National Grid Reviews

They're out of control. Not one review on this site is over 2 stars. If you check other sites, the reviews aren't much better. How are there so many complaints about a company and they're still allowed to operate the way they do? Add to that the unethical way they raised all their prices in January during one of the coldest winters in years. Something needs to be done about the excessive greed.

Three months later I got a bill from a collection agency stating that I owed National Grid $8.72. Meanwhile I have never received a bill from National Grid for $8.72. I contacted National Grid again and their response was they don't do followup. It's not about the money. If they had sent me a bill I would have paid it. They are ruining my credit for $8.72. This is not right. I had to pay the collection fees plus the $8.72.

They have been impossible and insist on having ridiculous amounts of money saying that they are forced to charge everyone according to the law. Yet if you are a new customer you get free line run to your house with no extra charges. We have been faithful to this company and always paid bills on time and this is how they treat us. It has been the most damaging situation and we're forced to go without power through subzero temperatures with no help at all and no hope of solution. This situation leaves us with no water or toilet facilities as well as animals that need water too for survival. They do not care, despite their claims and doing the right thing is to charge huge amounts of money to replace a broken line that they claim to be responsible for. The company is one of the worst and greediest companies we have come across in a long time.

Yesterday, 1/13/2013, the National Grid rep. said we do owe this money due to National Grid's problems mentioned above and that the previous customer service rep. was wrong because he didn't have all of the facts. Very poor customer service as it took close to an hour for them, including the supervisor, to explain why we got hit with such a large bill. We never had any problems with the previous company key span. Going forward, I'm very concerned with National Grid regarding the handling of customer service problems.

However, despite the weather conditions, NG was not going to do business with the current owner of the house until I produced a death certificate for my father who died in 1978. Apparently, NG clerical records being straight was more paramount than providing heat. In view of the situation as we go deeper into frigid temperatures, was a 35-year old certificate that important? Now I must acquire this document. As I write, there is 4 to 6 inches of snow falling in New York, temps falling into teens and it's 55 degrees in my house. I guess if I survive this ordeal, I would never mistake NG for a humanitarian organization. Pay them or they'll make you pay.

Nonetheless, I live on that other side of town, and we have lost power for more than two hours three times in the past week and have had several power surges over the past few weeks. It is inexcusable. Is this going to last into Christmas? A lot of families around here, mine included, are going to be having parties, and if the power goes out the party won't last long. If I had the choice, I definitely wouldn't choose National Grid for my electricity. I don't think many people would, especially after this and how long it took them to get our electricity back after the Halloween snowstorm a few years back. I own a business with a friend of mine from college. I know that if you don't treat the customer well, you'll go out quickly. Good luck, National Grid.

National Grid shut me down this past September when they shut off our power and informed us that we had a commercial rating as of October 27, 2009. I had no idea that this change had been made but I did recognize that our bill was out of control. We now owe them $11000.00 for 2 years of service. Our home is a well insulated renovated 1832 farmhouse that has a 1600 sq. ft. footprint. We only use the back half of the house and the upstairs is not a full second story. How can we owe this much money?

In 2010, my husband had a knee replacement. My husband was out of work for months with no pay and the shop was closed in order for me to help him recover. The shop was also closed when my mom had her hip replaced in order to help her recover and at other times as well. In 2011 my husband lost his job and was out of work for a year. He finally found a great job but needed reliable transportation. We worked and saved and put $5000.00 into a used car. We have no loans and no credit card debt. We do not own any other property. We work to survive. My shop never made very much but it was a good learning experience for the children enabling them to make and sell some of their crafts. My shop was a seasonal shop that was only open 3-4 days of the week depending on the season. The only power from the shop were the lights and a computer running.

We know that we should have paid National Grid or kept in contact at the very least, but because of being unemployed for so long and because he had a doctor's note and they could not shut us off, we took advantage and tried to play catch up with everything else that had fallen behind. In September, National Grid informed us that we were rated commercial and shut off our power therefore shutting down my shop as well. This was the beginning of the lucrative season for the shop. They accused us of being criminals and giving them a doctor's note knowing we were commercial... This is not the truth. My husband needs a breathing machine and we both have health issues. Financially we are qualified for a hardship case. They informed us if I closed the shop they would change us back to residential and honor the doctor's note and the hardship case. They did not.

They shut us off at a time that resulted in losing money in my shop. They shut us off as the weather was getting cold. They sent a National Grid rep. to walk through our home to verify that the shop was closed and that it was in fact our home. They still would not turn us back to a residential rating. They sent us to the DPU who also denied us. They want $5700.00 down to restore service.

We have contacted Senator Brewer, Martha Coakley, Governor Patrick and Congressman McGovern to see if they could do something to help resolve this issue, all to no avail. We have requested a hearing from the DPU and National Grid and any and all paperwork in relation to this case to no avail. We had to get our chimney lined in order to obtain heat for our children and pets, and we were cold for many days waiting for this to happen. We have had to purchase a wood stove and a generator in order to be able to function in some capacity. We have been through 3 generators for various reasons and right now we only have a small one so we are unable to use our microwave to heat something to have a hot meal. Losing money in the shop in addition to all the expenses for heat and the generators has hurt us financially when we were finally getting on our feet again. Not to mention all the gas for the generators and taking the children back and forth to my mom's in order for them to shower

Some of the biggest frustrations are that National Grid never gave us a chance or a warning or an option to have a second meter installed for the small shop. They never sent a rep at that time to do a walk through, they did a drive by determination. They never informed us they were changing our rating. And the many other in home retail shops in town are not paying commercial rates, have much larger homes/businesses with longer hours, and their bills are nowhere as high as ours, why have we been singled out? The very little profit, if any, that I make in my shop is now supposed to go to National Grid.

I feel this is unfair to many small in home businesses and at this rate they will do away with many other shops like mine. We have received help from Facebook friends, the Congregational Church in West Brookfield and GoFundMe donations but it has only enabled us to run the generators and obtain wood for the stove. I feel that we are being bullied by a huge company. We are hardworking honest folks that are just trying to keep our head above water and because of National Grid we are sinking once again.

I am at a loss at what to do next or where to turn for help. We are facing bankruptcy at this point because that is the only thing that will result in the electricity being restored. I am saddened that we are in this situation and I would hope that this letter will inform and warn others of the "commercial" rating for in home retail shops like mine. I plan to reopen my shop someday when we can resolve this mess and I can afford to have a second meter installed. I do not believe that I should have to pay commercial rates for cooking and bathing and all the other things one does in their "home".

Then yesterday, they turned off our existing gas as the new one was hooked up, and no notice was given. Again, things need to be done, but they couldn't knock on our doors and tell us to turn off the roux I was cooking. So then, a couple hours later, someone knocks on the door to check the stove, dryer, and to relight the boiler and hot water tank. Stove cranks right up, oven works, clothes dryer works, and then he lights the boiler/hot water tank. I am with him, and I hear the pilot ignite and then he leaves. About an hour later, I have not hot water and no heat. Great. The sound we heard when the pilot lit was the residual gas in the line and as soon as the air pocket hit, out the pilot went. So I called the gas company today and asked when someone would come out to relight the burner and after three attempts to get a time, I asked for a supervisor and she said it wasn't her problem that when the technician left it was working and that was it, but that someone would call me and I could negotiate with them about their coming back out. Swell.

Two days later, the check clears my account. During this time I receive another bill that states I owe the whole balance by November 10th. I then call again because I am supposed to be on a payment plan. The customer service rep tells me that I was generated a new bill and the amount is $115.00 by November 20th. Okay, fine. I can pay that no problem. Around November 15th, I receive a phone call stating I am in danger of being shut off. Why? My bill isn't due until the 20th? Even though I don't even have a bill for this amount, but according to them I owe $156.00 for November 10th as well as $115.00 for November 20th. I have nothing that reflects this, not one bill or email or anything.

How can they bill me twice in one month? They basically made up an imaginary bill. I talked to multiple customer service reps as well as a supervisor, they absolutely refuse to let me talk to a manager. This is the worst monopoly. I don't understand with this being the United States of America why we don't have an option in selecting our provider for electric. They just don't care. They are nasty, unfriendly, and unhelpful. When I asked the supervisor if I could pay the $156.00 and then apply for HEAP to take care of the rest, he said, "By looking at your account, I can see you would only be eligible for the emergency and that doesn't start until January so good luck with that. Is there anything else I can help you with? If not have a nice day". This statement as well as everything else the SUPERVISOR said to me was in the most condescending tone I have ever heard. They are just the worst company. Who can we complain to? Something needs to be done about this company.

After receiving a shut off notice, I called them. They demanded I pay $71.00 within 5 days. I told the representative I couldn't pay that amount within the time frame as I only had about $5 in the bank and asked if they would please give me an extra 3 days until I received my check for the month. I was told "no! " After begging and pleading she said I would have to speak with her supervisor. This was on a Wednesday in October. I waited until the following Monday and called back. I spoke with another Rep. to ask why a supervisor hadn't called me yet and he told me they were very busy. I said "I guess you are, it's getting close to November 15th when it's against the law to shut off people's heat" He laughed and said "Ya, I suppose so". I told him I was calling the DPU to put in a complaint. The following day my gas was shut off!

My gas has been off for just short of a month now. No heat, hot water or cooking. During this time, as anyone in New England knows, it has been freezing cold especially at night. Temps down in the 20's. I now stay in bed dressed in flannel pajamas, my bathrobe, and slipper socks. Some nights have been so cold I even put on a scarf, gloves and winter jacket over my bathrobe to sleep in.

I called my Dr. yesterday and told her of my dilemma. She immediately faxed over a letter to National Grid stating I must NEVER be without heat because of my disabilities. I called the company at 9 AM this morning to get a confirmation on whether or not they got the fax. I was told they did and my gas would be turned on today and I would receive a call one half hour before they get here. It is now about 7:15 PM and still nothing.

This company is without a doubt the worst company to try and work with. Their representatives are very rude and treat you like you're a piece of garbage. I'm 60 yrs old and don't feel like I should be treated this way. No one at any age deserves to be treated like that. If there was another supplier here I would change companies in a heartbeat!

At 5 pm, we called back and she re-stated that our work-order is on the Priority list but still could not guarantee what time service will be restored. They also ask us to flip the master switch Off so that after they restore the service, we can flip the switch back on. It's 8 pm now, no one showed up. We stayed by the window wrapped-up in blankets. Temperature inside the house is hitting 31 degrees. We tried to call back at 9 pm. Not a single line is open unless its for the reporting of a disaster! We manage to gather a few extra blankets for our son. It was a terrible night as temperature was in the 20s. Without electricity, the house has no heat whatsoever.

As of this morning, at 11:45 am, we still had no service. There's got to be a way to report and monitor these horrific treatments of "paying customers". This is monopoly in its worst form. When I had issues with Verizon lying about their FiOS speed, I switched provider and now I'm getting what I was promised. My neighbor had some issues with DirecTV, she switched to Dish Network. We don't have an alternative when it comes to Electricity provider. National Grid has no problem shutting off any customer regardless of their circumstances (financial or medical). We're not asking for free service. We're asking for fairness in dealing with delicate situation. Even after the fact, if the bill is paid in full, why does it take more than 1 hour to restore the service? Lives can be put at risk. These people have no one to answer to. We have nowhere to go. I can't take my business elsewhere. National Grid must be investigated for deliberately abusing customers. Without competing providers, they must be held to a higher standard. This is truly UNACCEPTABLE.

Since June 2012, I have spent more useless time trying to navigate an ABSURD website in order to try and pay a bill. All my other utilities are zippity doo. I find myself constantly in arrears with National Grid. This is not because I don't want to pay, but my defeat in trying to pay my bill any other way than having a paper copy, and writing a check. I got a notice the other day that I owed over $400 and was in danger of a shutoff. I called, waited forever. I tried the website... and wanted to scratch my eyes out. I finally paid $200 online...flipping miracle.

My gas was shut off today. You kidding me? I called to ask why there was someone creeping at my house today.... I work from home 1 day a week. I called and hit the "report a gas leak" button and got someone right away! I immediately told of no emergency...I was still helped. I paid my balance of 200+something and told the rep of my disgust. I asked about reconnection. A fee? When? Yes, a $50 fee, a reconnection window of 12-6 tomorrow. Thanks a ** heap! No heat, hot water, stove, a fee AND to wait for your person? You SUCK!!!

I called back at 11 am. Now service was scheduled for Wednesday. What? Asked for a supervisor and waited 3 hours. He couldn't help me and told me that he has no way to get in touch with any of the service personnel. Now I'm waiting for a manager. This is ridiculous business practice. If you pay for a service it should be provided in a timely manner. They had no regard that there were small children in the house either. How are they allowed to be the only monopoly in RI? How is this fair to consumers? This site alone shows a 90% dissatisfaction rate, something’s amiss.

