Spokane7
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May 19, 2010 in Idaho
Hard times lead to Avista threat
John Hough, owner of the Roosevelt Inn Bed and Breakfast in Coeur d’Alene, is taken into protective custody by Coeur d’Alene police on Wednesday May 18, 2010.
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A Coeur d’Alene man who owns a historic bed and breakfast was taken into custody by police Wednesday after threatening Avista Corp. employees over the phone when a serviceman delivered a power shut-off notice.
It’s an extreme example, but by no means unique, an Avista spokesman said: So many similar incidents have occurred in the past month that the Spokane utility is considering additional security measures for its service people in the field.
The serviceman showed up around 11 a.m. at The Roosevelt Inn Bed & Breakfast, said Coeur d’Alene Police Sgt. Christie Wood. John and Tina Hough have owned the business for about 11 years, Tina Hough said. The power shut-off notice listed unpaid bills totaling $3,132.14.
John Hough was alone in the B&B when the serviceman showed up, his wife said. Receiving the notice “just set him off” she said, because the couple has been behind on bills and was pinning hopes on the lucrative summer tourism season. All other creditors have been patient with them as they worked to catch up, she said.
“We’ve been struggling to get through here,” Tina Hough said.
John Hough called Avista’s customer-service center and police said he made threatening statements that included reference to a gun. When he overheard those statements, the Avista serviceman followed his training and called police, said company spokesman Hugh Imhof.
“Our serviceman felt threatened because of comments he overheard being made by this gentleman as he called our contact center,” Imhof said. “As trained, he removed himself from the situation and called the police.”
The Avista serviceman, who declined to give his name, said after the incident that he felt “shaken” and “in shock.”
Imhof said so many Avista field workers have been threatened recently that the company has formed a committee to consider additional security precautions.
“In the last month, we’ve had three or four incidents where people have verbally threatened us or in one case, shown a gun,” Imhof said. “They’re looking at this now from an internal standpoint of what can we do. It’s definitely a concern.”
Imhof speculated the rising anger is connected to economic struggles, a theory that definitely applies in John Hough’s case, his wife said.
Wood, of the Coeur d’Alene Police, said the first officer to arrive Wednesday knew John Hough and convinced him to come downstairs and talk. Police confiscated an unloaded rifle from the Houghs’ upstairs living quarters. Tina Hough said her husband, a decorated Navy veteran and former sheriff’s deputy, never kept the gun loaded.
Wood said police took Hough into protective custody, which occurs when subjects endanger themselves or others. He was taken to Kootenai Medical Center for evaluation. Wood said she could not comment further because Hough was not arrested and no crime had been committed. Police did not release Hough’s name, identifying him only as a 52-year-old man, but his wife confirmed his identity.
Imhof said the company tries to work with people behind on their bills, especially businesses. He said he’s prohibited by law from discussing individual cases but said helping customers with bills is handled on a case-by-case basis and depends on payment history.
“We have people who, it’s basically their job to help people get their bills paid,” Imhof said.
On Wednesday morning, the power was still on at the bed and breakfast, but Tina Hough said she didn’t know how long that would last. The Roosevelt Inn is the city’s oldest remaining former schoolhouse and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It’s just north of downtown Coeur d’Alene, at 105 E. Wallace Ave.
The big, old building is expensive to heat in the winter, Tina Hough said. The couple had done what they could to pinch pennies, sometimes turning off an entire floor if it was unused. Heating bills in winter sometimes ran as high as $2,000 a month, she said. Combined with the difficult economy, she said, monthly revenues were 30 to 60 percent off last year.
“Here we are on the verge of summertime,” Tina Hough said. “They couldn’t wait three more weeks? There’s only so much you can do until you break the back of people. People get upset.”
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Canning on May 19 at 7:46 p.m.
John Hough is no “gentleman”.
misjustice on May 19 at 9:11 p.m.
Avista couldn’t give these business owners a few more weeks to catch the bill up??? Sounds like the guy just snapped…understandable, considering that he’s trying to hold on to his business during difficult economic times.
nslopeofw on May 19 at 9:14 p.m.
