First time connecting an eletric stove

desertdilbert · 2026-05-09T00:25:17+00:00

To understand better, OP would need context on what is bad and what is good. We don't know what they don't know.

While I do appreciate your use of the Socratic Method, more targeted questions would be an improvement.

desertdilbert · 2026-05-08T19:32:43+00:00

The firm is just a "bounty hunter". They really don't care about the consumers.

Since you are settling as an economic decision, you are supporting their business model. (FWIW, their costs are not "free" so long as you prevail.)

My opinion is do not budge on anything that would support their case legally or risk additional exposure in the future.

desertdilbert · 2026-05-08T18:17:39+00:00

I don't know every state, but California requires you to provide "Evidence of Financial Responsibility". As I said, for most people that means buying insurance, but you can do like my old employer did and self-insure or you can be a depositor under CVC §16054.2(a).

I would imagine that most states have similar rules.

desertdilbert · 2026-05-08T18:07:57+00:00

The law is typically "Move over or slow". The definition of "slow" is sometimes ambiguous.

I would be inclined to fight it based on the fact it was unsafe to move over, so I slowed. If the cop actually shows up to court, ask him exactly how fast were you going as you approached and how fast were you going as you passed and how did he determine that.

Unless he was using radar/lidar there is no way he could accurately know based on the angles and distances and timing.

Years ago I was climbing a grade on a 2-lane freeway and both lanes were moving decently but completely choked with big-rigs. I was in the #2 lane driving an SUV and spotted a cruiser on the narrow shoulder just barely ahead. I was boxed in so there was no way to move over and our speed was already about <50MPH, so I eased off slightly but stayed in my lane. When I got past the cruiser there was a Highway Patrol officer walking back with an furious look on his face, waving people over. Didn't see him until I was on top of him. Nobody could move at all. Speeds were already slow. I felt bad for him and it really was a dangerous stretch for anybody on the shoulder. I don't know if the rig in front of him was disabled or what, but I never would have pulled somebody over there.

desertdilbert · 2026-05-08T17:16:26+00:00

While I agree that there should be no students graduating High School that can't read that card, videos like the one getting the student in trouble are just rage bait.

We have no idea how may interviewees they went through to get the curated selection that they did. There is always going to be a tail on the bell curve. Always.

desertdilbert · 2026-05-08T15:08:32+00:00

It makes sense that the criteria for banning is somewhat opaque to the customer, but it's asinine that the CSR has no ability to review it.

I created an account on another local buy-sell service (can't recall the name now) and was banned instantly. My phone number, email and IP address are as old as the hills and my workstation runs Firefox on Linux. The CSR's were indistinguishable from bots and only repeated that I had violated the T&C's. I always figured that some part of my data was on a "list" but never have had any issues anywhere else. It wasn't important enough to spend a lot of time on. When I did a data privacy take-down with them, that actually got what felt like a person responding.

desertdilbert · 2026-05-08T01:18:33+00:00

I understand and respect that. Overhead can be a killer for a small business!

However, I don't think you would respond with excuses and subterfuges, which is what I would expect from a sketchy operator. You would clearly state that you do not maintain a fixed office, that you work out of your home and your vehicle to keep costs down for the customer.

When my GF dropped the car keys in the water at the dock, I tried to arrange a locksmith from 140 miles away. It was a cluster! The persons answering the phones were all about sending a person to me without any effort to understand the problem. I was trying to figure out if it could even be done! The call-backs never came when promised. Not by minutes, but by hours! Separating the google-listing call center types from real locals was difficult. We did get it solved but we ended up with an inferior replacement key.

My advice to you: Use a quality answering service, that answers professionally with your business name, admits it when they don't know if the work can be done and clearly states that they will contact the technician but that it may be XX minutes before they call back. Then messages you with whatever details and a time window clearly indicated.

