Gateway to WHAT?
Just got to rant a bit. So forgive me if this sounds trite and I sound a lot frustrated.
Cindy and I used to live in Saraland, Alabama. I liked living there.
Saraland's motto is "Gateway to Progress", neat slogan except for the fact that in the midst of our moving I didn't receive a our water and sewage bill from the city. Last week I called about it because it appeared that the water had been turned off.
Come to find out, because the city sends its bills out on a postcard and the US Postal Service won't forward postcards, and we were trying to get unpacked, settled in and all, we didn't get a bill and, therefore, didn't pay one. Since we hadn't paid the bill the water was, in fact, turned off at our old house. Yes, the one we're still trying to sell!!!
The lady that helped me was very helpful. Though she couldn't do anything about the excessive fees I was having to pay to restore the connection. I found out a couple of things about working with the city of Saraland.
So the "Gateway to Progress" seems to be, not a gate, but a funnel slowing progress and in the meantime has quit becoming a servant of the public and has become a bureaucratic machine. . .ok, that may be a bit overboard, but hopefully you feel me pain!
Mike
Cindy and I used to live in Saraland, Alabama. I liked living there.
Saraland's motto is "Gateway to Progress", neat slogan except for the fact that in the midst of our moving I didn't receive a our water and sewage bill from the city. Last week I called about it because it appeared that the water had been turned off.
Come to find out, because the city sends its bills out on a postcard and the US Postal Service won't forward postcards, and we were trying to get unpacked, settled in and all, we didn't get a bill and, therefore, didn't pay one. Since we hadn't paid the bill the water was, in fact, turned off at our old house. Yes, the one we're still trying to sell!!!
The lady that helped me was very helpful. Though she couldn't do anything about the excessive fees I was having to pay to restore the connection. I found out a couple of things about working with the city of Saraland.
- Though they consider themselves the "Gateway to Progress", you still can't pay with a debit/credit card - they don't have any way of processing it, go figure - and you still can't pay online. C'mon people!!! It's 2009 already!!!
- Even though I had been a faithful and loyal customer for 3 1/2 years, she even admitted as such, and there was on obvious mix up I still had to pay the re-connect fees and pay to remove the lock on the water meter. Their reasoning was that if they waived the fees for me they might have to do it for someone else. Hey folks, I live in Gresham, OR, don't plan on telling everyone in Saraland.
- If you are, in fact, a good and loyal customer, you pay for the bad ones. That's how all this works, I was told. So instead of rewarding good customers and making the bad ones pay more, I have to pay all the fees. Nope, can't waive them.
- I also, for some unknown reason, have to get my insurance guy to fax them a copy of my home owners insurance. Even though she knows I must have home owner's insurance since I'm selling my house. Admittedly, I just don't get it.
So the "Gateway to Progress" seems to be, not a gate, but a funnel slowing progress and in the meantime has quit becoming a servant of the public and has become a bureaucratic machine. . .ok, that may be a bit overboard, but hopefully you feel me pain!
Mike
Comments
Congrats Mike! You made it out! Of course, you might have gone the wrong direction and congressed...
Hope you're having fun on the left coast!