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Setsuna's crazy adventures - a cataloguing
Setsuna:
Well, we begin this week would have been another instance of 'So how does one person manage to cause an electricity company to decide multiple times to really screw things up anyway?'
I'm really not sure why when it comes to me and the electricity provider, (or just electricity in general) I have a knack for making things simply not work.
I mean, I can't use a touchscreen properly, I probably generate static electricity by simply existing, and we've already had a few bits of fun regarding electricity this year (one being the fire of course, and the other being the final electricity bill that went... weird) but well...
As you can guess, I have to enable the utilities at the new place, and as you'd might expect because I know how this goes (It should be the first thing you do when you rent/own a new place), I immediately sign up to an electricity provider of my choice upon moving in.
I sign up, on the 16th of September, and that's that, or so you'd think.
Fast forward to Friday afternoon, and on a whim, I decided to call the electricity company, only because I had this really nagging feeling something was about to go wrong. No, I didn't have any real grounds to be suspicious... Okay, I mean apart from every OTHER time something's gone weird...
So I call up, and the conversation goes something like this:
"So, when should I expect my next bill?"
"Just a moment. I'll check for you... According to this, your first meter read should be on December 10th."
"Uh, I signed up in September. Why is it so late?"
"Well, because you haven't been transferred over from your previous provider."
"What previous provider? We just moved in here and I signed up with you on the first day we arrived."
"Well according to this, you don't actually join our company as a customer, and will be billed by your previous one."
"Except we signed up with you as a new customer, because we just moved into the place. We can't HAVE a previous provider."
... So what ends up happening is that three calls, a supervisor and a manager and a call to the wholesaler later, we established that the utility company screwed up the initial signup. There's a billing 'deeming' clause as in Australia where if you have a working electricity connection, that someone CAN bill you if you try to use all your electricity for free.
I don't know what's going to happen next, but the entire process involves having to sign up again, and I'm REALLY hoping that we don't get a bill shadowed to us, because someone really screwed up. Namely the 'deemed provider' decides that they provide my electricity and they try to bill me twice for the same supply.
The really bad part is that there's a non zero chance they could threaten us for a non payment of a bill that simply put, we can't be responsible for, because well, we did the right thing (not that we even knew we had a deemed provider). They could disconnect the electricity for non payment, then we get to find out how much compensation I'll be entitled to because, simply put, I can prove both the original and amended contracts with my electricity company, as well as when I moved in (The lease proves when we actually moved in).
If the previous company get their dates wrong by even a single day, you can guess hell will break loose, because I pretty much get cache blanc to sue the company for... well, fraud on multiple levels.
The upshot to this is if the provider that never was DOESN'T try anything (See all the risks above) my current electricity company can't charge me for anything prior to last Friday. The reason for this is because of the fact they didn't do a meter read until then, when we discovered the fatal flaw in the account setup.
In short? I'd be granted a month's free electricity, since I was here a month prior to the amended contract, and without a known meter reading to start, they're not allowed to estimate my electricity use.
Setsuna:
Of course, I'm not the centre of the universe (Although I've been accused of making a pretty damn good case) and sometimes, you hear from other people about some... spectacular stories.
Now I'm an admin person at heart, with financial background, and accounting training. I have friends across the board, and it should be very little surprise that I have a friend who's got a law degree, and is working at a major bank (who works for an attorney) while preparing to sit for the bar so he can practice.
He's currently working as part of a managed trust unit, and it's been a while since I caught up with him (since he lives in the US and all).
I won't get into a full explanation (because I'll get it partly wrong anyway, as I specialise in small business, not major corps) but basically he manages money held in trust by the bank, and his job is compliance - namely, making sure that any instructions received from people who can execute on the trusts are good, the risks are known, and most importantly legal.
So, if you do any financial management, the coming statement is something that he came across in an investment proposal coming from one of the investment advisers in the trust.
If you have a decent or good background in law or finance and understand any sort of risk management, you'll either be laughing really hard, or you'd be completely and utterly horrified.
