Tuesday, February 22, 2022

Success!

It took me almost three hours on the phone to deal with canceling utilities on the MD house, but I did it! 

I started with Delmarva Power first, mainly because I thought I could cancel our electric service online. I could, right up until the end of the process when I got a message that said due to an upgrade on their website this function was not available. I called the toll-free number as advised by the message and waited on hold for more than 20 minutes. I finally spoke with Alec who took all my information and then told me my service would be discontinued on Monday. I had specified at the beginning of our conversation that I wanted it to be stopped on March 1st, not February 21, so we started all over at the beginning. When I asked for a confirmation number, he gave me his extension and said to call him if there were any problems. I'm not sure how much faith I have that we will still have electricity next week, but I'll just call Alec if there are any issues.

I had thought electric service would be easy to stop, but it took about 45 minutes. I was really dreading calling Comcast because all of my past dealings with them had been a struggle, so I called the Elkton Public Works Dept. next to ask about the water and sewer. The woman was friendly, the process had been started by the title company, and she told me I didn't need to do anything. Great! I excel at doing nothing!

Next, I called Allstate to talk about homeowner's insurance. This woman was angry and yelled at me for even considering canceling insurance. I explained to her that I wanted the cancellation to be effective March 1, and she told me to call back after closing had happened, and not a moment before. Yes, Ma'am!


I couldn't procrastinate any longer and had to suck it up and call Comcast. I ended up being pleasantly surprised after speaking to  Jimmy. There was some initial confusion because we have two different Comcast accounts, one for MD and one for NJ. I kept specifying the one in MD and gave him the address about 15 times, but once Jimmy finally had my life story and understood the situation, things were a little easier. He called me Miss Bonny throughout the conversation, but it was better than talking to a surly grouch. I asked about the possibility of mailing back the TV box and modem, and Jimmy said, "Why sure, Miss Bonny, just drop it off at a UPS Store and they'll pack it and return it to Comcast for free." Thanks, Kim in Oregon for mentioning this possibility!

I feel like my phone calls were successful, but I guess we'll know for sure if we still have electricity next week, the Allstate agent will speak with me when I call her after closing and she lets me cancel our homeowner's insurance, and the UPS store actually takes my Comcast equipment. I especially appreciated the woman at Elkton Public Works and Jimmy at Comcast. If you ever want to speak to someone friendly at Comcast, be sure to ask for Jimmy and tell him Miss Bonny sent you!

13 comments:

  1. All those little details and loose ends can be so draining, I'm glad you got these things done with relatively little complications. I'll remember to ask for Jimmy should I need to call Comcast in the future!

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  2. Miss Bonny - LOL - that is such a southern thing!! Glad your calls were not any more annoying. The Allstate representative needs some of my pain meds to calm down!! Hope it all goes according to plan Bonny.

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  3. Whew! These things are all huge accomplishments (although, I am a bit confused about the insurance thing...wow!)

    Yay for Customer Service Reps that actually want to do their jobs! :)

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  4. Well, Miss Bonny. That's a lot of crap for one person to have to deal with in one day. Like Kat, I'm kind of stymied by the home owner's insurance issue. Usually, I find insurance agents are much more helpful than, say, cable service reps. Ugh. (I'll bet you can't wait for March 1. . . ) Hurray for for you . . . for taking care of these nasty chores!

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  5. Congratulations, Bonny! You have made it through Level 2 of the game of getting out of a house! ARRG!! I can't believe that it's so hard to do this, but it is. It seems unnecessary, and I think we need to think of a new name for "customer service" since it's an oxymoron these days. I think Kim is right, Jimmy is definitely from the south. Everybody calls me Miss Becky down here, Miss Bonny. I hope you are able to have this much success on the next level.

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  6. You deserve a reward for getting through all that!

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  7. I bet you are glad to have those tasks behind you! I hope your week moves forward without complications!

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    1. Thanks, Debbie! One more trip tomorrow (hopefully) and we'll be done except for closing on Monday (and calling Allstate after the closing)!

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  8. Glad the Comcast thing worked for you! I didn't cancel homeowners until after we closed (like the minute the check cleared) and had to talk to someone there to do it. It's amazing how all these cancellations are so unstandardized.

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    1. Jimmy didn't volunteer the information, but he was willing to tell me how to do it once I asked. Thanks for the secret information!

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  9. I don't know about you, but I would have needed a little lie-down after all that! That's a lot of adulting for one day, and you deserve a medal or a treat or something. I cannot believe the woman at Allstate yelled at you! I would talk to a supervisor when you call back to let them know. I get that every company that provides a service wants to keep you as a customer, but berating you is not the way to win you back!

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  10. Hooray for finishing those errands. That sounds like quite a bit of patience was needed to get through it all. Egad. March 1 is around the corner.

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