Torn Elements - Latest Comments

Re: Hydro One – Dirty Rotten Blood Suckers!

bob — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 20:52:02 -0000

I used to work in the Hydro One office taking calls from you guys and I have to agree the deposit rules truly suck..as agents wed rather give people a break but the computer wont even allow it.hydro one passes the buck saying its the oeb but thats a load of crap since the oeb just rubber-stamps their request anyways.

the call centre is outsourced to this cheap-ass company from the u.s. called Vertex, and is ridiculously understaffed..can you imagine how stupid I feel saying "oh sorry sir we dont have the fax you sent three days ago" that would never happen in a normal company

tip -if anyone gets slammed with a security deposit you can push the agent to give you up to 6 installments..hope this helps a bit

Re: BellNet.Ca Support – What A Joke!

novelideas — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 11:07:34 -0000

Hi,
I'm having the same issue. Could you explain where you found the info to fix this? You blogged your frustration but not the solution...and it leaves me frustrated! Any help appreciated. I have a client who has Bell Business Internet and I can't find any FTP info anywhere on how to upload his site.

Re: Hydro One – Dirty Rotten Blood Suckers!

janice — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 06:42:56 -0000

they will apply it to your deposit and tell you, you have an outstanding balance owing.

Re: Hydro One – Dirty Rotten Blood Suckers!

Diane — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 23:39:02 -0000

Dont know where my other post went. Hope it doesn't get posted twice. I HATE hydro one. I just finished paying off a 1200 dollar bill from previous home which was all electric and on equal billing. Had trouble paying and now they want a deposit. They are crooks. I am only going to pay my actual bill and see what happens. I was also told that they cannot disconnect for outstanding deposit but not so sure. I am going to contact marketplace and see if they will do a story on this. I will give them this link.

Re: Hydro One – Dirty Rotten Blood Suckers!

Diane — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 23:24:14 -0000

I agree. I hATE hydro one. We have not been cut off but have been late. Now their requiring a 350 deposit on top of our normal bill. We are also struggling and we already owe 250 so that makes it 600. We just paid them 1200 from a previous home that was on equal billing (all electric!) Give me a break. I have dealt with Wasaga Beach hydro and never had this problem. Like you how do you come up with the deposit? Cant pay regular bill how are you suppose to pay a deposit! Should be a law about this. If you don't pay and they cut you off you have to pay reconnect charges also.

Re: Hydro One – Dirty Rotten Blood Suckers!

colleen_l — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 13:41:18 -0000

I can relate - I received a disconnection bill for $2700 and 6 days to pay it. I was recently laid off but don't have the hours to collect EI, so my spouse is the only one bringing in an income.

There is light at the end of the tunnel, though. You can't fight Hydro (not alone, anyway), but there are programs to help you out.

In the Toronto area (there is a list of other communities that qualify for this), there is the Emergency Energy Fund that can help, but if you're like me and in a small northern community, go to Ontario Works (welfare)- they will assess the situation and pay the bill for you (you don't have to be receiving OW to qualify).

Re: Hydro One – Dirty Rotten Blood Suckers!

janice — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 23:54:30 -0000

it's about taking your homes away..do some research..the banks, the utilities and the government are all in cahoots...sorry to say

Re: Hydro One – Dirty Rotten Blood Suckers!

Caroline D. — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 22:34:01 -0000

FYI I forgot to mention that my last two bills since I've changed out the pump, that I've received from HydroOne are under $220.00...nothing like telling them "I told ya so!"

Re: Hydro One – Dirty Rotten Blood Suckers!

Caroline D. — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 22:28:38 -0000

