If customer service was a purchasable option, I don’t think it would ever appear on NS power option list. How rude is it to send a disconnection notice 8 days after the due date of a bill. And I am not talking about skipping multiple months, or being a bad customer. I pay all my bills on time. But to send a disconnection notice 8 days after forgetting to pay NS Power bill is a bit excessive if not completely abusive! A friendly reminder would have been more polite and would have achieved the same result. Where are all the good manners now a day?
—A dissatisfied customer.
This article appears in Jul 16-22, 2009.
Nothing to do with “manners” honestly. Bills have due dates on them because they are a service, not a right, and if you cannot pay on time then companies do reserve right to terminate the contract.
I’m not defending NSP one bit but even I won’t wait a full week after the due date to pay a bill. Forgetting is not an excuse either so please stop thinking that “its not your fault”.
This is the cold-hard reality of the ‘real world’ OP. Its called ‘responsibility’.
Sorry, but no sympathy for you if you cannot pay a bill on time. We all do. Thats why we don’t air our dirty laundry about bill payments.
If you don’t want this to happen in the future OP, and you happen to fall behind on a payment, call NSP and let them know. They’re far more likely to be understanding if they know your intentions are good than if they think you skipped town. Can’t guarantee it’ll work, but it’ll improve the odds of good service.
Good pointer, PDG. If you are going to be late – call them and explain your situation. Most of the time, the organization will try and find a way to receive their payment at the customer’s convenience.
It does honestly help. The companies advocate this type of action because then “they know” that you have intent to pay and are not just blowing the bill off and shrugging your shoulders.
You can ALWAYS make arrangements if you can’t pay a bill on time — especially with NSP. I’ve done it once or twice when I had some unexpected expenses. They were more than willing to work with me.
I was told by a financial lecturer that almost every company is willing to work with customers who can’t pay their bills on time or can’t pay the full amount at that time if you call and explain the situation. He told me that credit card companies will often lower your monthly minimum payment, even, if you call and explain your situation with them.
Also: NSP will put your account into collections which will hound you on a twice-a-week basis or something if you don’t pay….I have a friend who’s dealing with that now. Can’t get the powerbill in his name anymore because of it.
forgetting to pay and falling behind are not the same thing. i forgot to pay my bill in may/june … it was buried under some other mail and 3 weeks late by the time i remembered (first time i have ever forgotten to pay a bill … *headsmack*) … i didn’t get a notice of any sort and the overdue interest on my next bill was less than $1. if you have always paid on time, my guess is that it was a clerical error … utilities usually give some grace time for just this sort of situation.
Alnd remember, these bills and notices are computer generated.
Nsp is a money grubbing monopoly hell bent on squeezing every cent out of you they can ‘justify’ to the utility review board. I guess power will go up 10 percent to pay for the extra mail out! Don’t bother calling them. They are rude on the phone.
Wow, virgo’s obviously disenchanted with NSP. Although her first sentence is correct, don’t assume they’ll be rude on the phone. The nicer and more patient YOU are, the more it’ll work in your favour. We all forget bills at one point or another.
Canada sure is full of socialists who would love to see the government run everything, including the power utility. Yet most people do not realize how much money it costs to provide them with electricity, or how important it is for any company to be viable, and profitable. Government run corporations are the only exception, but then, you have to pay for those loses through your taxes. So, unless you’re a drain on the system, and are taking out of the system instead of paying into it, you’d be paying to make the company profitable regardless of whether it were private or public. Maybe people with Emera shares are ordinary Nova Scotians, not large companies, and those investors deserve to see fair return on their investment, especially those Nova Scotians who are retired, and relying on those dividends to supplement the pitiful CPP, or old age securities.
Wonder what people would say if their pension plans/stocks or whatever had shares in Emera (most around here probably would), if then they wouldn’t want a profit.
Speaking of rude idiots, I was at a government office and a “friend” of a person who needed to get something done, started ragging out the receptionist and other employees calling the person they needed to see “a prick”, then going on that he could say what he wanted because this is Canada and had freedom of speech. All this “friend” did was probably ruin whatever his friend needed from the department involved. Guess he also didn’t know there is a difference in “freedom of speech” and “causing a disturbance”.