Today was hair cut day so I knew I had to leave the house. I had a list of places to go and things to get. My haircut wasn’t til 12:30 so I planned to leave about 9:30, take an ice chest, get things I needed to get and be home after my hair cut.
It was my fault but I decided to call the electric company before I left. Thank goodness I had a shower and was dressed and had planned to sit and knit til time to leave. At 8 a.m. I called the REP.
First call is one answered by someone not in the U. S. but I could understand her and she probably understood me so I didn’t complain . . yet.
Me: We have not had an electric bill in about 45 days and I wanted to check on that.
The Lady: Let me do some investigating.
17 minutes later she comes back:
The Lady: There hasn’t been a bill sent in about 45 day!
Me: Do you know why?
The Lady: No.
Me: Do you see anything that would tell you when I will get one?
The Lady: No.
Long pause, then she says “Is there anything else I can help you with?”
Me: Can I please speak to someone in the U.S.?
She agrees, tells me to hold and hangs up.
Second call: Goes back to the same non-U.S. answering people. I ask for someone in the U.S. and get transferred but they will have to call me back.
Third call: This is the call that about sent me over the edge 72 minutes and I will paraphrase.
The first supervisor says: You have not had a bill in 45 days because February is a short month. Huh? It’s the January bill I should have gotten. February is half over . . what does that have to do with me not getting a bill since December?
I got passed around. Finally someone tells me they have not received a reading from the distribution company. He agrees to call the distribution company. I told him they read the meter on February 1. I was here. I talked to the guy.
He comes back and tells me they did not read the meter, they were only inspecting the meter. I was about to lose it. I said “I talked to the guy! He said “I’m from Oncor and I’m going to read your meter.” He read my meter and got back in his truck!”
The REP guy kept talking to the distribution people and he assured me that they had not read my meter in February. It would be read in March.
I hung up and I called the distribution company. This is the fourth call! They looked at my records and said they read the meter on February 1 and sent my info to REP on February 2 and gave me the transaction reference number.
I called the REP back. Fifth call! I was pretty angry at this point. I had spent almost 3 hours on the phone and still had no resolution. I had to explain everything to this person. I gave him the transaction reference number. He talked to a manager and said they would call me back.
They did call me back.
Rep: We found the problem. There’s a freeze on your account because of your energy credits.
Me: What does that mean?
Rep: I don’t know.
Me: When will someone get back with me?
Rep: I don’t know.
Then, he has the nerve to ask “Can we help you with anything else today?” I said “Assuming anything else means you’ve already helped me with something today . . no!”
According to my cell phone, I spent 3 hours and 46 minutes dealing with these people and still have no answer.
What on earth do you do when you get this kind of runaround? Our electric bills are small – $4 to $40 per month. I’m not worried even if I get a bill for 6 or 8 months all at once. I am worried that some rocket scientist is going to come along and say “These people haven’t paid a bill in 6 months. Turn off their electricity.”
By Monday, if I don’t have an answer, they will get the honor of speaking with Mr. Vince! I can also call the PUC but I hate to involve them until we’ve done all we can do on our end. Frustrating and a huge waste of time.
Erin says
Oh I would have needed to punch a wall, drink a bottle of wine, run five miles or something after that so since I don’t do that buy more yarn! What a fiasco and no answers! What the heck is going on in this country! We can’t get answers when we need them? I am so sorry that happened to you!
Judy Laquidara says
I figure I so rarely have frustration like this, I should just get over it. Some people have to deal with this kind of stuff every day. It’s just crazy though when there’s so much incompetence.
Joyce says
It almost sounds like you have a credit balance right now, and didn’t get a bill because of it. Did you ask about what your balance due is?
Judy Laquidara says
We often have a credit balance. Our bill will show how many kwh we used and how many kwh we sent back. There’s just no info. All they can say is what the last bill was that we received.
Ruth says
Yes! “Energy credits” probably means they don’t know how much to charge you because you’ve used so little electrical power from them. They simply can’t charge you because you don’t owe them anything.
Hey, maybe they owe you something by now!
Judy Laquidara says
No, that isn’t it. We’ve been doing this for over four years. About half the time we don’t owe anything. They know how to handle it. I think someone just lost the info from the distributor. I read the meter the same day the electric company did and we should owe about $14.
Pinot and Piecing says
This must be National Frustration Day. I had a similar experience this morning with our website checkout service. Grrrrrrr. Happily, they sent me THREE “How was our customer service this morning?” email forms afterward, so I filled out all three with glee, and I hardly used any bad language at all. Do they even read those things, or are they sent so you can vent on their form and not vent on a public forum? Hmmmm.
cindy says
I don’t know about the service you used, but my son worked for Apple as a customer service representative and his job depended on what kind of reviews he got.
vivoaks says
Sounds just like me talking with the Healthcare Marketplace. Over the past YEAR I have fought with them, and all they ca do is say I need to send them paperwork, and then they raise my insurance rates by double or triple. I’m back to it again this year, and I finally was so disgusted that I talked with my Congressman…. Hope you have a better resolution than I’ve had!
Cilla Tyler says
At first I thought Oh, Oh, what did Vince do now.??? Glad it was only the elec co. You’re free for now Vince!!!!
Kathleen says
That reminds me of email responses in our healthcare system. I hated that they ended with “Have a nice day”! What? I’m seeing a neurosurgeon so of course I’m not having a nice day. And I don’t get a response for 2-4 days.
Even if what I’m contacting them about should be in my chart with the action to take and should get an immediate response. But no!
aquiltingdesigner says
I had a similar experience with Cox cable recently. Still not resolved and I dont have half a day to sit on the phone.
Judy Laquidara says
That’s exactly why we no longer have cable. We had very poor service when we had it and decided . . some things we can live without and cable is one of those things. Cancelled it 4 or so years ago and have never missed it. I don’t know why some of these companies don’t realize that being a little more reasonable to deal with might make their business better. We have to have electricity but come June, our contract is up with the current REP and I’m hoping Vince will switch to another company.