An Inconvient Night turned Great

qvcaddition · ‎03-10-2010

Sitting watching TV I Felt all this cold air so checked my central heating. The thermostat was up for heat, but the degree was down and cold air coming out of vents.

Called PGE, I live alone and it was 10pm. I was told no appointments available until next Monday, one week from call. The CS told me to get someone to light the pilot light. I kept telling her it has no pilot light. It,s has a special system electronically.

I finally had to make appt. Hang up and shiver. I took out the paperwork from when I brought the heater and installed in 2005. It was about 10:30PM, and desperate I called the man,s number, got the answering machine, left a message. Fifteen minutes lat e r the man called me back. Twenty minutes later he was a t my house. By 11:30 PM, I had heat again. It did cost me 100.00 but well worth it.

This gentleman is still in business and lives one mile from me. I was so lucky. He said Pge could not have helped me. It has no pilot light, so they would have recommended a contractor. He normally would have charged 79.00, but was after hours. I did not care. Being alone and elderly, I needed heat. I consider me lucky.

suzyQ3 · ‎03-09-2010

You were indeed lucky but also smart to think of getting out your paperwork.

~Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle~ Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

freakygirl · ‎07-03-2014

i consider you lucky too! i'm so glad things worked out well, and right away.

Annabellethecat66 · ‎03-12-2010

@qvcaddition Yes! You were lucky, but you know that. A few years ago during a really, really big Va snow storm, I was alone in my all electric house for 4 days without electricity.

All of the wires were across my drivewary and I couldn't get out when they finally cleaned the road. The driveway is 200 ft long but it's on a hill, I could have just rolled down it. I didn't know if the wires were live so I sat in my car (outside) during the day and covered up at night for 3 nights and 4 full days.

My family couldn't get to me because they hadn't cleared the road and my daughter lives at least 40 to 45 minutes away.

I still live in the all electric house but I now have a kerosene heater and several huge batteries, etc. I will never have to go through that again.

Yes, you were lucky. I'm 70 and I know old bones can't take the heat like when a person is young.

Zhills · ‎11-15-2011

Miracles happen every day! This was your day!

qvcaddition · ‎03-10-2010

@Annabellethecat66 wrote:
@qvcaddition Yes! You were lucky, but you know that. A few years ago during a really, really big Va snow storm, I was alone in my all electric house for 4 days without electricity.

All of the wires were across my drivewary and I couldn't get out when they finally cleaned the road. The driveway is 200 ft long but it's on a hill, I could have just rolled down it. I didn't know if the wires were live so I sat in my car (outside) during the day and covered up at night for 3 nights and 4 full days.

My family couldn't get to me because they hadn't cleared the road and my daughter lives at least 40 to 45 minutes away.

I still live in the all electric house but I now have a kerosene heater and several huge batteries, etc. I will never have to go through that again.

Yes, you were lucky. I'm 70 and I know old bones can't take the heat like when a person is young.

B

I am so sorry you went through that. I know how I felt last night, it was horrible me for you. I,m 80 and the bones can,t take the cold. The man was wonderful for coming at that hour. He could have said tomorrow.

Mominohio · ‎08-08-2010

I'm so glad you still had your paperwork, that the man who came out was such a great guy and that you didn't have to go without heat for very long. $100 is so much better than cold, and I can't believe that is all it cost.

Seems like things never go wrong in the middle of the day, in the middle of the week, do they?

We are all electric, and have baseboard heat, but we try to have several back up heat sources. We have Duraflame heaters throughout the house, kerosene heaters and a wood stove, as well as a generator for if the power goes off.

I would think that people who heat with a furnace whether gas or electric, might want to consider at least a Duraflame or two. They won't work in a power outage, but good for if it is just the furnace on the blink.

newagain888888 · ‎12-31-2010

My mother is a youthful 82. Each year she loves to cook a Christmas dinner and invite all of the family over. Children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren come from near and far to celebrate one day a year. This past holiday season her home experienced a major power surge that badly damaged the electronics on her 6 year old double oven stove. The stove's estimated repair would have cost more than a new appliance, so she hurried down to Lowe's a few days before Christmas and ordered a single oven style replacement. All day Christmas Eve she anxiously waited for the hoped-for but not guaranteed delivery of the stove so she could begin cooking her turkey and Christmas meal.

Against all odds, the stove did arrive that evening, but it couldn't be hooked up because the previous wiring was found to be faulty and didn't meet code. It's a miracle her damaged stove had not caught fire with the power surge since it had been hot-wired and wasn't grounded. She was saddened that her family Christmas celebration would be impossibe after all, but Lowe's gave her the cell number for an electrician who could properly install the stove at a later date.

Mom gave him a call that evening. This was early evening on Christmas Eve. The young man was out with a friend grocery shopping for the holidays. Do you know he dropped everything and came directly to her home with the necessary equipment and installed that stove on Christmas Eve? It took quite a while and he was missing out on his own holiday celebration, but he was happy to do it. Not only did he make such a sacrifice, he refused to charge her for his services. To know that there are giving people like that in the world today brings joy to my heart.