Really unhappy with Reliant Energy right now :( (deal, increase)

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by looking2tex

Technically they said that they didn't shut it off...The way they tell it, the landlord had called in to advise of the change in service and gave them the date it was to be transferred over to us and since they couldn't verify our account they just didn't start the service for us.

Something doesn't compute. You said you stayed in the house, even put groceries in the fridge, so the power was on. Switching it over to a new account would only require reading the meter, right?

So they had to have turned the power off. Or am I missing something?

[scm53]

Ok, guess I'm not getting something. Here is what Reliant says you have to present:

Valid state driver’s license or identification card*
Social security card*
Passport
Military ID
Government employee ID
Department of Corrections ID
Alien Registration card
Consulate ID / Matricula Consular (for any country)

Understand that your wife might not have her SS card (heck, I don't either). Since they have a pretty long list of acceptable firms of ID, two things come to mind: one, what did she present to get her Texas drivers license? Now, you almost have to present a passport (easiest for us when we moved back). Does she have a passport? Second, don't you have a Green Card? That should suffice as well, per Reliant's web site.

Thanks in advance for filling in the blanks I can't figure out.

[looking2tex]

@OpenD-Yes the first afternoon(last Thursday) we got the keys and stayed in the house that night. The day before we had called Reliant to set everything up and went to HEB, paid $450 deposit, and had the front desk at our hotel fax a copy of her SS card. So we had that all done on Wednesday. Thursday night we ran around like nuts getting a bed/matress to sleep on and a few other things and a bit of food for the fridge, as we were driving back to Dallas on Friday morning so we could fly back to Detroit....we are not returning to RR until the end of the month. Just before we were heading out the door Friday morning the power went out. We left and headed for the airport and when we stopped in Dallas we checked our voicemail via computer and found out that they had left a message for us to call them. I guess it wasn't just as easy as reading the meter because she said they didn't actually start our service but our landlord called on Wednesday as well and told them to switch it over on the Friday, so they shut his down and never started ours.

[looking2tex]

Originally Posted by scm53

Ok, guess I'm not getting something. Here is what Reliant says you have to present:

Valid state driver’s license or identification card*
Social security card*
Passport
Military ID
Government employee ID
Department of Corrections ID
Alien Registration card
Consulate ID / Matricula Consular (for any country)

Understand that your wife might not have her SS card (heck, I don't either). Since they have a pretty long list of acceptable firms of ID, two things come to mind: one, what did she present to get her Texas drivers license? Now, you almost have to present a passport (easiest for us when we moved back). Does she have a passport? Second, don't you have a Green Card? That should suffice as well, per Reliant's web site.

Thanks in advance for filling in the blanks I can't figure out.

Ok, I will give you the longer version. My wife is a USC and does have her passport and SS card in her hand. That is all she has ever had...No US credit of any kind, no US drivers license...just a Canadian one from Ontario.
They would not give her a Drivers license without proof of an address/a document with the address on it.
We called and set this stuff all up with Reliance and they sent an email and we printed that of, so that and a passport, and surrendering of her Ontario drivers license was all that was necessary....So she now has a TX drivers license

We have faxed in a copy of her SS card and her Tx drivers license (the temporary paper copy they give you) so hopefully that gets processed and they turn the power back on soon!!!

At the present time I have no Visa or green card, as the US consulate in Montreal where we had our visa interview denied the visas for myself and our 2 kids because they were not satisfied that my wife/sponsor had enough evidence of re-establishing domicile in the US.

That is why we had to actually go down to RR, lease the place, get proof of utilities and stuff in her name. Now we have to courier all that stuff to the US consulate in Montreal and hope that they accept the documentation and allow myself and our 2 young children to get Visas.
They better because we have sold our home here in Canada and it is closing on the 26th, so we have no where to go but RR after that.

[Tim_Barton]

Originally Posted by looking2tex

I have been lurking here for quite some time and posting infrequently over the years as we started our journey in moving to RR.

We started considering this move in 2007 and put it on hold and then went full on with our plan to be there by the end of this year. So we have finally done it but have run in to a huge problem with Reliant..

Now I don't want to leave anything out so I should tell you that my wife has US citizenship but I do not.
We have lived in Canada (right across from Detroit all our lives since she came back here with her Canadian parents at 1 yr of age).

To make a long story short, we have sold our home here in Canada, and had to follow all the proper spousal Visa procedures in order to secure a Visa for myself and our children before permanently moving to RR. We finally did it, had a great KW real estate agent and found a terrific place off of 1431 and Mayfield Ranch. So with lots of cash, but without jobs, a mortgage was out of the question for us.
We just recently signed a 12 month lease and prepaid the full year up front because my wife has never had US residency and has never established any US credit. Here is my HUGE problem with Reliant.