The next day I call them on my lunch break. Now a week and a half later I am being told that I needed to fax them a rental agreement. That’s why it did it get changed over. I asked so why did the electric work and not the gas? She said because the state of RI requires that I send them one. So why in the apartment across the hall I didn't have to do this. Mind you I had a 6 month lease for the other apt. I don’t know why she said it’s just a state law. And why wasn’t I notified that it wasn’t going to be transferred into my name because of this reason that I needed to fax them this info first back on July 27th.

She had no answer. I asked to speak with a supervisor. First a girl. Then I asked to speak with someone else that might be able to answer my question. All those two could do is say the same exact thing about 5 different ways without even answering it. And why am I being treated like this is my fault? It got extremely frustrating and I snapped on both of the "so called "supervisors". If I was properly notified that the gas will not be transferred into my name without me sending them what they needed back in July. This would have never happened! And why is it ok for the electric to get changed over but not the gas. This is not acceptable. So I asked to speak with someone else. She said there is no one else I can talk to about this.

I flipped and yelled at her. My gas was turned off for negligence on National Grids behalf. Not mine. So my family has to pay for it. I get home from got the info ready to be sent over for the morning (it was after 5 by the time I found it). I call first thing in the morning Friday Aug 9 around 730 am to get a fax number. I fax it to them around 8 maybe 8:30 am. I was told I would get a call back soon. Someone called me at around 11:30 am. The call was cut off after me hearing that the earliest someone could come out was Tuesday. I left work, went home, I called them back. No one has anything to say about this except we’re sorry we can't, we don’t know etc. This is not considered an emergency. We can’t send someone out on the same day.

I asked her out of the 3 people I had spoken to the day before do you think any one of them would have said if we don’t get the fax yesterday we won’t be able to get your gas back on until next Tuesday. There is a National Grid truck on the side of the road less than one mile away from my house. I told her that this should not have even happened in the first place. I asked how to file a complaint. They said call back and contact customer service. Now I won’t have gas service all weekend. I called back. The woman asked me what I wanted to complain about. Like your bill or something? No, I pay my bill. I would like to complain about the situation that I am in. I am like all choked up trying to explain this whole mess, everything down to me calling her.

Me and my two kids can’t shower or do anything for 3 more days in our own home. We are pushing 1 week with no gas service in my house because of something that was not my fault. This one had nothing to say. She put me on hold. Came back, said there was no one available now, that she would give my name and number to someone that I can file a complaint with. I asked her before the end of the business day today. She said yes. I did receive a missed call on my phone with a message on it that I can barely understand from **. This was now 6:54 pm on Friday night. I will post it online and maybe someone can understand what this guy’s name is cause all I heard was you can contact customer service Monday through Friday. They will be able to help you!

So I tried to call the number back. It’s from there executive offices in MA. Me and my two kids can’t shower or do anything for 3 more days in our own home. Thank You National Grid!!! Oh btw, this is not the first time my services were turned off for no fault of my own. I moved in to the 1st apartment back in Feb, called to get my services on in my name. Two days later I get home to a freezing cold house. It’s after 5. I can’t contact till next business day. This is not considered an emergency. So me and my 4 and 7 year old had to sleep in a freezing apt. I called the next day to make sure it was on, said it was on in the computer. So it’s on at the house. I called the landlord he said when I get home to give a call and he will come over to take a look.

Maybe something was wrong with it. They show me a block in the meter. I told them the girl insists that it is on. I called back the next morning. They keep insisting that it is on. I had to speak to someone else to convince them there was a block in the meter and I have 2 kids this needs to get fixed. They then finally put me on an emergency list (Now 2 days later and right before the blizzard). The guy who came and turned it back on said when we have nothing to do we work off of the old orders that gas is still on but no one lives there. You must’ve had it switched already. Thanks again National Grid!

They don't care. Just as reckless as B.P in the Gulf. Another British company. You don't have to buy your electric and gas from National Grid. You could from Con Edison, or another utility which are American.

I told them that I filed an application with Social Service for food stamps and temporary assistance but they have 45 days to make that determination... I completed a financial statement with National Grid as they said that it would be mandatory on 6/28/13. When I met with my case worker at SS the following week, she said that I needed to contact National Grid because they were showing my unemployment income even though I told them I had not received ANY further benefits after June 9th and even though my home was in foreclosure, the monthly mortgage amount would need to be documented on my financial statement. Otherwise I may not be qualified for any type of benefits until this is straightened out.

I contacted National Grid that same day but the representative bluntly told me that there was nothing that they could do as they are only allowed to make changes every 30 days!!! No matter what I said, the rep was rude and said that if the info was incorrect it was on me because I gave that information... As I was expecting, I received my disconnect notice from National Grid on 7/16/13 even though it was dated 7/10/13 and if I didn't pay the entire overdue balance of almost $1,700 by 7/23/13 they would be disconnecting me. I faxed this to my case worker and left her a voice message.

Today, I get a call from National Grid wanting me to pay this money or I was scheduled to be disconnected on 7/25/13. I tried to explain to this gentleman about the financial statement that was holding up my case for temporary assistance and HEAP but he was very snotty telling me that they would gladly change any information AFTER 7/29/13 (4 days AFTER my power will be disconnected)!!!! He bluntly informed me that these rules are in place so people like me can't give info and then want to change that info in order to receive benefits!!!!! I asked to speak with a supervisor but was rudely told that a supervisor would not do anything either. Then I asked what would happen because Social Services had a copy of my disconnect notice - would I still be disconnected? He said that I was not speaking with social services and he didn't work for social services and pretty much hung up on me...

I am a 55-year-old woman that raised two daughters by myself. I have an LPN license and two degrees but cannot even get a job as a cashier in the local grocery store... I am currently going to college to get my RN so that I will NEVER be in this situation again!!! All my other creditors have made arrangements with me to give me time to catch up once I do start working in August... I have had nothing but trouble with National Grid since moving into this house back in 2002 - my first bill was over $700!!! I have been on a payment plan ever since that time because I have received bills for $1,200 for one month!!!! I have an old house but I disconnected the second fridge, unplugged everything that I wasn't using and brought it down somewhat but it stayed high because I worked from my home office for 9 years...

We are cold in the winter and we have to huddle around one window air con unit but I got my bill down to under $400/month on a budget plan... My oldest daughter moved to RI and my youngest has been in college for the past 3 years and having had my home office up and running for over a year... so my bill should be significantly lower but continue to spike more and more every month!!! They claim that their "new" meter is much more accurate than the old ones but how can that be when they drive by with their "scanners" to read a meter that is in my basement on the back end of the house????

When is someone going to step in and investigate this company????? The economy is in a bad shape and so many of us have lost our jobs and are or will be homeless because our homes are in foreclosure but National Grid doesn't care if it's 150 degrees. Unless you have a serious health problem they will disconnect you, me, the senior citizens, etc. who will certainly get very sick from this heat. What little food we have left will spoil... This BIG BUSINESS needs to be investigated!!!! Our entire state with exception of one small neighborhood with their own power supply is "owned" by National Grid - they have the monopoly and they are greedy, uncaring and some even nasty - they are only lining their own pockets while the rest of us get our power turned off!!!! We know that National Grid is overcharging their customers because the people that live in that small neighborhood I spoke about above - their bills are less than half of what a monthly National Grid Bill is!!!!!

But because of injury, I requested for my gas to be turned off until further notice as I was under treatment at that time, and was not able to be at the location temporarily. They told me to turn back the gas on it would cost me around $80 dollars for them to send someone to reopen the meter and so I agreed on their terms.

On June 2013, I requested for the gas to be turned on. Instead they came and removed the meter from my property without any notifications, then after one week I saw the gas contractor working and doing major works on all my street. When I asked the contractors they told me they where replacing the gas shutoff for new ones. I was fine to wait. But after they finished I called for my meter to be reinstalled, and when the gas personnel came and try to install my meter he found out that it was no gas coming to my line, and that it was cut off from the street. I called the National Grid to fix the problem, but they requested that I pay $500 for them to install again new line on my property when it was already done last year. Since that time they created thousands of excuses for them not to connect my line until I pay the amount.

I did consult anonymously with a National Grid employee, and told me that it was no reasons to cut the gas line from the street without reconnecting it, but to shut it off from the meter since the meter and the line coming to my property was fairly updated and new, and believes to be just a mistake by the contractor or supervisor of the area who is refusing to admit it. Until now I have no gas and not able to enjoy of taking shower or cooking or having families or friends. I feel strongly discriminated and unfairly treated. If they had any issues, at least they could have notified me and not disconnecting my meter and cut off my line, especially when I had no outstanding bills. Any help from you would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

I continuously kept calling for a final amount that I owe but they always said that it's in review. Then they said they had to send someone else out. I waited for that appointment a few weeks; someone did come and checked the meter. He said it then takes another full month for them to review the account and I should not pay anything yet. I kept calling and telling them that I cannot afford a huge bill at the end of the winter and I would like this to be cleared up asap. After a month I called again - and they said that it's STILL in review. I waited some more... In the meantime, my bills kept going higher for each month of usage. They still told me not to pay anything.

A few weeks ago, I received a bill and it stated that they will be turning off my gas for non-usage. I called and they still said that it's in review and I shouldn't pay and they will note the account not to turn off the gas since it's in review. Well, guess what? - They came and turned off the gas. I called today, June 25th, and demanded that the gas should be turned on TODAY. They said policy is they won't turn it on until I pay in full. AND - they finally told me that I was overcharged and gave me the right amount to pay. I told them I never got a bill with the correct amount and I will NOT pay until my gas is turned on. They will not do that. I asked to speak to a supervisor. They told me someone will call me back. I refused to get off the phone until I spoke with a supervisor - they said no. We were back and forth for a few minutes until THEY hung up on my. I am extremely angry and insist my gas be turned on TODAY!!

Now when they came, they had found a meter on my next store neighbor's house that was apparently not on record since 1987, then told me that because the paneling where my meter wasn't messed up or looked like it had been played with, that they don't think it had anything to do with me having a shared meter? So I said so why then when I did the breaker test did the whole building turn off and on. Is there any way they can turn the power on temporarily so they can witness it themselves? They said they wish they could but that's not how it works! Now all of a sudden, my bill for this month is normal at $280 total. I find it hard to believe that my bill dropped almost $600 if I wasn't connected to other people. They gated my neighbor's meter box and turned his power off, but yet he still has power. How?

I've borne witness to people on fixed incomes who have to choose between either paying their utilities or paying for their food (to sustain life) every month. Some even have their utility bill surpassing their actual house payment. What is up with that?! Answer me this, Grid. How can you justify charging a delivery payment that's actually higher than the amount used by a particular household every month?! Twist your answers to make it sound feasible but to the average Joe trying to keep up on payments, your math simply sucks.

I do recall just a few short years ago when we had a mild winter & Grid even had little fliers sent in their bills encouraging people to conserve energy at one time, when Grid raised their rates (again) because they were losing money (joke) from the mild winter & had to make up for the losses. So much for giving people incentive to conserve that when it happens naturally, they're punished because your National Greed cannot be kept in check. It's not an uncommon sight to see Grid workers driving around in very large company pickup trucks alone on their way home or doing personal errands with them; why not? The next chronic rate increase will cover it. This company needs to be investigated and at the very least audited or better yet, thrown right out of the country!

They made a deal with a neighbor and drove in on their land to the poles on my land and continued to make a mess. They cut one pole and broke it and threw it over the edge of a bridge trestle and then cut a tree down on my property at the river's edge which is my access to the part of the river that I own and cut off my access to my own property having cut down a tree that was over 2' in diameter and a hardwood that was on the river's edge to help hold the bank together. What a mess!

I've spoken with some landscaping companies and they have quoted that the damage incurred will be from $2600 - $4000 plus to fix. They've never returned my call or offered to fix the problem since they put the new poles in and left the mess.

There was also another issue which took 7 months to fix because they transposed numbers at a rental property even going so far as to send not one but two inspectors out, trying to bill 3 separate people and then trying to blame the electrician for the mistake when it was their inspectors and their internal glitch. They only made good on it when I turned them into the Better Business Bureau and now it looks like I have to turn them in for property damage.

You do not have to allow National Grid onto your land to service their poles that do not provide you power. And the fact that they've made a decision regarding a waterway and private property without asking when I went down and spoke with them personally about not making a mess and cleaning the mess they made up is sickening. National Grid needs to learn to treat people and their property with respect and, at the very least, clean up the mess they made.

My services were discontinued on April 16th. My documents were not received within a timely manner, as explained from National Grid. However, as acting within an issued 30-day time period, let it be established my services were ceased prematurely. Whether or not the correct time period was given to me to re-establish service, I was directed to submit a missing part of required documents. I submitted them that day after finally getting access to them. As they (National Grid) have received all required documents, approved of them and would return services upon receipt as noted. This information was relayed from Collections rep (Chris) on April 16th.

When trying to re-arrange return service, after documents were received by collections (Sam's dept), I was then told from a different rep, (Christopher) and others from Collections the payment plan was non-existing. After three days without service, I was temporarily reconnected with the exception order of a chronic medical condition, from my doctor. I spoke with Ryan (management) to whom I explained. His response was that they made a mistake establishing me a payment plan. He directed me to Consumer Appeal dept. On the 24th and 25th, I left messages with contact info with the Appeals dept. I also placed two orders/requests with Customer Service for Consumer Advocate Referral to contact me.

