John Fischer's Philadelphia
Vol. 1 - Number 49 - 09/30/99
Last week I wrote a column in which I mentioned, with some dismay, the pending merger of PECO Energy and Chicago's Unicom Corporation. I guess, in retrospect, however, I spoke a few days too early.
I have a bad habit that when bills arrive. I just throw them in a basket until such time as either my wife or I decide to pay them. My wife, Eileen, hates this. If she catches me she insists on at least opening the bill to see how much we owe.
Monday we received our monthly PECO bill. We get both our gas and electric service from PECO on a combined statement. Our average bill runs somewhere between $150 and $ 200 a month total and somewhat higher in the summer due to our central air. The gas portion averages maybe $50 to $75 depending on the season.
As I was sitting at my computer working on Monday, Eileen came home from work, opened the PECO bill and came into my computer room. With something more than a little bit of concern in her voice she again suggested that maybe I should open bills when the arrive. She told me we had received the PECO bill.
Seeing a concerned look on her face, I asked her how much the bill was for. She told me. We had just received a PECO bill for $7,388.13 of which $7298.49 was for gas usage.
It seems that since our "actual" September meter reading was lower than our "actual" July reading PECO had assumed that our gas meter had turned over. For us to actually use 9934 Ccf of gas in a month, we ourselves would need to be feeding some pipeline and providing gas for the neighborhood. I don't think we've spent $7298.39 on gas in the 13 years that we have lived in the house.
When I called PECO my first 8-10 calls were met by a recording saying that their customer service representatives were very busy and could not take any further calls. I was instructed to call back later. I was never even given the option of being placed on hold. This really put me in a good mood.
I was persistent, however, and eventually got through to a customer service representative who was very polite and in a very friendly tone asked me what he could do to help me. I asked that he please glance at the gas portion of my bill.
What I heard next, after a brief silence, was a moan of "oh, my" and "it seems like there's an error here". Luckily the representative agreed that our July reading was probably incorrect and he agreed to adjust the bill. He even instructed me not to pay the bill because a revised bill would be forthcoming. No worry there, my friend.
Then as is so often the case in this day and age of customer satisfaction, he proceeded to do one of those instant surveys that I hate. "Were you happy with the results of your call today?" he asked. Yes, I said, with a chuckle.
I would have though that this type of incorrect billing was a rarity, but Wednesday, as I was watching the Today Show on NBC, I saw a story of a couple out west who received the electric bill. It was for $ 50,000,000,035.95.
The couple have a direct debit account with their bank such that a few days after the bill is received, the funds are automatically transferred from the bank to the electric company. Needless to say, the husband headed to the bank the next day and proceeded to recommend that the bank hold off on their electronic transfer of funds.
Well, back in 1989 Cyndi Lauper wrote a song for her album A Night To Remember entitled Heading West. The refrain of that song goes like this:
"And I'm heading west
Without a sad goodbye
And I'm heading west
I'm like a letter with no address
Just like a book I read
I'm heading west"
That's me. For the next two weeks my wife and I will be driving throughout the west visiting such spots as San Francisco, Yosemite, Death Valley, Las Vegas and then the California central coast including San Simeon, Big Sur and the Monterey Peninsula. We'll be attending About.com's Red Ball Block Party at the Luxor in Las Vegas in Saturday, October 9, 1999.
You can take the guy out west, but he's still from Philadelphia. We'll be reporting on our trip and even sharing some photos as we travel. Check back in this column often during the next couple of weeks.
Well, that's my spin on things. What's yours? You can join me in our chat room almost every evening - Philly Chat - or drop me a note at philadelphia.guide@about.com. Also, be sure to check out our new Philadelphia Forum where you can share your comments and feelings, ask questions, post classifieds and much more
If you missed any of our recent columns you can still catch them:
John Fischer's
Philadelphia 09/13/99
John Fischer's Philadelphia 09/16/99
John Fischer's Philadelphia 09/20/99
John Fischer's Philadelphia 09/24/99
John Fischer's Philadelphia 09/27/99
