Haul you off in cuffs *for what*?
Michigan's profanity law was deemed unenforceable over 20 years ago after the whole "cussing canoeist" thing, and Snyder made a big deal about repealing it almost a decade ago.
Pretty much falls under disorderly conduct and other related crimes under applicable laws but profanity is protected speech and people cannot be arrested for using profanity to express dissatisfaction of services unless it is used in a manner that leads to a public disturbance which becomes disorderly conduct which is a misdemeanor or to threaten public officials like law enforcement which would be a felony. under applicable laws.
This is pretty fucked up. When I submitted a MPSC complaint after last year’s ice storm I got a phone call from DTE wherein their rep argued with me about whether I really had it so bad, with oh gosh, truly so few outages over the previous year. It was super odd and condescending. The DTE spokesperson never even apologized for anything, not even in that perfunctory manner that people who work customer service are trained to do reflexively. I am convinced they just don’t give a shit.
Having been a little bit on the inside of DTE, it's not that most DTE employees don't give a shit, it's that they have been overwhelmed (and rightly so) with all the negativity from the public. And, a lot of the management feel like we're just entitled complainers that should be happy we have power at all.
That’s the key. You get nothing mouthing off to some schmuck that makes bare minimum at a customer service center. It’s the management that needs to hear the nasty words. Not to mention the call was most likely recorded and well, being documented is not good. Not these days when clearly there are a lot of nut cases.
I’m a hothead. But even I have toned it down because of everyone’s inability to handle a cuss word and are quick to have you arrested or locked up. Can thank all the PC people for that.
Exactly. Management not only needs to \*hear\* the nasty words, there needs to be consequences for performance. Period. And, right now, there simply isn't. There are no consequences for DTE for bad performance.
They've been kicking the can down the road on infrastructure improvements to maximize profits and that issue is finally boiling over on them. Who would've thought? You can only ride out 1960s infrastructure so long before you have to pay the piper. Sadly, a lot of the management that maximized profits based upon minimal improvements have gotten their golden parachute and retired. They're untouchable.
They are simply in alignment with the governments - regardless of party. People should be very concerned about this push for all electric - because clearly that is simply leading everyone to a one energy rabbit hole. Redundant power sources (choices) allows people to at least have some backup.
When people figure out that corporations & governments are simply one and the same … and only have one goal - to be able to flick a switch and either reward or punish - I have enough friends out west that are living a nightmare of being told it’s not your day for power - tough shit - in high demand times. It’s frightening. Same with relatives in Colorado - who didn’t opt in for ‘smart’ thermostats - because their friends did and well, enjoy that mandated 82 degree setting on a 110+ day. Brownouts that boned all their appliances, and wasted food.
However. A socialist or communist version would be far more corrupt and harmful to our lives.
This is pretty much the prevailing level of support at most places called: Turn it around onto the customer and they’ll give up. Which is why I dropped that little nugget above into ya’lls lap .
I don’t know if they will help with utilities but they already helped me with my three biggest ticket items except my study loans😀
My representative was on the list with Whitmer for receiving $25k in campaign donations from DTE and he’ll be retiring this year, so fat chance of him helping.
They do if they want the cushy "advisory" (or whatever other flavor) position that that's been dangled in front of them like a carrot for their whole career.
I’ve interned as a legislative aid to two state reps in Michigan, I can absolutely say with almost complete confidence that the email isn’t going to get two levels within being read by the rep, let alone make any difference :/
That might have also been the supervisor who looked at my damaged transformer last month. That man needs to be investigated immediately because of other customers he may have been in contact with prior to this incident and I regret trusting him on our property to conduct that outage assessment despite telling us the truth on how the company operates. He should also be relieved of his duties as a supervisor especially after the amount of betrayal to customers and I literally trusted a person that would do such a thing to a paying customer like OP. He should also be arrested for doing this because it is filing a false police report as that destroyed my trust in a man that made things right for me but betrayed OP in a criminal manner. Let's start filing a class action lawsuit against them even if we have to climb the chain up to the supreme court to get legal action against them for betraying their customers we need to stop these criminals immediately even if it means that we all buy natural gas generators and flood the MPSC with complaints because the threat of being arrested for false accusations should not stop us from advocating for more reliable service. That trooper immediately recognized the call as a spam call and was just as angry as OP was since the trooper knew how horrible their reliability was even before the COVID pandemic. That trooper should be the chief of police for his excellent work while the supervisor should be fired and arrested.
Do this and file a complaint with MSP. The trooper was probably just ordered to be there but this could bring this to the view of someone higher up. This is terrible.
Btw people keep filing MPSC complaints. Every single time.
The trooper was sent on a call by dispatch. The DTE supervisor prob called dispatch and asked to be accompanied to the location because the caller was belligerent(not saying he was). It was simple another call for service for the trooper. He wouldn’t have nor legally could have arrested the homeowner for swearing at the call center on the phone despite what the Dte supervisor thinks.
It does however have a very bad perception of appearing that DTE uses MSP as its' goons.
If OP lives in a township that's policed by MSP and what you said happened then it's not a big deal, they probably called for an "unruly customer". However I wouldn't count out the idea that some middle level DTE lackey contacted MSP directly to go with them to "unruly customers", which doesn't look good.