Hi Everyone! Wow...I must say (don't hurt me) it's nice to know that I'm not alone! About 8 months ago I started getting much larger hydro bills...out of nowhere. With 3 teenage boys at home I was "used to" bills averaging about $250 with them being more in the deep winter. All of a sudden I was receiving bills that were between $550 and $1000 and of course fell behind in paying them....who can keep up with that? They were more than all my other bills including my mortgage put together! So when I fell behind and was having trouble catching up...you guessed it...I got a disconnection notice as well as a notice informing me that as I had received 2 disconnection notices and apparently was working on the 3rd as I couldn't catch up...they sent me a "request"..who am I kidding...a demand for $1000.00 plus the outstanding amount of my bill....the highest bill that I have sitting on my desk states that the Total amount that you owe ... $2,229.26 that of course includes the outstanding bill...or should I say bills as they of course take any money you send them and apply it to the deposit before applying it to the actual bill...so of course I was behind going on 2 months!!
I kept phoning them and telling them there was something wrong and asking them to come to my home and check what was up....they just kept telling me that I must be using more hydro...more people in the house, more appliances, electric heat...the list just went on and on....they didn't care that I kept telling them that everything was the same as it had been the year before...but because I had only purchased my house at the end of Aug'07 they didn't have enough historical data I believe they said to make a judgement....I was told to keep paying, phoning in my meters and eventually they may be able to do something. They just wouldn't come out to my home to investigate to see if there was a problem with my hydro supply or anything.
Now as it turns out I have figured out what the problem was! I live in the country on an acreage and therefore have a drilled well. The end of June I was outside working in my yard doing the flower thing...and there was one of those big tire planters around my well...and while I was cleaning up the debris from there I noticed that I could faintly hear the submersible pump running and throughout the day everytime I went near there I could hear it running. No one was in the house, no laundry running, nothing on...no reason for my pump to be running. I called in a well specialist and when he checked it he told me that my pump was pretty much "pooched" and that it was "stuck on" and apparently had been running for some time (I'm guessing about 8 months! GRRR)! I've changed out the pump, added a swimming pool pump and a water treatment system to my hydro load....and am in the midst of writing to HydroOne and showing them the comparison and demanding my deposit back! If they would have listened to me from the beginning and come out and did an inspection they would have found the problem and both my family and HydroOne would have been "happy" so to speak! I believe that it is their right (or apparently legal so to speak) for them to request a deposit if a customer is new or has been late paying on 3 bills....but if they would have investigated like I requested the problem would have been solved.....So we'll see what happens!

Re: Hydro One – Dirty Rotten Blood Suckers!

LarryMonte — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 08:47:10 -0000

Definitely keep us posted.

I'm anxiously(?!) awaiting yet another Disconnection Notice. Yup! It's time to dance with these wannabe mafia executives once again. And... Once again I have no cash to work with atm.

Like you, I am not willing to borrow cent-one just to make them happy. If I can't raise the cash to pay them, then I am certainly not going to borrow from family or friends if I am unsure of my ability to pay it back. I'll sit in the cold and dark before that happens!

I mentioned this in earlier replies: "Hydro is a necessity. Not a luxury!" Disconnection simply should not be an option; especially in winter months.

If it was just a case of paying simple kWh usage it wouldn't be so bad. Give us a break on all that other crap that appears on the bill. Usage accounts for LESS THAN half of the amount due. It's all the other crap they tack on our bills that makes Hydro outrageous.

It's funny how they took over $200 as a deposit when I first got connected then refunded it to me 3 years later. Then they turn around and want it back again shortly after.

Who runs this corporate empire? Darth Vader? "I find you lack of willingness to pay... disturbing" :)

Re: Hydro One – Dirty Rotten Blood Suckers!

nottakingitanymore — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 00:01:29 -0000

