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StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

MT. PLEASANT, MICHIGAN -- Paid for new apartment for college. Needed the account number from Consumers Energy to move into the apartment. Called 2 weeks ahead of move in date. Upon giving them my social security number they said that they were not sure that I was who I said I was. They went through a week long process and called back saying that it has been approved. So I asked for an account number and they said that it could take 3-5 business days for them to call back and give me the account number.

5 days later I called back and said I still have not received it and they told me that I needed to fax them a copy of my driver's license and social security card. I told them that I just waited 5 days to be approved and that I already went through this and they could have told me a week ago that I needed to do this. They insisted that they told me this (of course they did NOT) so it took another day to get it authorized and faxed. Then I was told it was going to take another 5 days to get that approved. Five days later I called in and they said that they received the information and they will call me in 3-5 days with account number.

Later that night I got a call and they gave me the account number and said that they had it all day and that the person I spoke with before had it and didn't give it to me. So finally after 3 and a half weeks I got my power turned on. This was not easy and every time I called (approx 6-8 times) I waited on the phone for a minimum 30 minutes. It should never be this hard to start an account. I talked to multiple people on the same day that both told me completely different information. They must be very unorganized. I am fed up with them and recommend finding another service.

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Dealing with incompetents and crooks
By -

ROYAL OAK, MI 48073-1642, MICHIGAN -- Consumers Energy, I called to connect the service a house I bought. Instead of notifying me to meet them at the property as agreed on, they left a note “MISSED YOU“. After a new arraignment, a person with no plumbing experience, called me from the location, saying there's nobody home. I arrived within ten minutes, and was told that the threads on the pipe going out of the house is stripped. As I came closer, I see the Consumers Energy person trying to connect to the pipe by turning it counterclockwise. I told her to try turning clockwise and a miracle happened.

The meter was installed on an angle, and after several attempts, Consumers Energy truck park in front of the house for at least 30 minutes and drove away. The second, looked at the meter and promised to be on the next day with the proper tools. It was mid June 2009, and after too much frustration with Consumers Energy, I decided to forget it for the time being.

March 2010, I received a heating credit check from Michigan Treasury with instruction that it could deposited “only” with the heating company. I took it to Consumers Energy's office to verify how would I get my the balance after paying what is due. I was told that within one week, I'll be receiving a check. When I didn't receive two weeks later, I contacted consumer energy and on the third call (after being disconnected or put on hold forever), I was transferred to the department in charge of passing my concern to the department in charge to send refunds. I was told within five days, I'll be getting a check.

Again two weeks later, I phoned Consumers Energy and after several transfer and dial again, I was informed that a request was made and that the company will either accept or reject my demand to be refunded with the sum that Consumers Energy owes me. The Michigan Public Commission refuse to be involved and the Michigan Treasury, who at fault (for allowing such corruption or misleading conduct), claimed it's out of hands and to take it with the company because I can only complain to them.

When you are late 2-3 days with your payment of a small amount, Consumers Energy rush to steal a few dollars from you, but when they owe you several hundreds, they hold it as long as possible to collect interest. If they hold refunds due to only one million customers multiply by $500, it's $500,000000 held by Consumers Energy. Find out how much interest for $500 million and you'll know how much Consumers Energy are gaining every year from this undeclared profit.

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Budget Plan and Atrocious Customer Service
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MIDLAND, MICHIGAN -- I recently got into my own fight with CE and it has not yet been resolved. Just this last Thursday (2/14/2008) I received my combined gas and electric bill totaling approximately $284.00 which is more than I can pay at once. To make matters worse CE took me off the budget plan, on which I was paying $100/month on the combined bill. CE claims I am past due on $76.00, the reason I was removed from the budget plan. I both emailed and called CE's customer service and I was told I missed two payments, however I have both copies of the bills and all canceled checks that prove I paid my bills on time every month for at least the amount charged.

I think the trouble began last fall when they combined my two bills into one. When I received two bills, they had calculated my budget plan amount to be $50.00 each for gas and electricity. When they combined my bill into one, they were charging me only $50.00 for both. It was obvious to me that was not enough so I was sending in $100.00 as I had been doing before. Last year I had been on the budget plan and as a result built up such a large credit balance with them, that I requested to go off the plan in August until the credit was used up.

CE agreed and returned me to the plan about two months later with a new budget amount - $50.00 for gas and $50.00 for electricity, and had been on this new plan until they just removed me from it, claiming past due amount. It seems to me if there is any past due amount, it is due to CE lousing up its budget plan calculation and NOT due to any error on my part. Now they are punishing me for their error, especially since they are threatening credit action.

When I called and emailed this weekend I told them I cannot afford the approximately $284.00 right off the bat and will send in instead $150 which is more than enough to cover whatever past due amount they are claiming as well as what would have been the budget plan amount. However, all this will do is cause the remaining $134 to be past due and I still won't be placed back on the budget plan and next month another bill that I won't be able to pay all at once, all because of their accounting error. Since my energy expenditures in the summer are very small, my summer credit for next summer will have been more than enough to pay for this winter.

So much for CE's customer no-service. This fight has only just begun and they haven't yet threatened to shut off my energy, so I don't think I need a lawyer, yet. Any advice on dealing with these people without coming off like a raving lunatic???

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Service of Oil Equipment - No Heating
By -

HICKSVILLE, NEW YORK -- I called up the oil company about the equipment not functioning properly because heating wasn'€™t working properly. The dispatcher said they are only addressing problems of "€˜no heating" and somebody would be there on Saturday. I had called on Tuesday. After checking the heating and realizing that the heating actually is not working on the first floor, we called the services again in 15 minutes. I was told that somebody will be there by afternoon. Nobody showed up till Wednesday, when I called up again on Thursday and I was told that there is no record of my calling to the service department.