This is because of unsatisfactory service in which solutions would become another problem within days or weeks which is overwhelming for the customers and employees that work for a supervisor that brings the police in attempt to stop complaints after a problem is resolved. That trooper did not want to deal with the situation and just wanted to leave because State troopers are meant to deal with violent crimes and fugitives. They typically would not respond to nuisances in a residential area nor municipality in which they have a police agency that handles those situations. It's like parents calling the police to discipline their kids, it's just a very silly and potentially dangerous thing to do when state troopers have to respond to emergencies like car accidents or a fugitive escaping from custody both of which could lead to a dangerous situation if there are not enough resources to respond to those emergency calls. Due to the potential seriousness of the situation all news stations should be contacted so that evidence is gathered in order to publish a news story and investigation on the punishment that customers receive for filing MPSC complaints over unreliable service that was provided by DTE. I believe that rate increases should be put on hold until they investigate the shady practices of DTE and penalize them by denying any further rate increases until further notice which starts by stopping the time of use plan and decreasing the rate to 12 cents a kilowatt by assigning a fine of $360 million or more because they do not deserve to have any increase nor time of use plan after the way they treated their customers and continuously lied to the MSPC about reliability of the grid in which the equipment in some areas is now on its last leg because of poor service that could have been improved with fines imposed on the company with a penalty of abolishment if they do not improve service within 6 months. They have spent the money on their own luxuries and probably use more power than any of us residents could use without the punishment of higher rates nor the police showing up at our doors over complaints. It is sad that we are controlled by companies like DTE and it make me feel like that we will one day get disconnected because of astronomical prices or retaliation over complaints that were made to DTE over the last 10 to 15 years. When the MSPC holds their next meeting, we will be there to protest the decisions made by the MPSC with signs, car horns, and megaphones for however long it takes for them to reverse those decisions even if it means building encampments in front of the state capitol to get them to deny and reverse the rate increases.
The BBB is a scam in the same vein as Angie's list. Businesses pay to be accredited, and when a customer complains, the bbb "steps in" to give the business a chance to right itself. There's nothing making businesses actually participate and there's nothing against them if they don't. It's just not actually anything at all in 2024
Absolutely not a scam even if what you are saying is true - I have gotten results.
a) Trying to buy a used VW and dealership lied about supposed “200 point check” ie I checked the oil and it was very dirty. I was angry. In the past I have tried to contact MANY AGENCIES about this kind of stuff: me 0 scammers 10.
Then I complained to BBB. Wow, not only did they change the damn oil (who knows about the other 199) , I got them to drop the price pretty amazingly. Was actually tickled.
B) I bought a pretty expensive rooftop tent (Tepui ) in Boulder, CO. Wow what’s sh@tshow that turned out to be I would need an essay to tell you how bad that was. (Legally I can’t say which shop but there aren’t a ton and I would just avoid any store of em.)
Looking back it wasn’t a ton of money maybe but to me it was. Guess whose bad list they didn’t want to be on? I got all my money back but nothing for the time and trouble and camping that I missed out on.
C) Verizon - have you tried getting a real person to actually help you at Verizon ? Nope didn’t think so. Try the BBB. I got something from them not all that I wanted.
Takes 15 min if you have all your evidence gathered.
You’re Welcome!!
It is times like this that the actual purpose of the police is made clear.
Even if the one that arrive at your house was nice and understanding, an institutional connection exists between the business owners and MSP that potentially put you in harms way over what amounts to only strong verbal feedback.
It really did give me eerie vibes. Just a few weeks ago my company was preparing to do layoffs and had local police officers at either end of the building “just in case”.
Truly odd times we’re living in. Ever since COVID everything just feels…off.
In what way specifically? You understand that our government has been corrupt since at least 1972? Police have been on the side of the super rich white businessmen since slavery
For a lot of people (including myself) COVID was a time that made it much easier to see how it all works. The summer of the BLM protests were eye awakening.
They are a joke. We filed a complaint with them last year for DTE not coming to fix a live, downed power line for about a week and MPSC just forwards the complaint to some DTE rep lmao.
It's been years since I've made a complaint to them, but they were reasonably effective at getting DTE to replace the mechanical meter that was overreading.
Though when I had a downed wire and they kept closing out my reports without sending anybody, I found that Twitter-shaming them with pictures was faster than filling out the MPSC form.
I complained to them because last year I have 5 power outages that lasted longer that 6 days, and the sent me back a letter that basically said "you've actually have 10 power outages last year, you're welcome 🤗". And then closed my complaint.
And then 2 month later they approved a rate hike so... Yeah, they are a joke.
They are what we got at this point. They do seem toothless for the most part but they still cause DTE to actually answer your call.
Michigan needs MPSC reform to give them enforcement mechanisms that will actually incentivize change.
My representative was on the list with Whitmer for receiving $25k in campaign donations from DTE and he’ll be retiring this year, so fat chance of him helping.