I have not received a response from either dept. I have been given conflicting and misrepresentation of information from Collections and Customer Service depts. When confirming directives from one rep, it would be presumed as false from another rep. I was noted the rep. (Collin **) who approved me on 25th of March 2013 and directed me to send the required financial statements was wrong. I am pleading for better quality of customer service and credibility from those appointed to customers. As such a secure and sensitive and accurate part service fails to be rendered to customers the majority of the time.

At our new home, we have one fridge, 2 TVs in the kids’ room and living room, and an electric stove. Now, can anyone explain how that uses over 3,000 kwh? When I called, they sent over a man to take a reading and the reading matched. I told him the numbers match because that is not the problem; it is the smart meter is not calibrated nor is it working properly. I need a new meter or need it recalibrated. He said they will call me.

Now I have a tortoise which we have a 125 W heat lamp on due to winter. They tried to tell me that was why it was so high. I told them I had a pet store with 60 fish tanks and reptile lights on all the time and it used close to 3,000 kwh. They told me I am not going to get a new meter nor am I’m going to get my bill lowered. Then they told me to have a nice day and hung up on me. I am looking for a lawyer now! I am tired of being ripped off by this monopoly of service we have to have, and they are the only company we can get it from!

Then, we called for an appointment to have our gas turned on and to have the pilot light lit. They gave us a 6-hour window from noon until 6 pm to wait in a freezing cold house (this was in December in New York) or wasting gas idling our car in the driveway. We called several times throughout the day to check on when they would come. When 6 pm came and went, we called them to hear that the representative assigned to our case was running late. We were never called or alerted in any way that they would miss the appointment window. We asked to speak with a supervisor and spoke with Allison who would not leave her extension or a last name or representative number with me. She said that the representative could come to the house up until 10:30 pm to service our house. We waited another 2 hours in the car and finally went into a neighbor's house for another half hour.

I called National Grid again and they assured us that they were still coming, but that we could leave a number and that they'd call us 15 minutes before the time they were set to arrive so that we could grab dinner. No call ever came. I called them again at 10:15 pm and a customer service representative could not locate our account for 10 minutes, searching for our LIPA account instead of National Grid when I kept repeating that we were calling about our gas service. She finally found it and said that a representative came to the house at 8:30 pm (which they did not because we were there).

When I questioned this, all she could tell me was that that was what the representative had entered into the system. Apparently, they can enter anything they want into the system. I asked to speak to a supervisor again, and preferably "Allison". She wasn't available. I was put on the line with another supervisor who could do nothing except field my questions with "I apologize (which is insincere, patronizing, unhelpful, doesn't solve anything, doesn't pay me back for my time, doesn't prevent the pipes from breaking due to the freezing cold)" and to put us in for another appointment window the next day from 7 am until noon. He could not guarantee that the representative would actually show up. He could not guarantee that we wouldn't waste another day waiting for nothing while our pipes freeze. He couldn't transfer us to a comments line, give us the regional manager, Timothy **'s business phone/email, transfer us up to any higher tier of customer support than himself (who is a glorified gripe-taker and appointment secretary).

So, that basically communicates to me that this company has little regard to customer support, is unreliable and flaky, makes statements that it cannot back up with actions, has an unbalanced workforce of unskilled appointment secretary versus skilled technicians that can turn on your gas, has a monopolistic power over its consumers in that it can turn off your gas on a whim and not turn it back on, does not endorse faith in its service, is uninterested in consumer relations or improving the way they do business.

National Grid had little interest in my helpful suggestion to print out professionally-printed bright yellow signs to place on the doors of house where the gas has been turned off, so that neighbors could alert people who are vacationing. They did not care to hear that National Grid should call their customers who are waiting for their 6-hour window appointments that they are going to be late for their window. They did not care to hear that they should hire more skilled workers that could actually help their customers rather than unskilled phone call takers who can only say "I apologize". Everything will stay completely unsatisfactory and unacceptable. National Grid simply does not value customer satisfaction.

After a half hour, I called National Grid back and spoke to another rep, to have someone come sooner or at least give me a time frame as to when they could come. I was told the same, that they didn't know, only that it would be sometime up until 12 midnight. I asked to speak to a manager and I was rudely told that "he will tell you the same thing." I was connected to Mr. Kevin ** who after explaining my plight to him, he abruptly told me that "they were on their way." An hour later, I called back and told Mr. ** that I was not feeling well and that my cell phone was losing power. I don't have a land line and I was unable to live in the house since the storm (no furnace)! He again reassured me abruptly that, "They were on their way," and he repeated all my demographic info. Finally, after sitting in my clothes, coat, hat, gloves, scarf, I called again and spoke to Mr. ** (4 hours later!) and only 20% cell power left. He informed me that no one would be coming tonight and there was nothing he could do about it!

I started yelling at him and asked him why he kept promising me and then did not have the decency to call me and tell me that no one could come. He kept saying there was nothing he could do about it and even started to tell me about other customers that are "worse off" than me and that have lost their homes! I didn't need that attitude from him, it certainly didn't help me. What kind of training do these guys get? I live in Zone A directly across the street from Midland Beach! And why didn't National Grid notify me about the regulator change? I could have made arrangements. Now, I have to miss a wake tonight to again wait for his promise of someone coming to turn on the gas tonight between 4-8pm!

Today, NGrid finally showed up to reconnect us, but I was told they would not be able to connect us because we needed an electrician. I explained our situation and the words of the assessor to 3 levels of employees and it was useless. They would not take ownership of the words of their assessor. I had to get an electrician and a wire inspector to come out last minute. National Grid had a lot of repairs to take care of, but they should have honored the mistake by their employee. Still in the dark!

According to my bank information, National Grid took their money on October 10th. The next morning, Wednesday, October 11th, I phoned National Grid to inform them that according to BVCAP, once 10% is paid, I would get my gas turned back on and that BVCAP also had informed them that I was on the Henry Shelton Forgiveness Act Program as well as that the 10% had my bank records showed that they had been paid to them the previous day, so they needed to restore my service again. I was told that someone would be sent out the following day.

The following day came and went and no one showed up. When I called again, I was told someone would be out Monday, October 15th. Once again, Monday came and went and no one showed up. Each time I call, I am told someone would be out the following day. We are nearly into a week now since I first called to have services restored and I am still without heat or a shower.

Original Review: Oct. 3, 2012

Seeing as though I have 7 months of history to go over, this entry may be rather long. I apologize upfront - grab a cup of coffee or tea and get ready for a really frustrating story.

Early last March (2012), my oil furnace began leaking and quickly gave out. I bought the house at the end of 2009. It turns out there was a warranty on the furnace, but only for the original owner. So, it was going to cost an estimated $5,000 just for a new furnace - after the required chimney work and labor, the estimate rose somewhere north of $8,000. I checked out National Grid's gas conversion rebate offers and realized I would save a lot of money if I went the natural gas route. A plumber pointed out that I already had a capped off line in my basement - I've had a few plumbers out for 2nd and 3rd opinions and all of them asked why National Grid wouldn't just reactivate the line. National Grid claims they have to do the entire dig process over again and set a new line regardless of whether another exists.

Anyway, I called National Grid to ask about converting and was told they cannot request a permit until 6 weeks after the first week of May (Why can't they just say mid-June?). I balked at the idea - I had no heat and was told the hot water situation would most likely be temporary. The furnace was leaking and it could very likely burst if not replaced soon. So, the rep told me to apply for the "Hardship Permit". Now, I don't know if the "Hardship Permit" is a concept he made up at that very moment on the phone with me, but 7 months later, it sure feels like it was.

So here's the long and short of the "Hardship Permit" - you fill out an application, write a Hardship letter basically begging for an early permit to dig, send a check for $500 for the permit and a check for the cost of the furnace. I did all that over the next day or so and sent it back to the David ** and Kerrie ** (going forward I would only be dealing with Kerrie **). So this all happened in early March.

On Monday, 4/9/12, I kept reaching out every few weeks and asking for updates and was consistently told "no word yet"... On the week of Monday, 5/28/12, and Friday, 6/1/12, I got a voice mail from a representative at National Grid who just wanted to let me know they submitted my permit request ... that day, three months after I submitted the hardship request. What was all the "no word yet" about then? They hadn't even bothered submitting my paperwork to the town until June. I was sitting there with no heat and a sketchy hot water situation for 3 months and they didn't even lift a finger till June?

On Wednesday, 6/6/12, after chewing on my situation for a few days, I emailed Kerrie to let her know about the voice mail. My main intent was to "nicely" let her know that I now knew she lied and never submitted the permit request early like she claimed. I also decided that I didn't want to purchase the furnace upfront like they required because this lack of organization and professionalism just struck me as bad news. I had a feeling the permit would be denied and I'd be stuck with a furnace I couldn't use. And if the "Hardship Permit" process was this protracted and frustrating, I could only imagine how difficult it would be to return a furnace to them!

I told her to hold off on ordering the furnace. I said I was doing work around the house and planned to install the furnace in September, before it got too chilly. I wasn't technically lying either - I just didn't come out and say, "Gee, you keep bungling this whole process. I don't think I want to put a couple grand out there for a potentially useless furnace I might get stuck with." I was trying to be diplomatic. Minutes after I sent that email, I had a weird feeling that I better write back and let her know to keep on with the permit process. The way they were messing everything up, I had a feeling she would go and cancel the request on me because I was holding off on buying the furnace. I shot off another quick message to that effect - I also said that if for some reason the dig could not be done separate from the installation of the furnace, then I wanted to shoot for September for both.

On Thursday, 6/7/12, Kerrie responded, "That is fine. You have up until 6 months to complete your gas conversion. I would have the gas line installed and talk to your plumber about waiting until September for the actual conversion." I responded to ask if they would hold on to my original check for the furnace or if I needed to send a new one when I ordered the furnace in September. She never responded.

In mid-July 2012, Kerrie ** called and let me know my town denied the permit. Then she asked, "Do you want me to submit your Hardship request now?" I just sat there in total awe. What do you mean, submit my Hardship request now? Wasn't she supposed to have already submitted that way back in March? So, they sat on my application for 3 months, only to submit it as a general request in June. So why did they have me go through the Hardship request process if they were simply going to toss that aside and treat me like a regular conversion case? I basically bit my inner lip and said, "Yes, go ahead and submit the Hardship request, thank you." What else can you do at that point?

On Thursday, 8/9/12, I emailed Kerrie again asking for an update. You see, she never calls to let you know where you are in the process. You have to email and call and email and call like a professional stalker before she'll acknowledge your existence. I emailed for yet another update. On Saturday, 8/11/12, Kerrie finally responded with, "Unfortunately, the town has denied the permit." I wonder how long she knew this before she decided to share it with me.

I reached out to my town and told the Superintendent about my problem. His main issue was my road had been paved within the past two years - and from what I gather from what I've read about National Grid, a lot of towns are pretty displeased about how they tear up the road and then leave an ugly patch behind them. So, I think he was understandably hesitant to approve the permit.

On Friday, 9/14/12, after a few weeks of talking, the Superintendent said he would reconsider the permit if a rep from National Grid would come out and show him where they intended to dig. I immediately called and emailed Kerrie to let her know - sent her his contact info and all. I never heard from her; he never heard from her. Kerrie really is the consummate professional. He eventually reached out to his own contact and set up the meeting himself.

On Friday, 9/21/12, the superintendent approved the permit. He said he would call his contact and let them know, and he told me to call Kerrie on my end to let her know. I was thrilled. Kerrie told me I had to send the check for the cost of the dig and repave ($2,100) - originally I was only going to be charged the cost of the dig ($500), but the Superintendent wanted to ensure that National Grid repaved the road nicely, and National Grid decided to push that cost ($1,600) back on me. I was a little miffed that after all of their shenanigans, they had the nerve to expect me to pay that extra cost. They should have taken a consumer-valued approach and waived it (IMO) but I just wanted to get this over with already. It was over 6 months since I applied at that point. During this conversation, Kerrie informed me they (let's be honest, she) lost my original paperwork. So I had to resubmit it. I saved the email I sent the original paperwork to her, so I was able to forward it back to her. I also sent out the check.

On Monday, 10/1/12, I still hadn't heard anything from National Grid. I should be used to this by now, I know. But it has been getting colder and colder, and I have long since even had the use of hot water in my home. So, I called Kerri and left a voice message asking for an update - when are they coming out? Since I know Kerrie has a habit of never responding, I also called the marketing and sales line to ask when my dig was scheduled. To my great aggravation, the rep said I was not on the calendar and then he followed up with, "Did you submit an application yet?" - another moment where you just bite your inner lip and try to remain calm. I informed him that I had indeed submitted my application, now 7 months ago. I told him my story and he said he was sending a message off to Kerrie to have her call me.

