Tweet
This one annoyed me. I gave extra help to someone and as always that meant I suffered. They're complaining about me - which upset me much less than having to record their pathetic attempts to make it look like someone else is to blame for their problems. I decided to make myself feel better by sharing the idiot's story. The moral is I think that if you are stupid enough you never need to face the reality of your stupidity because you will always be able to believe someone else is responsible.
Background - Idiot came in to ask that we help her because she's paying (using a key meter so paying up front) up to £5 a day for her electric. She has a small house, no electric heating etc. doesn't know why it's so high.
So I offer to help her arrange to have her meter checked. She's already got an appointment - which means until the engineer visits there is absolutely nothing that we can do.
To be nice (I should know better) I tell her she can come and see me on a day I'm not seeing the public so she doesn't have to queue up or wait or anything. She turns up but she's apparently given me the wrong date for the meter reading and it hasn't happened yet. So I make her another unofficial "appointment".
TODAY : She is an IDIOT, I'm ME or ADVISER but the following is taken from my records which I'm not normally named in.
IDIOTs electricity supplier has now inspected the meter and has stated that the high charges have been caused by use of an immersion water heater.
IDIOT believes she is entitled to be compensated for the high costs. IDIOT states that she was previously supplied with hot water by the landlord (supply to the block of flats) and still pays hot water and heating charges to them. IDIOT stated that she switched to the emergency immersion heater only when this service failed. IDIOT states that she did not report the matter to the landlord. IDIOT stated that she was not aware the hot water had failed so did not know she should have reported the matter to the landlord. [note - not consistent with other info] IDIOT stated the council should have told her the emergency heater would be so expensive.
IDIOT had not previously given us any information regarding the failure of the main water heating system and had previously suggested that there had been no changes at the time of the increased electricity costs.
IDIOT has no claim for compensation from the electric supplier. She has paid only for electricity used, suppliers had no control over the use of the immersion heater and have actually taken the time to visit and check the meter and explain the high usage.
It is hard to see [ie impossible - she's a raving loon] how the landlord is liable for IDIOT's excessive electricity charges when these were caused largely by unnecessary 24 hour usage of the water heater. IDIOT believes that the landlord should have informed her that this would be a problem but (a) she did not inform the landlord she was having to use the "emergency" heater so how could they have know to warn her, (b) as she was using a pre-payment meter the increase at the time of the switch to the immersion heater would have been obvious.
Had IDIOT informed the council of the need to repair the main water heating system then adviser believes she would have had reasonable grounds to request a refund of money paid to the landlord for hot water provision between the time the issue was reported and the time it was actually repaired.
IDIOT could request this anyway but it is extremely unlikely that the landlord will offer a refund as this would in effect compensate client for her own failure to report the matter.
IDIOT attempted to argue that she had not known that the main water heating was not working – however she had previously talked about the time it stopped working, and had needed to switch on the immersion heater, this conflicts with other information. Unable to advise further on such inconsistent information.
IDIOT then stated that it was MY EMPLOYERS [advice agency] fault as we should have reported the problem (though IDIOT has not previously raised this issue with us) and were still refusing to help her. IDIOT complained that we had asked her to attend on multiple occasions but had then been unable to help – however IDIOT was only asked to return because we could not advise on the presenting problem of unreasonable electricity charges and possible meter fault while IDIOT was waiting for the scheduled meter check. The 2nd appointment was made only because IDIOT had given incorrect information as to the date of the meter check. Assistance was provided on both occasions regarding separate issues.
[IDIOT threw temper tantrum] Requested that IDIOT take a seat and remain calm if the interview was to continue. IDIOT stated that she would rather leave.
IDIOT stated that she intended to make a complaint. Provided client with a complaints leaflet.
I feel better for sharing that
I spoke to my manager and he agrees I was wholly in the right. Most fun was stopping as she stormed out angrily to provide her with the complaints leaflet.
