refusal of payment question

DKSuddeth

Senior Member
Oct 20, 2003
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North Texas
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4652937/

Two Women Try to Pay Bill in Pennies

- Two women who live on a fixed income, said they are not pleased with a proposal to raise power rates by 20%.

Together they delivered more than 12,000 pennies in a wheel barrow to the lobby of Idaho Power,in Boise Thursday morning.

One of the women, Retta Green, said she just can't afford the suggested rate hike, "It's gonna kill me, in fact I'm going to have to shut my power off because right now I'm collecting pennies to pay my bill."

An Idaho Power spokesman greeted the women in the lobby and said the company is very much concerned about the affects an increase would have on all power customers."The needs and concerns of low income customers are a part of all of the company's concerns", said Jeff Beaman, Director of Corp. Communications at Idaho Power.

Idaho Power could not accept the pennies scattered in the wheelbarrow, but said payment would be accepted when the pennies were rolled and certified by a local bank.

someone correct me if I'm wrong, but does ANY company have the right to refuse a cash payment? and if so, can you then claim the debt dismissed for that refusal?
 
Interesting question.
I would think that the company's main concern would be to get paid, but then again it would cost them in labor time to count the pennies.
Will they dismiss the debt? I say never. No one in this day and age is going to give anyone a break in paying their debt. With the amount of bankruptcies these days, more and more companies are even going after debts from 3 years or more ago and it doesn't matter how small the debt actually is.
 
Originally posted by Lizzy
.......Will they dismiss the debt? I say never........ QUOTE]

They might if they had a heart. But a Utility Company?
Ha! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!
 
They might if they had a heart. But a Utility Company?
Ha! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! [/B][/QUOTE]
What planet are you from to even think such a thought?:laugh:
 
Originally posted by Lizzy
They might if they had a heart. But a Utility Company?
Ha! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!
What planet are you from to even think such a thought?:laugh: [/B][/QUOTE]


I'm sorry, but I believe there's a special place in Hell for the utility companies. People want to talk about terrorism ?! Who terrorizes more than these people?
 
Originally posted by Joz
What planet are you from to even think such a thought?:laugh:

I'm sorry, but I believe there's a special place in Hell for the utility companies. People want to talk about terrorism ?! Who terrorizes more than these people? [/B][/QUOTE]



Exactly my point! No one is going to give anyone a break these days! Not when it comes to paying a bill.
Although I don't know if I would exactly equate Utility companies with Terrorism, especially do to the World's recent events.
 
Originally posted by Lizzy
Although I don't know if I would exactly equate Utility companies with Terrorism, especially do to the World's recent events.

I wouldn't either.

It's just that these companies take advantage of soooo many people; and they are so wrong.
 
Originally posted by Joz
I wouldn't either.

It's just that these companies take advantage of soooo many people; and they are so wrong.

Agreed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:)
 
I think they can refuse the pennies if they aren't rolled - not positive though. Power companies are bloody gangsters, along with gas, phone etc, ect.
 
Originally posted by Joz
What planet are you from to even think such a thought?:laugh:


I'm sorry, but I believe there's a special place in Hell for the utility companies. People want to talk about terrorism ?! Who terrorizes more than these people? [/B][/QUOTE]


1.I.R.S - these guys are like the mafia

2.oil companies-gas prices are going through the roof

3.power companies-rising and rising

4.cigarette companies-addictive and expensive

5The .h.m.o.- you better have medical insurance

6.bottled water companies-it's water stupid

maybe you can think of some more i'm tired
 
I used to work in a grocery store as a cashier, and I used to absolutely hate customers who paid with massive amounts of change. Yes, the power company has every right to refuse such a payment if the amount of the pennies cannot be verified without exhaustive labor (and I would classify counting a wheelbarrow full of pennies exhaustive). The power company has every right to ask them to roll the damn pennies.

acludem
 
Originally posted by cptpwichita
I'm sorry, but I believe there's a special place in Hell for the utility companies. People want to talk about terrorism ?! Who terrorizes more than these people?

1.I.R.S - these guys are like the mafia

2.oil companies-gas prices are going through the roof

3.power companies-rising and rising


4.cigarette companies-addictive and expensive

5The .h.m.o.- you better have medical insurance

6.bottled water companies-it's water stupid

maybe you can think of some more i'm tired





I'm sorry, but 4-6 doesn't equate with the first three. You can shop for better insurance rates, quit smoking, and heaven forbid, drink tap water.

But the IRS will take every last penny they can get, gas prices skyrocket because we need to be moblie and you never hear of a natural gas shortage until cold weather. It gets HUMID where I'm at, but you can live without air conditioning. You can't live without heat. And I haven't found a way to combat these companies.
 
Originally posted by acludem
I used to work in a grocery store as a cashier, and I used to absolutely hate customers who paid with massive amounts of change. Yes, the power company has every right to refuse such a payment if the amount of the pennies cannot be verified without exhaustive labor (and I would classify counting a wheelbarrow full of pennies exhaustive). The power company has every right to ask them to roll the damn pennies.

acludem

Ok I just fell out of my chair, the second time tonight I have agreed with acludem.:D
 
Originally posted by DKSuddeth
someone correct me if I'm wrong, but does ANY company have the right to refuse a cash payment? and if so, can you then claim the debt dismissed for that refusal?

I actually did this once. I went to a pool hall a couple of years ago and had parked in a parking lot that I had parked in several times for free. I guess the parking lot company decided to enforce their fees that night, so they gave me a $20 ticket for non-payment. So I went and got $20 in pennies. Unfortunately, I had to go out of town the next day, and it was due before I was going to come back. So my mother-in-law-to-be volunteered to take in the pennies.
So she takes in the pennies - still rolled - and hands them to the guy behind the desk. He looks at her and asks,"What the hell is this?" She explains the situation to him, and he gets mad. Then he says, 'Well, I don't know that there are exactly 50 pennies in each of these rolls'... so he breaks all of them open, all at once, and starts counting! His buddy comes over to help count, and the two of them are counting pennies for about half an hour - complaining every two minutes about having to count 2,000 pennies out! About halfway through this, their supervisor comes over and asks what was going on. My mother-in-law-to-be explains it all to him, and at this point, they were about two-thirds done, so he tells them to keep counting. So they get to the end, and they only had $19.50 (I had inadverently dropped a penny roll in my car). So my mother-in-law offered them two quarters to call it even.

The moral of the story: I (actually my mother-in-law) took half an hour of two of their employees' time - about $20-$25 worth of labor, plus ten or fifteen minutes of the supervisor's time - about $10 worth of labor - just to count out a $20 fine. Take that, Diamond Parking Company!!!
 

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