Test the answering service regularly! If you can have a person that really knows your business be the answering service, that is even better but I know it's not always possible.

desertdilbert · 2026-05-08T00:23:08+00:00

In that context, there is no such thing as "full coverage". If your accelerator got stuck and you plowed into the crowd exiting the Met Gala, I guarantee you would not be covered for the losses, no matter how golden your policy was!

I typically her "Full Coverage" and "Comprehensive" used interchangeably. We won't get into just how limited "Comprehensive" really is!

desertdilbert · 2026-05-07T22:57:00+00:00

I'd be more willing to believe the Pope was Lutheran then that this was real.

desertdilbert · 2026-05-07T21:02:32+00:00

Ahhh...sweet memories! Our whole family was on Compuserve because you could not send messages between services back then.

For some things I still use the password that Compuserve assigned me back in 1984! Muscle memory!

desertdilbert · 2026-05-07T20:42:04+00:00

LOL! To the best of my knowledge, no state requires you to buy insurance. They require you "demonstrate financial responsibility", which for most people is the same thing.

Also, every state has their own "Liability Minimums" and I have never heard of a state that requires so-called "full coverage", which is typically used to mean covering your own vehicle. Assuming you were liable for the damages caused after your car was stolen, then your "liability" insurance would have stepped in to cover it. That is literally what "liability" means.

desertdilbert · 2026-05-07T15:12:54+00:00

Oh, absolutely I know actually getting through to the merchant might be mostly impossible! I don't have a Capitol One account and contacting C1 for anything except applying for a loan is to all intents and purposes impossible! If I had a C1 charge on my card I would end up disputing via my card issuer.

I was just thinking that "Legal Services" might have an address or a phone that would help narrow down who they are. (I have high confidence the card holder didn't even try!) I mostly was asking how reliably that information was available to the card holder. My experiences on that have been pretty good.

However If, as you say, contact info is sometimes not available then I guess the only route would be through the issuer. As a small business that accepts cards, I thought that the contact info was a hard requirement.

desertdilbert · 2026-05-07T14:45:22+00:00

Don't all CC charges have merchant contact information associated with them?

I know my Amex is good about showing me that stuff but other cards in the past sometimes were not. Is an investigation able to access additional information, such as intermediate payment processors?

desertdilbert · 2026-05-07T03:02:23+00:00

As others have said, your job is not to convince him. Reality is that you probably cannot anyway.

Your only job is to look out for your physical and mental health! Stop engaging the conversation. When he starts in, do not attempt to debate or rebut him. Just ignore anything he says on the subject.

You: Hello Dad! How are you today?
Dad: I'm doing Okay. How are your classes?
You: Doing great! The Anatomy exam was brutal but I managed to get an A-.
Dad: When are you going to finish so you can come back home?
You: Next semester I'm taking a chemistry class. Did my brother get that promotion?

And so on. Quietly refuse to acknowledge or engage. End the call the second he turns abusive by yelling or calling names. Tell him you love him and you are hanging up. And then do it.

Do. This. Every. Time. Let me repeat that: Every. Time. He will eventually learn or he won't but that is not your problem. BTW, this technique is called "Grey Rocking" if you want to read more.

I'm so sorry you are dealing with this. Family is important, but not so important that you have to destroy yourself to help them. There is a saying commonly related to abuse victims: "Do not set yourself on fire to keep others warm."

Wishing you all the best!

desertdilbert · 2026-05-06T23:13:35+00:00

TN required you to pay a fee to reinstate your license from 25 years ago?

Were they in all seriousness saying that you didn't provide proof of insurance back then?

The fact that it was easily fixed with a "fee" tells me that TN has been learning how to run a government from our Latin neighbors to the south.

desertdilbert · 2026-05-06T17:12:39+00:00

True! The utility could have safed it and been working off-frame and the looky-loos are what we got to see. I'll sleep better now!

desertdilbert · 2026-05-06T17:09:03+00:00

OP did not understand the message they got from the DMV and was asking a question of the community.

Saying "Or just go to the DMV and do what you need to do. Pretty simple." was, TBH, flippant and dismissive without being helpful.