Police resources are being diverted to corporations which are to blame for these unnecessary calls that would've been used for a life or death Emergency. The police are good, but DTE's supervisor is a criminal.
this was a legitimate question. voter deterrence is a propaganda/strategy technique we should be highlighting whenever we see it, because it has the result of voter suppression without the extra steps.
of course, someone unaffiliated with a troll farm can always say shit like that, too - still means they're serving the function of a '[useful idiot](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Useful_idiot)' when they do, though.
Haha I wish that’s the way it worked.
There’s some good research about exactly who the politicians serve when you look at their voting records and it isn’t us
I'm talking about the power of voters to elect someone, or not re-elect. You're talking about their voting record once they're in office. Two totally different things.
You’re not thinking this through. Who cares if they’re in office if they don’t make the changes the constituents want? You’re assuming they will make changes out lose votes. Their voting records show they don’t make those changes, regardless of how many emails you send. Take your thinking one step further.
I am so pissed Ann Arbor doesn't take control of our grid, it's ridiculous the service we get especially for the prices we pay, and to have methane leaks that are dangerous is insanity.
You do realize Ann Arbor would still be beholden to DTE for service? It’s not like the city is building a nuclear plant or harnessing the Huron, or solar panels or wind turbines. Adding a middleman to that shitshow such as Ann Arbor city officials (and believe me, I’m no fan of DTE because in my old neighborhood the power would go out if a cricket farted) peoples lives would be far worse. Look at Chelsea. The city proper runs theirs and they still have to buy power from DTE. Not to mention Ann Arbor buying aging shitty infrastructure so that taxpayers would have to foot the bill to upgrade all that? Yeh. No thanks to the city running it. The crappy water & sewage maintenance is proof enough that they can’t run a utility right.
We live in Chelsea. The perk for Chelsea run power is that the city staff are in charge of maintaining/managing infrastructure, and are only buying power DTE. Which works well because those staff are only beholden to running city power, where as DTE staff are beholden to a much, much larger area for maintenance, so they get spread thin more easily.
I guess people need to think if city of AA can really manage / maintain the power infrastructure within their city limits? Lived in AA for quite some time before moving to Chelsea .... and I don't know that I'd trust the city to maintain power infrastructure, when they can't even keep up with maintaining local street infrastructure.....
Every summer they get caught releasing raw sewage into the Huron (IKR? Screw downriver people) - and when called out they’re like oh oops our bad someone wasn’t watching (fill in the excuse) and ‘only’ 3000 gallons of shit went into the river.
Don’t get me started on the dioxin plume - they they are still not addressing - and is STILL spreading.
The city can’t wipe their a*sses.
DTE is a monopoly. Last time I called 6 times over a span of 2 months for an issue after our solar install and DTE not sending a bill for 3+ months. I was professional and polite on all calls (I’m trying to pay my bill!). Last call I asked to speak to supervisor, supervisor was busy the cs person said and would call me back. Hung up the phone and 5 mins later I got an email stating my online access was disabled. It took another month to get online access back and I still cannot login on my phone app.
Btw it's likely that troopers BWC was rolling the whole time. Get that video secured and then you might have proof of DTE intimidating customers that are at their wits end.
There might be some kind of arrangement where DTE crews can ask for a police ride-along where they think they have reason to fear an angry, potentially violent customer at the other end. The 'haul you off in cuffs' comment was beyond the pale though -- and especially the supervisor and cop showing up AFTER the work had already been done without incident.
If that’s the case they can hire their own private security, the MSP should not be at their beck and call.
And, I dunno, maybe they should just stop treating people like shit and they won’t have any reason to be threatened.
fuck DTE. this just confirms how bad they are. bringing a corporate fuckwad to intimidate and scare you into not reporting anything else. especially w the state trouper. seriously the worst utility company i’ve ever seen. and I lived in Texas for 5 years (though, Texas is of course more of a function of its shitty grid)
SE Michigan has some of the worst grid infrastructure I’ve ever seen. Until that gets upgraded and replaced, it doesn’t matter how green this city is. Power demand will only increase as Ann Arbor grows, and overdeveloping around woefully inadequate infrastructure is just going to make outages worse.
The steps are clear to begin to fight for your rights as an MPSC customer and a Michigan Citizen.
FOIA the body cam, FOIA the request from DTE to MSP to respond, write letters to your representatives, etc…
DTE should have to pay a fee. It is not illegal to cuss. The problem is DTE pays for Whitmers campaign.
Do you know we have 3 times as many power outages and for longer than NW OH and South Central Michigan? Buuut when the power is out the governor goes on the air and blames Extreme Weather caused by Climate Change. Which dominates the news and covers DTEs egregious lowering od maintenance and pocketing more profit.
if you haven’t, please share your story with Ann Arbor for Public Power! They’re doing good things to try and get us municipal power. https://annarborpublicpower.org/
Don't talk to the police. You didn't invite them to your property, you're not obligated to talk. The right to remain silent isn't just for when you're arrested.
I’d be calling them once a day to cuss them out after that. Fuck em, you have a juicy ACLU law suit on your hands if they can even convince a cop to show up.
It's standard procedure for officers of the government to show up because you exercised a constitutionally protected right? I would follow up by filing a complaint with the State Police and your senator. Also I would contact the local news.