I just got a bill in July and a deposit demand for 388.11, have zero idea how they came up with that number.
I told them I couldn't pay it until I was working again in Sept. 2009
They said it had to be paid within 48 hours and to ask a friend. Something I will not do. Actually I thought it quite rude of them to say that. I live on a tiny ammount of money in the summer, I teach and am self employed and can't collect EU.
So I am on a strict budget. I pay my bills, but not often ontime, sometimes I have to wait a month because other bills come at the same time and I have to cut them into months. I did not have any EXTRA to give them. I told them I can't go get electricity anywhere else, that hydro was not a priviledge but a necessity and that they always get their money within 2 months, not only that, my bill's don't run over 160.00 every two months. So the large deposit seems strange. I've also been getting calls from Enbridge I'm 3 days late paying. It's frightful. My father, years back only paid all the bills twice a year, all of them. He said there was no way they were going to take his interest away that he made within those months. It was a great savings for the family. Now adays, that is not the option. I called a house builder to set up an appointment to build an ecohouse with windmill, solar panels, etc...
I'm also writing my MP and many others. This is nuts, we do not live in the tropics, and our homes would be destroyed without electricity. Our business our sanity, our health..
They are treating citizens of Ontario like dogs and loosers if they can't see there is a rescession on. I want legislature that says that you can't turn off the lights in the winter months if there are children and if there has been a slump in income.
I want this Deposit crap to disappear. You can't get blood from a stone!
If someone has been paying the total off within 2 months, I want this Deposit crap to disappear. I've been at my address for 18 years, I'm not a flight risk, they get there money, I am not 1Cent behind on any electricity I've used. I don't get it.
Are they starving or are they vultures? I'm not done with this, I'm only starting.
In the meantime, I am looking for property to build on while others are looking for work, others looking to just get by and being forced to pay UNOWED money.
It makes zero sense. A late fee is already on the bill, but "DEPOSIT" ?
It urks me, to think I live in a country that does this to it's citizens.
I'll keep you posted.

Re: Hydro One – Dirty Rotten Blood Suckers!

janice — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 10:00:29 -0000

ask yourself this. are they dealing with real money? No. They are digits. Digits that represent money but it's not real money at all. What are they out? The bank is not required to keep more than 10 percent of your deposit in the bank. For every 100 you have in there they only need to keep 10. So it's not real. They are printing money, counterfeit money as there is no Gold standard behind it and hasn't been for a long time. Read, 'how i clobbered every bureaucratic, cash confiscatory agency known to man' by mary croft.

Re: Hydro One – Dirty Rotten Blood Suckers!

janice — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 09:45:39 -0000

they are not billing you they are billing your legal fiction. look up the definition of legal fiction. look up 'rob menard' and 'mary croft'. you became a legal fiction when you were registered at birth. A corporate entity. The government uses that corporate entity to float loans etc. All you have to do is tell them you know that they are using your name without your permission. you are worth far more than you know.....they know it..
join the world freeman society. God did not mean for us to live this way. The world is controlled by evil and greed. i hope you will check it out.
sorry about the lack of caps, my shift key isn't working.

Re: Discreet Front End Login For Joomla Admins

Daniel — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 14:09:56 -0000

Thank you, man!

Re: Discreet Front End Login For Joomla Admins

LarryMonte — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 19:07:01 -0000

I'm sure there are a few ways to do this.

This method was drop dead simple and only requires a couple of back end edits.

Also I'm not a huge fan of plugins. (For any CMS) I use a few with semi-confidence, but I tend to favour solutions that don't require them. :)

Re: Discreet Front End Login For Joomla Admins

dsided — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 18:02:23 -0000

Good article, another method is to use sh404SEF rewrite make a link from yourdomain.com/login to /index.php?option=com_user&view=login

Re: Hydro One – Dirty Rotten Blood Suckers!

Dawn — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 15:04:22 -0000

The most simple response is DITTO! I have similar horror stories. I have had hydro cut off, without a disconnection notice, and my two $300 fish died and everything in m y large freezer went bad. We had moved into a new house - our first! We called Ontario HydroOne repeatedly over not receiving the bill, and they said it sometimes takes 3-5 months for new home owners - not to worry. We went on vacation (camping), and came back with everything gone bad! The smell of dead fish is revolting! After sorting it all out, the hydro company had shut us down after 3 months of non-payment, after repeated phone calls to them. We also had a $2000.00 bill from the previous owner which had died. I had to fight tooth and nails to get out of that one! They accused me of lying, and said that someone had to pay it! I had to go to a Lawyer! I never got reimbursed for the loss of my food or fish.

Now, my husband and I are quite ill; he is on chemotherapy and is wasting away, and quite cold all the time. I was in a serious car accident (hit by a drunk driver, with no insurance, and who was never charged!). I am unable to work. We have had to go on welfare and at $989.00/month, we are losing everything! Hydro is disconnecting us again! We are in a rural area, and apparently a vehicle and insurance and phone are luxuries. So is hydro. My argument is that hydro has become a necessity, especially during an illness. Hydro ONe is refusing to accept a payment plan that we can manage. My hydro consumption is minimal - wood stove for heat, and a microwave oven to cut costs. I pay more for the delivery charge, the Ontario Debt Retirement Charge and Regulatory charges, plus taxes, than I do for the electricity I consume. It is criminal!