I said to send somebody on Saturday morning because we will not be around on Friday as at least 2nd floor heating was working. On Saturday nobody showed until late morning. I called the service department again and they said they will send somebody. Somebody did appear in the afternoon. Gentleman commented that there are issues with the equipment and there are leaks in the pipe and something else not working and can only be corrected on Monday. He said he is shutting something off but heating will work for 2-3 days. After he was gone in about 3-4 hours the heating completely stopped, this time even the 2nd floor was not working.

So, we called the service department yet again on Saturday night and talked to a gentleman **. He said "you need plumbing work and we can't make any such decision to provide urgent service of that nature until Monday." I said our heating is not working. I left a voice mail for the manager **, who apparently checks his voice mail occasionally and calls back. I left message around 12:00AM. Nobody called till 2:00AM when I called again and left a message at the emergency service voice mail. Nobody contacted me till 6:30 when I called again and left message.

It is 7:22AM Sunday morning, we still haven't heard from anybody yet. We have been living without heat in this cold weather for so many days in the first floor and now, the whole house since Saturday (10th Feb evening).

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Appliance Service Plan
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MOUNT MORRIS, MICHIGAN -- I've had an appliance service plan with Consumers Energy for 6 years now and last night my furnace stopped working. It was about 11:00 at night and about 15 degrees outside. I called Consumers because they advertise 24/7 service and priority service for no heat situations, well it is now almost 10:00 am the next morning and after a 2nd call, I was told they cannot tell me when a tech might show up to look at my furnace. It got down to about 5 degrees last night and I have a 6 month old in the house. If this is their idea of priority service, then I'm glad they don't run the fire department. Last call I was told a tech should be out some time today, but they could not tell me when.

After this issue is resolved, I will cancel my contract with them and would advise anyone considering this service to think twice. The money I spent with them over the last 6 years could have paid for a new furnace. Next time I will just call a local heating company and get it fixed much quicker.

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Cut a Tree on My Property From Private Project
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN -- My neighbor which just moved in decided to call Consumers Energy to cut her tree (no wires involved). Two days before assured me it would not go over the property line. He did not supervise the contractors and they proceeded to take the trimming to my side of the property line and told me "oh well". Nothing we can do. They do not care about anyone's private property, but what they make on these private work. By the way, I called them because I had some serious wires caught up in other trees and Consumers told me it wasn't worth his time. Nice since I have been a customer for almost 30 years. Disturbed by Consumers priorities!!!

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Sneaky, Underhand, Very Poor Customer Service
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

ADA, MICHIGAN -- Consumers Energy are sneaky and underhand. I was making payments to them by an agreed arrangement with them following a very large summer energy bill as prices have skyrocketed this year. I paid them my monthly bill of $305 this month, plus a payment per our agreed arrangement of $147. They sent me the arrangement details and I sent the next three payments of $105.65 each in to them in post-dated checks with a letter so I would not have to worry about the mail getting them there late. The checks were dated for dates in November and the last one in December.

Today I discovered they had deposited ALL my remaining payments in October and emptied what was left in my checking causing me to be overdrawn. This means I paid them $750 this month and now I'm pretty broke. I called to complain and was told by a snotty, rude and defensive girl that they don't accept post-dated checks. They could have destroyed the checks and sent me a letter or called me but they just took all my money. Is this what they think of their customers in a struggling economy? Consumers Energy are creeps and they don't care! This kind of energy monopoly should NOT be allowed.

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Terrible Service
By -

PRESCOTT, MICHIGAN -- WOW!! Just terrible service!! I have tried to contact them through their website 3 times and no one has responded other than a form email that says someone will contact me shortly. I figure 2 weeks is more than shortly! So I tried to call them at least half a dozen times only to get a recording that said their service lines were extremely busy, try again later or use their online contact service. Which I did already and didn't get help then either!! No wonder these huge companies can get away with treating customers so rudely. They're the only ones we can use for these products and so they know we have no choice but to put up with this type of outrageous behavior!!

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Rip Off Takes Your Money And Leaves You Cold
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LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK -- They took our money every month on a budget plan. And then did not deliver oil, we had over $1300 in our account and we come home and had no heat. We call four times and no one called us back. Our house was 50 degrees, they were all nice and toasty and we froze. They did not even call to apology. Instead they refused to give us back our money. We hope everyone reads this and is aware of their practices. They also charge $3.89 per gallon when everyone else is charging $2.29 per gallon. They are supposed to be a group to help the consumer not be overcharged and we think they are the worst one long island. All we can say is beware!!!!!

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No Heat This Winter
By -

ROCHESTER HILLS, MICHIGAN -- I am deeply disturbed by Consumers Energy's thought process. They want $530.00 to be able to hook up heat in my home this winter, with an unpaid balance of $200.00, which I know to pay off. But almost $600.00? Not everyone has a credit card, and even my roommate cannot put CE in his name, with no prior balance, until they receive this amount. Why should he suffer on my $200.00 back pay? It makes me sick and if they really needed to borrow the extra $400.00, why don't they just ask politely for it? Forget that, so we used space heaters. Cheers to you DTE for receiving $1000.00 from us this winter!

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Consumers Energy Rating:
Star Half star Empty star Empty star Empty star
1.5 out of 5, based on 22 ratings and
34 reviews & complaints.
Contact Information:
Consumers Energy
212 W Michigan Avenue
Jackson, MI 49201-2236
517-788-0550 (ph)
www.cmsenergy.com
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