We called to get the Electricity switched in to our name (I know all about deregulation and all the choices)
Since the landlord already used them we figured it was easiest to stay with them. My wife had not yet applied for her drivers license since she needed 2 documents with her address on them (like maybe a lease, and a utility bill(yes that's why I am trying to set up the utilities you bone head!!)

So since she did not have a drivers license they said a copy of her SS number was good, along with a $450 cash deposit since they don't take Canadian credit cards.

We immediately went down to the HEB and made the $450 deposit and had the hotel we were staying at fax a copy of the SS number...

So we get the keys the next day, signed the lease, take the email confirmation for setup of Electrical service and our lease..Get the Tx drivers license and spend our first night in our newly leased home!!!

Excellent!!!, until we leave RR the next morning, drive to Dallas, fly back to Detroit and get home and find out that our power is now shut off since they could not "validate" the SS number because the fax was not dark enough for them to read. So now our power has been and will be off until at least sometime Tuesday. We have had to refax them the SS number and now since we have a US drivers license can fax that in too. But not without having to wait the 48 hrs once they make sure everything has cleared.

Suck it Reliant....We paid a $450 deposit I would think you could have at least still left our power on, regardless of the situation, especially in the hot weather. (Not to mention the few groceries we picked up so that when we get back in a week we will have food in the fridge.)

So now its the weekend so we have sent all the info, and they already had the money... and so we wait.

I am seriously reconsidering who I will get my power from next time..

Epic fail in Customer Service = Reliant

If you're in Round Rock you have many options to choose as your electric provider. Go here

Power to Choose

[looking2tex]

Yes I know all about the dereg, and what my options are...I picked Reliant because apparently our landlord said that was who was already supplying it, and we wanted the transition to be an easy one, as this whole process of getting there has already been difficult enough with being out of country...not just from out of state, and all the Visa issues and stuff. We just want stuff to go right.
Now I am wondering if the landlord was actually with another provider other than reliant since the power was actually shut off because you would think that if it was just a transfer then they could have just taken a meter reading and carried on even with the issues we ran in to since they already had our cash deposit.

[pbnj07]

I've been using Reliant for nearly 5 years without issue. They have some of the lowest rates around.

You could have probably avoided all of this with one, simple phone call after the initial fax confirming that they had everything they need and were good to proceed.

Also, if you were traveling, a good realtor could have confirmed that power service had been set-up in your absence, had you asked them.

[looking2tex]

I wish one phone call could have taken care of it. We faxed a Dr license and SS # on Saturday and called back today at 11am local RR time and they could still not confirm whether or not our account had completed the setup process, and said that it would be tomorrow at the latest before they could confirm it was set up and turned on.

After letting the person know how displeased I was with their service/or lack of it thus far, I hung up and immediately called TXU and within 10-15mins and with only a Drivers license number,a (Canadian)credit card number and only a $265 deposit they assured me they would have the power on TODAY!!!

I thanked them and promptly called Reliant back and cancelled my service with them. I did not even get an argument from them, nor did they even ask why or try and retain my business. They are mailing a check back to me for my $450 deposit.

I called TXu 3 or 4 hours later and they confirmed for me that the power is back on with no issues!!

Thank you TXU, I will recommend you to everyone.
Going with Reliant is not worth saving the .02 cents/Kwh after all of the stress and delay in trying to get it going..They are truly second rate in my book.

[looking2tex]

Originally Posted by pbnj07

You could have probably avoided all of this with one, simple phone call after the initial fax confirming that they had everything they need and were good to proceed.

Also, if you were traveling, a good realtor could have confirmed that power service had been set-up in your absence, had you asked them.

We have and excellent Agent and the Owner of our home is actually the owner of a large property management company who is also EXCELLENT. It is not his job to make sure that the power company is doing their job!! I know for a fact that if I called and asked him to check in to the situation for me he would not have hesitated, as he also lives very close by and it would not be at all inconvenient. He is already going above and beyond for us considering that we will not be back in town for at least 2 weeks. He is taking care of the yard/cutting the grass and is also replacing the battery in the security system while we are away so that we can set that up once we get back.

To me Reliant will never be one simple phone call, and when they can't tell you for sure when your power will be back on....NOT ACCEPTABLE in this day and age. We have smart meters and fiber optic networks for a reason. It is done by typing keys on a keyboard, not even flipping a switch.

[polymechman]

It's always good to check the PUC for updated info on complaints prior to signing up. However, if you do choose to switch, their site is rather hard to use. You could use what I do... it's the easiest way I've found to compare texas energy rates. Give it a go and let folks know what you think. You can then head back over to the PUC to check on their ratings and complaint ratios.