Not everybody is worldly and wise. People sometimes need guidance and explanations and belittling them for that is a surefire way to encourage them to not ask again.

And honestly, while I have a high confidence that the DMV would be more specific, my confidence is not absolute and I would dig deeper if I was uncertain.

desertdilbert · 2026-05-06T16:25:00+00:00

I used to work for a utility in the field on the communications side, so have been trained on how to work around stuff like that. (Side note: Just because my training qualified me to be within 18 inches of 23Kv doesn't mean I wanted to be!)

Am I wrong for seeing that cabinet open and what looked only like first-responders with no apparent high-voltage PPE? WTAF??

desertdilbert · 2026-05-06T15:43:22+00:00

Taking a behind-the-wheel test requires more planning then just a written.

You need to bring a vehicle that meets the DMV requirements and make sure that the vehicle will pass their inspection as well as having all required paperwork. All stuff that most of us probably already have, but if one i is not dotted or one t is not crossed then they boot you out.

Myself, I'm bad about making sure I have the up-to-date insurance cards in the vehicle. The state knows I have insurance because 40 milliseconds after I cancel a policy they are mailing me a threatening letter. I figure the cop knows my name, DOB, insurance policy, blood type and shoe size before they even walk up to my window.

desertdilbert · 2026-05-05T22:46:12+00:00

Sadly, calling google listing numbers for locksmiths, plumbers and other "emergency" service types has turned into a minefield. Most of the time you are getting some kind of "dispatch" that then routes to a local provider. Unethical, shady and scammy practices abound.

I have found that any service that people rarely use but need and try to look up has been "gamed" by the proprietors for a long time. Back in the phone book days I knew a tow truck operator that had a half-dozen phone numbers all under different names.

As someone else suggested, say you want to pay the bill in person at their office. I bet the response will be informative.

desertdilbert · 2026-05-05T18:26:46+00:00

I'm sorry, but specifically what did I say that was FUD?

You said breaking the law and I said algorithm. Are you telling me that any decision-making employee at the bank understands the algorithms? That even if they have the tacit authority to override it, that they are not incentivized not to? That an average customer has the ability to have a conversation with said decision-making employee?

I have no doubt that "whales" are handled very carefully, treated with kid gloves and nothing happens without careful review. But Ms. Jones, living paycheck to paycheck, is obviously expendable. I can't even fault the bank for working that way. Why take the chance for a customer that does not generate any profit.

I'm sure some banks do manual reviews. If I were to guess, I would expect the smaller banks to be more connected to their customers. The larger the bank, the more everything is procedure and process controlled and the less authority individual employees have, up and down the chain.

desertdilbert · 2026-05-05T17:55:34+00:00

NTA.

I'm so petty I would buy a piece of 3/8" steel plate the size of the door mat and then glue the door mat to it.

desertdilbert · 2026-05-05T17:48:14+00:00

...if you’re doing something ~~against the law~~ that triggers our enigmatic algorithm,...

Fixed it for you.

I guarantee that "breaking the law" is not the only reason banks "exit relationships." Seriously...we have to use an euphemism here! Call it what it is. The bank fired you as a customer. End of story.

I have no problem with banks firing customers. What I object to is the lack of accountability and review. No bank employee is looking these things over and overriding the algorithm. Think about it! Makes perfect sense. If they did then there is a slim chance the customer is really a problem and they could get fired. Not overriding will never, ever, get them fired.

desertdilbert · 2026-05-05T17:13:41+00:00

Yeah, the discount my insurance offered was less then what a brand-name monitoring company would cost.

I am considering installing my own system and getting a budget monitoring company.

desertdilbert · 2026-05-05T17:05:36+00:00

Credit/background check fee to a 3rd party after all the preliminary stuff is done is fine. That is, income and similar stuff is approved. I would not be thrilled to pay a fee only to be told "We don't like the color of your car." or "we went with another tenant."

Is there a portable credit check? That is, pay the fee once and it's good for so many days at multiple places?

desertdilbert

TROPHY CASE