This a story of how UnionGas disconnected my natural gas service WITHOUT NOTICE.
This morning we received a notice on our front door that our gas had been disconnected. We were home at the time but the gas guy just hung the notice on the door AFTER turning the gas off. Stunned, I called UnionGas. They told me that I hadn’t paid in 6 months. Stunned again, I looked into my payment history and sure enough I hadn’t paid. I thought I was paying, and had absolutely no reason to believe I hadn’t been paying because, well, they GAVE ME NO NOTICE. Simple solution, pay up? Nope. Now that the gas has been disconnected, I will be without an essential utility for a minimum of 5 days.
This is outrageous. As a regulated, essential utility, they should be required to make every effort to contact the customer PRIOR to shutoff. I had been paying monthly for 4.5 years without a problem until the cancelled their ePost service (which is how I pay almost all my bills). That’s when the problem started. They say they tried to call, but they had the wrong number. They cite the on-bill notice – on the bills which I hadn’t been seeing anymore. Best I got was a notice saying my online bill was available. No email OR snail mail saying, you are now overdue. Nothing to tell me my gas would be disconnected. Fair warning? Bullshit. They visit the house every month to read the meter. If all other communications fail, they still have an opportunity to leave a monthly notice on my door. Clearly they can because they did just that… AFTER they disconnected my gas.
This is an epic fail in so many ways. On my part this slipped through my otherwise solid bill/accounting management. On their they blew it in terms of customer service, billing system integration, and responsibility as an essential utility.
UnionGas you suck and you are getting away with it because you are a regulated utility. What options do I really have?
Are you sure you didn't get a notice? You didn't notice you weren't paying the bill, or that your bank account had more money in it than it should…
Yes, this is unfortunate. But when did it become the utility companies job to remind you of your obligation?
Sounds like a procedural glitch for sure. I don't understand why you didn't receive snail mail… obviously, they have your address on file. I'm sure you can get it turned back on if you escalate within the org, or call your MP.
Absolutely sure. All my email archives and I file all my mail. They rely on on-bill notices to notify customers, but they changed their billing system which affected the way I received my bills. In no way am I denying my responsibility to pay, but I am challenging their process for disconnecting an essential service without making reasonable effort to provide notice. They have my mailing address. They have my email address. They visit my house monthly. When they can't offer immediate reconnection on an essential, regulated service, it's unacceptable.
Working on it now.
btw… i think it's systemic procedure issue, not just a glitch. No email or mail notices sent for overdue accounts or termination issues. Arising from customer facing system integration led by a technical and operations perspective. Reflective of regulated utility position as effective monopoly. Either that or simply incompetent implementation. Entire sequence triggered by changes in billing system. Particularly problematic when they rely on on-bill communications as their notification system.
just got off the phone again – their attitude changed when I mentioned blogging and twittering their 'no notice' disconnect procedure. They are now promising a reconnect for tomorrow. Doesn't change the issue, but will save my kids from a cold bath.
WOW, that is BS for sure….