We all need to start registering our complaints with the Ontario Energy Board, and our MPP's. I have. If enough of us do, maybe they will listen. - good luck all!

Re: Hydro One – Dirty Rotten Blood Suckers!

littledog — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 11:44:24 -0000

I agree - we are too passive.
It is sad that we pay this debt retirement charge while they
lavish huge salaries and bonuses on Executives. And just
what do they need high priced Executives for? - are they
a leading edge tech company or deal with tough competition?

Re: Hydro One – Dirty Rotten Blood Suckers!

LarryMonte — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 07:41:45 -0000

Great news Jen! Thanks for stopping back and letting us know. :)

There's no doubt your reply will help the many people currently searching for solutions to this unfair deposit. Hopefully they will keep that 'one person' on staff who has a heart. ;)

Too bad I just caved in and gave them their blood money. Too late now, I guess.

It's nice to see a positive reply to this post. Thx. :)

Re: Hydro One – Dirty Rotten Blood Suckers!

Jen — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:25:33 -0000

Update from comment last week.
I came across this forum and made my comment out of desperation for my situation with being served with a hydro penalty (security deposit)
This forum and everyone's comments just sickened me and gave me the courage to make one more attempt to negotiate some kind of compassionate reconsideration on the outrageous request for more money from a family who is obviously already struggling.
I phoned hydro one and spoke with a representative and explained that I just wanted to be able to pay my bill and that the additional monthly payments toward the security deposit were making it very difficult for me to keep up with the payment. The request could not be handled at the base level and I was transferred to a senior representative who listened to my appeal. She immediately said that she could not change a decision that was already made with another representative. I continued my appeal stating that I understood that but that I was struggling and that I was not aware of the "poor payment" consequences until I had been informed of the security deposit. I explained that I was just very proud of myself for keeping our heads above water and now they have forced me back down a road of struggling to come up with even more money. At this point I had already made one monthly payment towards the security deposit with 5 more to go. The representative asked me to hold on for a moment and came back on the line about 2 minutes later and said that she had removed the penalty and had applied the $100 "security payment" toward my next bill.
THAT SIMPLE!?!
I believe I was very fortunate to have just got the right person at the right time, but this proves that they have some amount of flexibility.
Larry, I also agree with your warning for people to be aware of the "Ontario Energy Swindlers" These people are pushy and convincing and taking advantage of naive people. They visited my 80 yr. old parents just last week and my mother was quick enough to turn them away before they got their foot in the door.

Re: Hydro One – Dirty Rotten Blood Suckers!

LarryMonte — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 19:08:52 -0000

I have fish too. Wasn't going to give them up for anything!

I'd love to send my logs for this article to a TV news station or Newspaper. It clearly shows many people are struggling to keep up with Hydro One's demands. I don't really follow TV or radio news, so I'm not sure if anything has ever been said about Hydro One to this point.

It's been over 3 years since I've been able to pay a hydro bill on time. My payment cycle looks like this:

1-Receive bill. Too broke to pay it, ATM. Put it aside.
2-Receive cutoff notice. Call them. Get 1 month extension. (Effectively 6 weeks from receipt)
3-Starve for 6 weeks. Cut back, panic, skip meals, lay awake at night worrying. Lose mind.
4-Pay bill. By now it's anywhere between $400 - $600. (It was $800 last time!)
5-Breath sigh of relief. Open mailbox - receive new bill.
6-Repeat!

So far I've been lucky. Managed to squeeze things enough to make it. Luck runs out though. I get about a month to gain back both cash flow and weight before the cycle begins again.

I actually get worried now if the disconnection notice is late in coming. The last time the notice was late I had the urge to phone them to see if everything was okay. LOL

Take care and good luck with the relocation of your company.

(Contact me privately for my location. Thx)

Re: Hydro One – Dirty Rotten Blood Suckers!

