Twice in the last two weeks we've lost gas service completely -- and we have a gas stove and gas hot water heater, as well as gas heat -- meaning no heat, no hot water, no ability to cook other than the electric oven and microwave.I In each instance, we've called Washington Gas, whose emergency response line (actually, they noted, you have an outage -- "that's really not an emergency" we were told at one point) has promised technicians out the same day to look at the problem--and technicians have taken days to show up, and only after persistent calls, changing stories, and conflicting information.
In the first instance, the gas failed on November 11, and was not restored until November 14 -- and only after two or three calls per day and multiple promises "someone will definitely be there today" starting on November 11. (The problem turned out to be the Washington gas-controlled regulators on the house; the technician said it we has the wrong kind of regulator and that it needed to be replaced; he said he would initiate a replacement, but so far no follow up on this.)
Unfortunately, our gas failed again the evening of November 22 and remains out as of this writing on November 25 . We are back in the cycle of daily promises of "the technicians will be there today" untruths -- most recently yesterday, with the "answering service" saying I've spoken to the dispatcher and "a technician will definitely be there before they finish for the day. But we can't promise they'll call before they come, or give you a window when they'll be there -- they don't work that way.") Bottom line: Apparently, Washington Gas's emergency support does not work in any way that is honest to its customers.
In fact, it is clear to us that either lying to the consumer is a deliberate part of Washington Gas's so-called emergency response protocol -- keeping the consumer mollified by promises and then blaming conflicting internal policies and protocols for delay -- or is afflicted by tremendous incompetence, or a worst-case combination of both.
This is an unacceptable approach to dealing with customers who rely on this monopoly service for heat, hot water, and cooking.Of course, "it's not an emergency, it's only an outage." read more