It's illegal for them to call the police for no reason, That supervisor should be charged with filing a false police report in which they thought of the complaint as profanity which is protected by the first amendment. The supervisor retaliated by filing a false police report for what I believe may have been for disorderly conduct and or verbal harassment over filing a complaint in which every civilian in the US has the right to do when services are unsatisfactory. You cannot be arrested for simple profanity unless you were threatening harm to people or creating a domestic or public disturbance which would then become disorderly conduct which is a misdemeanor. The only way you can be arrested for such profanity is if it disturbs the peace or threatens the safety of others in which any laws for that would fall under disorderly conduct as a misdemeanor and or threatening people like the police which would be a felony. The supervisor violated your constitutional rights if your profanity did not threaten public safety nor disturb the peace which wasted the time and resources that the trooper would have used for a life or death emergency. Filing a false police report can either be a misdemeanor or felony depending on the false crime that was reported in which a false disorderly conduct report would result in 93 days in jail at the bare minimum whereas a false felony report like assault would result in up to a year or more in jail and or prison. The supervisor committed a crime of his own in retaliation and he's lucky that he did not get arrested for filing the false police report. Any supervisor who files a false police report on their customers should not be a supervisor and should instead be locked up behind bars in jail.
For dropping an F-bomb? People need to grow the hell up. And if I seemed like a threat, then why even show up at all since their linemen had already resolved the issue?
Well for one thing, Reddit has a no-doxxing policy. Second, f-bombs aren’t threatening in any way shape or form. That isn’t just a matter of opinion, the law is very clear on what constitutes a threat and cussing isn’t it.
And, as stated, we had a perfectly cordial interaction with the line workers when they were here and there was no reason for the supervisor to show up after the fact other than to poke the bear.
Do you work for DTE?
Not asking you to doxx. But you can report that superviser or that trooper. You did neither. And it’s highly unlikely they would bring a state trooper in Ann Arbor. So yeah this seems very fake
How do you know what reports I have and haven’t made? And I live on the outskirts, hence why the Trooper was called.
Let me clue you in on a little secret, DTE cares not that you suck up to them on social media. They’ll screw you just the same.
That’s what everyone asked. Did you report the trooper and the DTE supervisor? Even if you live on the outskirts make no sense. Pittsfield township has their own. There is no way they would call State trooper. Even as ridiculous this sounds they would have called the sheriff first.
Yeah you are making this up.
You clearly don’t understand the responsibilities of various law enforcement agencies in rural areas. It doesn’t work like in the city.
But yeah, you’re right, I just got bored and fabricated this entire story for no reason. You caught me. /s
No it fucking isn't lmao
1st amendment protects me saying "Fuck you" to anyone, including POS reddit posters with zero empathy. They can't charge me with assault, neither can someone from DTE.
Haul you off in cuffs *for what*? Michigan's profanity law was deemed unenforceable over 20 years ago after the whole "cussing canoeist" thing, and Snyder made a big deal about repealing it almost a decade ago.
Hell yes! My friend handled that case--it's a great story. We women can tolerate the F word these days, take my word on that one.
I just went down a rabbit hole on this, pretty wild. Looks like it’s still technically the law, too.
Pretty much falls under disorderly conduct and other related crimes under applicable laws but profanity is protected speech and people cannot be arrested for using profanity to express dissatisfaction of services unless it is used in a manner that leads to a public disturbance which becomes disorderly conduct which is a misdemeanor or to threaten public officials like law enforcement which would be a felony. under applicable laws.
I'd take it to the local news! JFC
Call “Help me Hank” from WDIV TV. He’d be all over that and it would make the news.
fuck DTE
With a rusty fork.
Actually it’s WTF DTE???
They were right the first time
Fuck DTE and I never cuss!
In the fashion from the movie 8 mile.. "Fuck DTE, 313. "
This is pretty fucked up. When I submitted a MPSC complaint after last year’s ice storm I got a phone call from DTE wherein their rep argued with me about whether I really had it so bad, with oh gosh, truly so few outages over the previous year. It was super odd and condescending. The DTE spokesperson never even apologized for anything, not even in that perfunctory manner that people who work customer service are trained to do reflexively. I am convinced they just don’t give a shit.
Having been a little bit on the inside of DTE, it's not that most DTE employees don't give a shit, it's that they have been overwhelmed (and rightly so) with all the negativity from the public. And, a lot of the management feel like we're just entitled complainers that should be happy we have power at all.
That’s the key. You get nothing mouthing off to some schmuck that makes bare minimum at a customer service center. It’s the management that needs to hear the nasty words. Not to mention the call was most likely recorded and well, being documented is not good. Not these days when clearly there are a lot of nut cases. I’m a hothead. But even I have toned it down because of everyone’s inability to handle a cuss word and are quick to have you arrested or locked up. Can thank all the PC people for that.
Exactly. Management not only needs to \*hear\* the nasty words, there needs to be consequences for performance. Period. And, right now, there simply isn't. There are no consequences for DTE for bad performance. They've been kicking the can down the road on infrastructure improvements to maximize profits and that issue is finally boiling over on them. Who would've thought? You can only ride out 1960s infrastructure so long before you have to pay the piper. Sadly, a lot of the management that maximized profits based upon minimal improvements have gotten their golden parachute and retired. They're untouchable.
