I’ve been told three times now “it does happen”. Well obviously since it has happened morons!

I get my electric bill via email–not paper bill–for both of my houses. Last week, I got a notice of the bill and knew the date was off so I went to check it out only to find that it said “final bill”. I was like WTF do you mean final bill, I didn’t request to have my electricity shut off! Granted, we’re rarely ever there, but when we are, we want electricity.

So I call the moron patrol Alliant Energy to find out WTF is up with this–did they decide because there’s hardly any usage they were going to cut me off or what. OH NO, it’s even better than that!

They said that someone called in and said that they were moving to that address so I was issued a final bill and the name on the account was changed. I said NO–no one is moving there–that’s MY house, it’s NOT a rental-! Then the fucking moron says there’s no landlord of record for that address. I said OF COURSE NOT–it’s NOT A RENTAL–THAT’S MY HOUSE. She then went on to say (like it’s no big deal) that someone must’ve given a wrong address when they called in the change and because it is a common address “it happens”.

I do not find that answer acceptable. Where is my right to privacy, etc. How the hell can someone just randomly call in and change a name on an account like that? I don’t get it.

After hanging up with moron #1 and stewing a while, I called back to moron #2 only to get the same song and dance that someone made a mistake, it’s a common address, etc. I asked her what about my right to privacy and asked why I, as the owner, wasn’t notified of this change. She just nonchalantly said that they couldn’t possibly call everyone when there was a change or they wouldn’t get anything else done. I really think she just wanted to piss me off by saying that! To me, there should be a department that handles this–the owner should be notified especially since “there is no landlord of record”. How stupid!

I was told by morons 1 & 2 that the account would be put back in my name and it was no big deal. Well, I know Alliant–another legal monopoly that I detest–NOTHING is ever “no big deal” with them and I have been waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Today, I got an email saying the above referenced account is currently being electronically billed and paid using ‘Your e-Bill’. Recently, this account was turned off at your request. Therefore, the ‘Your e-Bill’ option has been terminated and any future scheduled payments have been canceled.

OH LOOK–ANOTHER WTF MOMENT!

So I call back AGAIN to moron #3. This time I was told that although the account had been put back in my name, it was issued a new account number and that I would have enroll that account in the ebill service again. I once again expressed my extreme displeasure with this situation and included the fact that I feel my privacy has been violated and asked again how someone can just call and a make a change like this and to my shock (not) I was told again that “it does happen” that a wrong address is given, etc. and that they can’t call to verify the changes, etc. Their typical load of shit. I said so in other words, because of someone else’s mistake, I have to mess with paying my bill by check, mailing it in, etc. Not that it’s a big deal to do that, it’s not, it’s the idea of WHY I have to do it. That someone else’s mistake has caused me a headache.

To further that, I cannot understand how this could really happen anyway. Obviously the person who called to request the change is moving somewhere with the same address as my house, but not in my town–there’s only one address per house after all. So my question remains, how can this happen? One of two things should have prevented this. A. The person calling should have known not only the address but also the name of the city and/or zip code to where they were moving AND B. The person at Alliant taking the call should have verified not only the address but the city and/or zip code. In short, in my eyes, a “mistake” like this should never happen and someone (probably Alliant) fucked up big time.

I guess in the end I should have not said anything and let them bill the new guy for my electricity.

I’m sure that this isn’t done yet, I’m just waiting for Alliant to tell me I have to pay a reconnect fee. Wouldn’t surprise me one bit.