My fiancee and I are college students living off campus in a rented house with other students. Last year she had all utilities in her name handled the money collection and payments for the house. A Consumer's Salesman came to our door offering their services, saying we would save money and assuring her that because this was a rental our agreement would terminate once we moved into a new house.
One year later at a new (and better) rental house the utilities and money got switched to my hands because she didn't like the stress of figuring out and asking for money every month. As the new bills were under a different name we were not receiving our service from Universal now, and comparing the bills from the two houses I found Universal had been charging us significantly more, not less like they promised.
After a short period of time she gets a call from Universal saying that if she did not resume services by setting up with them at her new address then they would charge her the cancellation fee of $250. She informed them that we were in a new house and the Consumers Energy Bill was no longer in her name. Too bad, they said, you continue service or pay up.
After a couple of fights on the phone with them I took the phone and explained to them that I was the one who now received the bills and also told them how their salesmen had told us we would be free of the contract once we moved. They denied any responsibility for anything their salesmen said and also called me a liar. We did work out a deal however to cancel her account by starting a new three year contract under my name. This would unfortunately restart our commitment to the company and I do not know if I will even be in the same state next year. The agent assured me if I move out of the state than the contract would be canceled, yet another lie to get me to sign up I found out later, which would have put me in the same situation as my fiancee now was.
This harassment took about a full month to resolve and they took my information so I could sign up in her place. Over the past four months they have called sometimes weekly and sometimes daily because no one in their company knows how to properly input information and they kept needing to reconfirm it. I finally received my contract in the mail, and saw that they had written in the date signed as 10/20/08, I received it on 11/22/08 so that would have meant I was stuck with no 30 day cancellation period if I hadn't noticed. I redated it and sent it back.
My fiancee confirmed with Universal that they were no longer going to charge her, so she was finally off the hook. So then I called to cancel m account thanks to the 30 day period they're required to give you. It turns out now account had yet been set up under my name on their computer, ie they only set you up after that 30 day period as another way to obstruct and lock you in. It took half an hour fighting on the phone to get the agent to create an account under my name with the account number provided on my copy of the contract so she could cancel it.
The whole process was ridiculous, I was repeatedly lied to, and no matter what you are paying they promise you will pay less with them but this is not true. They are not looking at your rates when they promise this, they have their amount which is higher than the average for energy prices but vaguely promise lower rates. During this whole process I could never get an agent to explain how I was saving money with their rate, or how much I would save compared to the bills I showed them. They will lie to you, cheat you, obstruct you, and in the end threaten you with a $250 charge if your situation changes or you want to get out. Don't sign up with them. If you already have then I suggest you change the account holder with your local utilities company and get out the same way I did.
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