Louisiana vs Texas in a nutshell - why I hate my home state more and more

Dear Facebook…

Just got back from my mom’s funeral. It’s been a shitty few months as she went down hill. I’ve been trying to get her affairs in order.

Her gas and water bills were on automatic draft. When she died, the bank locked down her account until I can provide death certificates, etc. Nothing can go in or out. I’m working through the paperwork.

I get home yesterday (I got her mail forwarded to me).

She had a bill from Atmos and Jeff Parish Water System.
I call Atmos first. There was a late fee because her account was locked. The woman announced that she’s in Amarillo. I explain the situation, she offers condolences and immediately waives the late fee (without me even asking) and we transfer the account seamlessly.

I call Jeff Parish, some person who is barely intelligible and with a terrible attitude, just keeps stating that her account is locked because the payment is returned. I again explain the situation, and she’s basically like “not my problem, you owe a late fee and should have called us when she died.” I just got the damn bill!


Really? That’s my fricking priority to call the water department??? I ask to speak to someone else. The “lone” accountant is not there. Seriously? You have one person who can handle this? I don’t care about $20, it’s the god damn principal of the matter and their attitude. Even if they were like “We’re sorry, but that’s policy.” But no, total attitude and ineptness.

Flash forward today. Some idiot calls me back, again with no customer service, refusal to waive a dead woman’s fee and of course they weren’t even looking at the right account, and I had to give them the account number and address again.

Morons. Texas customer service vs Louisiana. One incident but total reflection of the difference between a place run by competent individuals vs a third-world banana republic.

TLDR I hate Louisiana.

EDIT: Before calling, I DID try to transfer the account online but it was "locked."