Sorry my tree crushed the power line
While I’m bitching about the storm, I’ll go ahead and add my rant about Ameren.
My tree snapped my next door neighbor’s electric line 6 AM Friday morning. She called Ameren and they tell her they will be out. So she sits in her house without power and heat, yet thankful that no one was hurt. The meter reader comes by. Our meter is indoors so I actually talk to the guy. He asked me if I knew that there was a line down. I told him that it was my neighbor’s line and that she had called in to report it. He also called in to report it. We think maybe this will speed things up, considering it is laying in the road and alley way.
My husband comes home and begins hacking away at the limb balancing on our cable line. He also hacks at the tree that smashed the neighbor’s shed and partially landed on her son’s car. We see Ameren on the block behind our and get excited. “Neighbor is getting power back!” we foolishly think. Ameren pulls down our street, slows down, looks at the down line and keeps on driving. We almost cried. So I call Ameren to complain about the down line and lack of power. They tell me that they will get right on it.
Fast forward to later that night, the neighbor calls back to check the status of Ameren as her house gets colder and colder. She is told that it was reported as only a line down and not a power outage. WTF???? I’m not sure what else a line down could mean! Considering she called and told them she had no power and I called to report her lack of power, how the hell could they not know she had no power?
Finally after 36 hours without power Ameren shows up. The technician asked if she was okay. She told him that if she had a stick up her ass she would be a popsicle. He told her he didn’t have a stick! Okay they redeemed themselves a bit with that line. Finally her power was restored.
We understand that there are priorities such as hospitals, traffic signals, etc. but be competent in the first place. Shit, any moron knows that no line no power. Why doesn’t the call center?
We really appreciate the men and women who had to work in the weather to restore services to the city. It isn’t their fault. They do the job dispatch tells them. As the weather today gets shittier and shittier I really hope we don’t have another on like last Thursday and Friday.
Ameren, rants, weather | eastbluffbarbie | 
December 23, 2008 9:04 pm
Themis, December 24, 2008 @ 12:05 am
Yeah, seems single family homes with outages go to the back of the line. If an entire neighborhood is out, they get the first in line spot. Get as many people on at once, then work to the single homes with outages. My mom’s power was out from early Friday morning until Sunday morning. The SO’s mom’s power was out from Friday morning until yesterday. Both were single homes with outages/downed lines. So yes, they do know that downed lines mean outages. They were just being retarded.
Our next door neighbor’s tree came down on their line in the spring. An Ameren truck came by a few hours later and drove by real slow. Never stopped or anything. Just drove by real slow and looked. We decided he must have been their spotter. LOL
Themis, December 24, 2008 @ 12:06 am
Oh, and I’m sure DM will forgive you once she ‘chills out’.
Jimi, December 24, 2008 @ 8:29 pm
Turns out our neighbors had the same problem and Ameren was just leaving as Brad pulled up to deal with my downed limbs and the hole in the roof for good measure. Maybe it makes a difference if the power comes in from out front as opposed to anywhere else? Sucked for DM though!
Neal, December 27, 2008 @ 12:40 pm
Line doesnt necessarily mean no power. there are cable wires running too. I know its pissant distinction but anymore you have to be very precise in what you report. I went to many lines down that evening..some power…some not.
Neal, December 27, 2008 @ 12:41 pm
line “down” ……