Chesapeake Utilities (Dover, Newark, Delmar: 2014, condo, how much)

[retiree2011]

Chesapeake Utilities is my electric provider in the Dover area. The service is very reliable and rates are very reasonable. I have no complaints about the electrical service.

This past August we had a thunder and lightening storm which ended about 10pm. My electrical service was uninterrupted, then at 12:20am I lost power. It came back on sometime overnight. The next day, at least 6 other people near me, including my next-door neighbor, could not open their garage doors. We all had to replace the garage door openers. I contacted Chesapeake Utilities, suspecting a power surge when the power came back on, caused the damage. They emailed me a claim form which I printed out, filled out and mailed to their Newark, Delaware, office. I waited a few weeks, called, and was told the Claims Department had not seen my claim form. I then sent it Certified Mail, and per the tracking number it was delivered. They still claim not to have it and I was given a Salisbury, Maryland address to mail it to. This time I paid extra to get a card back with the signature of the person who received it. The “signature” is a line with some peaks and valleys, like an EKG, no recognizable letters at all and again the claim form is nowhere to be found in the Claims Department.

Has anyone had a problem making a claim with Chesapeake Utilities? I am considering driving to Salisbury and hand-delivering the claim form. My neighbors who also replaced their garage door openers did not make a claim.

[skeddy]

no experience with them. How much money and time have you spent on this, you can buy replacements online for $15.

[retiree2011]

Originally Posted by skeddy

no experience with them. How much money and time have you spent on this, you can buy replacements online for $15.

The whole opener inside had to be replaced - $179 for opener, $139 to install. So far I have spent about $15 on certified mail, plus photocopy costs. I doubt I could buy a garage door opener for $15. All my neighbors who also had to replace theirs spent the same amount as I did.

[Mary2014]

You did not say what brand of garage door opener you have, but, the newer (less than 10 yrs old) Chamberlin models can go out even if the lights only flicker. My neighbor and I had this problem after a storm. The garage door people came out to check it out (as the doors were opening and closing on their own as well as the remote entry unit stopped working) and determined that all that was needed was to reset and reprogram the units. It was a software issue due to a power surge during the storm.

The surge could have happened during the storm without you losing power. No way of telling when the surge actually occurred.

People in my condo building who had 20 yr old units had no issues with their garage door openers as they are not as sensitive to power surges as newer models. My unit was installed 7yrs ago and my neighbor's unit was only two years old. The software on the newer models seem to be much more sensitive to power surges. It did not destroy the unit, it just needed to be reprogrammed.

I do not use Delmarva power, but, I would be surprised if you could link the problem specifically to the power company turning the power back on.

[retiree2011]

Originally Posted by Mary2014

You did not say what brand of garage door opener you have, but, the newer (less than 10 yrs old) Chamberlin models can go out even if the lights only flicker. My neighbor and I had this problem after a storm. The garage door people came out to check it out (as the doors were opening and closing on their own as well as the remote entry unit stopped working) and determined that all that was needed was to reset and reprogram the units. It was a software issue due to a power surge during the storm.

The surge could have happened during the storm without you losing power. No way of telling when the surge actually occurred.

People in my condo building who had 20 yr old units had no issues with their garage door openers as they are not as sensitive to power surges as newer models. My unit was installed 7yrs ago and my neighbor's unit was only two years old. The software on the newer models seem to be much more sensitive to power surges. It did not destroy the unit, it just needed to be reprogrammed.

I do not use Delmarva power, but, I would be surprised if you could link the problem specifically to the power company turning the power back on.

Hi Mary2014 - it was a Genie, probably 6 years old (that’s the year my place was built) and all the others that had to be replaced were also Genie, about the same age. The man who came to replace it told me it was “fried”. A neighbor on another street in my community was awake and looking out her front window that morning when the power came back on and she told me all the garage lights that she could see came on at once when the power came on. Some people on her street also had to replace their openers.

The employee I spoke to in the claims department told me there was an event (I think that’s the word he used) that night and he would send me a claim form. The problem seems to be that my forms get there, then get lost or thrown away and he never sees them. I wonder if they ever actually pay a claim, at this point.

Thanks for the information. I hope my new one is not overly sensitive to power surges. I have had a few power outages since I’ve been here and never had a problem before, though a neighbor had to replace a refrigerator damaged by a power surge - that is far worse than having to replace the garage door opener.