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September 2011 Moms
Really MIL? REALLY!?! No power (vent - LONG)
Ok, let me start out by saying that I understand mistakes are made, and things happen.
Now that I said that, here's my rant. I'm going about my day on bed rest, finishing up writing out my Thank You notes, watching Celebrity Rehab on MTV. All of a sudden, the power goes out. Ok, no biggie. It is like 90 degrees outside, maybe there was a heat wave or something that caused a shortage.
I made my way upstairs (In case you don't know, DH and I rent an apartment from his parents. His parents live upstairs, and our apartment takes up a good portion of their downstairs, and is a fully functional private apartment) to see if DH's parents were home. I realize that there is power on everywhere around me - the radio in IL's kitchen was going, lights were on, etc. Hmm..that's weird. And no one is home.
So I come back down stairs, and send a text to DH. He told to check the fuse boxes, so I did. Nothing. Everything with that appeared fine. I told him I would just wait until he came home from work, and we'd figure it out (the power went out at 2:50ish EST). About a half hour later, I hear movement upstairs, so I called up to my IL's to see if they noticed any areas up there without power.
I was talking to my MIL, and it turns out that the electric company came and turned the power off!! Now, we're not responsible for sending out the payments each month, because we give my IL's X amount every month to cover the bills. That's how it's been since day 1, and we've never had any problems - up until now.
MIL explains that she thought she paid the power bill for the apartment, but apparently something wasn't right. She said she was going to call the power company right away, and let me know what they said.
She found out that she's been paying double on the main house power bill, and nothing on the apartment for TWO MONTHS!!! I've seen the power bills - they come as 2 separate bills clearly labeled the house address, and then Apt B for our apartment. MIL made the payment over the phone, but the power guy said that it won't be today that they come to turn it back on, but it could possibly be tomorrow. BUT there's no guarantee that it will be tomorrow, and that it could take up to 1-3 days for them to turn the power back on.
So great. I'm home on bed rest with no power. I call DH at work and explain to him what happened (and for starters, he has had a horrible day at work), and he is so pissed at his mom. She feels awful and really bad about it. But still - DUH! She said that they can make it a priority to turn the power back on if there is someone with a serious illness or medical condition, as long as the physician's office calls the power company to verify the illness/condition.
So now I have to call my OB/GYN tomorrow morning, and have them call the power company to verify that we need the power on because I'm home on bed rest due to being at a higher risk for PTL.
I am trying to not get too angry about it, but still. IL's have always been careless with bill paying, so I guess I can say I'm surprised that this hasn't happened sooner than in the 6 years we've been living here. I know DH will come home around 6, and be fuming angry, and I'll have to deal with it. I can't blame him though, and it's ok if he's mad - I'll just have to let him be, because I know it's nothing I did wrong. He works in an auto garage, so he's going to want to take a shower, and he won't be able to (unless he uses his parents shower, which he may have to). Maybe his parents will buy us pizza for dinner, since we can't make our own dinner..
Argh! Thank you for letting me vent, ladies. I had to get all that off my chest. If you made it through this long-a$$ rant, you deserve a strawberry daiquiri (virgin, of course).
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Re: Really MIL? REALLY!?! No power (vent - LONG)
Ugh! I think I got sweatie just reading that post! I would be livid with my IL's/landlord if something like that happened. I hope they buy you pizza AND ice cream for having to put up with this because in reality if I was renting from a stranger, I would be sitting in a 5 star hotel on their dime until they fixed their problem.
Also, thanks for suggesting the cocktail, it looks delicious!
I agree. Either a hotel on the MIL's dime, or move in. I don't know what the temp is like where you are, but it's not going below 85 at this point, even at night. And sleeping without any air circulation=yuck.
So sorry you are dealing with this!
Thanks ladies. It is really frustrating.
Regarding a delinquent notice - that's the thing that drives me nuts..They get their mail, and they'll leave it sitting unopened for days or WEEKS at a time! So they could have possibly received a delinquent notice, but just left it unopened. Back in May, I went upstairs looking for mail for DH and I that I thought I should have received by that time (we share a mailbox, and whoever gets the mail - DH, DH's little sisters, me - sort it, and theirs goes upstairs, and ours comes downstairs), I came across maybe about a hundred unopened envelopes from anyone, that were addressed to FIL/MIL. They were stacked and organized, so I was able to see that some of them were postmarked from January!! And some of them said "Important Tax Documents Enclosed" - by which it was May, so their taxes were already done. Luckily, I didn't find anything that was ours, but I was astonished at how they just leave mail unopened. Granted, most of it could have been junk mail, but it makes you wonder what other important things they didn't open!
And I really do hope they buy us pizza. If they don't offer, I'm just flat-out asking.
To the poster who asked about going upstairs if it gets too hot, yes we can. We generally get along with them, and can go up whenever we want. I may have to do that if the power isn't on tomorrow.
This exactly! They've always been like that for as long as I've know DH.
It has been pretty hot and muggy here - no less than maybe 85 degrees - but I do have to say that being downstairs, it stays relatively cool. Part of our apartment is underground because the house is on a hill, so it's like a half basement type thing. I think that helps a lot with keeping the apartment cooler in the summer. But still.
Edit: Ice cream keep getting brought up..I guess I need to move our frozen stuff into the garage freezer, or up into their freezer (if they have room) so that it does't go bad or melt. I didn't even think of the refrigerator. Grrr!
WHAT??? I would be livid. I don't care if they meant to or not, I would be FUMING!
I'm actually surprised that the power company shut the power off after 2 months of non payment, I feel like I've had friends who have fallen much further behind than that and the power remains on. I also thought they couldn't shut power off once temps reached a certain point (both high and low).
I guess none of that really matters, but I would be calling everyone I possibly could to get my power back on ASAP and from now on I'd be sure to snag the power bill as soon as you see it come through.
Yum, strawberry daiquiris
That said, so sorry to hear about your electricity. So very annoying ... particularly when hot, pregnant, uncomfortable, and on bedrest! Hopefully it gets sorted out really quickly.
Is it possible to pay the bill yourself? You could even call the power company and pay it over the phone. I've done that for a friend a few times when he was down on his luck. The power company just wanted to be paid, they didn't care who paid it.
Anyway... what a sucky situation.
THIS! Kick them out Jo! You need the AC more then they do and the cable/music, something! WOW... How would you not notice that your bill was building up a large credit while the apt was getting late notices???? If she was getting the bills, she should have gotten notices or warnings...
KICK' EM OUT!
BFP#1 07/01/2004 ~ EDD 03/10/2005 ~ D&C 8/1/2004 @ 5w5d