I Hate Commerce

Two things bugging me today.

First, we've spent all day waiting for an electrician to show up. This was part of the deal when we bought the house - the inspection service suggested a few upgrades and fixes to our electrical system, and the seller gave us a check written to a specific company to do the work. Well, the company they picked is very small, and the recent snow has put them behind. 

They've had to reschedule this job a couple of times, and they were supposed to be here this morning. It's 3 PM as I write this, and they're saying they should be here in half an hour. This late, they might not have time to finish today, so they may have to come back next week.

It's not a biggie, except that we had to put an entire day aside when there's other things we could be doing. Still, it's a first-world problem.

My second issue is more irritating. When I moved out of the old house, the realtor told me not to cancel the utilities. She said that it's a pain to get them turned back on, and that it's easier for the buyer to call and have the services transferred into their name.

I logged back into both accounts two weeks later, and found that they were still in my name. So I e-mailed my realtor, and she got with the new owners, then got back to me with, "Don't worry about it, they're going to take care of it."

Then two weeks after that, I got the bills for the month we didn't live there. I called both utilities, and both told me the same thing: Even if I send them proof I didn't live there, I still have to pay the bills because they were in my name. Which is exactly what I would have assumed in the first place, if I hadn't been told by the realtor not to cancel the services.

Anyway, I've canceled them now, but I'm annoyed that I have to pay for an extra month. I'm going to try to get the new owners to pay me back, but it's only $150, so it's not really worth the effort getting lawyers involved.

But it's not even the money that annoys me, it's that I followed instructions to the letter and still got punished.