BGE update.

[rivka]

To update my previous post: I called BGE twice this afternoon. The first time was to ask whether they had a record of a worker being sent out to a call from #837; they did. The second time was to complain.

The BGE customer service rep explained to me that BGE workers have a right to access their equipment regardless of where it is or whose property they have to cross to reach it. I explained that I was aware that he was not trying to do anything illegal; I just wanted to express concerns about how he behaved.

Apparently, in the eyes of BGE customer service he did nothing wrong. It is totally normal, she explained, for a BGE employee to climb someone's fence or attempt to get through or over a locked gate. Did she see how it might be frightening to find an unknown person trying to get through to a limited-access part of one's property? Well, she said, it's not like he was trying to break into my house.

Also: apparently he was under no obligation to show his ID unless and until I specifically asked him to do so. When I said "Hey!" and "What are you doing here?!", that didn't constitute a request for ID, so there was nothing wrong with the fact that he did not immediately provide proof of his legitimacy.

I went around and around with the customer service rep, trying to explain that although his behavior might technically be legal, it was inappropriate from a customer-relations standpoint because it scared me and could reasonably be expected to scare other women as well. I was too smart to say (although I wanted to): "Don't you realize that your guy could have been shot?! He was acting like a fucking housebreaker!"

Oh, and also also: as far as his urgent emergency need to access our back area in order to solve our neighbors' potentially life-threatening electricity problem, using technical skills so advanced that it would've resulted in significant impairment to his performance if he'd been expected to simultaneously exercise common courtesy? He was an arborist. And our neighbors made the complaint on February 6th.

Comments

[ricevermicelli.livejournal.com]

Well, she said, it's not like he was trying to break into my house.

Interesting statement. Because, from your description of the event, the location, etc., it sure would have looked to me like he was poking around for access points at which he might be able to break into your house.

[guruwench.livejournal.com]

Well, she said, it's not like he was trying to break into my house.

How were you supposed to know that, exactly? As ricevermicelli noted, it sounds like he could well have been casing the place, or look as if he were.

I'd go above the front line CSR and ask for a manager. The person you spoke with really doesn't sound like they got the point.

I'm so sorry you had to deal with such crap.

[vom-marlowe.livejournal.com]

Wow! In Oklahoma, he could have been shot perfectly legally.

That is some seriously screwed up customer service!!!

Also, terrifying. It is not OK to just randomly wander around people's property and smirk about it!!!!

[kate-schaefer.livejournal.com]

If you have the energy to submit a stiff, formal complaint in writing, it would be worth doing. Back when I was a banker, all the written complaints (in those far-off days, in that bank which no longer exists, there weren't that many of them) were passed around to all the senior people who could possibly have an opinion about them before one of said senior people would write back to the irritated customer. Telephoned complaints were dealt with as they came in and logged, but not usually taken seriously as a possible cause for considering a policy change unless there were a lot of similar ones; written complaints were always taken seriously, because someone who took the time to write and mail a letter was really ticked off, and undoubtedly there were others who were that ticked off.

I've had repair people in my driveway when they were trying to get at my neighbor's house, but my driveway looks like it belongs to the neighbor's house.

[abbylee]

If you have the energy, I think it would be awesome if you'd escalate it one more time, and then write a letter cced to a local newspaper.

I'm sorry you had to deal with that. If we're alike in these type of cases, I'd be much more stressed about it after than I would have been at the time.

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

Write a letter to BGE. Look up "Executive E-mail Carpet Bomb" on Consumerist -- they give details.

Customer service reps are paid to put you off. Write a letter to the CEO and I bet you get some action, an apology at least.

[redbird]

It might also be worth checking with local government—city council, the local precinct, someone like that—and asking whether utility employees aren't required to show ID unless you say "Simon Says." Or, if a random person is wandering through your yard, you're really supposed to take their word for it that they aren't burglars.

[suzilem.livejournal.com]

1. Definitely escalate to management while you have the CSR on the phone.

2. Often, electric company arborists are contractors. Usually, actual electrical company field employees wear uniforms. You might want to sniff around and see if BGE contracts out their tree trimming and if so, to who.

3. The need for tree trimming can be urgent, especially with the weather you've been having. The weight of snow and ice can break branches and bring down power lines.

(I work for a municipal electric company) :-)

Yup.....

[suzilem.livejournal.com]

Lewis Tree Service, Inc.
Tree trimming in Anne Arundel County, Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Calvert County, Harford County, Howard County, and Prince George's County.

P.O. Box 4920
Millersville
Maryland
21108
410-760-958

Mercier's Inc.
Tree trimming in Anne Arundel and Carroll Counties.

7442 Shipley Avenue
Harmans, Maryland 21077

Phone: 410-590-4181

The contact at BGE to bitch to about arborist contractors

[suzilem.livejournal.com]

BGE
Chad Devine, BGE Forester
410-470-6664
Chad.S.Devine@bge.com

(I just love the smell of scorched arborists in the morning)

:-)

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

I Am Not A Lawyer, But . . .

Seems to me that there is a difference between "trespassing" and "housebreaking."

Even so, it seems to me that "trespassing" is illegal. I'm not sure how a utility company is able to declare that a law doesn't apply to them. . .

[rivka.livejournal.com]

They have an easement to access their equipment, and I get that. And I get why, because seriously, here in the city the houses are so squashed together that sometimes you really do need to be able to cross multiple yards to get access to someone's power equipment - plus, if a line is down, you don't want them to have to figure out who owns the property and get their permission, etc., etc.

[silmaril.livejournal.com]

As much as I hate to play that card, that sounds like a "All right, let me talk to your supervisor now" type CSR. Gah.

Also, I second the letter-CC'd-to-Baltimore-Sun suggestion above.

[lerryn.livejournal.com]

Also: apparently he was under no obligation to show his ID unless and until I specifically asked him to do so.

That is disturbing. I wonder if "Get off my property right now before I call the police and/or force you off" qualifies as asking for his ID.

[ailbhe]

Oh, here's a difference - all that stuff is out the front, here, and practically none of it is to the rear of houses. That makes that easier here.

[ailbhe]

If you choose to write a letter of complaint, I'd enjoy reading it - and their response - here in your journal. Because I bet you could make them blister. Politely.

What idiots.

Re: The contact at BGE to bitch to about arborist contractors

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

(I just love the smell of scorched arborists in the morning)

Me too. (Rivka, I also work for a municipal electric company.)

I've gotta say, if this arborist were one of our guys and someone had called in with a complaint about behaviour like that, he'd be getting a boot up his arse so hard he'd be counting his teeth for a week.

Our arborists are rough, tough guys but they treat the public and people whose properties they're entering with respect. It's their job. This guy fell down on the job, and then the CSR who took your call fell down on theirs.

I wonder when companies will get it through their pointy collective heads that "We fucked up, we apologise and will review our procedures to make sure there's little likelihood it will happen again" is actually BETTER customer service than avoiding fault at all costs.