PG&E (pretty goddamned egregious)

so, in preparing to leave, tying up the loose ends. i sign on to pge.com, to pay my bill. no dice. so i talk to a service representative (the gist of that interchange should be apparent from my email quoted below). still logged onto their website, i fire off this request for further information using their customer service interface (it is important to note that this is not emailing them from my own account, but using their sendmail post form on their site). i get, in return…..A BOUNCE NOTIFICATION! TWICE!! the correspondence is included below. WHAT AN UNBELIEVABLE FUCKING JOKE. i am not even angry, just 110% incredulous at the level of ineptitude at this company. i plan on changing my service immediately upon my return. oh. yeah. i can’t. scroll down to the bounce message. it is PRICELESS.

hi there,

i just called a representative to ask why i was not being allowed to sign up for automatic online payment, and i was informed that it was because i had had a disconnect notice in the past 12 months. my question is, why is it pg&e’s policy to deny a more convenient, secured, and guaranteed way of making my payment to them. in other words, if i had forgotten to pay in a timely manner, and wished to ensure that it would not occur in the future, why would a company not WANT me to be able to do so. i would appreciate a specific and informed justification for this policy.

thank you in advance,

eric haller

The original message was received at Wed, 1 Sep 2004 11:53:24 -0700 (PDT)
from localhost [127.0.0.1]

—– The following addresses had permanent fatal errors —–
customersupport @pge.com
(reason: 550 5.1.1 customersupport @pge.com… User unknown)

—– Transcript of session follows —–
… while talking to mail03.comp.pge.com.:
>>> DATA
< << 550 5.1.1 … User unknown
550 5.1.1 … User unknown
< << 503 5.0.0 Need RCPT (recipient) ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: eric haller To: CSOL Customer Service Date: Wed, 1 Sep 2004 11:53:24 -0700 (PDT) Subject: Pay Bills: Make an Online Payment