Nicor Gas

Nicor replaced our gas meter in December of 2017. Their crew asked if they could place the new meter at a new location on our home and stated they would remove all the hardware at the site of the old meter. I said OK. I assume this new location meant less work for them. After removing the old meter they left a steel pipe sticking straight up out of my concrete patio that was connected to nothing. They said they would come back later and remove that section of piping and fill in the hole in the patio. They still haven't removed that pipe as of October 16th, 2020. Whether it be a phone call or the occasional worker that comes to our house, I get a different story every time and no one ever does anything.

My gas was shut off due to a gas “emergency.” I was never notified. Three days later, I realized I had no gas service. My meter was locked. My account was up to date. Called customer service. They were unable to give any specifics. No one knows who called in the gas emergency or why, and if no one is home, they do not do any further followup. I called for repairs to my hot water heater thinking it was not working despite it being only 11 months old never thinking my gas may have been shut off! I was pissed! There is accountability with this monopoly! My state rep has been notified!

I have for years asked them to close the online accounts created when I previously had gas service. I get reminders about credit card information expiring for my account for a service I discontinued years ago. They confirm the service is off routinely but will not remove the account. In 2020 I have just received another notice for credit card information expiring on an account from 2012.

Today is the 110 day after Nicor sent out an e mail stating that they would be installing my gas service in three to ten days. When you call there and ask for scheduling you get the same answer every time, "Somebody will call you tomorrow." After getting a person's name that could solve this problem I left him a voicemail, that was three days ago and still no response. This is new construction so we have been waiting to run the water service to the house due to no heat in the house. In my thirty years in business I have never had such an issue with any of my vendors or customers. I talked to a Nicor worker one day at lunch and he said it will never change there because they have no competition and they can do what they want!

Nicor Gas needs to be seriously regulated. For years we have had to put up with Nicor on our credit reports reporting negatively against our credit and also giving us unethical high gas bills whether you rented or owned a home and no one seems to care. While the ceo's of nicor live a lavish life price gouging on the consumers. They send out extremely high gas bills with weeks to pay and if not paid boom you're hit with a disconnection notice and even some reason you are not allowed to enter into a payment agreement and if you're successful at getting one it is their choice how much you pay with adding the new high bill to the bill. Complete cash cow business. While the customers sit and ponder on how to pay this Nicor expense, again you're disconnected and once you do pay it, you're punished with the wait game!!! 5 days or more, nevertheless you have small children or elderly parents living with you.

Reading other reviews to realize I am not alone on this. They supposedly sent someone out, I have a newborn at home with a toddler-- we've been moving all day (my husband-in and out unloading the truck) while I am inside organizing. NO ONE NOT A SINGLE SOUL OR TRUCK SHOWED UP. I call at 4:30pm.. (also mind you I had other technicians throughout the day cable & internet both came) (appt time is 8-5pm--notice the 9 hr window & NO phone call to say we're on the way) & they say someone came. No one was present. They left & will not come back, reschedule for Tuesday again 9-5 window--the original appointment was Saturday). Mind you I had this stop/start service scheduled 2 weeks in advance so I won't have an issue doing it last minute. Customer service is completely rude, not understanding and is in no way to own up to anything their employees did, they continue to blame the customer.

Due to paying for our other bills, we did not have enough money to pay for our extremely overpriced bill. We called to only be told we can't do anything, not even a payment arrangement. I would rather go to someone else for gas rather than Nicor. If it were my choice, I would've stopped going with them a LONG time ago.

Nicor tells me they need to do a safety check on the gas equipment in my rented apartment in my building. They tell me this via a disconnection notice. Instead of calling me, I have to call them. Okay. fine - I call in to schedule an appointment. Don't try to use their phone system - it's broken. If you try to enter your zip code to authenticate for a service appointment, you get booted back to the main menu. Just mash the "0" button - ignoring prompts - until you get put on hold for 30 minutes. IF they pick up, you can schedule the appointment that THEY requested in the first place. If you fail to schedule, they will disconnect you. Once the appointment is scheduled, they blow off the appointment completely. My property manager had to leave - he couldn't spend all day waiting for the guy to show. It was already 30 minutes outside the already generous 4 hour window by the time my manager gave up.

I just got off the phone with a Nicor representative. Our conversation concerned my billing. My charge for this month is $23.04. I explained the only gas appliance left in my home is a small gas fireplace with the pilot light left on. As we went through my bill, we discovered the charge for actual natural gas used last month was $2.88. She explained the additional $20.16 are permanent monthly charges I have to pay regardless if I consume any gas or not. $16.38 a month charged for the meter, and the rest are taxes. I told the representative I was not pleased with this practice, and wanted to shut the gas service down for the summer. She said they could however, It would cost my more than $75 to turn it back on again for Winter use. This is a total rip off! Every appliance in my home is electric with the exception of that fireplace pilot light being on. How can Nicor get away with gouging customers in this way? Is there anyone I can go to to air my grievance?

I want my money back. I enrolled in autopay when I setup my account. For the first billing cycle it didn't debit my account. After I noticed I called and was told I would have to pay online, but there was a fee, not happy. I reluctantly (because of the $2.95 service fee) paid my bill online. Then the next autopay came out for the balance that was already paid and the new balance. Basically stealing $249.25 out of my checking account. I called and was told there was nothing that could be done and their policy is the funds have to stay within their account for 10 business days before being refunded. I am a very unsatisfied customer.