Yesterday, 10/2/12, Kerri called me back. She had a rather cheery tone to her so I figured it would be good news. No, it wasn't. She said since my permit was denied, my application had to go back to the beginning of the process. I said that didn't make sense. The Superintendent already called them on 9/21/12 and gave the permit the go ahead. Why would they go back to the beginning and resubmit it? She said she had taken me out of rotation after it was denied. So, I reminded her that I was a Hardship request, and that supposedly that meant that my application was supposed to go through an expedited process. She became annoyed and informed me that they had "other jobs to do". She said they were so busy, she couldn't even guarantee that they would get to me in 6 weeks (which will be mid-November, mind you). She also accused me of having tried to cancel the permit request - remember my email string from June 6th?

I told you I had a feeling she'd take that and try to twist it up some way! I quickly let her know that I saved every email between the two of us and that she was flat out lying. When I became upset (yes, I raised my voice - after 7 months of this I think I've earned the right) she had the gall to declare, "Well, Shannon, you've been without heat and hot water since March anyway"... as if to say, "Gee Shannon why are you so angry - shouldn't you be used to living like a Pilgrim by now?"

To give you an idea of what it's like not to have heat or hot water - first of all, outside of summer, it's really cold at night in Massachusetts. Second, try actually getting anything clean - your dishes, you, anything - without hot water. My son and I have to boil water each morning to wash ourselves. Every once in a while, I take a bath. I fill the tub 1/4 of the way with cold water, then boil water 3 to 4 times in one of those huge lobster pots - it takes 45 minutes for each pot to boil - so taking a bath has become a 3-hour process. To top it off, in order to stay warm, we have to run a bunch of electric heaters. I have National Grid for electric. Do you think during any of this time (during the colder months), they would offer me some sort of discount to offset the inconvenience of their process? No! As a matter of fact, when I mentioned my rising electric costs to a rep, she said all indignantly, "That's not our problem!"

At the end of our conversation, Kerrie let me know she would do me a favor and honor the price of the unit I had applied for back in March - isn't that so kind of her? After all of this mess, she's going to honor the price of the unit I selected way back in March, a unit I haven't purchased to date because she sat on my application for 3 months, creating this protracted process. If she had submitted the Hardship request back in March like she was supposed to, this would have all be handled months ago and I'd have the unit installed by now. It's amazing that she actually thinks she's doing me any favors at this point. Bottom line, they better honor the price. This mess was all their doing, not mine.

So, I informed Kerrie that I was going to file a complaint against National Grid if they did not place me on the calendar immediately. She basically shrugged me off like big deal, have fun. I emailed my Congressman, emailed Hank Phillipi Ryan, and am now submitting this post to forewarn others of what may be in store for you if you attempt a gas conversion with National Grid. I am mulling going to court and getting an injunction to force them to do the work but by the time I get a court date, they will probably have me on the calendar (I hope). I just really don't know what to do in that respect. I heard back from an aide in the Congressman's office yesterday, and he said he'd look into this matter and see what he could do for me, if anything. I appreciate that either way. At least, someone cares enough to look into it. Hopefully, if I can put enough pressure on the company, they will finally get out here and connect me to the street so I can get some heat and hot water back in my home. After all these months, is that really so much to ask?

I called a representative on August 28 at 7:00AM on my way in to work. She was not helpful in explaining this bill to me other than telling me that for the past two years, my bill had been estimated and this was the bill for the difference. I was clearly upset, and she had no sympathy or understanding of the poor financial situation I was being put in with this large bill. I inquired more about how this happened and why it was not resolved sooner. She could not or did not want to answer this. She tried a supervisor, and I was told they were busy.

I requested a call back before I got into work at 8:30 AM. She said she could not guarantee this. I asked if I could receive a call back by the end of the day, and again, she could not guarantee this. Frustrated, I left my work number (the best to reach me) and told her it was ridiculous that I must guarantee this $500 payment but no one could get back to me today. I hung up.

Today is Friday, August 31, and I still have not heard from a supervisor. I called back again and spoke to a woman named Linda. Linda is the epitome of excellent customer service. She took the time to explain why my meter was only read at an estimated value for the past two years, that this should not have taken this long to fix, that I should have been notified that something needed to be fixed, and that it is incredibly frustrating that I am now responsible for the $500 bill. These were the issues I was looking for answers to from the first rep and a supervisor. Again, I was clearly upset, especially since I had not heard from a supervisor in 3 days after my request.

When I spoke with her, she stated that a notice of the need for service to the meter/electronic reading gauge should have been sent to me but it could have been sent to my landlord. I stated that I am 100% positive that in the past year, I had not received a notice. If I did, it would have been in 2010 and I would have promptly given it to my landlord, as I have no ability to authorize any type of change to his property.

This is not the first major issue I have had with National Grid services. I honestly wish there was another provider that I could switch to. I have worked in the service industry for years in many capacities and feel that besides Linda, I have never come across a company with such poor customer relations. Currently on customeraffairs.com, there are 126 reviews of National grid with 91% being of a 1-star rating (the lowest). You would think that with this type of customer rating, you would be trying to improve your model.

Today, I will be adding another rating to this website and any place else that will allow it. Unfortunately in RI, you are the only option for me and your company will continue to provide horrible customer service with even worse communications. I am sickened that a company like you still exists. You should give Linda a raise, since she is clearly the only person in your business who actually has care and respect for the people she serves.

On August 7th, I made a trip to the house to drop off a car full of belongings and left for another week. I did not return to the property until August 14th. At which point, I still had not yet received a notarized copy of the lease. On August 14th, a National Grid employee showed up, shut off my gas because it wasn't in anyone's name, but I informed him that I had put the utilities into my name the previous week so he left and returned maybe 10 minutes later saying that National Grid hadn't received a notarized copy of the lease yet and that's why he was there to shut off the gas. This employee left without disabling services. At this point, there was absolutely nothing I could do until the following week because I would be nowhere near RI and was not going to make a special trip just to pick up the lease. I had no idea dealing with National Grid would be this difficult. If I had, a special 3 to 4 hour round trip at 8 months pregnant, in the middle of August in a car with no A/C would have been well worth a special trip just to get the lease and end this.

On Monday the 20th, I arrived in Pawtucket with plans to occupy my new residence full-time. It was nearly midnight by the time I arrived and found that my landlord had left a notarized copy of the lease on my kitchen counter just as he promised he would. At this point, it was long after business hours and there was nothing I could do until the following day. On Tuesday the 20th, I woke up to no electricity without ever receiving any sort of notice or so much as a knock on the door. I immediately called National Grid and they told me that the soonest they would be able to turn the power back on would be Thursday the 23rd. No one came on Thursday so I called again and they told me Friday, the 24th. Again, no one came on Friday and they told me Monday the 27th. It is now Monday the 27th and I just hung up with yet another National Grid representative who told me that on Friday there was no order sent through because I hung up on them. On Friday, I told the woman that I spoke with that my phone was going to die and it did, but only after I assured them once again that my breaker was indeed off, but even when flipped on, I still had no power.

After all of the hardships that come with going 6 days without electricity, I draw a line at being accused of hanging up on them. That accusation is completely out of line and uncalled for considering that every time I have called them, I have been distressed and have practically had to beg them to reconnect my electricity. Even if I had hung up out of frustration, that is still no excuse for not sending someone out when I have done everything they have asked of me and yet they still have not reactivated my electricity despite my call every single day with the same questions and complaints. What is most upsetting about this situation is that I do not owe them any money whatsoever. In fact, I have yet to even receive a bill, yet my services have been disconnected and remained so for nearly a week now. Every time I have called them, the employees that I have spoken with have been rude, uninformed and completely unhelpful causing me to lose my temper.

Nothing about this situation seems right or ethical. They should not be allowed to treat customers this way simply because they can and we have nowhere else to go. I have done nothing wrong here. I owe them no money. I did what I was supposed to do to the absolute best of my ability and yet I am still without power and my residence which I pay for is pretty much useless considering I am unable to store food in the fridge/freeze, turn on lights for my midnight trips to the bathroom, charge my phone and so on. Moving is a pain enough as it is. Moving this late in a pregnancy is even harder, especially coming from out of state. It is not my fault that they failed to shut off the utilities after the previous tenant moved out, yet I am the one being punished despite the fact that being without power for such a long time and having to deal with this much added stress is not safe for me this late in pregnancy and they could not care less. Nothing about this situation has felt right. There must be something that can be done to remedy this situation.

Getting back to National Grid, when I moved in, the rent included all utilities until he met that thing he married - and believe me, she loved his money. The only thing he did ever in our apartment was disconnect the wires from the upstairs apartment. We had carbon monoxide twice and he wanted the man that came to fix or try and fix the furnace to leave the furnace on. The man said no way - the serviceman and owner of the company had to red flag the furnace. Then, he put a salamander in the cellar. I didn't know how dangerous it is but I was getting sick so I turned it off.

Again, I had very high levels of carbon monoxide. The very first time after the slumlord had meters put in for all apartments, we discovered cellar lights and the shared washer and dryer which he collected the money from was on my bill. I called National Grid - they didn't notify me that they were coming out to check it out. The landlord and his wife were in the driveway for a very long time. They lied and said they were waiting for the water company to come because the water bill was so high. Then, my sister and I were walking down the street and saw a National Grid van go by so we watched. It turned down our street so we went back. The slumlord wasn't even showing him the things that was on my meter so I did. The slumlord tried to say that the washing machine was on his and not mine. Well, I guess he wasn't telling the truth.

Then, last April, I went in the cellar and, don't ask me why, I noticed that someone was totally hooked into my breaker box - every wire that went to that apartment. So my mistake was that I called the slumlord and didn't call the police. What a mistake. I sent a message on National Grid's website requesting they send someone out the next day, Monday, which never happened. Those people that lived in the upstairs apartment had electric heat, and stove, plus a huge electric heater. She vacuumed every day. She was on welfare, collecting $600 a month in food stamps. But when the wiring was disconnected, they had a fit. Begging everyone to let them use a lead cord to have some electricity. A meter lady came a few days later and I spoke to her. National Grid knew that no bill was going there and that they had electric.

I sent them several messages stating who resided there before they moved in so how hard is it to look at the records to show when the meter was shut off. I also called and so did my sister and the customer rep was very rude to my sister. I have also sent letter after letter to them with not one response back from National Grid. They just do not want to lose money. It is their fault and they should be held reliable along with the slumlord who didn't pay a mortgage for over 3 years but collected rent every third of each month. He would knock on the door to collect it. That is the only time he was ever seen. He never repaired anything, just collected the rent and didn't pay the mortgage.

Last year, when I was served the foreclosure papers, he had told the bank I was the only tenant in the building. That was an outright lie - all the apartments were rented together with the 3 tenants who lived there for over 4 to 5 years. So since National Grid has done nothing about this matter, they will have to soak up the money from the other tenants. They certainly had plenty of warnings. Can't they read or do they just throw away those complaints? As each letter, website message and phone call told them exactly who lived there and when.

I have rare cancer and live on very limited income but my bill is always paid on time. Oftentimes, I didn't have food but my bills were paid. I am very angry that they would do this to a very sick man when they have had repeated statements that could be proven. I do have pictures of this. Also, when I moved and my lights were shut out, the slumlord's outside lights, porch light, hall light, and hot water that were supposed to provide to apartments 1 and 3, they were no longer on. So this proves that his lights were hooked into mine also. What a slumlord to do this to a sick man.

Also, National Grid should be held and they will have to take that off my bill as it was not mine. I pay for my bills but I will be damned if I will pay for someone else's. So National Grid, I am putting you on notice. I will file a civil suit against your company as you ignored all of my pleas for you to straighten this matter out. You have done nothing and it is over a year later. Also, on your website for people who steal electric, it's a complete joke. You can only type like 50 words. I will no longer allow you to disregard the way this was handled or should I say, not handled. You are the one responsible for this matter to drag on. You have done absolutely nothing about it.

So now, even if it takes the rest of my life, I will make sure this matter is straighten out and you will have to suck up the monies that the other people owe you. I do not owe it. Get it through your head. It was against the law for them to steal my electric and I have pictures of it. So you will correct this situation and I demand prosecution to the individual who hooked the entire electric in their apartment into my breaker box. Not only did they steal lights, they also stole cable, which was investigated and the person who did so got into trouble. The cops do know that all of this happened.

My son and sister lived with me on and off. My sister still does live with me at times when I am real ill. National Grid, you are being put on notice. I will not play your games. You have had more than enough time to figure this out yet you dragged your feet. This is discrimination towards a very ill man. So you better start figuring out that I should only owe you about $200.00. This is your problem and I will sue for discrimination and putting a very sick man through all of this aggravation. Take notice, National Grid.

