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Okay so I moved in and a few days later got the gas turned on.. they came and turned it on. I called my landlords to get their maitenance person in here to get the pilots lit. They came in and said the gas wasnt turned on yet??? I said yes it is they came and turned it on. So the guy left and the landlords office lady called me and said she called the gas company to come up and make sure I had gas. They came turned the stove eye in the kitchen on and said.. "you have gas" and left. So today I get a $100 service fee from the gas company for them to come out and tell me "you have gas". My landlords office lady is the one that called them not me! Now I get this bill for $100!! What do I do??? because I sure as heck isnt paying it!! Thanks.
First, call the gas company and plead your case. See what thier policy is when you didn't call and the gas was turned on by the maintenance people. If that doesn't work, call the LL manager lady and ask why she called the gas company when they charge $100.00. I would find out why she would call them when the maintence people should be able to handle a simple problem of turn on and turn off. See if you can guilt her into paying it if the gas company will not take off the charge.
Contest it... you had no knowledge or did you expect to by charged $100...
I would be as polite as possible and stand firm...
I've had things like this where I pay the Garbage and a Tenant called for an extra pick-up... I did not pay it... my lease clearly states I pay for one curbside 32 gallon pick-up per week...
If they still insist on billing you... ask them to point out it out in the lease...
By the way, any of my maintenance people would not need to call the gas company to verify gas availability...
I called the gas company and they said that the landlords secretary called and demanded they came to check if the gas was turned on the lady said she told her that she knew it was on and that it would be a $100 service fee she said the lady on the phone agreed to that and so they sent someone out. And that since my name is on the bill I am the one billed. So the gas company woman told me to take the bill to the landlords office and have them pay it. Easy for her to say! I called them and got no answer now waiting for them to call me back after leaving a message asking them to call me. For one how can they charge me for someone I knew nothing about? Dont they need to speak to the person whose name is on the bill before they can start chargeing stuff on it???
For one how can they charge me for someone I knew nothing about? Dont they need to speak to the person whose name is on the bill before they can start chargeing stuff on it???
Generally all they can do is try... the problem is you have an ongoing relationship with the Gas Company and you're in the middle...
You need to find out what State Agency regulates utility providers in your state and the procedure to file a formal complaint with hearing if necessary...
Sometimes just asking the "Right" person at the Gas Company will get the matter resolved... Account Receivable Manager, Customer Service Manager, Billing Department Manager of any of the Directors...
Wow, sounds like the property management company needs to have a talk with both their maintenance guy and the secretary. If the maintenance guy said the gas was off when it was on and the secretary insisted on incurring a $100 charge even though the gas company confirmed the gas was on, they absolutely should be responsible for that fee.
If you told them the gas was on, and the guy went out and found it wasn't, then I would say you would be responsible, except then the gas company probably wouldn't have charged it at all, since they had already been out once to turn it on, if it wasn't on, it was their problem. In this case, you were telling them the truth and they are punishing you for it. That is totally not right. The management company should eat this charge, or make their maintenance guy pay it, as he was the one giving incorrect information.
I very much doubt the gas company will reverse the charge completely, but if you talk to the right person, you might be able to get it charged to the Landlord's account instead. They charge things like that on purpose to stop people from wasting their time. In this case, it was the landlord who wasted their time and they should have the consequence of that action, not you.
Landlords secretary asked me to send her a copy of the bill and she will handle it from here. She seemed disgusted with them as well!
This happened to us the weekend we moved in. Our hot water heater was not working and we were out of hot water. It was a Friday night, no one was on duty here at the Complex till Monday. The management co. is another state away and the guy who took my call said call the oil company and tell them to bill us.
The man comes Saturday, turns up the heater (takes 5 seconds) and hands ME a bill for over 100 dollars.
I eventually got the Management to agree they'd take it off our rent.
This happened to us the weekend we moved in. Our hot water heater was not working and we were out of hot water. It was a Friday night, no one was on duty here at the Complex till Monday. The management co. is another state away and the guy who took my call said call the oil company and tell them to bill us.
The man comes Saturday, turns up the heater (takes 5 seconds) and hands ME a bill for over 100 dollars.
I eventually got the Management to agree they'd take it off our rent.
The person at that office didn't give you very good advice. That, and the fact that it was your move in weekend would dictate that they pay the bill. They should have known to tell you to check the breaker and the temperature setting, and check more than one faucet, all that stuff. From their advice, in your shoes, I would have probably insisted they pay for it too. However, in most cases, that problem would be a service call that the tenant would have to pay if incurred. It truly is a 5 second fix that any layman can do. If you have no hot water, there are a few things you should check to make sure there isn't an obvious problem before incurring expenses and making sure the water heater isn't set to "vacation" is one of those things.
(This part is not directed at you, just a general rant)
The same thing goes for electrical problems. Before you call management, check your breakers and (if you have them) GFCIs to make sure none have tripped. If your AC/furnace isn't working right, check your filters. If your lights aren't working, try changing the darn bulbs. If your garage door openers aren't working, make sure you aren't on the vacation setting and that you haven't kicked the sensors out of alignment (I hate those things). Yes, living in a rental does mean that you get to pawn off most maintenance items, but some things are just common sense things to know if you are going to not live with your parents. Some of the service calls I get are scary.
My favorite service call of all time: "My bathroom is haunted, I need you to get someone out here to do an exorcism" (totally serious too). Turned out the tenant's toilet had a leaking toilet flapper that was making her toilet run.
The person at that office didn't give you very good advice. That, and the fact that it was your move in weekend would dictate that they pay the bill. They should have known to tell you to check the breaker and the temperature setting, and check more than one faucet, all that stuff. From their advice, in your shoes, I would have probably insisted they pay for it too. However, in most cases, that problem would be a service call that the tenant would have to pay if incurred. It truly is a 5 second fix that any layman can do. If you have no hot water, there are a few things you should check to make sure there isn't an obvious problem before incurring expenses and making sure the water heater isn't set to "vacation" is one of those things.
(This part is not directed at you, just a general rant)
The same thing goes for electrical problems. Before you call management, check your breakers and (if you have them) GFCIs to make sure none have tripped. If your AC/furnace isn't working right, check your filters. If your lights aren't working, try changing the darn bulbs. If your garage door openers aren't working, make sure you aren't on the vacation setting and that you haven't kicked the sensors out of alignment (I hate those things). Yes, living in a rental does mean that you get to pawn off most maintenance items, but some things are just common sense things to know if you are going to not live with your parents. Some of the service calls I get are scary.
My favorite service call of all time: "My bathroom is haunted, I need you to get someone out here to do an exorcism" (totally serious too). Turned out the tenant's toilet had a leaking toilet flapper that was making her toilet run.
Very Good advice and all too true... especially the part about light bulbs and don't get me started and GFCI outlets and Garage Door Sensors
I've rented to very intelligent men and women... one was a College Professor and he called me over one night to replace a bad light fixture in the Dining Room Thanksgiving morning... Turns out the light bulb was bad... when I asked him about it he said he put in a new one and it still didn't work... so he called me.
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Okay so I moved in and a few days later got the gas turned on.. they came and turned it on. I called my landlords to get their maitenance person in here to get the pilots lit. They came in and said the gas wasnt turned on yet??? I said yes it is they came and turned it on. So the guy left and the landlords office lady called me and said she called the gas company to come up and make sure I had gas. They came turned the stove eye in the kitchen on and said.. "you have gas" and left. So today I get a $100 service fee from the gas company for them to come out and tell me "you have gas". My landlords office lady is the one that called them not me! Now I get this bill for $100!! What do I do??? because I sure as heck isnt paying it!! Thanks. 
