“They cut the gas supply over a 39-cent debt”

It is a bit like going camping: no hot water, no heating, and food cooked on a camp stove. But in this case, Luca, his wife and his daughter are not in a tent, but in their flat in Saronno, where ENEL Gas cut their methane supply on 10 April. And the reason was a 39-cent debt.

“The gas was cut because I hadn’t paid the full sum, but I wasn’t aware, as I hadn’t received any reminder by post,” Luca said. The amount owed to ENEL Gas was €253.92, which Luca paid immediately, on the assumption that he had missed some bills. So, he visited the company’s website to check, and discovered, “I’d paid ENEL Gas €253.53; so, effectively, they cut the gas supply over a debt of 39 cents.”

This mess up was then followed by numerous phone calls to customer service operators. Luca called the Costumer Services many times, but was passed from one operator to another, and nobody could tell him when the gas supply would be restored. In the meantime, “We’ve obtained a camp stove for cooking, and when we want to wash, we warm up some water using this camp stove.”