Therefore, I learned when I returned home that Grid had already appeared, and cut my service. I called the customer service number again, and was told I would have to clear the entire balance - over $650 - before service would be reestablished. I explained my financial circumstances (certainly they are aware, since I was on the payment agreement), but they were unrelenting. I would note that I did pay the balance, by phone, utilizing the rent money for this next month. That $650 is not readily replaceable in my situation - so I may now be evicted if I am unable to come up with the $1050 due in rent at the end of this week. I spoke with a supervisor, who ultimately acknowledged that they are at fault, because the surly rep I spoke with is not in the Collections Dept., and is not authorized to make representations regarding what is or is not owed, and I should have been transferred to the appropriate department personnel who, in turn, should have advised me that the actual amount due - $79 - could be paid by phone.

My family and I are on gluten-free diets, the food for which is very expensive, and I could not afford to replace the bread, etc. in my freezer, so really, there was no choice but to pay. While I no longer owe them any money, it doesn't mean much if my children and I are living in our car. To add further insult, the clown who finally showed up was leering at me, and making wise-ass comments! Does it not occur to these morons that even on a payment plan, my utility payments is equal to their paychecks, their 401k, their mortgage, etc.? Why is Grid allowed a monopoly in my area (upstate NY)? Why are they allowed 24 hours to restore power, when they all have cell phones, laptops, etc. and it certainly doesn't take them 24 hours to cut your power? These guys drive around on a power trip (no pun intended), enjoying the bonus they'll receive for successfully completing their "cut-outs" for the day.

Now, here it is, 8:23pm on Thursday, May 24, and I'm still waiting for them since yesterday to turn my gas back on (which according to them was turned off in February by the former company I live under) but service was removed until the 22. I wake up to this ** trying to cook breakfast for my family, which is another reason why I'm pissed. I have a wife and a 3 year old son and I can't ** cook everything isn't microwaveable and I'm not made of money. I can't just go and buy something to cook.

I was told someone would come out yesterday before 11pm. They called at midnight saying they were here which was a no go because my super in my building was not having it. He said no to opening the door to the basement which I told them would be an issue if it was after 11. I was assured it would be before that, yet it wasn't. So here we go again, today as previously stated, it’s after 8pm and still no one has come and the super once again said after 11 he's not doing it. So this is beyond ** up not to mention they said someone would be here today before 1pm.

If anyone comes by to relocate your meter, chase them away. The third party has no interest in you because they get paid by National Grid. You are going to be stuck with whatever is left behind. National Grid should be National Crap.

Meanwhile, the man took some kind of tool and banged it on the electric box 7 times and said, "This will wake them up." What the ** kind of professionalism is this? Is this what you train your people to do? Play with kids' toys on other people's property and then the other damages it? My husband ended up at the ER because of his panic and anxiety. My husband has a broken neck, from building the Buffalo International Airport that you people use everyday. And now that he can't work, he's behind on his bills and he gets treated like this? For some two stupid turn of people? Big deal. That's a hard job, anyone can get trained for that! Try building an airport! Anyway, this is not about that. It's about the fact that your people are very disrespectful towards other people. Oh and by the way, my husband is also a veteran. I just can not believe this. What's going to come out of this? Nothing! Unbelievable!

I contacted all of my political representatives and was told they have no control over a private company. Whatever happened to public utilities going private and our government has no control over a public utility? In fact, National Grid is not even an American company at all, it's a UK-based company. What can be done to receive equal treatment like my neighbors enjoy from our private gas utility provider?

When I explained that the house had caught on fire last year and that perhaps there was a problem with the meter due to the fire, I was completely dismissed by Rita. At no time did anyone say that they were sorry that I was told by the first representative that I could request someone to come out and check my meter. I would like someone from National Grid to contact me regarding this and want to lodge a complaint against them for not properly addressing my issue.

I am not the property owner, and by the stipulation in my lease, I do not have permission to access any part of the building, except my apartment. After explaining this twice to National Grid, I was told that it is not the landlord's responsibility to grant access to the building, rather, it is the tenant's responsibility. I have asked them why they don't work this out with the landlord, but they refused to answer this question. Even though my landlord has contacted them to work out meter readings, they still claim they cannot access the building and that I am responsible for this task. Please advise me on my rights and any course of action I can take against National Grid.

But due to the fact that the WIC was not in his name, they would not count that either. And because his card doesn’t not say MassHealth on it, they will not honor that as a way to change the rates to low-income. So now in March, after many faxes and tons of calls, I faxed over the WIC cards with both our names and they stated they could not read them. So I mailed it to them. Still no rate change as of today. I am so upset and frustrated with them. We should be under the low-income rates and they don’t want to change the rates. I was also informed that if the rate is finally changed, they will not credit back all of these months. I don’t know who to contact or what to do. And for proof of address, you need a major bill with your name on it so that is why one bill is in his name and one is in my name. If we were married, this would not have happened. It’s so wrong.

I did this, only to find out at 4:14pm that there was another number with the 716 area code. The information was faxed over, and then I was on the phone for another day, verifying that the information was received and trying to prove that the house I am living in is a residence and not a business one.

I actually got in to arguments with reps, because they didn't want to put a supervisor on the line. I was given a time when someone was supposed to come and turn on my services, and I was lied to more than once. My breakers had been off for days. I reside in Buffalo, NY where the weather doesn't get much colder than this, and I also made it clear that I have 2 children and that it would be neglect and abuse for me to take them into my house.

I was given another date of Friday and that it would be late but done. I got off work (11:50pm), picked my children up, and went home, only to find that my power was not on and which left me no choice but to check my self and my children into a hotel for 3 days. I had no services which in turn led to my gas being affected because it's electric and my security system for my home to not be on as well. So my home was open to anyone who wanted to break in, because I would not have known nor would the alarm company.

The yellow tag that was in the plastic casing was still in the casing hanging from the electric box, which means that the services were not turned on nor did anyone come to do it. it was so cold in my house that when my services were finally cut on yesterday, 3/05/12, my freezer food was still good. It has been 30's and lower here and that means that my house was even colder because it was a contained cold.

And when I did speak with a female Supervisor who called me yesterday at 8:59am to let me know that my services were on, she was more concerned with the original date of me calling than about my services. I really don't appreciate that. I need to speak or correspond with someone who can let me know about being reimbursed for my hotel stay and about the amount of my services that I will be billed.

I have never been treated this way by any customer service-oriented business that had to bring me out of my character as this one has. I was the very definition of an Irate customer, because through out all the transfers, different reps, different answers, hold times, days waiting, and days freezing, I had no choice but to bundle up and face it. I was very unhappy and just plain upset.

This is my house, where I pay bills and rent, so I'm imposing my self and my children on others who do not leave room for options. I am a single parent of 2 and have no extra money for staying in hotels nor room for not having utilities not being on. I could not take my children into my house for more than 5 minutes just to pack things. I hope someone takes this as seriously as I am.

Each time I call National Grid, I get no answers. They tell me to look online. They also have not warned us our bill was going to skyrocket. Anyone I talk to in town has the same complaint, and I'm not sure if we can afford to pay our National Grid bill or eat this month. Thanks for nothing, you worthless company. You should be ashamed of how you treat your customers.

I have had to stay at a motel, because I can not take the cold in my house. My doctor has faxed and faxed paper after paper, explaining my need for the power to be kept on. After speaking with a supervisor at National Grid, they said they could do nothing for me. They wanted a diagnosis on the paper work the doctor sent in. My doctor told them it was against HIPPA regulations to put that on the paper. My doctor called National Grid, and spoke with them, and got nowhere!

I went to HEAP, and they were of some help. They offered $250, and I had to come up with another $250, and my power might be turned on in 24 hours. I guess I won't be able to feed my family, or purchase medicine that I need. I can't pay on the back bill, if my bill is continually high. This has been the most degrading situation for me. My doctor wanted to admit me to the hospital, due to my health state, after trying to get my power back on. I have asked him to not put me in the hospital. I am trying to get healthy, but it is a long road. I just don't feel this is fair on National Grid's part, when I have a letter of medical necessity sent to them every month. The lady on the phone said they did not have a letter since January 2012. It's February. The necessity has not changed. My financial situation has not changed.

My income tax I received this year has gone to my vehicle, so my husband has a vehicle to get back and forth to work. There just is not any other money to give National Grid, and I feel that someone there should be able to take care of this situation. Are they that heartless? I guess so. I have paid and paid and paid, and the bills keep coming in higher and higher and higher. I can't win. I would just like my power to be able to stay on.

I am absolutely shocked that the only major utility provider in the area is allowed to limit customer access to their own information for such massive amounts of time. After two weeks of trying to pay our bill online, it is due today and will probably be late. Why? Because not even the customer service contact information for the county in which I live is accessible online. I cannot even call this company to pay my bill in a timely fashion. Note that it was up over the weekend, but we couldn't speak to someone who could take our payment because they were all off over the weekend. I've learned my lesson: we have un-enrolled in paperless billing and will mail a check from now on. Yet, I reiterate my assertion that claiming to provide online services but clearly not doing so is fraud for which National Grid should be disciplined.

For supplying the electricity Supply, Merchant Function, ESRM and yet again sales tax. I have purchased an energy star fridge in the last year and my bill seems to have increased. At $153 for delivery and $121 for supply, how does anyone expect that a family of four (my husband, myself and our children ages 5 and 3), in today's economy can afford to heat their home after paying their electricity bill, that's $274 a month! What can I do?

The workers at National Grid assured me it's computer generated only to a chosen few customers and is not costing me any money. Everything a company does is passed down to the consumer. I can afford to pay my bill but for the thousands who can't, this is an outrage. I would like to know how to find out how much this is costing national grid to produce so people who have no choice to use their monopoly for electricity can know what they are paying for.

I did not want to feel that I was an over user or a person that would waste electricity so I shut off some interior and outside lights. I did manage to save about $10 over a two-month period. This $10 savings has cost me thousands of dollars! How? The robbers came in the dark several times to take what they wanted. I think sending out a notice of usage has made this happen.

If you have complaints, call the PUC and complain loudly; that way they will hear you. When I left in 2000, you could easily pay your bill online; but it’s no longer the case. In fact, you have to pay $2.25 to vendor to cover costs. I couldn't believe it when I was told the only free way is by mail or certain businesses that take payment.

I should call National Grid to obtain a claim form and ask for a refund. I can’t understand that around 11 pm and after so many phone calls I am being told that no one can help me. Even though this problem is caused by the company, I have to run around and try to get it fixed. What kind of a service is that! I was also told that the contractor is not a National Grid employee what difference does that make. National Grid hired this firm and now they don’t want to be responsible for it. I have no heat. National Grid, a gas supplying, firm cannot supply me with heat and don’t have the capability to help fix their mistake. I am being told that I am on my own. What kind of service is that! But I bet my bill will show up on time.

After a few hours of no one showing up, I called them and was told someone will show up. Now it was 9:30 p.m. After the fifth phone call, I was told that they will send me a complaint form. They cannot do anything and that I need to get a plumber to fix their mistake. Now I have no heat, and the company that caused this is not even willing to own up to their mistake and send someone to help me. But I bet my bill will be here on time.

After having this explained to me, I was told the earliest day that gas could be restored would be the following Wednesday, November 16th. I was told National Grid did not consider my gas shutoff an emergency. And they would treat the gas restoration as a new service request, even though I have no heat and hot water, and have been in the residence for several months. I requested to speak with a supervisor, but was told there were none available. I requested for a supervisor to call me, and after 2 days, I had not received the requested call. I called National Grid again on Saturday, November 12th and again was told there were no supervisors available to talk to. I informed the person I was talking with that I was without heat and hot water. They told me they would put in a second request for a supervisor to call me.

Today is Monday, November 14th, and I still have yet to receive a call from National Grid. I made another call today, and again was told supervisors were busy but they would put another request in the system for someone to call me. I asked for confirmation that my service would be restored on Wednesday, November 16th, as I was told last week. I was now informed that since I made a request to talk with a supervisor, they put a hold on the restoration of service. And now the earliest day they can turn my gas back on is Wednesday, November 23rd, 10 days from today! This means National Grid is going to have me without any heat for 13 days before they are willing to turn my gas back on. They put a third request in their system for a supervisor to contact me. I really don't know what to do at this point. I'm not sure this is the correct route to submit a complaint, but I am really looking for some help and visibility on this. It's not right what they are doing. The temperatures often drop down below 32 degrees, and I am unable to shower due to no hot water. Can you help?

I faxed the letter on 11/5, and on 11/7, I called to set up an appointment to have our gas turned on. The next available appointment was on 11/9. On 11/9, a technician came to turn on our gas and discovered that our landlord's hot water heater and gas pipes had a leak to our unit, so he could not turn them on. He said to call back as soon as it was repaired and that someone would come right out to turn it on. On 11/10, this was repaired and I called to set up another appointment. The next available appointment was on 11/21.