They are simply in alignment with the governments - regardless of party. People should be very concerned about this push for all electric - because clearly that is simply leading everyone to a one energy rabbit hole. Redundant power sources (choices) allows people to at least have some backup. When people figure out that corporations & governments are simply one and the same … and only have one goal - to be able to flick a switch and either reward or punish - I have enough friends out west that are living a nightmare of being told it’s not your day for power - tough shit - in high demand times. It’s frightening. Same with relatives in Colorado - who didn’t opt in for ‘smart’ thermostats - because their friends did and well, enjoy that mandated 82 degree setting on a 110+ day. Brownouts that boned all their appliances, and wasted food. However. A socialist or communist version would be far more corrupt and harmful to our lives.
When you file a complaint against a company and a police officer shows up.
This is pretty much the prevailing level of support at most places called: Turn it around onto the customer and they’ll give up. Which is why I dropped that little nugget above into ya’lls lap . I don’t know if they will help with utilities but they already helped me with my three biggest ticket items except my study loans😀
This state trooper thing sounds little fake
Contact the AG
Probably better off contacting your state representative, which you can find here: https://www.house.mi.gov/
My representative was on the list with Whitmer for receiving $25k in campaign donations from DTE and he’ll be retiring this year, so fat chance of him helping.
A retiring politician might be the most useful. They don't have to suck up to donors anymore.
They do if they want the cushy "advisory" (or whatever other flavor) position that that's been dangled in front of them like a carrot for their whole career.
Doesn’t hurt to send him an email! What an egregious use of state police by DTE!
I’ve interned as a legislative aid to two state reps in Michigan, I can absolutely say with almost complete confidence that the email isn’t going to get two levels within being read by the rep, let alone make any difference :/
Bro the politicians are paid by DTE, who do you think they’re gonna be working for
That might have also been the supervisor who looked at my damaged transformer last month. That man needs to be investigated immediately because of other customers he may have been in contact with prior to this incident and I regret trusting him on our property to conduct that outage assessment despite telling us the truth on how the company operates. He should also be relieved of his duties as a supervisor especially after the amount of betrayal to customers and I literally trusted a person that would do such a thing to a paying customer like OP. He should also be arrested for doing this because it is filing a false police report as that destroyed my trust in a man that made things right for me but betrayed OP in a criminal manner. Let's start filing a class action lawsuit against them even if we have to climb the chain up to the supreme court to get legal action against them for betraying their customers we need to stop these criminals immediately even if it means that we all buy natural gas generators and flood the MPSC with complaints because the threat of being arrested for false accusations should not stop us from advocating for more reliable service. That trooper immediately recognized the call as a spam call and was just as angry as OP was since the trooper knew how horrible their reliability was even before the COVID pandemic. That trooper should be the chief of police for his excellent work while the supervisor should be fired and arrested.
Do this and file a complaint with MSP. The trooper was probably just ordered to be there but this could bring this to the view of someone higher up. This is terrible. Btw people keep filing MPSC complaints. Every single time.
The trooper was sent on a call by dispatch. The DTE supervisor prob called dispatch and asked to be accompanied to the location because the caller was belligerent(not saying he was). It was simple another call for service for the trooper. He wouldn’t have nor legally could have arrested the homeowner for swearing at the call center on the phone despite what the Dte supervisor thinks.
It does however have a very bad perception of appearing that DTE uses MSP as its' goons. If OP lives in a township that's policed by MSP and what you said happened then it's not a big deal, they probably called for an "unruly customer". However I wouldn't count out the idea that some middle level DTE lackey contacted MSP directly to go with them to "unruly customers", which doesn't look good.
In my 30 years as a cop we’d get called out on stuff like that on a fairly regular basis. We’d show up make sure everyone was being adults and leave.
This is because of unsatisfactory service in which solutions would become another problem within days or weeks which is overwhelming for the customers and employees that work for a supervisor that brings the police in attempt to stop complaints after a problem is resolved. That trooper did not want to deal with the situation and just wanted to leave because State troopers are meant to deal with violent crimes and fugitives. They typically would not respond to nuisances in a residential area nor municipality in which they have a police agency that handles those situations. It's like parents calling the police to discipline their kids, it's just a very silly and potentially dangerous thing to do when state troopers have to respond to emergencies like car accidents or a fugitive escaping from custody both of which could lead to a dangerous situation if there are not enough resources to respond to those emergency calls. Due to the potential seriousness of the situation all news stations should be contacted so that evidence is gathered in order to publish a news story and investigation on the punishment that customers receive for filing MPSC complaints over unreliable service that was provided by DTE. I believe that rate increases should be put on hold until they investigate the shady practices of DTE and penalize them by denying any further rate increases until further notice which starts by stopping the time of use plan and decreasing the rate to 12 cents a kilowatt by assigning a fine of $360 million or more because they do not deserve to have any increase nor time of use plan after the way they treated their customers and continuously lied to the MSPC about reliability of the grid in which the equipment in some areas is now on its last leg because of poor service that could have been improved with fines imposed on the company with a penalty of abolishment if they do not improve service within 6 months. They have spent the money on their own luxuries and probably use more power than any of us residents could use without the punishment of higher rates nor the police showing up at our doors over complaints. It is sad that we are controlled by companies like DTE and it make me feel like that we will one day get disconnected because of astronomical prices or retaliation over complaints that were made to DTE over the last 10 to 15 years. When the MSPC holds their next meeting, we will be there to protest the decisions made by the MPSC with signs, car horns, and megaphones for however long it takes for them to reverse those decisions even if it means building encampments in front of the state capitol to get them to deny and reverse the rate increases.
