Hick was not able to thaw out the frozen water line at the Beauty Shop on Thursday, his second try. He's sure the frozen area is in the city water line between the street and the front door. He'll just have to wait on the weather. He's hoping the pipe didn't burst. Just froze the water inside, with that frigid dirt packed around the pipe.
Hick turned his efforts to Bargain House. He and Old Buddy tore off the part of the back porch area that was sagging. He burned the trashed materials. No ordinance against that! Also, he took all the junk mail out of the mailbox (thank you to the senders for paying The Pony's salary!) and burned that, too.
Good thing Hick looked through the mail first! In an orange envelope that looked like junk was the GAS BILL! It should never have been sent to the address of Bargain House. Hick was clear when establishing service that the mailing address for the bill should be OUR HOME ADDRESS.
Hick called the gas company.
"She was the nicest person I ever talked to at a utility company! She said that shouldn't have happened. She wanted to know the account number and other stuff off the bill. She said she would correct the address. I told her the bill was due TODAY! And that I didn't want to start off being late with a bill. I said we could mail it tomorrow, but I didn't know how long it would take to get there. It says it's not delinquent until the 29th. But that doesn't mean the mail will get our payment there on time."
"Did you ask to pay over the phone?"
"No. I didn't think of that."
"I'm sure she would have connected you to the people who do that."
"Well, I didn't think of it. Maybe you can get online and pay it."
"I can probably do a one-time payment like that. It's a major company."
So that's what I did. Paid online with just the account number and zip code. Which could have been a problem, since the zip code at Bargain House is different from our home address. That's how I knew the lady Hick talked to had actually done what she said she was going to do with changing the address on the bill. Otherwise, the website would not have recognized our account.
It's always something.
It's starting to sound like HGTV show flipping drama.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, our drama is all real! I used to like that Zombie House Flipping show, even though they always had some major catastrophe halfway through the episode. Hard to believe that was real every week.
DeleteI like to pay stuff online so they get their money right away and I never get a late notice.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to pay a bill when you don't know it exists, which was my point here.
DeleteThis was the first bill on Bargain House, and it was sent to the wrong address. Good thing Hick was over there on the day it was due, and looked through the mail (none of which should have been for us) before throwing it in the fire.
I forgot about the wrong address bit, I'm glad the bill was found.
ReplyDeleteIt was a welcome coincidence that Hick was there and checked the mail on the day it was due.
DeleteI hate to be late with any payment! We don't have many bills, just utilities and insurance. Our vehicle insurance just doubled!! We haven't had a claim in 20 years. I know everyone is facing that rate hike, but it still smarts!
ReplyDeleteRight now we are getting 7 electric bills! I pay them on time, as long as I get them. This gas bill was something new. Now I know when to look for it, in case it still goes to the wrong address.
DeleteOur vehicle insurance was about the same, but the house insurance almost doubled. We are shopping for a new insurance company.