A Sonoma couple who lost their home in a wildfire last year has finally begun to heal after settling a week-long battle with their former utility company, which demanded money they claimed to have already paid.
Rochelle and Richard Nyquist lost everything in the Patrick fire, one of a group of wildfires that burned through 56,556 acres and destroyed 1,300 structures in northern California in October 2017.
To take her mind off everything, Rochelle decided she was going to pay her remaining utility bills in order to gain a sense of closure. She paid everything off in January 2018, including an AT&T bill for their TV and a landline phone, she told ABC News. Then, the couple went away.
With one of their daughters collecting their mail for them, they didn’t think they had anymore outstanding charges, Rochelle said. But when the couple returned in July, they were confused to see that AT&T had filed for collections of a little over $400.