Another resolution that can’t wait for New Year’s: Never sign anything unless I’m to get a copy of it before the other party takes off.
I’m still worrying about a slip of paper an electric company representative had me sign in April. He came out to inspect a dead tree in the yard to judge whether the utility would cut it down. Two others from the power company had come out separately in the previous six months, each with different verdicts on if the elm was their problem or mine, if the tree was an electrical hazard or when it fell it would clear electrical lines (none cared if TV cable snapped, including the cable company, which told me about another tree to phone them AFTER damage occurs, if it happens).
In short, the matter is whether I am to pay many hundred of dollars to a tree service to fell and haul away the elm or if it’s the utility’s problem, and expense. Of course I don’t want an unnecessary and large bill, but also essentially all reputable tree services will not work on any tree near electrical wires. Their reasoning is obvious, and there you have a homeowner’s Catch 22.
This power company representative in April had me sign something to the effect that I heard him say this was not their problem. I did have him note on the slip that previous tree estimators said it indeed was the utility’s problem but as it was not an emergency the tree would be cut down in the power company’s maintenance cycle. That’s why it hadn’t happened yet and why I called, to remind them. I waited for months; it’s not like I phone every Monday morning.
But I don’t have a copy of that little form, and he or someone could fiddle with the slip to make it read differently, apart from my signature. Drat. -30-
