A gas company story

As Bobbie has posted, the natural gas company is on our street installing the main. Well they have the front of my house and many others looking shitty. Not only shitty looking, but unsafe. They were supposed to come and replace the asphalt that they torn up. They haven't done that as of yet. I didn't think I would mind until I seen the damage they did. My concern is that someone walking in this area, will hurt themselves. I'll wait a little bit more, then make a call.

My friend on the street in back is having problems with them too. She lives with her mom. Her mom is elderly and unsteady on her feet. They took out a section of her sidewalk. They only laid the concrete back down. Now it is very unstable. Her mom, rightly so, is concerned that she will fall.

Not only that, she has a riding mower, was mowing this afternoon. She said the next thing she heard was a very loud noise, her mower shaking and then it died. When she looked under the mower, there is a chain with hooks on either end wrapped around her blade.

Well she walks down to the gas company guys and tells them that she thinks that they may have ruined her mower with what she thinks is their chain. The guy walks down with her, lifts the mower and there it is, wrapped around her blade. The blade was totally twisted. And yes, it's their chain. The must have throw it on her lawn. She told the guy that they needed to fix this today. He leaves and is gone for a while. Comes back with a new blade and puts it on. Luckily, the mower works fine.

Yesterday I was talking to my friend down the street. She was going to connect, but found out that she cannot connect her floor heater to natural gas. So they were thinking about getting a new heating system. $$$$$.

In the afternoon, someone came into my office and we got talking about whether we were going to connect. He's not because of the expense. Same for me. Anyway, he tells me that he has a ventless fireplace. He said that you cannot connect a ventless fireplace to natural gas. He also said he didn't think they could convert a ventless to a vented. My friend down the street has a fireplace. I called her and told her this. She said that they would find out if this was true. Talking to her today, it's true. You cannot connect a ventless fireplace to natural gas. And you cannot convert a ventless to a vented. I asked her what she was going to do. She said they already called the gas company and said that they were not going to connect. The girl they spoke with said they would put a hold on their order, but to call back tomorrow.

Here's the pisser of this whole thing. Way before they started running the lines, they had sent out questionnaires to people asking if they were interested in connecting. My friend had responded with a yes. The gas company sent someone to their house. They sat down at the dining room table. They went over whatever it is they had to go over. They looked at the existing gas appliances and told them it wouldn't be a problem converting the appliances. My friends paid a $65.00 connection fee. One of the stipulations to connect is, when they run the line to your house, you have 90 days to connect. If you don't connect in 90 days, you must pay for the cost of the work done in the road. What - give me a fucking break.

I asked her if they told the gas company that the person that was in their home, who saw the appliances, told you that they could be converted. They did. Can't wait to see what happens.

So now the gas company has ruined our street for a total of three people connecting.

You know they always brag stuff up. Oh how great it will be to have natural gas. How much money you'll save. This is great. What they don't tell you is all the money you'll have to spend to be able to make the conversion. They don't tell you that your heater and fireplace cannot be converted. They don't tell you that if you have copper tubing, which most of us have, it will all have to be replaced.

I know someone who is making the conversion. She is already out of pocket $12,000.00. I guess this is one way to help the economy.