We were lured in to switching to Cirro by their advertised lower rates. When our bill went up dramatically in June we figured it was our fault-it was summer and we do keep it cool in our house so we tried to be a more careful. The bill kept going up no matter how much we cut back! Even the bill for September went up after we had a very mild September AND, because of Hurricane Ike, our electricity was out for a week!
When we called them about the bill we found out that the rates had gone up! Doubled! Without notice. Even though the rates had gone up it seemed wrong that the bill for Sept. Would be higher than Aug. When it had been so cool, we had been cutting back, and there was absolutely no electricity usage for a whole week due to Ike. They said they hadn't done an actual reading but had just estimated the usage! I asked if they took the massive power outage into consideration in their estimate. No was the answer.
Because we missed work during the hurricane (we live in Clear Lake and were under mandatory evacuation) our paychecks were lower than normal so we were only able to pay $530 of the $587 bill figuring we could make up the balance next month. They cut off the electricity. When I called to get pay the remainder by credit card (my work credit card - I was desperate) and get it turned back on they said I would have to pay an extra fee to get it back on within 24 hours. I asked when was our contact up so that we could switch. I also asked again about the Sept. Bill not reflecting the power outage and they said that if I wanted an actual reading I would have to request it! So I did.
We got a letter recently stating that they had tried do a reading at our house but could not due to either the gate being locked or a dog in the yard. Well that can't be true because 1) we have no fence since it was blown down by the hurricane and 2) the dog has to live inside the house in a kennel since we have no fence!
(Which leads to my next complaint about Litton Loan Service from whom we are having trouble getting our insurance money back.)
We suffered through the rest of our contract and were finally able to switch to TXU. Hooray!?! Nope. We just got a new bill from Cirro charging us $400 for not fulfilling our contract. When my husband called Cirro they said that I called and asked to enter into new 12 month contract! The only time I have ever called them was when I called to get power back on...
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