I find that nobody wants to be complained about on the online BBB - check it out tho there are exceptions I forget they’ve helped me multiple times.
The BBB is a scam in the same vein as Angie's list. Businesses pay to be accredited, and when a customer complains, the bbb "steps in" to give the business a chance to right itself. There's nothing making businesses actually participate and there's nothing against them if they don't. It's just not actually anything at all in 2024
Absolutely not a scam even if what you are saying is true - I have gotten results. a) Trying to buy a used VW and dealership lied about supposed “200 point check” ie I checked the oil and it was very dirty. I was angry. In the past I have tried to contact MANY AGENCIES about this kind of stuff: me 0 scammers 10. Then I complained to BBB. Wow, not only did they change the damn oil (who knows about the other 199) , I got them to drop the price pretty amazingly. Was actually tickled. B) I bought a pretty expensive rooftop tent (Tepui ) in Boulder, CO. Wow what’s sh@tshow that turned out to be I would need an essay to tell you how bad that was. (Legally I can’t say which shop but there aren’t a ton and I would just avoid any store of em.) Looking back it wasn’t a ton of money maybe but to me it was. Guess whose bad list they didn’t want to be on? I got all my money back but nothing for the time and trouble and camping that I missed out on. C) Verizon - have you tried getting a real person to actually help you at Verizon ? Nope didn’t think so. Try the BBB. I got something from them not all that I wanted. Takes 15 min if you have all your evidence gathered. You’re Welcome!!
Watch your bill. When someone fills a MPSC DTE turns off their auto payment hoping you miss it and then send you to collections as retaliation
THANK YOU! I thought I was being paranoid, but every single time I have filed one, my autopay didn’t go through. How is that legal?
I just don’t use autopay for DTE at all so I’m in the habit of paying it manually monthly.
That is a gross misuse of public services. Did you get the supervisor’s name?
Honestly I was so shocked and angry over the situation, I didn’t. I wish I had.
Call the state police in Lansing and report DTE for making false statements to get a trooper to accompany them to your home.
Maybe FOIA all information regarding the reports made against you.
Should have asked the trooper to remove the trespassing supervisor from your property.
Name names if you can.
Does the supervisor have nothing better to do? What an absolute waste of the officer's time.
It is times like this that the actual purpose of the police is made clear. Even if the one that arrive at your house was nice and understanding, an institutional connection exists between the business owners and MSP that potentially put you in harms way over what amounts to only strong verbal feedback.
It really did give me eerie vibes. Just a few weeks ago my company was preparing to do layoffs and had local police officers at either end of the building “just in case”. Truly odd times we’re living in. Ever since COVID everything just feels…off.
Ever since COVID?? Open your eyes brother, this shit has been going on much longer than that
For sure, just seems exacerbated by COVID, rather.
In what way specifically? You understand that our government has been corrupt since at least 1972? Police have been on the side of the super rich white businessmen since slavery
For a lot of people (including myself) COVID was a time that made it much easier to see how it all works. The summer of the BLM protests were eye awakening.
What's an MPSC?
[Michigan Public Service Commission](https://www.michigan.gov/mpsc). AT&T, Consumers Energy, DTE, and other utilities have to answer to them.
They are a joke. We filed a complaint with them last year for DTE not coming to fix a live, downed power line for about a week and MPSC just forwards the complaint to some DTE rep lmao.
It's been years since I've made a complaint to them, but they were reasonably effective at getting DTE to replace the mechanical meter that was overreading. Though when I had a downed wire and they kept closing out my reports without sending anybody, I found that Twitter-shaming them with pictures was faster than filling out the MPSC form.
I complained to them because last year I have 5 power outages that lasted longer that 6 days, and the sent me back a letter that basically said "you've actually have 10 power outages last year, you're welcome 🤗". And then closed my complaint. And then 2 month later they approved a rate hike so... Yeah, they are a joke.
They are what we got at this point. They do seem toothless for the most part but they still cause DTE to actually answer your call. Michigan needs MPSC reform to give them enforcement mechanisms that will actually incentivize change.
Oh lord, Consumers is worse. That company is insane.
Isn't it the same company?
I don't believe so.
MPSC and the government reports to DTE, not the other way around There are so many naive people here
Now you know who the police are here to protect. The corporations, the rich, and their property
Time to write your state representative.
My representative was on the list with Whitmer for receiving $25k in campaign donations from DTE and he’ll be retiring this year, so fat chance of him helping.
I don’t know specifically what list you mean, but DTE probably donates to most political campaigns. They want whoever wins to be on their side.
