Like many people I have a love/hate relationship with my smart phone. But recently the hate side of things is winning. For me, going to a park or a playground with my squirts is a great way to be in the moment. I love playing and running around, existing in only that specific activity.
This past weekend was an exceptionally fine spring day and on Sunday I took one of the squirts out to our local playground. As I was walking to the park I realized that I had forgotten my iTrackingdevice. My first reaction was of mild panic. “What if my parents drop dead and they can’t reach me? What if the job offer from Bulgaria finally comes through? What if there’s a free trip to Havana if I just answer this call?”
Bullshit. All of it. Just plain fucking bullshit. I hate that I’ve become trained to carry that thing with me everywhere I go. How did decades of kids and parents manage before all of this? The answer – just fine thank-you very fucking much. Yes things are going to happen that I won’t be able to react to INSTANTLY if I don’t have my mobile glued to me, but so what?
Forgetting the damn thing was the best way to enjoy the day, the park, and my squirt. Unlike all of the other parental drones at the park I was able to play with my kid and not obsessively look down every 2 minutes to see if I had received a text from a pal who had just tried a new Belgium waffle joint. I could kick the soccer ball without worrying if I had lost my place in whatever App game I had just bought. It was bloody liberating and a reminder to unplug more often.
And yes I recognize the irony of writing about this on my blog. But, the point is, or my point is, that unless you’re holding the keys to the nuclear codes you are probably okay to go for a wee bit without your device. I know I’m in the minority on this one. And yes phones are important and make things easier. But come one.
I think I was the only adult at the park who was not dividing his or her time between their kids and their devices. It was an accident on my part. But one that I’m going to repeat a whole lot more. The experience left me with a greater appreciation for being present and not distracted. It actually inspired me to go even farther on this anti-device wave when I got home.
After popping open a nice cold beer I retrieved my phone and started deleting apps. Games that exist just for the sake of wasting time or killing birds, zombies, or whatever. Don’t get me wrong. I love the flexibility that these devices give us. But I’ll be damned if the thing is going to get in the way of me enjoying a sunny day with my kid.
So mark me down for wanting to create a Fuck-You-Mobile App.
About a year and a half ago our rented water heater developed a leak at the bottom of the tank. Quite a bit of water spilled out and turned a section of our carpet into this weird CSI-like stain. We then called them up, them being Direct Energy, and after explaining what happened they were good enough to promptly sent some D.E. folks over to look at it. “Yup, it’s leaking.” They said. Apparently our unit was quite old and should have been replaced some time ago. But for whatever reason that didn’t happen. The D.E. rep then told us that they would pay for a cleaner to come over to work on the carpet and try to do their best with our stain. Our defective water heater was subsequently replaced with a brand new one and as far as my gal and I were concerned the matter had been dealt with in a professional manner.
Flash forward to a year later and we’ve decided to move forward with a basement reno. The house needs it. We need it. So that’s what we do. We begin the process of calling various contractors, vendors and the like. One of the first things that we decide to do is replace our furnace. The thing barely keeps our house warm, so it’s a no-brainer.
While researching and investigating heating units we come across these new tankless water heater systems that are being sold in Canada. Apparently Europe has had them for years, but only now are they showing up in the Great White North. Our house is a semi and it’s old and space is always a premium, so whenever we can get more room – we get excited.
After a few calls and some research we decide to go ahead with a tankless water heater because it would help us create a much smaller “furnace room.”
We then began the process of letting Direct Energy know what our intentions are. Lo and behold they tell us that we have to buy out our water heater rental contract. This news comes as a complete surprise to us. When we signed the paperwork for our new water heater we were under the assumption that it was the same as the previous one. That being that there was no buyout clause and that it was strictly a rental. When you didn’t want to rent you called and they took it back and that was that.
Well apparently not. The D.E. drone that was sent out to install our new water heater NEVER said anything about this new style of contract and NEVER mentioned that the rental agreement, our rental agreement had changed. To say we were pissed is putting it mildly. When we were told how much we would have to pay as part of their SCAM, sorry, contract – over $900, I was even more pissed.
