Awoke feeling well enough to make phone calls on my own; Made appointment for Urologist. Called TLC for transportation sevice. Opened email inbox. Checked new mail. No messages found from Ms. W., MLGW president's secretary. No record of any calls from MLGW from Caller ID either. As I began to open and read new mail...the electricity went out!!! First thoughts..."Don't panic, they confirmed my $200 online payment. Its probably a due to lack of communication at main office."
I call Ms. L. She's aware my power has been disconnected again. I ask whether Ms W. ever called or if she had ever even discussed any arrangeements for me with her. I was told that Ms. W would not hold any discussions with me without a promise date for the payment of the new balance of $900. I remind her that I just paid $200 less than a week ago, expecting contact from Ms. W to discuss my circumstance. Like last Wednesday, I repeated the only thing I could promise; "I can pay another $200 when my Social Security deposits in one week and I will continue to seek resources for the balance." As with previous conversations, Ms. L repeatedly accused me of not understanding the limitations of their payment arrangement policies. I was chastised by, "You just need to pay your bill in full and on time", " if you pump $20 gas out for your car, you're expexcted to pay for it." If I had that capacity I would not have subjected myself to the humiliating condescention I had been dealt through my phone calls begging for some alternatives to doing without power. I could respect that as a representative of this company she has to work within the policies and guidelines of her employer. I could respect concluding the call with an acknowledgement that she had done all that was within her authority. It was the disrespectful tone that really disturbed me. The suggestion that I had been negligent because I was having difficulty affording a $200-300 bill, 20-30% of my fixed monthly income. When I said I've been budgeting $200 out of $1,000 a month for MLGW bill. Her response was "what are you doing with the rest of your money?" ...well how about $800 for my mortgage, phonebill and groceries...Such compassion from the head of a community program...
Before ending my last call I made sure there was no other course of action or arrangement within my power that I could make with MLGW. I asked whether the fact that I had history of regular monthly payments of $100-$300 was taken into consideration. I repeated that I could promise at least $200 as soon as my Social Security cleared in 6 days. I was assured that the only option left was a promise date of full $900 to consider reconnecting my electricity.