This trust fund wanted to invest in "niche markets that have historically had a difficult to impossible time raising capital through traditional means"
The fund in question is in the United States, to help you with any guessing.
If fifteen different alarm bells just went off in your head, well, you probably don't need an explanation since you understand risk management, and I'll just give the answer in a spoiler so you can compare your guess with the actual answer.
For the rest of you, basically it amounts to this - you NEVER EVER want to see that as a proposal. Seeing a couple of them is okay. Seeing more than about five or six is scary.
Seeing that complete sentence is the sort of thing you want to stay well, well away from. And probably make sure you don't ever get close to anyone who seriously put that as the executive summary of an investment proposal.
Or to break it down:
'Niche market' - A very obscure or undertraded marketspace
'Historically had a difficult or impossible time' - This means that there were major issues in the past. This usually implies there are or were legal issues.
'raising capital through traditional means' - Means that they couldn't just go to a bank, or regular investor, or even go crowdfunding.
Put the lot together and... Well. Let your imagination run wild, because bluntly put, you're probably on the right track.
Said investment was into marijuana combines.
Note, the investment complies with the state law that the said marijuana was grown in. Federal law dictates that it is illegal though, and the ATF have a 'arrest everyone, ask questions later and sort out the mess in a few years' policy, particularly if they can find anything like a paper trail with names on it.
Say what you will about the actual substance, but as an investment, sure, it's lucrative... IF you don't spend like 10 years in prison in the process.
Naryoril:
--- Quote from: Setsuna on October 21, 2015, 08:50:46 am ---...making sure that any instructions received from people who can execute on the trusts are good, the risks are known, and most importantly legal.
--- End quote ---
Yeah, sure... Especially when talking about banks and trusts.
As your example shows: There are way too many people in that business who don't care for legality and risks if there is profit to be had. Your friend may be making his job properly, but i bet there are a ton who aren't, or he'll get according orders from his superior.
Setsuna:
--- Quote from: Naryoril on October 21, 2015, 09:09:26 am ---Yeah, sure... Especially when talking about banks and trusts.
As your example shows: There are way too many people in that business who don't care for legality and risks if there is profit to be had. Your friend may be making his job properly, but i bet there are a ton who aren't, or he'll get according orders from his superior.
--- End quote ---
Well, for most part, the problem ultimately is that banking, finance and the like aren't evil by their very definition, it's mostly the end result (All that money and power) that induces bad behaviour.
And yes, he does his job properly - If nothing else, it's less about morality and more about 'Are you off your rocker?' cause there's... well, things you don't do if you like holding onto your money, like risk being placed on the wrong side of a cell.
Then again, most people don't honestly care until it personally affects them personally, like our really stupid investment adviser here.
I remember when I found a massive flaw in a major financial institution where you could use a prepaid card, and with the knowledge of the email linked to an account as well as the country and state that the account was made in, you could hijack their account if you were prepared to spend maybe 10 dollars. I was told that no one cared.
I then revealed the financial institution in question was Paypal, and that I had let them know on three separate occasions that the attack vector was still doable. I was told every time the problem had been patched.
I suddenly got massively lectured by all the people in the room 'Why haven't I fixed the problem and told them about the flaw and it must be done now!'
Needless to say, the only thing I did was laugh, because well, what CAN I do about it after explaining to them how it worked.
For the record, the vector still works by the way.
Naryoril:
--- Quote from: Setsuna on October 21, 2015, 09:24:00 am ---Well, for most part, the problem ultimately is that banking, finance and the like aren't evil by their very definition, it's mostly the end result (All that money and power) that induces bad behaviour.
--- End quote ---
Of course you are right, but imo banking, especially investment banking, attracts exactly the type of person that will do almost anything if it's for money. They already are into money, so it's only natural they are going for a job where they can operate with millions and sometimes even billions, especially if it isn't their money they potentially loose (but they still get paid a ton extra if they get lucky and pick the right assets).
But sorry for drifting off topic here. I'm a bit marked on this topic as a) Swiss (tax evasion and all that stuff) and b) someone who develops an asset management software (in a small company, but we do only book keeping and reporting) and c) thus often has contact with banks
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