Here is a letter from a friend of mine about his soon to be former power provider TXU Energy. A little background on the person who has written this tale.
Richard Phillips is a retired HPD officer and owner of his own security company. He is not one to get angry at things and for the most part is a very reasonable person as well as loyal when a company provides good service he is the first to brag about them. So here is his story.
June 23, 2006
If it happened to me, it can happen to you. I am permanently disabled after having a recent 5 level spinal fusion, and am wearing a series of braces and use a walker and/or a cane to get around. My fiancé is legally blind, and can’t drive, and was home alone when TXU turned off the power to our home, claiming the bill wasn’t paid.
An on line payment made to TXU during the week-end of June 17th or 18th. The amount due for $ 782.20 the account was clearly marked by TXU to be due by June 22, 2006, and was paid.
Payment was scheduled, and acknowledged by TXU’s system to post on Monday, June 19, 2006.
Noon on June 22, 2006 Centerpoint Energy turned off the power to my home. Disconnect notice left on front door.
Phoned TXU’s toll free number- call taker was to the point, but evasive, so I requested a supervisor.
Supervisor was extremely rude, wouldn’t acknowledge anything, and demanded a credit card for a re-instatement charge.
Gave the credit card number, which he inadvertently entered the wrong info the first attempt, the card was denied, and he was rude about it.
Once he re-entered the info correctly, the transaction cleared. I informed the supervisor that I was disabled, had recently undergone a 5- level spinal fusion, encompassing 16 screws and rods and was in a full hard shell, and couldn’t endure the 95 degrees without air conditioning.
His response was that in 24-48 hours our service would be restored. That’s a great way to treat someone who is in such a condition, especially when the account was paid in full, two days prior to this service interruption and this supervisor even acknowledged that the bill posted two days earlier. (We were debited for an additional $ 242.00 for re-connection).I called back a few moments later, spoke with a sympathetic female who did say that she would have power restored, due to a medical emergency on my condition. My fiancé and I left for cooler conditions elsewhere, and we kept checking with our alarm system Central Station to see if the power was restored or not. Not…was the answer
This made us very uneasy. How could this happen in America?
At 3PM, I bought an emergency back up generator from Costco, had two friends go out of their way to transport it to my hone, and assemble it. I did this as I felt that I wouldn’t have power until 24-48 hours, and I didn’t want to trust this situation to TXU.
At 4 PM, I decided to call back TXU from my cell phone, and I got another gentleman, and finally I realized everyone I had talked to had an accent that was definitely not American... After 20 minutes or more of peak airtime charges on my cell phone. I asked the gentleman; where was he located, and why couldn’t he just phone someone to correct the problem. After much prodding, he finally admitted that he was at a call center outside the United States, in the Southeast part of the world, and that he was actually unable to call Dallas, TX in America for me.
I then realized that TXU outsourced my safety and security to another country, and even though I had told these people I had a medical condition, I didn’t get any help, nor could they help me as they weren’t even on our part of the globe.
I also realized that they had my social security number, debit card number, and who knows what else these people on foreign soil have. Where could all of this information end up, as America can’t control its own borders, so how is my personal information safe in another land?
We arrived home at 5 PM, and the power had restored at 4:58 PM.
My point is- Outsourced foreign labor is taking the phone calls from us American customers, and obviously TXU’s bill payment crediting system aren’t on the same page, and probably not on the same soil either. If I had a disability that entailed an oxygen machine, I would have been dead long before I got attention. Had I still been on 23 hours a day bed rest on June 22, 2006, I would have re-injured myself trying to get into an air-conditioned area, due to TXU’s negligence.
If you are a TXU customer, I highly urge you to switch providers that are more customer friendly, and wouldn’t risk your life over the almighty dollar. Plewase tell them that you are switching to make a statement for a disabled man in Katy, TX
Thank you,
Richard Phillips
7 comments:
Pay your bill! thats what you gotta do you either pay your bill or we shut you off its that simple. It has nothing to do with customer service been outsourced you didnt pay on time now who's fault is that? its YOURS.
You know it is funny that someone would comment on somethig 2 freaking years old with something like that. And on top of it all does not have the strength of character to use his/her name.
Coward.
they shut you off because you didnt pay your damn bill dont try to make up excuses for that you sound so dumb and stupid trying to blame some folk in a third world country. GROW UP and pay your bill on time.
Moron.
Look who is the MORON.... This happened 2 years ago, and besides it was not me it was a friend of mine who had it happen to him. On top of that your comments only prove you never read the article.
Sorry, I have to comment even though it is two years old. I had the same incident happen to me today. The only diference was I was not even late on my bill. TXU made a mistake and admitted so. When the man from centerpoint came to disconnect my service I was shocked and told him I would not let him in my backyard to do so because I knew there was some mistake. Needless to say it took me 2 hours to get through to upper managment at TXU (Capgemini in INdia) and have them resolve their mistake. "Kenneth" reassured me the error was fixed and I had nothing to worry about. 2 hours later here comes centerpoint again knocking on my neighbors door where the main transformer was located to disconnect my service. I went out to speak with the service men from centerpoint explaining the situation and giving them the reference numbers and managers name I spoke to who "fixed the error". That was of no use to them because they had to get orders from centerpoint directly and TXU did not communicate them in a timely manner. Luckily the nice men from centerpoint said they would give me an hour to resolve the issue again and have it communicated back to them this time. I get back on the phone with txu for 2 1/2 hours for another supervisor to reassure me they spoke to centerpoint and my service would remain on. Bottom line. The communication lines are not there between TXU and our local provider. Outsourcing did cause this. I understand mistakes happen( billing error), but to have to take 4 1/2 hours out of my day because TXU decided to cut costs and outsource their customer service is beyonrediculous!
Today is March 30, 2008. I received a bill AGAIN from TXU for over $1100.00 Let me start from the beginning. I began service with TXU on Jan 12 2008. At the end of February I called TXU because I had NEVER received a bill. They told me I owed over 1400.00?? (I live in a small 3 bedroom home) I was horrifed. I said there must be some sort of mistake. They assured my they would send someone out to read the meter and my service would not be disrupted. 3 days later someone came out to read the meter and approx 3 days later a "Supervisor" called to say that indeed there was a mistake and I would be credited for $920.00. I made my regular payment and thought all was well. Today I recieved a disconnect notice for $1100.00 I called and spoke to Franklin and explained what happened last month. He said there was "no record" of a supervisor contacting me. I asked to speak to another supervisor and was told I was being transferred and then put on hold for 30 minutes. I hung up and called back and this time I got Michael. Michael informed me that indeed there was no record of a supervisor contacting me and that I did need to talk to another Supervisor - he would gladly transfer me. I declined and I now have a telephone appt. to speak to a supervisor at 3 pm tomorrow. I asked Michael where he was located and was told "Offshore"?? I said where offshore?? He told me the Phillipines. Wow...I had no idea that TXU outsourced overseas? All my info...SS#, Drivers License #, debit card info.???? What a fool I am? I am switching service tomorrow. And by the way...I always pay on time...IF I RECEIVE A BILL THAT IS LEGIT!!
Gay Lynn
Houston, Texas
Here's a follow-up on above comment.. I never received a call at 3:pm so I called them back. Spoke to several people before connected to Carlos the Supervisor. Carlos told me that indeed he did find where i spoke to a Supervisor regarding the $917.54 credit BUT.... unfortunately it was not followed through with and the request was not completed. In other words .. it somehow fell between the cracks? So now I wait for ANOTHER SUPERVISOR to call me back in the next 3 to 4 days. TXU is horrible and if you are considering their service...think again please!!! You will regret it!
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