🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1993Jan7.214846.18538@samba.oit.unc.edu> Michael.Bohl@launchpad.unc.edu (Michael Bohl) writes:
>
>Fellow home or apartment renters,
>
>	While $1/month is not alot to each individual, when multiplied by
>millions of people it becomes a substantial sum of money.  I will wager
>that most renters are paying the phone company an additional $1/month
>unecessarily.  Check you bill. 
>
>	However, as a renter, you do not own the lines and hold NO
>respnsibility to carry this 'insurance'.  Do you carry 'insurance' which
>will pay for the repair of the electrical wiring inside the walls?  No, of
>course not.  
>
   Actually I can offer counter facts.  I am a renter.  I did not
   buy the extra "wiring maintenance" charge.  

   When I moved in, I discovered that there was a fault in the
   internal wiring.  

   The telephone company agreed to fix it or I could use a private
   contractor, or fix it myself.  I contacted the leasing office and
   they pointed out a paragraph in the lease....although they might
   own the property, very few rentals in Calif include free
   maintenance of telco wiring.   So although you don't "own" the
   lines, if you want telephone service you'll have to pay for
   repairs yourself...or buy the insurance.  And in most rental
   properties you might just be forbidden from crawling around in
   the walls or opening the covers of the demarc.   

   So I'd ignore this posting for the first month.  Pay the extra
   wiring maintenance charge for the FIRST month until you are
   certain the wiring is in good condition.  Then you just call the
   phone company and cancel the service..which they will politely
   do.

   And lest you suspect the phone company's motives, that advice
   came FROM the phone company.   They noted very correctly that
   rarely does wiring fail as long as it remains in service...
   [They still charged me the $75 bucks, though...]




>	I called the company a few years ago and the clerk who answered the
>phone INSISTED that I was responsible for the wiring in the walls, even as
>a renter.  Of course, that makes no sense at all as I related in the
>previous analogy.  Think for a moment how many MILLIONS of dollars are
>collected each year for which NO service is ever rendered.  
>
   The clerk was correct but for the wrong reason....