I have Gas Again

Oh gosh, where do I start? Let's begin at the very beginning. Last Friday, I called Oklahoma Natural Gas to see if they would come out and check my house for a gas leak. My bill for two weeks was rather high and we could smell gas around my oven sometimes. I wasn't sure and was afraid that I was just being paranoid not ever having a gas oven before. The service tech on the phone said that he'd have to send someone immediately to investigate but was really nice and said if I missed him just to call back and they would return. According to the rules, if you call in a problem they come out immediately and if your not there, they cut off the gas.

So I raced home but alas I missed the man and had to call back and say "I am home now." The new person on the phone was again very nice and said someone would be out within an hour. He was. I told him my story of not know if there was a problem but thought that I should do the responsible thing and call. He tried to check my system but since I didn't have a cut-off valve on my oven, he was unable to check. He told me to get one put on and call back. Dad put a cut-off valve on that night and by 6 p.m. I was once again on the phone with ONG.

Three times may be the charm but the fourth must be bad mojo. I spoke to a new service person on the phone telling him I had fixed the problem and requesting someone come out and check for a leak and was instantly hit with angry man stating that "we have done our part and you need to call a plumber and get the repairs done, if we come back out and you still have a leak, we will take your meter and you will have to call a plumber fix the problem then call the city to have your house re-inspected before they would come back and reinstall the meter." Blown away, I told him that the man who came out told me to just have a cut-off valve put on then they would be able to check to see if I had a problem to repair. The angry man then told me "well, he put on his work order that he suggested you call a plumber (I later found out that was a lie). If we come out and there's still a leak we'll take your meter." I then totally frustrated tell him that I don't know if there's a leak and the service man who came out didn't mention a plumber at all. "I can only go on what he's written on the work order, we've done our part and if we come out again and there's a leak we'll take your meter." At that moment, I knew I was defeated and hung up.

The problems with monopolies is that you have no real recourse. I knew I was going to have to call a plumber no matter what now. I suspected that there was a problem in the house, and if my suspicions where true then I needed a plumber anyway. I, however, would have been furious if there was no leak and I had a plumber's bill because I couldn't risk ONG yanking my meter. I felt as though I was being punished for being responsible.

Turns out I did have a leak in my hot water tank AND in my furnace. My copper tubing on something wasn't legal, I need a double lined or something vent pipe and many other things to get my gas system up to code- $359 later, I now have gas.

Turns out that the service guy who came back out to check the system and turn the gas back on was the same guy who came out the first time and told mom that the other guy was totally out line saying what he did. He also backed up what I said about our conversation. He was rather mad about the whole thing.

Even though, had all gone right, I would have had to call a plumber out anyway, it's the principal of matter. I shall be writing a letter to the company voicing my complaints and later as appliances go bad and need to be replaced I will replace them with electric as that is my only stand I can take with such a monopoly.