I have to become delinquent before you can help me?!?

thats nice that you call. most of the basics on mine are automatic so i get screwed by the banks when i don't have enough money in there. and in the past month and 1/2 its been pretty hard. you do better then me, my husband handles our credit cards and those have been going over and late a couple of times. one is due tomorrow, but i know i can't make it since i don't have enough to pay it and won't for about a week.

That is rather odd, I agree, it is really surprising that they weren't working with you. I've made calls beforehand with various companies (cable and hydro), and instead of asking for a payment plan because I'm not overdue yet, I simply TELL them that my next payment will be $X, and then I tell them on what day I will be paying $Y. Have you tried that tactic? I find that method also keeps me from getting a reminder phone call. Of course, the trick is to make sure you follow through. ;) I didn't in the past when I was with nuckfuts, and that was just a bad situation.

yes you would think companies would give a little help to their customers in these hard times, it would be good public relations I think, I think this is where competition with areas pays off because they treat you better to keep your custom, I hope things work out for you sed...

Yes. I know exactly what you mean. We try to do the right thing too and go through the same thing as you. It makes no sense. They do not care. You try to do the right thing but they could care less.

I think you are right, I am not sure who you talk to but if you can make partial payments I will advice that you do, and then the rest when you can. If cable is too high, go to the most simple plan that you can at this time. That is what I have done when I have been in your shoes.

There must be thousands of people who are struggling to pay their utility bills at the moment ,but I always thought that the answer was to contact them,as you have done,and make arrangements with them to pay the bills,which you seem to have done.They do themselves no favours if they turn you away you know,how do they expect people to conjour up the money to pay.They repeatedly say dont bury your head in the sand,if something is going wrong then face it head on,and sort out the problem with the creditor.If they chose to take you to the courts ,the outcome wouldnt look to healthy for them,as an income and expenditure sheet would be drawn up,and the payments offered would be based on those sheets.How are you supposed to help yourself,when others wont let you.

I don't know why companies like electric and phone company do this. It is like they don't want you to pay ahead or to help you. Then the second your past due they get nasty and threaten shut off notices and this goes against your credit record as they well know. I would take down the name of all the people you talk to. First and last and their specific position in the company. As to talk to a supervisor as well as this may gain you better result. Keep a list of the names of people you talk to and their response and reason. Then if you have a problem later you can contact consumer affairs of your state and let them know you tried to avoid the situation and they would not cooperate with you. You can also contact the utility commission of your state about the matter if need. I had a problem with a phone bill and finally did get things worked out but not until I did have to contact the utility commission and then all of a sudden the phone company was ready to bend over backwards to accomodate me and gave me $140 credit. Some times talking to a supervisor helps and other times you get a run around but keeping track of who you talked to and when will come in handy if you run into problems later.

I find that pretty sad myself. I feel like they're doing it just so they can make sure that they'll still get their money, probably even more if you can't afford to pay your bill. Since most bills end up gathering interest when you can't pay, they'll just end up getting more out of you and that's what it seems like is going on here.

sadly, these places dont seem to care about your circumstances. hubby and i were having some money issues at a time earlier this year and no one wanted to help us out. one company even suggested we go bankrupt (obviously, just so they could get their money!)

Utility companies have pretty cut and dry rules when it comes to payment. You have a due date. You have a cut off date. If you don't pay by the cut off date, you get cut off. That is why many people who will be late do nothing. They have probably already been where you are and know this already.