnace checked. A maintenance man came out shortly. He did his thing for a few minutes and reported, "You have no gas." He went on to say I needed to called the gas company. I checked my online bank and saw the payment had cleared the middle of this month. The gas company's computer also had credited my account for the payment.
After explaining my problem to the customer service rep this is the garbage I got. "Is your meter locked?;
"I don't know. I don't even know where my meter is."
"Did the maintenance man say your meter is locked?"
I could see this was getting nowhere fast. "He didn't say anything about my meter and he isn't here now."
"Ask him to come back and see if you're meter is locked. If it is not locked I can call Atlanta Gaslight and have them come fix it. If your meter is not locked it is an issue with something else like your appliances and there will be a fee to have them come out."
I didn't know if I should hit the floor or the ceiling first. I chose the ceiling. "I'm not paying. This is not my fault. I live in an apartment and these are not my appliances. They are both off so it's clearly a gas problem. What does Atlanta Gaslight have to do with this?.
Apparently Atlanta Gaslight distributes gas to companies light Georgia Natural Gas. The meters belong to Atlanta Gaslight. If they come out and the meter isn't the problem they want to get paid.
"This is not my property, and this is due to no fault of my own. How could this happen anyway?" I rant.
The rep didn't know how this could happen. She also had no idea why I was without gas. In fact her records showed everything as being fine.
I had one more question for her. "Could you have turned off the wrong meter? My neighbor in J is moving, maybe you turned off I by accident. She couldn't even tell me if the people in J had gas service with them or another company.
As I was leaving the building while talking to the apartment management on my cell, I saw my neighbor in J's brother. He was amazed that the gas company would ask if my meter was locked. He said he would go take a look. When he returned he said one meter was lock but he couldn't tell which unit it belongs too. He also said his brother hadn't had their gas turned off yet.
I called Georgia Natural Gas back and told them to send somebody from Atlanta Gaslight to fix my gas problem. I went to the office to talk to Management about this fee. I spoke with Irish, the assistant manager. She was also floored about the fee. She asked how much the fee would be. I told her they said it would be at least sixty dollars. Irish was astonished too. I told her that a meter is locked but I don't know whose it is. I also told her I wasn't paying a fee. Irish then called the head of maintenance to see if he'd go take a look at the meter to see if he could figure out anything. He reminded her of how they had gotten in trouble for unlocking a meter in the past. Irish said to go ahead and call the gas company and we'd both dispute the fee. I told her I had already called because this wasn't my fault.
The first maintenance man came back this afternoon to see what the gas company did. I told him they hadn't been here yet. He and Andrea went to look at the meters. Andrea said he pointed out one that was definitely broken and three others that were off. That couldn't tell which meters belongs to who. I'm surprised nobody else in the building has complained. There are ten units in this building.
Someone is supposed to be here between two and six. It's now 5:44 and no sign of anybody from any gas company. I'll call again at straight up six o'clock. They tried to assure me someone would come tonight. I asked at what time can I assume nobody was coming. They said midnight. So two and a quarter more hours. Who wants to bet nobody comes. I'm thinking up compensation for my inconvenience. I'm thinking a free January or February bill.
Well the gas man showed up just after midnight. I was surprised to say the least. He didn't understand why my meter was off either. he did his thing and re lit the pilots and checked for code compliance. The water heater passed but the furnace failed. He said the furnace had a possible crack in the heat exchanger. So my furnace needs to be looked at, fixed, and preferable replaced. Unfortunately Georgia isn't as strict as Utah. If a gas furnace or water heater is condemned by the gas company they put a lock on it that can't be removed by anyone else. Once the problem is fixed they come out, inspect it, and remove the lock. In George they just turn the gas off to that appliance with the problem, put a tag on it explaining the problem, say it needs to be fixed, and call it a day.
The problem I have with that is he also said they had tagged my furnace before for the same issue and apparently it wasn't fixed. I asked how would I know if it got fixed or maintenance just came in, twiddled their thumbs and left. He said I could call the gas company to come back and look at it. I wonder if that would involve a fee? Oh about this infamous fee; the gas man doesn't think I should be charged because he has no idea why my meter was off but unlocked. He did say he'd talk to the people in charge of turn ons and shut offs. I can see a fee dispute ahead of me for sure.
I'd be looking for a second opinion about the heat exchanger if, number one, it was my furnace and responsibility, and number two, a heat and air guy had said it needed to be replaced. I know they say that sometimes to get business. I don't think the gas supplier is in the business of selling furnaces so his findings are probably legitimate.
You're no doubt guessing how all this can be a mixed blessing. Well if my gas hadn't gone off for some yet unexplainable reason I wouldn't have know there was a serious issue with the furnace. Well into battle I go.
A blessing is camoflage.
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