I signed a lease for my new place on February 24th, and moved in on March 1st. There was another person living there at the time - a roommate that I did not know previously and who has since left without leaving contact information. The roommate left on or about the 22nd of March.
Untill the roommate moved out, utilities had been in his name and were his responsibility. I called the gas company and the electric company on the Friday before my roommate moved and had the utilities scheduled to be changed to my name the following Monday. The electric company obliged and gave me no problems.
I thought that the gas company, Kansas Gas Service (KGS), would do the same. However, months later when I got my first bill followed shortly by a shutoff notice, I looked online to see why I hadn't received earlier bills and discovered that I had been charged $63.98 for the entire month of March.
I emailed customer service thinking this was a mistake since the account shouldn't have been changed to my name until the end of March. However, I received some pompous responses back telling me that since my lease started February 24th, they would not remove the erroneous charges.
I further explained that my lease did start in February, but I did not change the utilities to my name until the end of March because the previous tenant was still there was was responsible for the gas until that point. I offered to have my landlord fax them something saying that the other person did not move out until the end of March, but KGS refused.
After I further explained my situation I received a backhanded apology and told that if I wanted the previous tenant to pay the March bill, I would have to contact the previous tenant. Remember, this is someone that I only lived with for 3-4 weeks and whom I have had no contact with prior to moving in or since he moved out.
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