Customer Can’t Understand CL&P Billing Practices, Sending Dunning Letters To People Who Pay On Time
This email came recently from a CL&P customer. She says she finds no justification for CL&P’s billing process for those like her who always pay their utility bills on time. I guess we need to keep looking at the billing practices of CL&P and its parent company, Northeast Utilities.
It seems that NU just can’t get anything right.
(Editor’s note: An earlier version of this column erroneously said the e-mail came from the recently retired spokesperson Beryl Lyons for the state Department of Public Utility Control. I apologize for the stupid and inexcusable error on my part. George Gombossy, Editor & Publisher Connecticut Watchdog)
Hi George,
Just when I think we have seen it all, I just wanted to share with you yet another CL&P issue.
I have never paid a light bill late and I have resided in this same home for the last 24 years.
On 10/13/09 a bill was generated by CL&P for the period of 9/8-10/9/09 in the amount of $ 120.15 with a due date of 11/10/09.
I arranged for my bank to send a check to CL&P for the full amount to arrive on 11/6/09, well before the due date.
When I arrived home from work on 11/6/09 I had another CL&P bill, this one generated on 11/4/09 that was for a total of $ 227.80. This amount consisted of the current $120.15 already paid that same day 11/6/09 (verified receipt with CL&P), a new sum of $ 107.65 for the period of 10/9/-11/4/09 and statement stating the total amount now due must be received by 12/2/09 to avoid late payment charges and a second note that said “Did you forget? Your balance is past due. If you have already paid, Thank You.”
I was furious.. how could a payment they already had in their possession on 11/6/09 and not due until 11/10/09 be past due? I called customer service and spoke with a woman by the name of Heidi who was very pleasant and her answer for this ridiculous process was that (1) they had flexible billing periods – you know some are long and others are shorter (2) meter readers do not work on the weekends and (3) well we aren’t charging you a late charge.
I told her that I considered this billing format or procedure to be an affront to a good customers and certainly not a good example of customer service, it is more like a customer disservice.
I asked her how can this be, how can you send a bill for a new time period when the old billing cycle and due date have not yet closed out and then tell the customer their current balance is overdue when you not only already have the customer’s payment, but the due date for the bill has yet to arrive?
Her reply was, I can understand that you are upset but we have floating billing periods and that is the way it is.. in other words… we are CL&P and we can do whatever we want.
I told her that whatever change is taking place here has to be a recent change because I have been here for 24 years and have never experienced this type of outrageous billing before and if the light company were at all interested in good customer service, it wouldn’t be happening now or in the future.
I asked her to share my concern and dissatisfaction with the powers that be at the company and that met with dead silence. This just does not seem right… have you heard of anyone else experiencing this type of issue?
Thanks for listening,
Bev Lyons
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7 Responses for “Customer Can’t Understand CL&P Billing Practices, Sending Dunning Letters To People Who Pay On Time”
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Just a reminder to folks paying bills on-line…please read the terms and conditions of the on-line bill pay service–AS WELL AS those of CL& P…check for the term that says the “date of acceptance” for billing purposes, and especially note if it states that the bill is considered paid on that date “…that it is POSTED…” with the on-line bill pay service–NOT the date that CL&P receives that payment either electronically or via normal post.
I am having similar issues. Wachovia indicates my payment was sent to be paid by 2/1/10, yet CL&P indicates payment was received on 2/5/10, resulting in a late charge. This is not the first time this has happened. I have not had an issue with any other billers being paid via Wachovia.
I signed up to pay my CNG bill online. So, I thought I’d do the same with CL&P. Searching for the website, I found this website and read the articles about CL&P problems with sending dunning letters to customers after arbitrarily changing their billing cycles. Makes me hesitate.
Hi George,
Funny thing happened today… a Customer Service manager named To Murphy tracked me down at work today and apologized for the bill that I had received with the overdue notification on it… ,might have had something to do with the part of the customer service conversation I had with Heidi where I told her that this was the type of issue consumer advocates would have a field day with… you know the stuff like the faulty electric meters …when I complained to her last Friday. He guaranteed this would not happen again and assured me that it was a computer programming error on the company’s behalf and as a result of my complaint they discovered that the computer was generating overdue notices. He said it is programmed not to charge a late fee but that they did not realize that the…. Did you forget to pay your bill that is now overdue… was actually goiung out on the bills( did I believe him… not for a minuet). I said nothing about contacting you
but I somehow wondered if you had contacted them because I did not see them making such an extensive outreach effort to track me down at work based on my call to them alone. They assured me that they were working to resolve this issue, that I was an excellent customer and that if I walked away from my conversation with customer service feeling like CL& P could do whatever they wanted…then that was not good customer service. He said there is no way a customer should ever receive a late overdue notice when the current billing cycle and due date had not yet been reached. I also told him that a little customer service education and training might also be in order because I was not born yesterday and it is not wise to tell an angry customer that there is nothing that can be done or give the impression that the complaint is about to go to the circular file. Hopefully they will do something to fix this situation for all customers so no one has to be subject to this inexcusable type of inappropriate billing proces by CL&P. Again, if you spoke up on my behalf… thanks!
Bev
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Remember that character that Lily Tomlin used to play on SNL?
“We don’t care, we don’t have to….we’re the phone company”
Some things never change.
I had the exact samething happen with CNG. They sent me a bill saying I had an amount past due, but they sent that bill BEFORE the due date of the previous bill. I called CNG and I also got a very nice customer service person, but all they said was it sometimes happens. I suggested that they forward my complaint up the chain as I would have to assume that some people dont really check their utility bills and just pay whatever is written on them.
Oh, just to add insult to injury, with CNG I pay online and one of their pay options is to have the bill paid on the due date. So that is the option I always select. So even in the face of paying the bill online, on their system, using one of their payment options, I was still late due to their billing cycle screwup.
This has only happened once with CNG but a lesson here is to always check your bills before you blindly write a check.
Ed G
East Hartford, CT