ComplaintsforCity of Garland Utilities

• Initial Complaint

  06/27/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  My Account ************************ The date of transaction:$334.93 ************ is overcharging me and talking about its the ac and remind you that most of the summer our ac is broken. When you call them and finally reach the phone they can be very rude and they be talking about you can't make no payment arrangements. My bill was $334.93 on 06/06/23 and next month on 07/06/24 it is $502.74 and this company do not be willing to help you at all.

  Business response

  06/27/2023

  The customer contacted our office on 6/9/23 stating her AC was set on 70.  This is 8 degrees below the recommended setting. Along with the hot temperatures outside and the low setting, excessive usage would be expected.  We will contact the customer and again offer her recommendations for conserving electricity and offer her an energy audit to explain what else is causing the usage to register on her electric meter. 

• Initial Complaint

  03/06/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  1.) Overcharging customers 2.) Rude customer service 3.) Lying customer service representatives 4.) September 2022 * we reached out with a complaint because our bills had been high all summer * **************** rep we spoke with after being rude & lying multiple times on the phone call agreed to send someone out * Tech said we needed a replacement * and i watched him put the notes in, but they are saying he didn't. The customer service rep told me that it was because we were using AC * i have verifiable proof that it has been broken since we moved in. I have called and spoke with multiple people to get this resolved, and unfortunately they wont send an auditor out until they receive payment, but as a customer I am not going to pay for service that I am not receiving, and since this is garland we don't have the option to switch to a better company. All i want is my meter replaced, an auditor to come out, and my bill to be fixed, even based off my sq ft * they are over charging. And its crazy that our bill dropped mid July when they stopped doing work on the street. I highly recommend people stay away from this area just because of this utility company

  Business response

  03/23/2023

  Customer contacted City of ********************** **************** on 11/2/2022 to express concern with billing. Service order # ******* was generated and worked 11/3/2022 @ 1:28 PM. Closing notes from Field Technician stated current radio reading and visual readings matched and did not indicate an error in meter being over-read. Garland ************* changed electric meter out on 3/7/2023 @ 9:22 AM and Energy Auditor is scheduled for 11:00 AM on 3/24/2023.

  Business response

  04/04/2023

  Meter test results are attached.  Customer will also be provided these results.

  Customer response

  04/12/2023

  I am rejecting this response because:   they replaced the meter after they made me pay a bill I didn't owe on to get the power turned back on. 

  I've requested all calls be pulled & that they give me a decent response time & everything I've asked for has not been done. 

   

• Initial Complaint

  10/20/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I usually receive my bill on the 14th of each month. However, when I did not receive my September bill, I waited until the 22nd, and I accessed my account online only to discover that my account was closed on August 10th. I reached out via email to Garland utility, and I was told Broadway Apartments submitted a request to have my account closed. I told them I was still living in the apartment and that it was closed without my consent, and they promised to reactivate the account the following week. I eventually checked my account online again on September 27th and discovered I was charged $116.33, showing the KWh as 867. I believe the reading was inaccurate, and I was overcharged. My account was closed without my knowledge or consent, and I'm being penalized for it. How is it possible to have an accurate reading of my usage when it was not monitored as an individual account for over a month? I was told the apartment reached out to them to have my account closed. The reading of my KWh for the previous month was 474, and my usage for August through September was much less than what the new bill shows, so I'm sure that the new bill was an inaccurate estimation. I attempted reaching out to Garland to no avail. I could not speak with anyone on the phone, and they refused to respond to my email. I just got another bill in the mail where they're charging me $54 for 16 days of usage. The irony is that those 16 days are the least I have used any air conditioning. They have been overcharging me since my service was reconnected, which was illegally disconnected without my permission or notification.

  Business response

  01/31/2023

  Business Response /* (1000, 7, 2022/11/04) */ Good afternoon This account was closed in the customer's name because the apartment complex requested service to be placed in their name on August 10. The customer emailed us to ask why she hadn't received bill on September 23, and we informed her why the account was closed. We also asked her if she was still living there at that time - which she confirmed. We re-instated her account and backed her service up to August 10 (the date her acct was closed in error). A bill was then sent to her for a total of 48 days of service for $116.33. We are reading the meter for her apartment, so the billing is based on consumption. There are no extra fees associated with any of the billing. Sincerely Customer Service City of Garland, TX 217 N Fifth St Garland TX 75040 Consumer Response /* (3000, 9, 2022/11/07) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) I disagree with the response. How convenient that my bill has doubled since the reinstatement of the account. The last bill I received shows 14 days of service and I was charged $54. That's absolutely wrong.

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