I consider myself a pretty responsible person when it comes to paying bills. I am rarely late, and when I am it’s usually for an understandable reason. I think that whenever money is exchanging hands, there are going to be problems, especially when this money is travelling through mail or over the Internet. Now the problem is, I pay all of my bills either through the mail or over the internet.
A few weeks had passed and I thought nothing of this trouble with the gas bill, until yesterday when I noticed a small piece of paper hanging from my doorknob. This paper said something to the effect of “You didn’t pay your gas bill, now we are really going to stick it to you. Burn in hell.” My first thought was that this was some mistake. I mean after all, I paid the bill right? No, I didn’t. After further investigation, I found out that the payment did not go through. Not only did it not go through, but I have no record of it at all.
Disbelief quickly turned to panic, and I called the 800 number on the card that was left on my doorknob. “Hi, I’m going to need my gas turned on” I said. “I’m going to need your left arm, and your first born son” the gas company said. Come to find out when your gas is disconnected you have to pay a security deposit to turn it back on. This security deposit is based on your highest gas bill over the past year. Mine was $800. So if you are keeping score that is $750 + $800 = $1,550. But wait, that’s not all. You also have to get your bill current. That means you have to pay for this month to. So what is the total cost of getting my gas turned back on? $1,871.65. Who has that kind of money laying around?
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