Let's see, where do I begin? I am so angry after reading all of the complaints against txu energy! I am upset at the fact that the complaints are all the same and I can relate to every one. I signed up with txu recently, I was snagged by the promise of lower prices and blah, blah, blah. I recv'd my first bill which was not too bad it was approx 240.00. The very next month my bill skyrocketed to 605.00. I called txu to find out what was going on and was told that I was being charged a fee for tampering with the meter. I explained that this was not true and we had just moved in and this was only our second bill.
The guy on the other line said the fee was 277.00 and that I had to pay it or services would be disconnected. He also told me that they were not the ones charging me for this fee, it was the co. who comes out to read the meter, and in the same breath says we are only the billing company. I called my landlord to report this to him, he was nice enough to let me knock this amount off of our upcoming August rent, and advised me to pay the elec. bill and he would take it up with the previous tenants. Unfortunately, I am one of the unlucky individuals that work long hours and no pay and live paycheck to paycheck. Knowing I would not get paid before the due date, I called txu to ask for an ext. on my bill until payday. The cca on the line said due to this being a new account, we could not do a pymt plan or file an exten. We had to wait it out. Sure enough, my wife got off of work on Friday at 2pm to take my ill child to the DR. and when she got home the electricity was off. She called me upset due to the fact our 5 year old son is a severe asthmatic and due to the heat he had fallen ill and requires continous breathing treatments, o2 levels, and sometimes required use of a rescue inhaler.
This information was also given to txu when we signed up with them due to the possible need for continuos oxygen when he becomes very ill. My wife being a nurse, knows what could happen without his treatments and called me in a panick. Luckily (or so I thought) I got my check 2 days early and I told her to relax, and call the payment in over the phone by electronic check and have the service rec. and then go on and take my son to the DR. She called in the payment and spoke to a gentlman with a very heavy accent, named Mike. Mike seemed to be very helpful, to my wife. He told her that the services would be rec. by midnight. This was at approx 3pm. My wife left with my son, and then we met at home at approx.630pm and you guessed it, no electricity. We called AEP which is the company that comes to the house to turn on the service to see when they were coming. They told me that an order was never issued by txu for rec. My wife then called txu back and spoke with a man named Herbert. He basically read a script. No your services will not be on until next week unless you pay a 90.00 priority fee and then it wont be on until Monday. My wife became upset telling him she had spoke with the man named mike who told her it would be on today. Herbert says no that will not happen. My wife then requested Mike's last name but I guess they dont have last names because he said Idunno there is just a comment on here by mike that bill pd and order to rec services.
My wife explained that AEP said they had not recd the order to recc, and could you call them, my son is sick and requires breathing treatments and your employee told me it would be on today. He said the same old bullcrap again and again, but would never call AEP for us. My wife clearly upset and in tears asked to speak to a manager, after holding for 15 minutes a man named raul gets on the phone, and my wife goes through the whole story again and says she felt like she was lied to and our son required the breathing treatments, and we had no money due to paying the outrageous 605.00 bill to get a hotel. He of course could not care less. My wife began to have an anxiety attack pretty much and has a heart cond called psvt and I knew getting that upset and stressed was not good for her, so I took over the phone call and tried to reason with the "manager" Raul. He just told me the same things, I questioned why he would not stand behind his company's word when you promise to do something in my line of work you better do it, or its hell to pay. (at least that is the way most respectable people and companies run a business)
I proceeded to question what king of manager he was if he would not honor the customer or at least offer some kind of apology, not once. He then has the nerve to say well, you should've paid your bill on time. I then said you, know I would love to do that , but I live paycheck to paycheck, and that is not always the way things work out. What a genius huh? He came up with that conclusion all by his lonesome without reading off of a script. He then proceeds to say your service will not be rec until you pay a 300.00 deposit. WHAT, Mike told my wife ther would be a 20.00 rec fee and that was it. The order will not be issued until then. Wait, I thought you have already issued a rec order (per Mike) And the lies keep coming. I then told him again about our ill son and that we needed electricity today, He says well you will just have to suffer until next week, I said we already are. Im sure there is a lot to the conversations I have left out. I got off the phone to find my son having an asthma attack due to the heat.
My wife took him to the car and turned on the ac while trying to calm herself and give him his rescue inhaler. I then became upset and took out my frustrations on the meter box, but hey, we had elctricity and my son had his breathing treatment and calmed his breathing down. The next morning my wife went to work and so did I. When she got home the electricity was off again. We called the AEP co to see what happened. Txu had issued the rec. order at 830am that day when it was supposed to be done the night before and was not then we were told we would have to wait until next week. Well, now due to the damage on the meter box we have to pay an electrician to replace it, obtain a permit from the city, and have the fire marshall come out and clear the electricians work before it will be back on and I am more than certain txu will charge all kinds of fees. I understand what I did was wrong, and am willing to pay for the damage, but what would you have done watching your child gasp for air. And just to think all this could have been avoided if they would have issued the order like they said they did instead of lying, and this just occurred to me while I am writing what ever happened to the 300.00 deposit we would have to pay before an order was issued to rec. I did not go and pay the 300.00 deposit, I barely had the 605.00 to pay the bill. Another bold faced lie. I wonder if these guys get to pocket part of the money as a bonus for crudeness or something.
Rp
Victoria, Texas
U.S.A.