I was already impressed at the individual attention I was given after complaining to Kansas City Power and Light about constant power outages here that only affected three homes. Then yesterday, two service guys came in trucks and spent at least an hour checking out our lines. In this day and age, follow-up service from such a huge company?
Then storms began brewing yesterday evening; lights dimmed repeatedly and finally flickered and died.
How could this be, after all the attention they'd given?
Cliff's next-door sister called, and I invited her to come on over and spend time in the dark with me and my daughter's two girls. I called in a report of the power outage and gave Rena some Russian salsa and chips.
At some point it hit me that perhaps this outage was different, that it might be affecting a bigger area.
A check of the neighborhood showed me that indeed, this time it wasn't only three houses. Dusk-to-dawn lights that show up from my front door were not sending out their beacons of light.
We got our electricity back after perhaps an hour; when I went to Facebook I saw that my whole little town had experienced this outage, and I felt much better; misery loves company, you know. And this gives me hope that perhaps our little teeny problem has been dealt with after all.
And now on to my phone company, Century-Link (Joey, are you reading?). Cliff and I could save a little money if we did away with our land line. We'd like to get rid of it and yet keep our DSL service; I called Century-Link and found it's possible to do this. For some reason, though, after a year's time, it would actually cost us MORE without the phone that it does now with it. I don't know why "after a year", but that's how I understand it. The line is already in place. More and more people are getting rid of their home phones. Seems to me we ought to be able to save that $35 monthly bill. OK, make it $30, since we'd probably lose the $5 we're allowed for bundling phone, Internet, and Dish. Still, with Cliff thinking seriously of retiring next year, that buck a day could make a difference.
Showing posts with label KCP and L. Show all posts
Showing posts with label KCP and L. Show all posts
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Thursday, August 12, 2010
This was going to be a rant...
But should I complain about something when I didn't let the people know about the problem?
Lately this has become a very common sight around here. We've been having power outages every few days; one lasted for twelve hours. I would call the automated line to report it, but the robot on the other end didn't seem to know who I was.
Last time, I got wise and also called in my sister-in-law's number, as well as some other numbers of people who, I've now found out, weren't even affected. Turns out only three homes have been involved in these outages: The one where that KCP&L truck is sitting, our old house where my sister-in-law lives, and our mobile home.
Today I called a neighbor across the highway to see if they had electricity and she said, "Yes, but Ronda just called; their power is out."
I told her this was getting old, that it's hard on appliances and computers to go off and on like that all the time.
"You need to call them and complain," she said.
"I guess you're right; that's one thing I can do while I sit in the shade burning up with the heat."
So I got out the phone book and found a customer service number.
The lady was very nice, but she couldn't find our house number either; same problem as the robot I always talked to.
"Funny to me my bill always arrives at the right address," I quipped.
For some reason, they have our old address as our 911 number. That, she said, was the problem.
I explained to her how often this was happening, that it involved only three houses, and that I was worried something in my home would be damaged if this continued to go on.
She said she'd report the problem.
Within twenty minutes, a truck was here. The guy looked at lines everywhere, tightened one of them up a little, then replaced the blown fuse in the transformer across the road. He drove up our driveway and looked at all our lines, then got out to talk to me.
He said he really couldn't seen any reason for the problem, except perhaps for some vines growing up one pole at the corner; he put in a work order for that. He wondered if a bird got electrocuted on one of our poles, because that happens a lot, and would have caused our problem; we saw no dead birds.
Anyhow. Here I was simmering in more ways than one, and all I had to do was call a real person and discuss my problem.
Who'd have thought it could be so simple?
Last time, I got wise and also called in my sister-in-law's number, as well as some other numbers of people who, I've now found out, weren't even affected. Turns out only three homes have been involved in these outages: The one where that KCP&L truck is sitting, our old house where my sister-in-law lives, and our mobile home.
Today I called a neighbor across the highway to see if they had electricity and she said, "Yes, but Ronda just called; their power is out."
I told her this was getting old, that it's hard on appliances and computers to go off and on like that all the time.
"You need to call them and complain," she said.
"I guess you're right; that's one thing I can do while I sit in the shade burning up with the heat."
So I got out the phone book and found a customer service number.
The lady was very nice, but she couldn't find our house number either; same problem as the robot I always talked to.
"Funny to me my bill always arrives at the right address," I quipped.
For some reason, they have our old address as our 911 number. That, she said, was the problem.
I explained to her how often this was happening, that it involved only three houses, and that I was worried something in my home would be damaged if this continued to go on.
She said she'd report the problem.
Within twenty minutes, a truck was here. The guy looked at lines everywhere, tightened one of them up a little, then replaced the blown fuse in the transformer across the road. He drove up our driveway and looked at all our lines, then got out to talk to me.
He said he really couldn't seen any reason for the problem, except perhaps for some vines growing up one pole at the corner; he put in a work order for that. He wondered if a bird got electrocuted on one of our poles, because that happens a lot, and would have caused our problem; we saw no dead birds.
Anyhow. Here I was simmering in more ways than one, and all I had to do was call a real person and discuss my problem.
Who'd have thought it could be so simple?
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