We will have had no hot water or gas for cooking in close to 1 month, despite having broken no rules and owing no money to this company. We cannot bathe, effectively clean dishes, or cook. The two customer service representatives I spoke to about this ("Joyce" and "Michelle") were rude and dismissive. They basically said this was their service and I had to take it, since there's no other option. Their tone of voice was condescending and apathetic, and they refused to offer any other solutions. Furthermore, when I asked Joyce to speak to her supervisor, she said she would have one call me, but I never received a call. Because National Grid has a monopoly on gas service, they know they can treat me or any other customer as badly as they want and we have no other option but to take it

I had just restocked the fridge with 200 dollars worth of groceries after throwing them out in October. And I was worried sick that we would lose the food again. The house was thrown into chaos. My wife and kids were crying. I'm speechless to how such a big company could stoop so low and not care. This is exactly what’s wrong with corporate America. There is no customer service, no care, and no consequences. I could go on and on about the people I spoke to from NG, but I don’t believe anything will be done.

I was told the following morning that we were next on list to be serviced. If no one showed up by 10:30 AM, I was told to call back but they still did not show! I called were told they were coming. It's 12 in the afternoon so I called back again and she told me it's an all day appointment that they can come anytime till midnight.

So I asked to speak to a supervisor and she told me they were busy and they will call me back. It's almost 1 pm in the afternoon and they did not show nor called and no service. What the hell are they doing? You want me to rate the experience my rating is ... I can't say but it involves no stars at all. I tell you to whom it concerns if I was a new service you would have been here by now! You have my money and my kids are cold. Thank you so much.

I contacted National Grid again by phone & email and I got a bill in August and paid it. Everything was fine. However, when I got home last night October 12, we have no power. I called them and they told me it was shut off due to the fact that they had no one listed as residing at the address. This makes no sense whatsoever because I had already contacted them 3 times in this regard and paid a bill. They informed me last night that they will not send someone out to turn my power back on until Friday. My food has already gone bad and not to mention, I have children that need to eat. They just didn't care about this at all. They would not send someone out today, October 13. They are literally making me wait another 24 hours. This is unacceptable to me and completely unfair. This is an error on National Grid's part - not mine!

I was not happy, but I cannot afford a lawyer to look at this, but how can you owe $1,000.00 and if it increases, we all know that they will shut you down if your bills are not paid. You need to pay the full amount.

I would love to invest in this company. I believe that they are not right on this and are unfair, but I cannot catch them on what they are doing. Please, someone make sense of this company that continues to take from the poor and give to themselves. I would have paid $120 a year for 8 years on the original bill of $1,000.00, so that's $960 of that bill should have been paid. Why is it almost over $3,500 as added by someone? Investigate this for the less unfortunate. Thank you.

I am on fixed income and even though my income is not increasing, everything else is and there seems to be no end in sight or explanation for all of it. This country should better start taking care of its regular citizens and stop padding their own pockets and the pockets of utility companies, oil companies, insurance companies, banks, Wall Street and all the public employees that get so many free perks at the expense of the taxpayers. Where will this complaint go and will there ever be any response to it?

I was left with no oven or heat. When I called to have them come back, I was told that I had to purchase service contract to be covered for this, even to turn back my pilot light on. I purchased the service contract for over $200.00. Now I was told I have to wait 10 days for the service to be covered. As of 9/30, they stopped the tune up service, which is the service that would cover lighting my pilot light. I was also told that National Grid does not come out just to light pilot lights, that I should call a plumber. I asked to speak with supervisor. I was put on hold and was told that a supervisor could not be located. Then, I was told that he could not leave me on hold because he had other customers to help. I insisted on holding because I had not been helped. Niño told me: “I am hanging up now. Have a good evening.”

We lost a lot of food because of the power loss. People who lose power more then a certain time frame deserve some credit on the bill for bad service caused by the power outage. There needs to be someone liable for not preparing for the storm and keeping the power up.

We, as a society, need to prepare together for emergency when the power goes out for 6 hours or more. We need to make better shelters when the power is out. I understand that we need to be charged for it. We need to have options. National Grid should have a more updating website. They should provide service and if the power goes out, they need to have options for their customers.

I am unable to come up with this amount of money within the short amount of time they have given me. They told me to go to DSS and I make too much money according to DSS. So now I am stuck in a bind and they refused to help. I don't understand why they would refuse to take someone's money when they are obviously trying to pay the debt. I need help in this matter.

But instead I was humiliated by one of the customer service representatives at the Jamaica location. He did not make any effort to assist me. They make me pay 650 to connect my gas and did not explain to me that out of that amount, 290 was a deposit. They never send out any letter, nothing.

Today, August 11, my gas has been disconnected again. I have a one-year-old baby and a 10-year-old with no hot water. This company is abusing consumers. Today I had to take money from a friend to get my gas connected.

I know I have to pay my bill, I'm not trying to run away from my obligations. But they took 290 dollars from the 650 payment I made to hold as a deposit but did not tell anything. Now they cut my gas again and put me through this bad situation again. I feel that this company is abusing me right now.

It wasn't until recently (this June 2011) when we had two power surges, one on June 24th and another one on June 26th that ruined appliances in my home. They completely fried them - my ceiling fan and my wall oven in my kitchen. My ceiling fan is in my kitchen, and it is also my kitchen light. I have to hire an electrician to come in and take the ceiling fan down and install a new one. I've yet to purchase a new ceiling fan because I have been unable to find one with all the amenities that this ceiling fan had at the big box stores like Lowe's and Home Depot. My wall oven costs $1,800.00 dollars to replace (and this does not include tax and installation). Because I am on a fixed income, I can't afford to replace the oven. I had to incur a $300.00 dollar repair bill from G.E. instead, to replace the circuit panel in that oven.

Since then, I've now been documenting every time we have a power surge. Again, like I said, I've lived in my home for 42 years and have never had an issue with this every time there's a power surge (and they're frequent now). I have to run around and set 4 clocks, two DVD players, the clock on the microwave, the clock on the wall oven, and the clock on the range. I have two cordless phones that with every power surge/power failure, also have to go through a 10 or 15 minute process to be reset. I have items in my home that are on timers and again, I have to run around the house resetting all of these stuff.

Why are there so many power surges? During these most recent hot days of 95 to 100, I've had a small reading lamp, the television and my air conditioner on. Throughout the day, my light would dim and then come back up. It would dim again, and then come back up. Why is this happening? I've never had any kind of issues like these in the past. Is National Grid limiting the amount or power to homes so that my appliances are struggling on warm days?

I went on vacation during the last week of July and the first week of August. When we came home from vacation on Thursday August 4th, my neighbor informed me we had another power surge. All my clocks were blinking in the house. I had to run around the house, resetting everything only to do it all over again on August 7th. We had two power surges on August 7th, one at 5:05 a.m. and then another one again at 5:45 a.m. That Sunday morning I had to rest everything again in my home. It's aggravating! It has to stop!

So, I called them a day later since I came home from work late. I tried to talk to them, and they wanted $535 in order to turn it back on. I had to keep telling them that I work part-time; I have rent and other bills to pay for and I cannot afford that. The woman I spoke to was emailing me a financial hardship form, but I told her that I did not have Internet at the time. Now she says to fax it in, and then "IF" I qualified, I would have to pay just a little over $200. Now again, if I had that kind of money, I would be OK and not struggling.

I wish these companies actually cared about their customers, and wanted to work with them. So, here it is almost two weeks with no gas. I have lost 9 pounds because I can’t eat, I am starving and without a decent shower. How am I supposed to survive? I moved here a year ago to get a fresh start, and have been treated like a third-class citizen. This country is supposed to be there for one another, and to treat everyone equally. I have never been this humiliated in my own home because I do not have anything. Someone should either fix their system, or help their customers.

We complained again to the Public Service Commission, and Mr. ** called. He was very angry, and said this was a problem between my niece and Heap, not National Grid. He did not acknowledge that he had lied to the Public Service Commission. He was ordered to turn on the gas. we also called HEAP again, and we're told that they have a copy of the cancelled check, but that National Grid has a strange policy. Every time they get a payment from some customer from Heap, it closes the account, and gives the customer a new account number. Therefore, it appears that the customer has not made a payment.

A Mr. **, from HEAP, called Mr. **, and demand the HEAP payment be put on the new account, and also got an additional $400 payment, bringing the amount to $900, paid to National Grid. Mr. ** was infuriated, and said this was not his problem, and he didn't know anything about this practice. He sent two men to turn on the heat, who barely went into the basement, and said they were not going in, because it was "filled with sewage". This was not true. The landlord puts down poison for a rodent problem, and had just removed the dead rodents, and had hosed it down with Clorox. There was no sewage. It was just wet, as it dried. It posed no danger . That was over three weeks ago.

Today, after much arguing, he sent another man, who not only arrived too early to access the gas main in the street (we had made it clear that no parking was between 9:30 and 11, and cars would block access otherwise), but when we mentioned that my niece was sick and needed the gas turned on, and he needed to return to access the main, he hung up. From this incident, Mr. ** began saying that my niece was sick with TB.

When we were outraged at the falsehood (in the past, he had received various doctors' notices, indicating she has Lupus). Mr. ** said, we will not have gas, until we send him a letter from the Dept. of Health. Outraged, we argued, then I called the Public Service Commission, and spoke to a supervisor, telling her how he was now making unsubstantiated allegations, and how the national grid employee never turned on the gas and left. After much back and forth, she said have your landlord fax a notarized letter, saying the "sewage" is gone. By then, the landlord had left to his home upstate, but will provide one.

The landlord is also very upset about the false claims of sewage, especially since no one even bothered to really check out the basement. Mr. ** also said he was calling agencies to report me. This man abuses his position, and lies to maintain his control over disabled customers. He doesn't keep his commitments with the PSC, and removes disabled customers from any protective plans National Grid has, at his own will. Every year, we provide proof of my niece's disability, and every year, it disappears. We want Mr. Mike ** to be sanctioned, and want to have the service restored, as well as her account to be coded, and remain coded. My niece's health has been impacted, as well as my own. My niece is 58 years of age, and I am a few years older. Mr. ** is a danger to disabled people, and National Grid must stop its practice of closing accounts, after receiving HEAP payments.

d. I do not have a washer or dryer, I ran my dishwasher once a week as well as vacuum. My apartment is only on one floor, 800 sq feet - 2 beds, 1 bath - I have energy efficient lights.

National Grid will not do an energy audit to tell me why my bill is such. I had used my electric heat even less in the months of March and April, so I can't understand why it is higher than the dead of winter when I used it more. They have yet to do anything to resolve this issue even though I have called numerous times. I refuse to pay that bill until they can prove I ran the bill as such.

I was given an appointment on 06/04/2011. I waited all day but no one showed up. I called the Customer Service in the morning of 06/06/2011. They told me that the technician called twice. However, it's a lie because no one called me on 06/04/2011 from National Grid. So, appointment was rescheduled between 1 PM to midnight. Some technician showed up, but he was extremely hurrying. He couldn't wait for more than 2 minutes.

I am having difficulties without gas, no hot water, and I cannot cook. I have 3.5 year old child at home and I don't know what to do.

I spoke to National grid & Smart One Energy for the last time on May 11, 2011 to ask that they send someone to check my meter because it has malfunctioned. I was told that they would not send anyone but they will adjust the bill & I should receive a new bill on Friday May 20, 2011. I received a bill of $4,325.45 on May 18, 2011. This is still not the correct bill. They have sent me a read out of my bills from 2009 & my gas bill has never been anymore than $200. I live in a 1 family home & I feel that I am been robbed & given the run around by National Grid & Smart One Energy. Smart One Energy has yet to send me a read out of my bills from 2010, as I have asked them to do. I do not feel like I should have to pay for their mistake. Please help me.

The customer called to complain (the bill was over $900 for one month), so we had a technician re-read the meter. The meter reading indicates that there is still an abnormal usage on the meter, based on per day us, which was much more than an average apartment would use (like 174kWh per day), so we re-billed the customer, adjusted the starting estimated reading, and seemingly just picked out a random number out of thin air so that the customer's bill was cut in about half (but this time, the math was correct). This "fix" addresses in no way what is quite possibly a meter problem (reading way too high, probably defective) nor is it fair for the customer who has a legitimate issue concerning his energy use.

This seems to be the company's way of doing business - make it incredibly difficult for the customer to have their concerns effectively and fairly addressed. The level customer service is horrible because we, as people serving the customer, have our hands tied with questionable company policies and what we are allowed to do. It is very frustrating. So when you get an angry representative on the phone, please understand that sometimes it is because we are fed up too, but we need the job! We want to care, but we aren't allowed.

My main concern is that I, as an employee, have nowhere to take my concerns to without compromising my job. It seems that the company, through computer programs or whatever (it is beyond me), is billing customers fraudulently and capriciously, making the bills hard to understand and making it difficult for the customer to effectively complain. There isn't anyone who can fix these problems without feeling like their job is on the line. No matter what the corporate heads tell you, the truth is you can't speak freely about issues and problems that are apparent. It seems this is the way they want things to be.

Oh yeah, and this is new to me too. I've just started seeing where we are billing a customer an extra fee if they call to complain about their usage and we send a meter reader out to physically re-read their meter, and even if the usage is abnormally (historically speaking) high, I was always told that this is what the abominable "delivery charge" was for.