Terry — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:37:07 -0000

I am sadened to hear you problem. and good for you for saying something, they do not have a right to call us customers, your dead on, were prisoners of a system they know they own and we need , so they sit and laugh as we struggle , there day is coming in Ontario
Seems there is no real advocates to help people,the hydo has a motto pay what we say, when we sayand on our terms and time , or cut em off, we have rules but we don't need to follow them

Get this , I had 1 month of thousands my wife and pay on time !! last month I was late getting my $143 bucks paid, so, I got the next bill yesterday June 11 / 09, it said pay the new baclance of $398, that to cover the existing and last mnoths, and pay by the end of June

Today June 12 no further talk no notice at the door, my power was shut off, and my wife called and said she will go there now andpay cash so my fish don't die , and food won't rot

So as you see they win right, strong arm, big shots, fat cats, scew the public, raise taxes in a depression that will help, cut poor people off when they need a break,

Hey Larry hope you see this, and some day maybe I can give you a job, post to this again and let me know were you are, and to Hydro 1, Tillsonburg Hydo, Town of Tillsonburg

Your real good to your people, you raise tax, you do not collect our trash properly, you nit pic in council, you have no business savoy to get govenment funds into our town, you do not have a clue what type of business suits our town, well I do but f it , I think I'm heading out

And I have a new surprize, I am not broke, our company is in discussion to re loacate a factory and the town of Tillsonburg was on the list, I will see the town never see's us there, I live there FOR NOW , but maybe once house markets get better, a move is in order, as it will likely be a ghost town sooner than later

So in close, to my friends without jobs, keep your head up, try and make a job for yourself, always talk and fight the man any way you can, lots of pokes add up to punches, post your thoughts, get them were you can, And Good Luck

Terry

Re: Hydro One – Dirty Rotten Blood Suckers!

LarryMonte — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 08:24:13 -0000

I'm not trying to be a smart ass here, but you people are making me feel lucky! I only had to pay a $188.00 deposit. ;)

This post gets more hits by people looking for help in this matter than you can shake a stick at. Over 500 Google Search Hits since writing this in February.

People searching for things like:
"Help my Hydro is being disconnected"
"Complaints Hydro One"
"Unfair Hydro One Billing"
"Can Hydro One cut me off for not paying deposit"
"Outrageous Hydro One deposit"
and so on...

And these are from people WHO STILL HAVE THEIR POWER. (for the time being) What about people who are currently sitting in the dark because they couldn't "Pull it off"

There is also another menace out there who piggy-backs Hydro One. This is Ontario Energy Savings corp. These are the hydro retailers who try to sell you your power at a fixed rate (about 9 cents/kWh).

I had one of these idiots at my door the other day. He tried to make it sound like paying MORE for my hydro would help me out. Be careful here. These people work on Commission and will tell you anything to get you to sign up. Many people have been suckered in, and once signed up, there is no way to get out of their 5 year contracts. It's a legally binding arrangement that will send you to the poor house.

I only mention this here as a warning to others who may be so desperate in saving money on their hydro that they'll believe these people are actually trying to help them. Well, they aren't. It's just another commission to them.

Good luck to you, Jen. And everyone else at the clutches of this vampire corporation.

Re: Hydro One – Dirty Rotten Blood Suckers!

Jen — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 23:35:18 -0000

I feel for you. We have found ourselves in a similar situation. We have struggled over the past few month since I required surgery a year ago and have not been working as many hours. I worked hard every month to juggle the bills and keep things up to date. Like you, I managed to "pull it off" or at least I thought I did. A little short one month and a little late two other months. We never had our electricity cut off but did have a couple of notices of warning when payments were late.
Just when I thought I was starting to get things on an even keel with all of the household bills. I get slapped with a letter saying that they require us to pay a 600 security deposit for "poor" payment history. I have already cut back to bare bones to try and get the bills paid and put food on the table. They were "kind" enough to spread this deposit out over a six month period, but I have no idea where I am going to get this extra $100/month out of my already meager food budget. I guess we will have to learn to make kraft dinner without the milk........because we are not going to have any:0(

Re: Hydro One – Dirty Rotten Blood Suckers!

as — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 21:34:00 -0000

I'm in the same situation. I hate them. How can this be legal? Thank the Good ol Liberal Dalton McGUILTY for this. *sigh*