At this point I began to try and find someone to talk about this in a adult fashion. Someone who would recognize that we were DUPED. And that had we known of the new SCAM, sorry, contract, that we never would have signed it. I don’t know if you’ve ever had the pleasure of trying to track someone down in a large company like Direct Energy, but let me tell you – it ain’t so easy. You have to go through a customer relations department that to my mind prides themselves on being more UNHELPFUL then the industry standard. Apparently only a district manager has the authority to waive these SCAM FEES, sorry, charges, but the trick is they will not let you speak to a district manager.
I can only assume this is because they are so busy RIPPING OFF, sorry, dealing with other SUCKERS, sorry, customers, that every waking minute of their time is occupied.
Eventually we are told that they will forward our issue to the appropriate person. That person being someone unnamed and unreachable by us – the customer.
Despite this distracting dance we move forward with our basement reno and eventually Direct Energy sends their people out to pick up our old water heater. And by old I mean one-year.
The next month I receive our gas bill, and guess what? Yup, the buyout price for our water heater has been added on to the bill. I then contact my gas provider – Enbridge and inform them that we are having a serious disagreement with Direct Energy and their CORRUPT and MISLEADING contract. The person at Enbridge sighs as if it’s something she hears every other day. She assures me that they have “process” for this and that they will “suspend” these costs as it is apparently quite a COMMON SCAM, sorry, issue.
I then take the next step by contacting the BBB – Better Business Bureau and file a complaint. Well guess what? Just who do you think has over 300 registered complaints to them on the BBB site? If you said Direct Energy please go to the front of the class and grab that apple off the teachers desk, because you are right.
Oh, and a little company that regulates this industry – the OEB – The Ontario Energy Board, has also several serious issues with Direct Energy.
Direct Energy is accused of several SERIOUS INFRACTIONS, and I quote, “- omitting prescribed contract requirements (i.e. cancellation rights and proper contract acknowledgement by the consumer);
- sales agents not clearly identifying themselves to consumers; as well as
- failing to train sales agents properly.”
Well fancy that I says to myself. So I’m not the only customer who is having a problem with Direct Energy’s SCAM, sorry, contract.
After filling my grievance with the BBB I hear back after a week or so from Direct Energy. Excited by the news that they have reached out to me I call them back, having missed the original phone call. So get this, they take the time to call me and to leave me a voice mail to call them – why? I’ll tell you why. So that they can inform me that they have received my complaint, but that I/we signed a contract and that’s that. I ask them why did you bother to call? So that you could tell me that nothing has changed? “Yes.” They say.
Wow.
I start thinking about people like my mom and my dad or other seniors who may have signed their new SCAM, sorry, contract, without any idea at all what they are NOT BEING TOLD.
And that’s what leads me to this point. I have a full life. The last thing I’m looking for is to wage a personal campaign against Direct Energy and their DECEPTIVE PRACTICES, sorry, tactics, but given these events what choice do I have but to take up the challenge for those who don’t have a voice.
I have no doubt that Direct Energy knows what they are doing. Their position is all of this is the line – “You signed a contract.” Yes I did. I signed a MISLEADING, UNIFORMED, DECEPTIVE contact and WAS NOT informed of this BY YOUR REPRESENTATIVE.
Remember negative billing ala Rogers?
I am asking you, your friends, your enemies, your ex-girlfriends, to take us this challenge with me. To ask why Direct Energy is allowed to conduct themselves like this.
It’s the Super Bowl weekend and I don’t have a TV right now. Do I care that I won’t be a part of the mass hologram – nope? Am I going to try and watch it at some establishment while I stuff my face with things that have melted cheese on them – nah. Will I fake trying to talk about it with other people if they bring it up with me – absolutely not. I’m fine to let the other 2 or 3 billion people enjoy the spectacle. I read somewhere today that at one point it actually had something to do with athletic endeavor. But maybe that’s just me drinking some sour Super grapes. If so I like the way they taste. I’ll tell you what I’d like to see. Instead of the over the top commercials that run in between every super play I would squeal with delight if they replaced those with a test pattern from the late 1950′s. But that’s just the non-super me.
