National Grid suckiness

[Dave1982]

So today started off pretty rough at work. Before the store even opened the following happened.

-I forgot my lunch at home.

-I found out that no one filled out the mandatory alarm inspection log on Saturday or Sunday (something that Loss Prevention gets VERY upset about)

-I found a nice pile of price tags that were supposed to be put up Saturday night that never got done.

-I found 18 expired price tags still up (sounds like a small number, but that's a lot).

-I screwed up and printed some of the replacements for the above signs in the wrong size.

Then the MOD says "oh, it get's better than that, Dave1982. YOU'RE my opening cashier!"

Me: Am I now?

MOD: Yep!

Me: And why is that? (I'm Electronics).

Well, the girl who was scheduled to be the opening cashier moved into her new place on Friday. But when she got there, she found that there was no electricity, and no gas.

Yes, she had called to have service activated at her new address, and it was supposed to have been done by the time she moved in, but for some unknown reason they never did.

So she called National Grid* and explained the situation, and said she needed someone out as soon as possible, because she was already out of her old place.

No one came.

She spent the ENTIRE WEEKEND in the dark and without heat. And it was pretty chilly around here over the weekend.

And did I mention that she has a five year old son? Who was freaking out because the lights didn't work?

Despite spending practically the whole weekend on the phone with them, flipping out (rightfully so!) because they failed to activate service, they still wouldn't send someone until Monday (today) "between 10AM and 5PM"

So she had to stay home until they showed up. She said once they did, she'd come in to work the rest of her shift, but when I left at 3PM, she still wasn't there, so I can only assume she was still waiting!!

That. Just. Sucks.

I can see if she was cutoff for not paying or something like that, but this was a new activation of basic, necessary services. It's not like this was Comcast not showing up to switch on the cable TV.

I hope she gets a couple months credit over this.

I'm thinking of buying her a pack of candles as a "housewarming" gift, just to tease her.


*I think that was the company, but I could be wrong.

[Nashida]

*pulls bag over head* I hope it wasn't National Grid....my father works for them.....

[prb]

Hmmm. I thought rogers only did cell phones with way too expensive service and home phones and cable tv that don't work.

[Chromatix]

It might be National Grid... if it's a new house in the country, which needs wires to be put up on poles to it. This seems unlikely. Otherwise, it'll be one of the many resellers.

[SG15Z]

-I found a nice pile of price tags that were supposed to be put up Saturday night that never got done.

-I found 18 expired price tags still up (sounds like a small number, but that's a lot).

Sounds like a normal day in our price tag dept. I found a tag the other day that expired 8 months ago! You'd think with Krogers price is right guarantee we'd be a little better at this. But considering the number of times I given stuff away for free...yeah it happens a lot here.

[tollbaby]

That's really weird! I work for my local electricity provider, and we never turn off service unless it's for non-payment, or at the property owner's request (there are some pretty hefty fees for voluntary cut-off and turning it back on).

[Gerrinson]

Dave, IIRC, you're in Massachusetts, right? If so, then yes, it is National Grid. And if there's a kid in the house and they haven't got the power on yet, I believe that may be illegal.

I know once the power is on, they can't cut it if there is a child in the house (or senior citizen, or someone who relies on electronic medical equipment.) That may not apply in the situation since the power hasn't been activated yet, but I think your co-worker needs to lodge a serious complaint with the higher ups at National Grid. They've been pretty decent as a whole, in my experiences, but when they FUBAR something, they really FUBAR it good.

[prb]

That's really weird! I work for my local electricity provider, and we never turn off service unless it's for non-payment, or at the property owner's request (there are some pretty hefty fees for voluntary cut-off and turning it back on).

Here they turn it off if:
1) non-payment
2) new resident of property doesn't request service, then after a week they turn it off and place a lien on the property for the 1-2 weeks of service.

[Dave1982]

It was National Grid.

They came at 1PM Monday to turn on the electricity.

They didn't come back to turn on the gas until 10:30 PM!!!!!

That's just ridiculous.

Oh, and I gave her a box of 12 tealights as a "housewarming" gift yesterday.

Yes, she saw the humor in it and wasn't offended. But even so, I also got her a $10 Target gift card so she could get something she actually needs.

[ArcticChicken]

I found a tag the other day that expired 8 months ago!

Wow, the earliest I've ever found was one month, unless you count that stack from 2007, but that wasn't on anything, it was stuck in a cart of balls I had to kill.