Careless whispers and companies that could care less

This post is backdated because it was on my old Drupal site. I was a former Gas South customer and I was treated very badly. Enjoy my story.This song (Careless Whispers) was recorded on my Creative Zen Sleek Photo from a radio station. Matthew introduced me to George Michael and his songs. Apparently, this song was first released as a solo George Michael single, while he was part of the pop group Wham!. So, I fell in love with this one in particular. Enjoy the song. While you’re listening, I’ll take the time to burden you with some trouble I’ve been having or had (hopefully). When picking a company to provide a service say gas, please choose wisely. I didn’t and I tolerated this particular gas company’s service until when I decided to quit due to a change in my living situation. The first thing they did was hit me with a cancellation fee that I hadn’t been advised of. Naturally, I challenged this fee and it took them over 1 month to investigate and remove this $50 cancellation fee. Well, I didn’t pay the initial final charge with the $50 bill tacked on. In a little over a month after the matter was resolved, I got a letter from a debt collection agency about the account which was overdue. To say I was blindsided was an understatement. They sent my account over to collections without so much as a “Hey you — pay or collections-here-we-come letter”. I paid the bill the day after I received the letter from the external collections agency and then, called this company (it’s Gas South, for the record). I have all my cell phone records and distinctly recall asking the CSR (customer service representative) for a final bill to be sent to me. This never happened. During my call to Gas South this time around, I got the call escalated and it reached a lady who pulled all the tricks they teach them at customer service school. First, she claimed that during my last call to confirm if the case had been resolved, that I hadn’t requested for a bill to be sent. I should have requested for a call transcript, but it slipped my mind. Then, the next thing was my inquiry into their reporting procedures. Apparently, it’s 45 days from issuing the final bill and 30 days from when it’s due that it’s first sent to Gas-South’s internal collection crew. They’re supposed to get in touch with the customer and then, forward it to an external collections agency if the customer doesn’t pony up the money. I never heard anything from Gas South. The last time I called them was 06/08/2007 and I was so occupied with things like my parents coming down, my wedding reception, etc. I’ll be the first to admit that I should have been on top of things. Nevertheless, it doesn’t give a company license to fast-track things as they please without regard to due process. I’ve since lodged a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and I am in the midst of drafting up a letter to their headquarters. That way, I’ll have my complaints on the books and their system.

Update: I’ve found a Youtube video of his performance of the song so enjoy it!

and here’s just the mp3 of the song: