On my way home from work tonight the radio station a commercial caught my interest. Ohio Edison, the gas company that I am forced to get service from, had a commercial explaining why there service was superior to other gas companies.
My initial reaction was "wow, other gas companies must really suck, because Ohio Edison has the worst customer service out of any company ever".
Between November and February my gas utility bill often exceeded $200. I live alone in a small two bed room town home, I sure as hell know I don't use two hundred dollars worth of gas. After studying my first astronomical bill I discovered that the gas company doesn't read the gas meter, they estimate how much gas you have used. In other words, they rape you like a prison bitch.
I attempted calling the phone company's customer service line five or six hundred times to get them to fix my bill, but the I always got the same message: "We are sorry, all of our agents are busy. Please try your call again at a later time". This was always followed by a prompt disconnection, obviously they are way too busy chatting on phone sex lines to answer the pointless questions of a disturbed customer.
Finally, I became so fed up with them that I called the gas leak line, which brings me back to the commercial I heard on the radio today. The commercial stated that the automated system that you use to report leaks is much more sophisticated than a customer service agent and it allows them to quickly and efficiently estimate the situation. Obviously by "sophisticated" they mean "AI equivillent to Teddy Roxbin" and by "quickly" and "efficiently" they mean "the opposite of quickly and efficiently". I called and reported a leakage on a Monday and I didn't receive a phone call until the following Thursday! I guess they were hoping that I was a smoker and the whole situation would just work itself out in a quick, efficient manner.
Anyway, I really don't understand why the gas company had a commercial, it isn't as though people choose to use Ohio Edison, it is just the only gas company available in my area. It is kind of like letting the Sheriffs department creating a commercial to remind everyone that they arrest people. It is fucked up to waste money on a commercial that explains something that everyone already knows.
