Thursday 21 July 2016

Why Do They Do This?

Well, because it works:
Scholasticah Rowland had been married to her 57-year-old husband Robert for 17 years when he lost his battle with cancer last August.
Ever since his death, Mrs Rowland, 54, of Crayford Way, says she has been fighting EDF Energy over an unpaid bill of £292.
She claims her husband always paid for energy bills, and that she wanted the last one written off as a gesture of goodwill.
*blinks*
“These people care more about making money rather than people’s emotions.
“Instead of mourning my husband’s death, I’m constantly thinking of EDF. It’s like cutting my wound which is already open. I can’t carry on like this.”
Errr, they're a business, love. While I'm sure it's a personal tragedy for you, why exactly should they care?
After being contacted by News Shopper, EDF agreed to credit Mrs Rowland's account with the full amount owed for the bill.
There you go! Got bills you can't pay with a utility company? Get a sob-story in the local paper in an attempt to guilt-trip them into waiving them.

All you have to lose is your last scrap of dignity and self-respect...

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Some socialists will have sympathy with her, even though she deserves none. The company have supplied her with the service and somehow her husband's death means she can ignore the bill? CRAZY.

Antisthenes said...

Unbelievable. But a sad fact of life these days of dependency and entitlement that many will sympathise with her and see no wrong in her attitude and demands. She has a problem but so have many others but they do not think they should palm them off on to someone else. She may be relieved of the problem but only by saddling someone else with it. My reaction when people tell me of their problems and use them as en excuse to renege on their obligations is to say "I am not interested in your problems anymore than you would be interested in mine in the same circumstances."

Jim said...

I'm assuming she did actually live in a house that was lit and heated by the energy EDF supplied her and her husband with? Why doesn't she go to Sainsburys and demand her money back for the last 3 months food she bought for her and her husband? How about Esso, all that petrol she used, 'My husband's died you know! Give me my money back!'?

Ted Treen said...

I'm just penning a letter to NPower informing them that as my gerbil's right off his sunflower seeds, I won't be paying them any more this year

I'll keep you posted...

stengle said...

I used to work on a paper which had a "Your paper cares" column. It was billed as 'send us your problems and we will fight the bad people on your behalf.'

The editor admitted it was a breeze. Someone moans by letter, the paper phones the company who either are scared of bad publicity or can't be bothered to argue the matter, so they give in. One phone call, cheap page filler stuff and the readers think the paper "cares."

What might have worried the paper though was the 'bad' company telling the oily journalist to 'f*ck off' but then the newspaper would get round it by not using that moaning letter and never reporting where the company told them to go. As they used to get a couple of dozen moaners a week it probably was never going to be a crisis.

Anonymous said...

I thought that putting a deceased person's affairs in order was pretty much routine. I'd always assumed that the process of dealing with it all would help the bereaved by keeping them occupied and taking their minds off things for a while. Why a utility company should be cast as the bad guy for asking that an outstanding bill to be settled is a bit of a mystery to me. If the company had screwed up and was demanding money that wasn't owed, then she would have a point.

Stonyground

JuliaM said...

" But a sad fact of life these days of dependency and entitlement that many will sympathise with her and see no wrong in her attitude and demands. "

Most of the comments to that story (if the mods haven't removed them!) aren't quite so understanding...

"Why doesn't she go to Sainsburys and demand her money back for the last 3 months food she bought for her and her husband?"

Jeez, don't give her ideas!

"As they used to get a couple of dozen moaners a week it probably was never going to be a crisis."

A rich and fertile field, indeed..

"I thought that putting a deceased person's affairs in order was pretty much routine."

When I had to sort out my father's affairs, I was struck by how simple the process usually was, with some notable exceptions (supermarket loyalty cards stands out as one).