Centerpoint (Post: how much, home, neighborhood) - Houston - Texas (TX) - City-Data Forum

rigas · 06-16-2009, 05:12 PM

these people are the absolute WORST. their customer service is byfar the worst of any utility company i have ever dealt with. reps are rude, mangers are even moreso. (maybe thats how you get promoted?)

had a past due bill which was aparently lost in the mail. went outside to find a man cutting the gas off. call to find out whats up, says i owe a bill. i call to pay the amount the "system" told me. call to report the payment (past due and current) and get a rep. rep says no you have to pay an $80 deposit, and $62.06 for desconnect fees. talk to the supervisor about the extra costs as the auto system told me a totally different number. she said "well i see how that could be frustraiting" in a very "like i care/ condecending tone". after nearly 30 minutes of discusion i ask, ok so because your system was wrong and i have to call "bill matrix" AGAIN at $2.95 per call, you ARE going to reimburse me the $3 RIGHT? she said "sir there is nothing to reimburse" to which i respond" so you dont agree that your system has the wrong info on it so i have to pay extra because your system is wrong?" she said "sir our system is not wrong"!!!!!!!!

after talking to 3 different people, including the floor manager, and the automated system, i got 4 different numbers as to what to pay.

we have had very bad mail carrier service over the last 6 months as well. i am supposed to be recieving emails as wel and have yet to recieve one.

ok im done venting, maybe i am in the wrong here but none the less the customer service is absolutely the worst i have ever had. they are the only gas service in my area so they dont really care. not like electric providers which have gotten a whole lot nicer since deregulation.

sevfiv · 06-16-2009, 05:29 PM

That sucks that you had such a bad experience with them - I suggest you make a complaint to a higher power there. Unfortunately, gas is not regulated by the Texas PUC but I'd research something along those lines.
Not to hijack in to regulated utilities vs privatized, but I haven't noticed a change for the better when it comes to electricity service. That's just my experience, though, and I also have never had a bad experience with Centerpoint (either with gas or electric maint.) but I have never had anything past due, either.

ShelbyGirl1 · 06-16-2009, 06:33 PM

Sign up for e-bills and your bills will never be lost in the mail.

chris_ut · 06-16-2009, 07:16 PM

Lesson here is pay your bills on time.

astrohip · 06-16-2009, 08:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rigas

had a past due bill which was aparently lost in the mail. went outside to find a man cutting the gas off.

They will not cut your gas off for missing one payment. It takes at least two months behind, and then they will notify you in advance that you are about to be disconnected.

So there have been at least three attempts to reach you before today's cutoff, over a period of at least 75 days. While I suppose it's possible the USPS lost all three notices, what should Centerpoint do? How long should they wait? They don't know you're not getting their notices.

Do you really have that much mail lost? If so, I would file a serious complaint with the Post Office. Also, talk to your neighbors, and see if they are plagued by the same mail service. If so, your neighborhood has a legitimate complaint. If it's just you, you need to figure out why your mail never makes it while your neighbor's mail does.
~~
PS: Sign up for the auto-draft payment plan. They draft your bank account on the due date (latest date possible

), and you never have to worry about missing a payment. And for those people who are paranoid about giving them the right to draft your account, do you really think Centerpoint needs to skim from you to make a buck? There are hundreds of thousands of people who use auto-pay for all their utilities (like me!), and it's the greatest system ever. I never worry any more about being late on the elec or water or gas or whatever. I wouldn't give some podunk company the right to draft me, but the big utilities--no problem.

rigas · 06-17-2009, 06:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by astrohip

They will not cut your gas off for missing one payment. It takes at least two months behind, and then they will notify you in advance that you are about to be disconnected.

So there have been at least three attempts to reach you before today's cutoff, over a period of at least 75 days. While I suppose it's possible the USPS lost all three notices, what should Centerpoint do? How long should they wait? They don't know you're not getting their notices.

.

not true, i am sitting here looking at the bill from april which was paid 3 days before the due date. that leaves the lost bill from may and the current bill which is not due until the 25th.

i am honestly not sure how much mail is lost, we recieve other peoples mail almost daily. this is also not the 1st bill (other then centerpoint) that has been lost.

centerpoint has 2 phone numbers and an email addy, not to mention the home addy, and i got 1 past due. they made (from what they say) one attempt to contact via the lost bill. no disconnect notice, nothing. they say "we dont have to contact you, your bill is enough notice and we can shut off at any time we care to."

ejonestexas · 06-17-2009, 07:47 AM

Lesson here you cant trust the UH post office. I now have a mailbox at the UPS Store and have all my stuff go to that address. I never have mail missing. When I would have it come to my home mail was missing, packages were missing, etc. When I lived in a Cypress subdivision were actually had a soccer mom delivering mail to the box. In the Gallaria I have a regular post man who works for the post office.

I pay most of my bills online now and have it setup to email me when a bill is due

Quote:

Originally Posted by rigas

these people are the absolute WORST. their customer service is byfar the worst of any utility company i have ever dealt with. reps are rude, mangers are even moreso. (maybe thats how you get promoted?)

had a past due bill which was aparently lost in the mail. went outside to find a man cutting the gas off. call to find out whats up, says i owe a bill. i call to pay the amount the "system" told me. call to report the payment (past due and current) and get a rep. rep says no you have to pay an $80 deposit, and $62.06 for desconnect fees. talk to the supervisor about the extra costs as the auto system told me a totally different number. she said "well i see how that could be frustraiting" in a very "like i care/ condecending tone". after nearly 30 minutes of discusion i ask, ok so because your system was wrong and i have to call "bill matrix" AGAIN at $2.95 per call, you ARE going to reimburse me the $3 RIGHT? she said "sir there is nothing to reimburse" to which i respond" so you dont agree that your system has the wrong info on it so i have to pay extra because your system is wrong?" she said "sir our system is not wrong"!!!!!!!!

after talking to 3 different people, including the floor manager, and the automated system, i got 4 different numbers as to what to pay.

we have had very bad mail carrier service over the last 6 months as well. i am supposed to be recieving emails as wel and have yet to recieve one.

ok im done venting, maybe i am in the wrong here but none the less the customer service is absolutely the worst i have ever had. they are the only gas service in my area so they dont really care. not like electric providers which have gotten a whole lot nicer since deregulation.

chris_ut · 06-17-2009, 07:49 AM

Rigas,

Go here: Login

You can sign up to get ebills from all your utilities on one site and make one click payments from your bank account. No need to deal with paper bills in 2009. I have used this site for a couple years and never had a problem.

ShelbyGirl1 · 06-17-2009, 08:04 AM

Or, you can do it through your bank acct. Centerpoint, along with many other companies can notify you when your bills are due and can pay them right then and there. No late bills, no lost bills. It is very simple and easy! This way, there is no one to blame.

tstone · 06-17-2009, 08:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chris_ut

Lesson here is pay your bills on time.

The lesson here is really to put your bills in the mail no later than 1 week before the due date. I've noticed in the last year or so it takes longer for 1st class mail to go across town than it does to the other big cities in the heart of TX, and sometimes longer than to Chicago or NYC.

Better yet, schedule them to be paid online and forget about it.

Centerpoint customer service really does leave a lot to be desired, though.