Consumer beware! Read your bills closely. I think there are weird accounting practices going on. Contact the PSC and complain, complain, and complain. I think the PSC is in bed with National Grid, but they still have to document and record complaints. There is strength in numbers, isn't there?

National Grid charged me $900 every month in usage. This is a lie. Just Energy can verify. Before I went to Just Energy, I paid National Grid. In the year of 2009, I had a few high bills, but that was National Grid. In heaps, I paid National Grid $500 before leaving. I paid National Grid more than $500, so National Grid got over 2, $1,277 for 3 months and $500 from heap together is $1,777, and they are now asking me $565 dollars. My boiler went off in April or March. There was no boiler on April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November , and December. Where are these hundreds of dollars they are taking from me every month.

Just Energy, 1-866-587-8874, PO Box2210, Buffalo, NY 142402210 I was told as per customer service states I don’t care what Just Energy says, we are running this because we own the pipes, we charge you what we want,

Hello, don't identity thieves have that number? It should not be used as be all and end all for identity anymore. It is way common to be gotten from determined thieves, kapiche? My family's were stolen, it happens. So, here I signed into "my" account as easily as a thief would do, account number and SS#.

You now have complete access to your account info, not even so much as a secret question asked first, to verify if that person without your ID and password really is you! Your new, secure e-mail is now shown, if you gave it to the company for paperless billing or any other reason. Worse yet, when you go to update your direct pay info, it kindly shows for anyone to see, your new bank/routing number/ and the checking account number you have your payments come out of. Boom! One clueless careless website and your identity info is now updated for the thieves who know to go here to get easy information about anyone they have basic info about.

They don't need to update anything; thieves can click here and get your bank info, even possibly changing the numbers just for spite so your next payment does not go thru. You think, in their dubious wisdom, the webmasters would at least hide current bank info once entered, letting you change information but not showing the current info?

Nope, it's all there, folks. So you need to pay the bill in person if you don't want your bank info so easily accessed, and you can't give them your most secure email address, as they could give a hoot who eventually finds it. All because the website does not set up a security question to answer if you use the account log-on feature. And have a hide feature to not show your complete bank info in the direct pay section.

Complain to them people! That is the only way short of switching power companies, that you can make them take security seriously. They want your money, but don't care if you get the personal information you give them taken by a thief. Yes the phone customer service is secure, you can password protect your account there. But the website is a total joke, and everyone needs to voice their need for better, increased security in this internet age. I'm going to pay in person and get mailed bills until I see my information would be secure on the web. I may change power companies if needed.

I explained that your company has no issue getting bills to me so she could have tried other avenues. I asked how long until I could get a pole location. She said five to seven days. I explained that this was impacting my construction and asked if she could expedite. She rudely stated no and that I had to live with it several times. I said that I wanted to escalate and she said that I could not--that she would have someone call me.

Then, I received a call from Ed ** on 12/16 who told me exactly the same thing--five to seven days. He called back at the end of the day, 12/17, and told me that he had no contact with the field engineer. Absolutely no progress. After another few days with no contact, I called back Ed **. Today, 12/21, about six weeks after I opened my work order, I called Ed. He said he got the field engineer the work order and that he had no control from here. I could not contact anyone for a status or estimated time of contact--again, rudely. I asked when I could expect a call. He said, "Well, they have 16 days."

I explained my situation again and asked who I could escalate to. He said no one but he did say have a Merry Christmas, again rudely. Eve and Ed seem to take pleasure in stalling, being rude, not providing information and most of all, blocking me from any escalation path. Given their complete lack of customer service, I can see where this would be an advantage for them.

At 4:00 pm today, I called to inquire when would the service person visit and what happened to his promised visit from 8 to 11. The arrogant rep informed me that the service tech reported I had failed to respond to two calls from him. That is a blatant lie because the number I gave for contact is my cell phone which is always within arms length. Ms. National Grid told me what did I expect and it’s no big deal that he didn't keep his earlier responsibility appointment. Taken back, I asked Ms. National Grid for her supervisor, which she fought tooth and nail not to connect me. When I insisted she put me on hold. Ms. National Grid returned ten minutes later to say all the supervisors are busy assisting other customers and I just had to wait until the service representative showed. I am a working mother that cannot afford to sit around the house losing pay because National Grid has no accountability or integrity to honor there promise to restore service timely.

I am angry and upset that I have to feed my family with take-out and with the lack of empathy that has been shown to me the paying customer. In this day and time, with stress and tension extremely high due to the economy and lack of employment, it would be wise for staffers with jobs to tread lightly. I'm sending this email just in case my apartment catches fire because I had to prepare meals on my hot plate. If my family and I escape without harm and I am cleared of any wrong doing, I will be free to file a law suit against National Grid for pain and suffering. I will sue simply because they don’t give a **.

National Grid and your reps: Ms. ** and her mother would now like to officially thank you for nothing. Should you find yourselves in a situation where you will have to call "911" because the electric company just didn't care, may God look down upon you, ride by your side, and give you luck.

I advised each customer service representative that my daughter has a respiratory disorder that requires not only electricity for her machines but heat as well and that it was jeopardizing a family member's health but to no avail. Adding to the situation is the fact that I have an electric garage and was unable to access my vehicle. Oh, and the responses I received were "call 911", I understand, etcetera. This was an absolute preventable mishap. If National Grid had stepped up and has sent one of their technicians back to rectify, it wouldn't be an issue. However, I will be advocating and lobbying my city, state and whomever will listen to stop this kind of practice!

When Miguel checked the furnace, he said there were several cracks and that he would shut down the furnace. My mom pleaded with him that she is an 80-year old blind woman with no place else to go, what was she supposed to do that night without heat? She wasn't going to be able to afford a new furnace right away. Miguel very nastily stated, "I am shutting down the furnace and that's it!"

He left the house and my mother (whose hearing is 100%) overheard him say to the neighbor, "I have to talk to them that way because they don't understand." Who exactly is "they"? Women, old women, elderly people? We resent this derogatory remark and would like to file a formal complaint with National Grid/HomeServeUSA, but are not given any contact information other than a general inquiry address for National Grid.

This is not a general inquiry. This is a full-blown complaint. We are furious and are considering a lawsuit against National Grid and HomeServeUSA. How dare they treat another human being that way? How dare they turn a furnace off completely and leave the customer, an elderly blind woman living alone with no options for heat on a cold November evening?

How can this be permitted? What kind of a country is this anyway? My mother has a perfect track record with paying her gas bills on time for the 53 years she had lived in that house. Something has to be done about a company that is so large it can afford to treat the public like yesterday's garbage. We have spent $100 last night on new space heaters for my mom. If National Grid has to leave a customer without heat for an undisclosed amount of time because they need to shut the heat down, they should provide temporary heat.

We don't have the $3000.00. We are closing the office because we can't afford it with this economy. So to have this bill on top of everything else is very stressful to say the least.

Upon my asking the reason she needed this information to set up electric service, she got very defensive but finally explained that she was setting me up on a payment plan. I agreed and gave her all of the information she asked for. When she was done, she told me that I needed receipts for everything purchased in the last month including my medical prescriptions. She explained my down payment would be $90 and that I needed to fax all of the information. I asked, “If I paid the down payment and faxed the information, would the power be on in my name on the day I move in?” She replied that she would not guarantee that.

I asked her if I could speak to the person who could guarantee that. She replied that no one could or would, and that if I found someone who would write their name down, because it won’t happen. Finally, she transferred me to the connections department where I spoke with Michelle. I relayed what had just happened. She said she would guarantee that if I faxed in all of the requested information, paid the down payment, and called with the receipt number, I would have service.

Today, October 7, 2010 I went into a Price Chopper location and paid the $90 down payment. I called and spoke with Brandon in customer service and relayed the story to him. I advised that I had the receipt number and if they could release the hold which was on the account. He told me that I had to speak with a different department and transferred me to Stephanie in collections. I relayed my story to her and she again told me she would need to transfer me to another department. She hung up on me.

I called back and got Jason in collections on the line. He advised that I would need to fax the receipt and that the number wasn’t enough. He said that I would have to wait until the payment was received by National Grid before the service would be turned on. I again told him what Michelle had told me; that all I needed was the confirmation number as proof of payment. He repeated himself and transferred me to another rep. Yeshema was the most infuriating person I have ever had the displeasure of speaking with. She answered the phone with a defensive “Hello”. She proceeded to tell me that I was wrong and, “That’s not my department ma’am. I don’t care what they told you. That wasn’t my department. And I’m telling you what you need to do. I’m the supervisor here.”

I asked her to please transfer me to another person. She told me that she wouldn’t transfer me anywhere. And if I wanted someone else, I’d have to hang up and call back because she wasn’t transferring me. She continued to speak over me to the point where I asked her to please listen to me. She refused and her tone got more and more angry, defensive, and downright rude. I finally had to hang up on her. I faxed in all of the documentation including my down payment receipt from Price Chopper and called again to verify it was received.

I spoke with Patricia (ID number **). She was incredible. She advised that I should call again at 7 pm to verify that the fax had been received. She told me that it takes up to 24 hours to distribute faxes and that I should keep checking. I told her what had happened prior to speaking with her. She advised that everyone could transfer calls and also that I had in fact faxed in all of the required information. She was kind and deserves to be recognized for being the one person out of 8 people I had spoken with who listened and helped me with real advice. I have worked in customer service my whole working career and have never witnessed or experienced the unprofessionalism to which I was subjected to today. Patricia was the only speckle of hope in the poorly trained customer service staff.

Not once did I deny that I owed past debt. I also provided all of the information asked of me and yet I had the most difficult time trying to pay National Grid back and become a customer. I am saddened that because of National Grid’s monopoly in my area, as a consumer I have no choice but to continue to put money in the pockets of people who don’t care about mine. The level of arrogance and self entitlement of National Grid's staff is appalling. I have told my story to several people who have had similar experiences, if not worse than mine. It is a shame that our local power company located in the heart of our city in a historic building does not care for its customers.

I was told they would come from 7AM to 1PM. At noon, I called, and was told they are coming from 9AM to 3PM. I asked if they don't show by 3PM, what is my option. They said you have to make another appointment. I have had this problem last year, when it took them four appointments to turn on my heat. Once, they said they were there at 1:30AM, but no one was there.

Are they that stupid to expect that a business is open at 1:30AM on a Monday morning? I am at my boiling point with National Grid, and its seems no one can help me. Also they have been overcharging for the last two years, as I have compared bills to my neighbors, whose rates are about 35% less than mine. Hopefully you can intervene on my behalf. I have had loss of time on my other job, as I have had to sit and wait for them to come, which they never did.

We are both working professionals who have full time jobs with okay paying companies. We do not qualify even with him not working and me being at work on a random basis. They refused my home any assistance. To date, we have received higher and higher bills from National Grid. This past month, we received a bill that has the following charges: $176 for the electricity charges and miscellaneous fees and a $249 charge for a "service charge." The previous months they were about $80 lower. They seem to just keep getting higher and higher so I called them to confirm what this charge is and to reiterate the fact that we are both in a serious financial hardship as I received a shut off notice today also.

Mind you, this is not because we do not want to work but due to health related issues, major health issues. The individual that I was speaking with stated the same thing "this is really high, it doesn't seem correct." So he then spoke to his manager to whom also could not figure this charge out and was not able to provide me with a valid explanation. This company is running me under the bus financially and I want to know facts. Each time I call, I cannot get any facts. This "Service Charge" Is not acceptable and with the Gas and Electric Companies, we are expected to just deal with it because we truly have no other choice, no other companies to work with in this area.

Now that this whole debate regarding National Grids Corporate spending, I realized that I was not the only one who's getting slammed with outrageous bills. It's not morally correct and needs to stop. Someone, somewhere really needs to look into this and provide facts and reasoning to why we are being charged such astronomical amounts for a "Service Charge." We also need to find out why it is so difficult for the hard workers who come across of financial break down due to a serious health issue. Why can we not get on to a discounted billing plan as this is a huge deal for myself and my family?

Please, I truly hope that the person who is reading this letter that is so fastly put together because my mind is racing a mile a minute. Please look into this company, research your own bill if it helps, look at the charges that they apply to your bill. They know we as consumers are helpless when it comes to disputing charges as we have no other options and where else to go for our utilities.

Thank you kindly in advance for your research and return response. I myself as well as the people of Massachusetts who are bound to utilizing certain utility companies appreciate any help we can get. I mean, come on, more and more companies are charging bogus fees for their own corporate lavish, unreasonable, and unfair spending when they already get paid, i.e.; a $35,700 tuition bill for their daughter to attend a private school, $546.57 bill for face cream, and more importantly, of course, $1200 to ship a cat! What a fantastic and honest company that we have running the show in Massachusetts! Please help regulate this with more force.

I have my mother-in-law 83 years old with oxygen machine for the rest of her life and is bad physical condition. National Grid Customer Service has made several threats to shut off my wife gas line if she does not paid the $4,000 in where this is an injustice from National Grid because they do not want to hear the our complaint. Your help is desperate needed in this critical and injustice matter.

