How Hard is it to Make An Appointment?

What part of the word, "appointment" do the employees of Commonwealth Edison not understand?

According to The Free Dictionary dot com, the word appointment can be defined as follows:

ap•point•ment (-pointmnt) n.

1. a. The act of appointing or designating someone for an office or position.
    b. The office or position to which one has been appointed.

2. An arrangement to do something or meet someone at a particular time and place. See Synonyms at engagement.

3. appointments Furnishings, fittings, or equipment.

4. Law The act of directing the disposition of property by virtue of a power granted for this purpose.

In our case, we are looking for an execution of the second definition of the word - "an arrangement to do something or meet someone at a particular time and place."

As stated previously, I have given ComEd my home and cell phone numbers to use as points of contact, specifically stating that I would require several days notice so I could clear my schedule, make certain my clients activities were not disrupted, and allow them access after shutting down some very sensitive equipment in the proscribed manner.

So, how does ComEd handle the making of an appointment? The first two times they actually sent a field tech - paid at the rate of $35.00 per hour, plus very generous benefits, to the door to "make an appointment" for that day or the next day.

In both cases they were told the appointment had to be at least one week out and the next day was not acceptable.

On Monday, 15 March, we received an in-person visit from a second installer who was "in the neighborhood, making appointments for tomorrow." He was unceremoniously told him that less than 24 hour notice did not an appointment constitute. He was a bit miffed and I told him to refer this to his office, citing my CUB [Citizen's Utility Board] complaint number and he left.

On Tuesday 16 March, we received a call from Alicia in ComEd's Bellwood Illinois office, asking to schedule an appointment. Ben took the call and told her I would be back in touch with her to make an appointment.

I got Alicia's message when I came home and went to bed Tuesday afternoon with a lousy head cold. I was still home and in bed with the cold when she called back on Wednesday afternoon and she immediately tried to make the appointment for today - Thursday, 18 March. Once again, I explained I required more lead time than just 24 hours and asked if Tuesday or Wednesday of next week would be good. She asked if Tuesday morning, 23 March, would work and I told her I had already scheduled a meeting that morning, but any time after 2:00 PM that afternoon would work.

So, now we will wait and see how well ComEd can keep an actual appointment - now scheduled for 2:00 PM on 23 March.