Do you know why my heat doesnt work?

[DLZ Dan]

Yeah i got an idea.....

Awkward..

[welling service]

I resemble that remark.

[NY2GA01]

Yeah i got an idea.....

Awkward..

Looks like a gas co lock. What's awkward for you about people not having cash to pay their gas bill?

I hope you got paid in cash.

[Eddie1KRR]

Aurghhhhh,
I hate going back in the house to give the awkward explanation of why they have no heat, and will be cold showers for a couple days.

What sucks worse is I usually loose them as clients cuz they are too embarrassed to call me back for PM or any call for that matter.

[welling service]

Maybe it wasn't a cash flow problem. Maybe they just moved in and didn't know to have the gas turned on. Or maybe it was a brain cell flow problem. Some people just don't know which to turn a screwdriver.

Looks like a gas co lock. What's awkward for you about people not having cash to pay their gas bill?

I hope you got paid in cash.

[2sac]

"I pay my bills.........."

[Andr00]

Maybe it wasn't a cash flow problem. Maybe they just moved in and didn't know to have the gas turned on.

I spent almost 2 hours fixing multiple problems on a Goofman furnace that had clearly been under water at some point, in a house that had just been purchased and had nothing in it but renovation gear. Said house was also in the sticks and I had to leave and come back for parts.

No light. Crack the union. No gas. Go outside, locked meter. It's almost 9pm on the night before Thanksgiving and home is nearly an hour away. Blargh.

"Here's your bill. It'll work when the gas gets turned on."

I wasn't too sympathetic though. They called for a C&C on their obviously broken furnace, so I had to suppress a smirk as I handed them the bill at the end of the call.

[DLZ Dan]

Looks like a gas co lock. What's awkward for you about people not having cash to pay their gas bill?

I hope you got paid in cash.

It is. I get paid from the strip mall landlord so i will get my money. The first time i was there, i diagnosed a bad gas valve and i ordered it. When it came in, of course i put it in and tested the unit. No gas, no gas smell, nothing. Came down off the roof and saw that. It was kinda awkward to tell them the reason they dont have heat is because they didnt pay their bill. I was told by neighbor tenants that PSE&G was out there that morning locking it out.

[TerraPropHVAC]

I once went to an apartment for a no heat, found glow stick bad replaced and every thing fine. The next day she calls in and reams us a new A hole demanding me to come back right now, got there checked it out and found gas was shut off and locked, after telling tenant she needed to call gas company she got very emberest and said she was sorry, then she called back the next morning and asked if I could stop by, when I got there she had baked me a nice batch of cookies and her heat was working fine.
,

[tunnel_rat]

Maybe they thought you had the multi-tool to turn the gas back on for them....

[MichaelPaladin]

I ran into that problem several years ago at a Doctors Office. They moved into the office late April or early May, so they forgot about getting the Gas turned on, at least until a nice chilly November morning.

[ldmth44]

I once had a no heat call like that in Philly at a convenience store where the owner said that I put lock on his meter to get more cash from him. Said that lock was not on before I arrived. I packed up tools, walked away, never went back. I let the office handle that issue. (Lock was stamped with the letters PGW)

[VTP99]

[QUOTE=DLZ Dan;14823941] The first time i was there, i diagnosed a bad gas valve and i ordered it.

So was the old gas valve still good ?

[DLZ Dan]

[QUOTE=VTP99;14853191]

The first time i was there, i diagnosed a bad gas valve and i ordered it.

So was the old gas valve still good ?

No, when i first diagnosed it, the gas was still on. It took a couple days for the new valve to come in and for me to get back there. By that time, PSE&G visited.

[Joehvac25]

This happened to me a month ago. I was going to a low income job to diagnose and give price. First of all when they don't plan on Paying you until it's approved why do they expect you to diagnose it. Anyways found a bad ignitor then I asked are you sure you have gas? Knowing they were broke and seeing this thread or one like it. They then tell me well they shut it off awhile ago but I'm thinking they might have turned it back on. I basically said thanks for wasting my time and fuel and they never called back, go figure. What pisses me off is the girl has an iPhone she's texting on and a nice laptop with what looked like a million songs on it but had to have welfare pick up the bill. I hate those jobs and prefer not to do them.

[bustedknuckles]

And they allways want you to cut the lock off because they have "payed the bill but they haven't turned the gas on yet". Or how about that sneaky seal disk the gas Co. will put in the meter outlet and forget to remove. Once took me hours to find that one for a customer who could document service but had no gas(the seal will stick in th outlet line).

[bullmoose]

Not awkward for me to tell a customer that it is locked out. I tell them to call the gas company and then ask them how they will be paying for the service call today.

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[craig1]

Two weeks ago I repaired a cooler at a Restaraunt I had done work at before. I was out in the van writing up the invoice when I see the gas company come and lock out the meter 30 minutes before dinner service.

I go back in with the bill and tell the owner I need payment immediately in cash. He's always mailed a check in the past and asks why I need payment now. I tell him its a new policy. He opens the register and pulls out some cash for me. After he gives it to me he asks "why the new policy?" I tell him "because the gas company is locking your meter right now"

The look on his face was priceless.

[cjpwalker]

...that sneaky seal disk the gas Co. will put in the meter outlet and forget to remove. Once took me hours to find that one for a customer who could document service but had no gas(the seal will stick in th outlet line).

The "blind washer." Not necessarily sneaky, just smart. And it probably was not forgotten. Some gascos use them instead of locks - they don't get cut off, most people don't know they are there, and many of the rest are too afraid of natural gas to pull the meter and remove them.

[Hvac216]

I don't even know where to start. I used to work for a company that did low income work all winter long so I saw that all the time. I would usually handle it differently based on the customer. If it was an elderly or disabled person that truly needed assistance. I would tell them "sometimes the gas co makes mistakes" or "that happened to me once when I forgot to pay my bill". I wouldn't be so nice at places like joe mentioned. I have tons of stories from places like that.