Columbia gas of ohio-are you kidding me?

That sucks hockeyfan. :(

I'm glad we have to use OhioGas - I have no real complaints about them.

Put a lockbox on-give them the code for access & still ask for a call-ahead. Then keep calling in-squeaky wheel.

I had literally that exact same thing happen when I moved into my house a few years ago. They ended up calling at 7:30 at night and re-scheduled for the next day.

Sorry HF. It's a cold night to be without heat. :-(

Go to new house. Call back and say you smell gas.
Unethical, but...

Simple solution. All utilities that schedule an appointment and fail to meet it - fine them. If they give you a 2 hour window and miss - $100; 4 hour window - $250; 1 day window - $500. Chances are it'll force them to schedule with in their means and also encourage them to provide better customer service and stick to their schedule. At the very least it compensates that person for their loss time/income from having to put time aside.

LOL. And while you're at it, get my doctor to start paying me for waiting 45 mins in his waiting room.

Got a call at about 7pm that they were on their way. Service guy was great, apologetic and professional. He explained that they are scheduled from a cental office in Columbus, Ohio and they get scheduled by morning and afternoon blocks. He had 8 morning and 8 afternoon appointments. He said that they don't have enough people working and besides being overscheduled, they don't call the customers on time to tell them about delays. He had 3 stops left after mine.
Decent guy, no real big deal, but it shouldn't be like that. No real options I guess. Nice to have heat though.

Glad they finally made it out hockeyfan.

And it's nice of you to be understanding with the guy. The problem is the scheduling department's fault, but the guys who end up face-to-face with the customer are the ones who end up dealing with the anger.

Slowsol - your comment above made me remember something I read a while back. This link isn't the exact story, but along the same lines:
http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2011/07/21/waiting-patients-getting-paid-by-some-north-texas-doctors/

Seems like a repetitive subject on a few recent threads - that is the lack of service recently - be it a utility company or a appliance installation. Maybe it's a sign of the times. As an ex-business owner I understand the necessities and strain that cutbacks create but also the unfortunate necessity to insure viability when operating in a competetive enviornment. Maybe Columbia Gas does not have the same competetive constraints as others but I just seem to be seeing a pattern.

The utility companies along with the DMV, etc. all have no competition so being good at customer service isn't a concern I guess.

I'm having similar issues with Columbia Gas as we speak. I've been trying to get a meter installed so I can turn the heat on in my place.

Nov 15th - They come out, say they can't install the meter because they couldn't get inside. We had a carpentry crew there ALL DAY, so this is clearly a BS excuse.

Nov 23rd - Say they'll be out between 8:30 and 4pm. Yes, the convenient window of 8:30-4:00. At 4:15, we get a call that they can't make it out and reschedule for the following Monday.

Nov 28th - Tech comes out, but says he can't install the meter because his meter is for the wrong gas load. He leaves. We call Columbia, they confirm our gas load and confirm that the one he had was correct.

Today - Still waiting.

I love Toledo. I love it with all my heart, and want to do everything I can to help downtown boom. But my experiences have been horrible working with the city and utility companies.

I've gotten work stoppages for things that were happening on other people's property, and had them cleared up by calling them and they say "oh, that isn't you? okay, you're all set." Seriously? You couldn't call us about it BEFORE you issue the stoppage, just to make sure you're penalizing the right people?

Toledo Edison came and told us we couldn't be tied into the downtown loop, because of our location. We cleared it up after h realized he was looking at the wrong block on his map. The block he was accidentally looking at was THE BASEBALL STADIUM! How on God's green earth do you look at a map with A BASEBALL STADIUM on it, then look up and see a house, and say "yep, this is the place alright!"

As I said, I love Toledo, and that is the only reason I'll continue to try to do work in the city. We could be WELL served to oust a lot of the bureaucracy and dead beat organizations that are really nothing but road blocks for people trying to change things for the better and move this city forward.

If I wouldn't have experienced it first hand, I would have called BS on you johio83.
I just can't believe that someone is hearing about these nightmares and does nothing to improve service. It's not like I'm asking to immediately hire 50 new people. Just moving the schedule around a bit and not promising so much in so little time would do wonders for both the employees and the customers. But yet, we still have things going as on as usual.

The workers are also the laziest I have ever seen. My dad and his partner started a sub-division on the corner of Coy and Seaman. Both Toledo Edison and Columbia gas would pull in there and nap for hours, so I know it wasn't just on their lunch break.

Yeah, my place is a couple blocks from the water department building on Erie. Around 3pm every day we see their vans/trucks pull up and park on the streets around my place, then at about 3:20 they head back so they can clock out and head home. We've taken pictures of them just sitting there for 15-20 minutes at a time, then heading off.

lfrost2125, that might be my subdivision where I reside. My meter had to be replaced last year due to a potential problem. A CG subcontractor came out, dug up the ground and completed his task in not the greatest weather that day. Was efficent and replaced the dug up ground to my satisfaction. Pleasantly surprised, but then again it was not CG employee, but a sub.

Hoops,

The one they started you could also get into from Cooper St off of Seaman. My dad built a quite a few houses in there before his partner bought him out. This was back in the late 90's.

That's it. Built our house and moved in 1998

You probably know my dad then. Unless I'm wrong I think he was the only one building back there at that time but not positive.

When we moved to Toledo 4 years ago we were told our house's gas would be turned on and given a specific day. We waited the entire day. The technician showed up at midnight. Literally, midnight. It didn't seem very safe to us for a female technician to be going into strangers' basements alone at midnight...but we sure were happy to have our hot water.