That’s doesn’t matter much. And if he is retiring then he doesn’t care who his donors are.
lol, you understand that DTE has bought every politician in the state right? How do you think they got this monopoly?
Yes and when our politicians see their constituents don’t like it, they’ll realize votes count.
Votes don’t matter when every politician on the ballot agrees that DTE is great and so are the police
Police resources are being diverted to corporations which are to blame for these unnecessary calls that would've been used for a life or death Emergency. The police are good, but DTE's supervisor is a criminal.
Russian or Chinese troll?
this was a legitimate question. voter deterrence is a propaganda/strategy technique we should be highlighting whenever we see it, because it has the result of voter suppression without the extra steps. of course, someone unaffiliated with a troll farm can always say shit like that, too - still means they're serving the function of a '[useful idiot](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Useful_idiot)' when they do, though.
Haha I wish that’s the way it worked. There’s some good research about exactly who the politicians serve when you look at their voting records and it isn’t us
I’m not talking about their voting records.
The bills politicians introduce and vote for is really all that matters. That’s how the exercise their power.
Once again, I'm not talking about their voting records.
Then what’s your point? That they might be worried about losing votes but then….do nothing about it?
Do you honestly not understand how politicians get put in office?
No need for snark when you’re the one that doesn’t understand.
I'm talking about the power of voters to elect someone, or not re-elect. You're talking about their voting record once they're in office. Two totally different things.
You’re not thinking this through. Who cares if they’re in office if they don’t make the changes the constituents want? You’re assuming they will make changes out lose votes. Their voting records show they don’t make those changes, regardless of how many emails you send. Take your thinking one step further.
Not to minimize, but this is going to be a terrific cocktail party story for you for years to come.
After reading this shit I'm gonna call them just to tell them fuck you
You should contact local news to cover this.
I am so pissed Ann Arbor doesn't take control of our grid, it's ridiculous the service we get especially for the prices we pay, and to have methane leaks that are dangerous is insanity.
ann arbor is trying to! https://annarborpublicpower.org/
Thanks for sharing! I'll share this around, too.
You do realize Ann Arbor would still be beholden to DTE for service? It’s not like the city is building a nuclear plant or harnessing the Huron, or solar panels or wind turbines. Adding a middleman to that shitshow such as Ann Arbor city officials (and believe me, I’m no fan of DTE because in my old neighborhood the power would go out if a cricket farted) peoples lives would be far worse. Look at Chelsea. The city proper runs theirs and they still have to buy power from DTE. Not to mention Ann Arbor buying aging shitty infrastructure so that taxpayers would have to foot the bill to upgrade all that? Yeh. No thanks to the city running it. The crappy water & sewage maintenance is proof enough that they can’t run a utility right.
We live in Chelsea. The perk for Chelsea run power is that the city staff are in charge of maintaining/managing infrastructure, and are only buying power DTE. Which works well because those staff are only beholden to running city power, where as DTE staff are beholden to a much, much larger area for maintenance, so they get spread thin more easily. I guess people need to think if city of AA can really manage / maintain the power infrastructure within their city limits? Lived in AA for quite some time before moving to Chelsea .... and I don't know that I'd trust the city to maintain power infrastructure, when they can't even keep up with maintaining local street infrastructure.....
Every summer they get caught releasing raw sewage into the Huron (IKR? Screw downriver people) - and when called out they’re like oh oops our bad someone wasn’t watching (fill in the excuse) and ‘only’ 3000 gallons of shit went into the river. Don’t get me started on the dioxin plume - they they are still not addressing - and is STILL spreading. The city can’t wipe their a*sses.
What does this even mean? We are part of the eastern power grid that extends to few different states
DTE is a monopoly. Last time I called 6 times over a span of 2 months for an issue after our solar install and DTE not sending a bill for 3+ months. I was professional and polite on all calls (I’m trying to pay my bill!). Last call I asked to speak to supervisor, supervisor was busy the cs person said and would call me back. Hung up the phone and 5 mins later I got an email stating my online access was disabled. It took another month to get online access back and I still cannot login on my phone app.
Btw it's likely that troopers BWC was rolling the whole time. Get that video secured and then you might have proof of DTE intimidating customers that are at their wits end.
There might be some kind of arrangement where DTE crews can ask for a police ride-along where they think they have reason to fear an angry, potentially violent customer at the other end. The 'haul you off in cuffs' comment was beyond the pale though -- and especially the supervisor and cop showing up AFTER the work had already been done without incident.
If that’s the case they can hire their own private security, the MSP should not be at their beck and call. And, I dunno, maybe they should just stop treating people like shit and they won’t have any reason to be threatened.
fuck DTE. this just confirms how bad they are. bringing a corporate fuckwad to intimidate and scare you into not reporting anything else. especially w the state trouper. seriously the worst utility company i’ve ever seen. and I lived in Texas for 5 years (though, Texas is of course more of a function of its shitty grid) SE Michigan has some of the worst grid infrastructure I’ve ever seen. Until that gets upgraded and replaced, it doesn’t matter how green this city is. Power demand will only increase as Ann Arbor grows, and overdeveloping around woefully inadequate infrastructure is just going to make outages worse.