Of course, I called them and it's purportedly all straightened out. Well, we will see about that one. You want to bet that I will be charged a reconnect fee? Any takers?

Corey then stated that since the blower is shared by the heating system and AC, I need both heating and AC service plan in order to service the blower. He also told me that if he sends a technician to my home, National Grid will have to charge me for AC servicing for all the years I have had the heating service plan! I did not find any of this on their website under terms and agreement. My family and myself suffered from heat wave. I may unnecessarily ended up paying for a new blower.

Then I noticed a "Billing Charge" of $0.65 and asked her about it. The rep told me that this is their standard charge that other companies like Verizon, Cablevision, etc. do that and there's nothing she can do about it. I asked her if this charge can be avoided by switching to paperless billing but was told no.

Later, I looked at my old bills all the way back to January 2008 when it was KeySpan and there was no "Billing Charge" on the bill. Only 2 billing cycles after KeySpan became National Grid (billing date 7/15/2008). The billing charge for $0.65 appeared on my bill. National Grid is ripping off its customers by charging them for billing and this must be stopped.

I decided that since it took them so long to decide my meter was broken and to get it fixed and then to charge me as well as the fact that I do not have extra money just sitting around for any Tom, Dick, and Harry to decide they'd like to charge me, I too would take my time paying them back. I have been paying my regular bill on time each month and adding $100 to the regular bill.

Now that the extra money they chose to pile on top of me is just about paid, they are playing a new game. I received a bill due June 6,2010. On May 27, 2010, I paid them the total current charges as well as the extra $100. On June 2, 2010, they issued a disconnection notice, asking for an extra $60.63 by June 17, 2010. On June 10,2010, I paid the extra $60.63 as well as $50 extra just to make them happy.

Now today, June 14, 2010, I received another disconnection notice dated June 9, 2010 that says if I do not pay $257.16 by June 17, 2010, they will disconnect. All of this without even receiving a new bill yet! But the last actual bill that I paid which was due June 6, 2010 says the next scheduled reading date was not even scheduled till June 11, 2010. I'm seriously thinking there is some funny business definitely going on within National Grid!

At some point that evening, I received a call on my voice mail stating that I was denied because there was another person on the lease as well. I called first thing this morning and was told I needed another lease, or a notarized letter from my landlord stating that I live there. By 11:00 am, I had sent a new lease out with only my name on it. They again told me I should have a call back within 4 hours. At 4:00 pm, I called, hoping to hear power would be on and instead was told there was a problem because there was originally another person on the lease. I asked to speak to a supervisor and was directed to customer service, after being told the people handling my account didn't talk to "regular people". The woman there told me she was sorry, but there was nothing that could be done. The account was being "handled in a timely manner." She said I should call back if I didn't hear anything by around 5:00.

I called back at 4:50 and was told there was no proof that another fax was received, there was nothing she could do. She said that I should be getting a call back within 4 hours, and still nothing. Now I've paid for a place I can't stay in, having children, and there isn't anywhere else to get power in this area. Please help! I just don't see how it matters that someone else is living with me, they told me power would be on today, and now because I'm not the only person living there my electric is pending indefinitely.

I have 2 children. If they don't approve my electric, I wasted $1,000 in rent, gas from moving everything into the place, and am stuck living with my parents indefinitely because they're discriminating against me for not living alone. Already, I have to wait until Monday or Tuesday to get anything done, and that's a whole week of "timely manner".

Today, I get another shut-off notice, this one dated April 21 (5 days later than the first one I received). After they had received my $250.00 payment, it now said the amount to avoid disconnection on 5/3 is $602.25 or I get shut off? I called National Grid and spoke to a rep named Dianne, who was rude and said well even though I haven't received it, the new bill is out and if I don't pay the balance, I will be shut off on 5/3! She made me stay on the line and make payment arrangements, and she threatened the shut off would happen on the third if I didn't. "Are you kidding me?" I told her. And then I explained to her that my bill is not large. I have never been more than a month behind, and I have never been shut off.

I received a shut-off notice for $370.54 with an amount needed to avoid disconnection on 5/3, and you are wrong. Your own shut-off notice dated April 16 clearly states the amount needed to avoid disconnection on 5/3 is $370.54! How can they then say "Oh wait. It's 5 days later, and we have changed our minds." Now that she has made a payment, we want the next bill too or were going to still shut you off on the third! That is ridiculous!

I informed Dianne that I had addressed this issue before with the PSC and National Grid (I don't know case number.), and that I was going to do it again. I have the two 5-day apart disconnection notices for reference. And isn't it funny that as soon as I make a payment, they send another shut-off notice for the same date but in different amounts?! It clearly states on the first shut-off notice that $370.54 is the amount needed to avoid disconnection on 5/3. So how can they then try to collect another bill and threaten to shut me off anyway after paying the $370.54! This is not right, and they are abusing the process.

I had to stat on the phone and make payment arrangements, even though I paid the $370.54. And there's the stress it has caused during a time when I should be concerned with my health.

I told her that if the meter reader thought something wasn't right, he should have flagged it himself. That's his job, not mine. I told her I wanted to speak to a supervisor and was told I had to wait at least two hours before one could call me back and that if I didn't hear from anyone to call them back. Why should I pay for their error? I told her I would be contacting agencies, etc, to lodge complaints about this and that I was not going to pay $1800 for their mistake. I don't have $1800 to pay the bill and they should have been on top of the meter problem, not me. If the reader saw a significant change, he should have looked into it. I can't afford to have the electricity cut off either.

Two weeks prior to that, I had put in an order to the National Grid Customer Service to have my service disconnected on March 31st! Mr. J ignored that order and abused his authority, lied to law enforcement, and carried out a cut off order on his own accord solely because he argued with my husband on the telephone! Loss of utilities, food, heat for that day. Humiliation of having neighbors watch law enforcement appear at my home.

Three weeks later, after a planner actually came out and also inspected the old deteriorated line and the new installation, that planer also called in for a disconnect, reconnect. The order still sets on the desk the person in the Mass. office even after many calls from myself alerting them to the potential safety hazard involved. I tried to call within the National Grid company to complain but it is very hard find someone who handles such things. Bottom line, I am frustrated regarding this process and hope that no one actually gets hurt from the companies lack of caring or attention to the problem. I would like to know who to file a complaint with to maybe help prevent needless injuries from these types of situations.

It is just my husband and I who live in the house and we both work full time Monday-Friday and are in bed at 9pm. According to some research I have done, they say the average family of four uses 850 kWh so I don't understand why my usage is so high. We have been living in our home for two years and nothing has changed as far as us using electricity. We still have the same appliances, TV's and our viewing habits have not changed.

When I spoke National Grid, they said that my old meter was probably old and inaccurate, but I am not buying it. Our old meter was a regular counter meter, the new one is digital, plus I have talked to a few other people who have had their electric meters changed recently and now their kWh usage and bills have doubled. Something is just not right. Please help! We are paying three times more for our electricity now and it is harder to make ends meet.

The boiler is fine and does not need to be replaced -just the piping. Mr. C. removed the water feeder which was fine. However, he removed it from my home without my permission. I went out to bid for repiping the present furnace and contacted Mr. C. to return the water feeder. After several weeks, I again asked for it back. He was very rude on the phone. He told me he had trashed it. However, he was able to retrieve it and would return it within several days, which he did. When the 5 furnace personnel came to bid on the job, I showed them the feeder unit and they all said it had been destroyed! The inside unit had been pulled away so that the feeder could not be adjusted for water flow there by making it useless. Also, the connecting coil from the feeder to the boiler was removed and not returned with the unit.

I now have to purchase a new auto water feeder. This is a necessity to me as presently it has to be hand fed water every several days. Let me explain my problem for this. I am 79-year-old widow. I live alone. In December, I fell on the basement steps and fractured my left foot heel and am presently wheelchair/walker bound and unable to do stairs. Fortunately, I have a caring neighbor who comes in to "water" the furnace. I feel Mr. C. should compensate me for the damaged feeder whereas I do need to purchase a new one out of need for my present disability age and peace of mind. The work will be started on the system on Monday, March 1st. The physical damage of the water feeder was noted by the 5 service personnel, including the one who installed it originally - as stated it was only 1.5 years old and should never have been in need of a replacement. I feel it was deliberately destroyed.

As it was the due date, I made a credit card payment for the past due amount. As soon as I did that, both my payments suddenly were posted and I had a credit. I was forced to put $232.57 on my credit card that I had not planned to spend. I was emotionally stressed by the repeated phone calls and their cavalier attitude towards them. I had explained to them that my daughter was undergoing biopsies and had made my payment, and they continued to harass me.

This is fraud on him. He lives in Plainville, MA on Plain St. He should be the one to pay this. I would like a response to this outcome. I am disabled and live on a fixed income.

But for them to come and put my service back, they want to have an appointment first--which is not the same day or the next. That means that I'm staying in a new apartment without heat, hot water or stove to cook. They think that we are like animals and we can live like this only because they are a monopoly. It is ridiculous for us not to have alternatives and choices for our gas service. Since they became national grid, their representatives are nothing but ignorant.

I don't know what formula they are using to assess that. I don't understand how a company can charge almost 100% for their services. Isn't that called usury?

I have made numerous large payments but they refused to keep their part of the bargain. They now took me off balance billing and now I'm stuck with owing a large amount. Summer, my bill was only $99. Why would they put me to pay $379 on balance billing in the summer when my bill comes low than to let me catch up to my bill? Numerous shut-off notices were sent to my address and I have tenants. They made me believe I have no choice. So now that winter is right around the corner, they take me off. I am not in a position to throw away money. I have a lot of bills that need attention. I don't need a business at this point to scam me. Help me please get to the bottom of this. At this point, I don't want to overpay any company, knowing that I have many more other debts that I am trying to catch up on.

The afternoon of June 29, 2009, collections knock on the door looking for payment. I then called National Grid and was told, “You should have paid the bill whether you received a statement or not.” I responded that I refuse to pay for a bill unless I review it and was told that my service will be interrupted if I do not pay it immediately. What kind of service is this? They change my address to a made-up address, I correct it, and they continue to mail the statements to a made-up address and now they send someone to turn off my service?

Everyone is feeling the crunch lately, and I am included in that scenario. I have been making payments each week when I get paid, as to not have my gas turned off. I just owe them under $400 now, since all these payments have been made. And still, they wanted to shut off my gas. I understand they need a court order to dig up the street to shut off my gas if I don't give them access into my house. Why should I have to give anyone cash, even if they have proof of who they work for or anything. I don't have that kind of money sitting waiting for a National Grid person to come and claim it. No way.

I always pay my bills online, even National Grid payments. They have denied me access to the website, even though I've been making payments every week to lower my past due amount. That's not fair to me. I emailed National Grid a complaint and a question as to why I was denied access to the website to make payments for my gas usage. Their response was: "We understand your concern regarding your account. Unfortunately, you had six payments returned by your bank for insufficient funds and these are the dates: 4/21/08 - $170.41, 2/4/08 - $100, 3/20/06 - $209.57, 2/22/06 - $323.93, and 2/10/06 - $104.03."

If you notice, all the above dates are way past 2009 dates that I did not get one payment kicked back to me. Why email me with such nonsense dates that are no longer relevant as to why I am being denied access now. I was denied access to the websites on those dates, yes, but this has nothing to do with denying me access now, the present, since I am making weekly payments towards my bill. The employees they sent out to collect the past due amounts owed to National Grid are very demanding and not courteous at all.

National Grid won't transfer the funds back to my account or refund me because they are **. The lady on the phone said, "Well, I see here that you authorized a one time payment for $250 back on May 25th. Then we emailed you (to my old email address which I haven't used in over a year) a notice stating that the system would be processing another payment for $250 on 6/25, but we didn't hear back from you so it was processed." What? I never authorized or scheduled that freaking payment! That’s what "one-time payment" means! Do I have any rights in this matter? Do they seriously not have any way to refund me or transfer funds back to my account like they're claiming? How is this possible?

Overall the lack of good customer service and professionalism is appalling. I should not have to be in my apartment without out gas for this long, being treated the way I've been. My concern is that I am not the first person that this has happened to and I'm sure I won't be the last. No one should have to endure the level of disrespect I have encountered while dealing with National Grid. It is unacceptable. Unfortunately I have to suffer through this since they are the only natural gas provider in New York City, but I want it to be known that their service is unsatisfactory.

On July 24 I came home and I found a big notice on the door that NationalGrid came during the day to change the meters and we have no gas and we have to call them to let them in and open the gas meter. I called them that evening and they said that they will come sometime between 7:00 pm till Midnight and after waiting nobody shows up and we stay that day and the following day with no gas at all.

After calling the customer service complaining about this they said that we have to wait for them gain on Jul 25th after 7:00 pm and when I asked about the charge they said that it was because I couldn't keep the first appointment and I just asked they waive it because NationalGrid didn't keep there appointment either and our time as customers also is valuable! they just hang up the phone on me. I stayed without a gas service for two days and couldn't cook plus I was charged extra $13 plus I missed my work staying waiting for them to come.