I wonder how long they thought they could go without paying. $3132.14 is a lot of back payments. That coupled with the other creditors, means unless business was really good, somebody was going to wait a long time to get paid.
It amazes me that people think they are special, and their creditors should just wait. Sounds like they need to sell the place to someone who can afford it.
D Statler on May 19 at 9:34 p.m.
I really wish we had another choice besides AVISTA :-(
spokanecougar on May 19 at 10:47 p.m.
I want to chime in and say I totally understand this mans frustration with the horrible monopoly known as Avista. I travel for work and I am on the road about half the year and about a year ago I forgot to pay my bill for ONE month only and without notice or a call or anything they shut off the power in my house in the middle of the winter with my animals now having no heat and my water pipes freezing. Thankfully I had a friend check on my house and he told my power was shut off. When I called Avista - and I was nice and never raised my voice - asking why they did not bother calling or sending at least a letter to me notifying me I was one month past due but instead the little rude b*tch on the phone told me flatly and as nastily as she could that they can turn off the power whenever they want without notice even if you are only one month behind. When I asked to speak to a manager because of her rude little attitude the manager was equally as nasty and rude and also didn’t give a crap my power was shut off and just wanted money from me. Avista saying the work with their customers is a total flat out lie and they know it. I had never been late on my bill before (or since) and always paid my bill the day after I got the e-mail saying my bill was ready to view, so yea, Avista couldn’t give a crap about their customers or being fair or nice or working with anyone, all they care about is making as much money as they can by ripping people off. Because of this I am investing in solar panels to put on my house to generate enough power that I then make Avista pay me for my power. Greedy little thieves should all be in jail not running a monopoly.
zelda on May 19 at 10:59 p.m.
The lesson, if there is one, is that a B&B is a money pit.
Erik_T on May 20 at 12:20 a.m.
“Imhof speculated the rising anger is connected to economic struggles”
speculated… rofl. the sheriff of nottingham cometh.
JBlim on May 20 at 6:34 a.m.
People need to accept their failures and quit blaming others.
SarahF on May 20 at 7:11 a.m.
If you stay on top of things, you don’t ever have to worry about your power being shut off. Avista is *great* about working with people, compared to other electrical companies I’ve dealt with in other localities.
But $3K? That’s a LOT of late payments.
Dan_at_Avista on May 20 at 8:22 a.m.
Spokanecougar,
I don’ t know anything specific about your account or your shutoff situation (since I only know your S-R handle), but I’m sorry you had a bad experience. No one deserves to be treated rudely on the phone and that’s not the type of customer service experience I’ve seen in my three years working here. We never want a customer to experience a disruption in service because of non-payment, and we take every step possible to ensure that it does not happen. However, disruption of service is sometimes an unfortunate outcome.
In your case it sounds like you weren’t around to get the notices (speculation on my part), but for many folks who are struggling – business owners included - the best option is to contact us before your bill becomes past due. There is a process that goes along with late or non-payments and the longer you wait, the larger the bill becomes, the harder it is for you to pay it off and the harder it is for us to make payment arrangements for you. You can even make payment arrangements online now at www.avistautilities.com or by giving us a call at 1-800-227-9187.
mikeln on May 24 at 9:24 a.m.
It’s times like these I’m glad to be off the grid. Sure, it is work to produce my own power and supply my own water, but it is worth it not to have one of those Avista bills in my mail every month. You know the ones that charge you way to much, even a little extra so Avista can give to charities, then throw their little parties, to pat themselves on the back for helping the less fourtunate, with your buck.
Manthalynn on May 25 at 2:40 a.m.
Actually, for this particular business, I suspect that this late bill of $3132.14 only accumulated over a month or two. Running a business that large is not like running your own home where you can expect an electricity bill to maybe be $100. Common electricity bills for similarly sized businesses run $1500 to $2000 a month.
It also sounds like Avista has made multiple calls to the police recently. It sounds like as a company, they’ve trained their employees to make mountains out of molehills and immediately call the police instead of maybe giving the home owner a moment to calm down from the shock of having their lively hood shut off.