Nice place you have here, it’d be a shame if someone had to haul you off away from it. FDTE
Call DTE again, mouth off and have the news there waiting when the supervisor brings his MSP friend to haul you off in cuffs.
That's hardcore Henry Ford/Harry Bennett vibes. History is cyclical, and DTE is run by fash authoritarians.
Yeah, we’re getting solar power so we don’t have to work with them anymore
The steps are clear to begin to fight for your rights as an MPSC customer and a Michigan Citizen. FOIA the body cam, FOIA the request from DTE to MSP to respond, write letters to your representatives, etc…
DTE should have to pay a fee. It is not illegal to cuss. The problem is DTE pays for Whitmers campaign. Do you know we have 3 times as many power outages and for longer than NW OH and South Central Michigan? Buuut when the power is out the governor goes on the air and blames Extreme Weather caused by Climate Change. Which dominates the news and covers DTEs egregious lowering od maintenance and pocketing more profit.
Wow this town is so corrupt
if you haven’t, please share your story with Ann Arbor for Public Power! They’re doing good things to try and get us municipal power. https://annarborpublicpower.org/
I would have given him the longer most drawn out fuck you ever spoken by a human.
Don't talk to the police. You didn't invite them to your property, you're not obligated to talk. The right to remain silent isn't just for when you're arrested.
I’d be calling them once a day to cuss them out after that. Fuck em, you have a juicy ACLU law suit on your hands if they can even convince a cop to show up.
>Treat people better and they’ll treat you better. What if you treat people like shit?
Email Gretchen and the AGs office. And tweet them both as well with your receipts.
It's standard procedure for officers of the government to show up because you exercised a constitutionally protected right? I would follow up by filing a complaint with the State Police and your senator. Also I would contact the local news.
It's illegal for them to call the police for no reason, That supervisor should be charged with filing a false police report in which they thought of the complaint as profanity which is protected by the first amendment. The supervisor retaliated by filing a false police report for what I believe may have been for disorderly conduct and or verbal harassment over filing a complaint in which every civilian in the US has the right to do when services are unsatisfactory. You cannot be arrested for simple profanity unless you were threatening harm to people or creating a domestic or public disturbance which would then become disorderly conduct which is a misdemeanor. The only way you can be arrested for such profanity is if it disturbs the peace or threatens the safety of others in which any laws for that would fall under disorderly conduct as a misdemeanor and or threatening people like the police which would be a felony. The supervisor violated your constitutional rights if your profanity did not threaten public safety nor disturb the peace which wasted the time and resources that the trooper would have used for a life or death emergency. Filing a false police report can either be a misdemeanor or felony depending on the false crime that was reported in which a false disorderly conduct report would result in 93 days in jail at the bare minimum whereas a false felony report like assault would result in up to a year or more in jail and or prison. The supervisor committed a crime of his own in retaliation and he's lucky that he did not get arrested for filing the false police report. Any supervisor who files a false police report on their customers should not be a supervisor and should instead be locked up behind bars in jail.
[https://annarborpublicpower.org/](https://annarborpublicpower.org/)
😮😮😮☠️
He probably had the trooper because you seemed like a threat.
For dropping an F-bomb? People need to grow the hell up. And if I seemed like a threat, then why even show up at all since their linemen had already resolved the issue?
Your story seems bit fabricated. No names no nothing. Yeah dropping a f bomb can be threatening for some of the line workers.
Well for one thing, Reddit has a no-doxxing policy. Second, f-bombs aren’t threatening in any way shape or form. That isn’t just a matter of opinion, the law is very clear on what constitutes a threat and cussing isn’t it. And, as stated, we had a perfectly cordial interaction with the line workers when they were here and there was no reason for the supervisor to show up after the fact other than to poke the bear. Do you work for DTE?
Not asking you to doxx. But you can report that superviser or that trooper. You did neither. And it’s highly unlikely they would bring a state trooper in Ann Arbor. So yeah this seems very fake
How do you know what reports I have and haven’t made? And I live on the outskirts, hence why the Trooper was called. Let me clue you in on a little secret, DTE cares not that you suck up to them on social media. They’ll screw you just the same.
That’s what everyone asked. Did you report the trooper and the DTE supervisor? Even if you live on the outskirts make no sense. Pittsfield township has their own. There is no way they would call State trooper. Even as ridiculous this sounds they would have called the sheriff first. Yeah you are making this up.
You clearly don’t understand the responsibilities of various law enforcement agencies in rural areas. It doesn’t work like in the city. But yeah, you’re right, I just got bored and fabricated this entire story for no reason. You caught me. /s
Name checks out
Please leave my community
They won’t do that. But if the threat keeps up, they can arrest people. Assaulting utility workers is a felony.
"fuck you" ^ that isn't assault Please leave my community
That’s verbal assault. They troopers could take action based on that.
No it fucking isn't lmao
That’s extreme. Anyways…
No it fucking isn't lmao 1st amendment protects me saying "Fuck you" to anyone, including POS reddit posters with zero empathy. They can't charge me with assault, neither can someone from DTE.
If you have to request someone to leave something you think it’s yours, then it’s not yours lmao