Least fun was having to record IDIOT logic - "I failed to tell anyone about my problem but it's everyone else's fault that I wasted money (while recording everyday in a little notebook how much I was wasting) because they should have warned me I was being stupid even though they couldn't possibly have know I was being so stupid...."
Victoria J
Background - Idiot came in to ask that we help her because she's paying (using a key meter so paying up front) up to £5 a day for her electric. She has a small house, no electric heating etc. doesn't know why it's so high.
So I offer to help her arrange to have her meter checked. She's already got an appointment - which means until the engineer visits there is absolutely nothing that we can do.
To be nice (I should know better) I tell her she can come and see me on a day I'm not seeing the public so she doesn't have to queue up or wait or anything. She turns up but she's apparently given me the wrong date for the meter reading and it hasn't happened yet. So I make her another unofficial "appointment".
TODAY : She is an IDIOT, I'm ME or ADVISER but the following is taken from my records which I'm not normally named in.
IDIOTs electricity supplier has now inspected the meter and has stated that the high charges have been caused by use of an immersion water heater.
IDIOT believes she is entitled to be compensated for the high costs. IDIOT states that she was previously supplied with hot water by the landlord (supply to the block of flats) and still pays hot water and heating charges to them. IDIOT stated that she switched to the emergency immersion heater only when this service failed. IDIOT states that she did not report the matter to the landlord. IDIOT stated that she was not aware the hot water had failed so did not know she should have reported the matter to the landlord. [note - not consistent with other info] IDIOT stated the council should have told her the emergency heater would be so expensive.
IDIOT had not previously given us any information regarding the failure of the main water heating system and had previously suggested that there had been no changes at the time of the increased electricity costs.
IDIOT has no claim for compensation from the electric supplier. She has paid only for electricity used, suppliers had no control over the use of the immersion heater and have actually taken the time to visit and check the meter and explain the high usage.
It is hard to see [ie impossible - she's a raving loon] how the landlord is liable for IDIOT's excessive electricity charges when these were caused largely by unnecessary 24 hour usage of the water heater. IDIOT believes that the landlord should have informed her that this would be a problem but (a) she did not inform the landlord she was having to use the "emergency" heater so how could they have know to warn her, (b) as she was using a pre-payment meter the increase at the time of the switch to the immersion heater would have been obvious.
Had IDIOT informed the council of the need to repair the main water heating system then adviser believes she would have had reasonable grounds to request a refund of money paid to the landlord for hot water provision between the time the issue was reported and the time it was actually repaired.
IDIOT could request this anyway but it is extremely unlikely that the landlord will offer a refund as this would in effect compensate client for her own failure to report the matter.
IDIOT attempted to argue that she had not known that the main water heating was not working – however she had previously talked about the time it stopped working, and had needed to switch on the immersion heater, this conflicts with other information. Unable to advise further on such inconsistent information.
IDIOT then stated that it was MY EMPLOYERS [advice agency] fault as we should have reported the problem (though IDIOT has not previously raised this issue with us) and were still refusing to help her. IDIOT complained that we had asked her to attend on multiple occasions but had then been unable to help – however IDIOT was only asked to return because we could not advise on the presenting problem of unreasonable electricity charges and possible meter fault while IDIOT was waiting for the scheduled meter check. The 2nd appointment was made only because IDIOT had given incorrect information as to the date of the meter check. Assistance was provided on both occasions regarding separate issues.
[IDIOT threw temper tantrum] Requested that IDIOT take a seat and remain calm if the interview was to continue. IDIOT stated that she would rather leave.
IDIOT stated that she intended to make a complaint. Provided client with a complaints leaflet.
I feel better for sharing that
I spoke to my manager and he agrees I was wholly in the right. Most fun was stopping as she stormed out angrily to provide her with the complaints leaflet. Least fun was having to record IDIOT logic - "I failed to tell anyone about my problem but it's everyone else's fault that I wasted money (while recording everyday in a little notebook how much I was wasting) because they should have warned me I was being stupid even though they couldn't possibly have know I was being so stupid...."
Victoria J
Comment