No Power To The Customer

(A few days prior, I had gone into the electric company’s office to make a payment. When I asked how much was due the amount seemed very low, but after double checking with the woman I shrugged and paid it. Two days later, they came over and shut off my electricity. I go down to the office to try to figure out what is going on. Both my roommate and I work the night shift, it’s in the middle of summer, and neither of us has gotten any sleep this day because of this.)

Employee: “I’m sorry, but in order to turn your power back on, you’ll have to pay $264.xx.”

Me: “What are you talking about? I came in the other day, paid my bill, and was told that I was all caught up.”

Employee: “How much did you pay?”

Me: *gives amount*

Employee: “I don’t know why she told you to pay that amount. It wasn’t listed anywhere on the account. You’ll still have to pay the balance in full before we can turn your power back on.”

Me: “Is there someone higher up I can talk to about this? This is just ridiculous.”

(The employee motions to a phone on the wall that connects directly to corporate when a problem escalates. I thank her, pick up the phone, and within seconds, I’m put on hold with a long wait time. By the time someone answers, I’m livid, but I do my best to keep my cool.)

Phone Rep: “How can I help you?”

(I relay the same story to the phone rep, who tells me the same thing the woman behind the counter did. All the while, I’m trying to get an explanation for how this got so messed up in the first place, but it just keeps going around in circles. Finally, I ask for a manager, since we’re getting nowhere. She passes the call on.)

Manager: “Hi, I hope I can help out with this. What seems to be the problem?”

Me: *gives entire story again* “I understand if there was an error, but if there was, it wasn’t on my side; it was on yours. If I’d known I had to pay that much, I would have paid it the other day.”

Manager: “I see what you mean. I’m looking over your account right now. It shows that you paid [amount] the other day, but that wasn’t even close to what was due on the account. That’s why we turned your power off.”

Me: “Okay, but if I owed the higher amount, then why did the woman here tell me I owed so much less?”

Manager: “I don’t know, but if you want to have your power turned back on, you’ll have to pay the account in full.”

Me: “So, let me get this straight. You guys messed up. You told me the wrong amount to pay. When I thought I was okay, you came and shut off my power anyway. This is in no way my fault. The error was entirely on YOUR SIDE. And you’re not going to do anything for me? My roommate and I can’t get any sleep right now, and it’s almost 100 degrees in our apartment. Is there really nothing you can do for me?”

Manager: “That’s right!”

(Shocked, I hung up the phone and stormed out of the office. Miraculously, I was able to scrounge together the money to get the power turned back on that day, and we never had a problem again. I couldn’t take my business elsewhere, because where I live, there are no other options for utilities. I wrote a letter to corporate, but all they would tell me, in short, is “tough luck.” Definitely my worst customer experience story ever!)