Enbridge
Here’s an update from the person who sent a complaint about Enbridge a while back. The original post is here.
We continue to experience difficulty with billing from Enbrige.
Since moving to our new home in October we have not received a bill from Enbridge. We notified the company of our change of address, called Enbridge and spoke to Aly (from Direct Energy) and and Ms. Eileen Campbell (ombudsman from Enbrige) about this matter. When my husband spoke to an Enbridge rep, and to Aly we were told that Enbridge was experiencing difficulties with their billing process and that we shouldn’t worry about this. It has now been 3 months since we moved in and still we have not received a bill. We were given what we believe is our new billing number and I have sent 2 cheques to Enbridge. One of the cheques has been cashed by Enbridge the other has not. Of course I have no idea if my account was credited.
• Although we were told ‘not to worry’ it is very disconcerting and we would like this matter dealt with as soon as possible. We do not want to receive a huge bill in the mail that we will be unable to pay.
• Also, although we were assured by Aly from direct Energy and Eileen Campbell from Enbridge that the previous account from our former address had been cleared and that we now have a “0” balance we have yet to receive a copy of that bill.
• Is this normal?
Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.
February 6th, 2010 at 2:21 pm
I am in the same boat after buying a new home. Still have not received a bill, since moving in September 2009. I read up on another site that it took them 9 months to get their bill, and even then they were billed for the most recent 3 months and enbridge were still reviewing the first 6 months. Apparently the issue is in resolving an estimate for what you will be billed and what the builders will be billed. Apparently they have no way of monitoring this, so they just take an average monthly usage and charge you for it. Which I personally think sucks, because we are using a lot more gas during the winter months. I just hope that bill isn’t insanely priced. I reside in the Brampton area.
February 24th, 2010 at 11:05 pm
I myself are in the same boat and i just wrote a complaint to this site. i have been having this on going issue since i moved in April 2009! I have just recieved a monster bill that has every month estimated and just 1 month an accual meter reading. I have complained all the way up to the ombudsman office and still in the process of fighting this bill considering its all extimated. What a joke this company is. I would be worried if you havent had a bill yet. I reside in the Oshawa area.
March 11th, 2010 at 12:39 pm
On behalf of St. Nektarios Greek Orthodox Church, 1223 Dovercourt Road, Toronto, ON, M6H 2Y1, 416-537-7283, I would like to protest the illegal activities of Direct Energy and Enbridge. These companies both claim that the Church has entered into a contract with Direct Energy to supply gas to the Church and yet no such contract exists. A recent audit has revealed gas charges at approximately three times the going rate. A representative of Direct Energy informed me that there was a contract in 2003 which was renewed in 2008 since the Church failed to not authorize Direct Energy and Enbridge to renew the supposed contract.
The Church has an account with Enbridge not Direct Energy. We are seeking restitution of the gas charges which we believe were fraudulently obtained by both these companies.
May 7th, 2010 at 1:47 pm
I have been waiting for a bill from Enbridge for 8 months! (October 2009-present) I live in Ottawa and got the same ‘software upgrade problem’ excuse. The First bill came in my landlords name, the next bill in the deceased previous owners name, and the next and every bill after that in the new owner/landlords name again.
I can smell class action suit, but then the Ontario Energy Board would just have the consumers pay, like they did in 2008 for when Enbridge lost the suit for overbilling. http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/legalpost/archive/2008/02/19/blog-no-187.aspx
May 15th, 2010 at 9:34 pm
I have a fantastic story about the ‘software upgrade problem’ with Enbridge. I have been waiting for a bill from Enbridge since last year, and everytime I called, they gave me the software upgrade problem excuse, and told me to just wait for it.
About a month ago, I come home to find my gas cut off (no warning or anything). After my own investigation, it turns out that there was no software upgrade problem. Late last year, someone had called in pretending to be me and asked that my mailing address and telephone number be changed to another address. Not only this, but they had their Enbridge account changed to my name, so that I’d be responsible for their bills as well! I have no idea how that could be done without my knowledge or consent.
I’ve also learned that the only verification system Enbridge uses over the telephone is to ask the caller for the current address and current telephone number of the client. Once that’s provided, all account information of the client can be divulged and even changed.
How this company hasn’t collapsed on itself I have no idea.
May 18th, 2010 at 12:45 pm
Ha! I have a follow up, (still no bill) but they sent my landlord to collections! Even after they (Enbridge) told me the account was on HOLD until the billing department caught up with their backlog and there would be no interest, no late payment charge, and both accounts were on hold until they (Enbridge) switched the bill into my name (I offered to pay my landlord and have him pay the darn bill, they (Enbridge) said not too)
June 10th, 2010 at 7:49 pm
Enbridge engages in mafia-like behaviour – they refuse the negotiate, have left us with NO GAS SERVICE for 5 LONG DAYS! My children are unable to bathe themselves.
June 10th, 2010 at 7:52 pm
Enbridge Ombudsman can’t and won’t turn on our gas for 5 DAYS. A full amount of the bill was agreed to be paid on our payday, and that was not enough for them, and with that
This contradicts and conflicts what Ministry of Consumer and Corporate Affairs asks of its corporate citizens.
What has deregulation done for consumers?
June 11th, 2010 at 9:35 am
Bought a new house, I was only getting bills every 3 months. Hydro does the same, so I thought it was normal. No notice, no phone call, gas gets shut off. Now I have to wait 5 days for someone to come and turn it back on and pay the stupid $250 deposit. I asked the lady on the phone if the place was run by wild monkeys, she denied it, but after my experiences it would have to be.
July 22nd, 2010 at 10:47 am
I had the same problem, moved to my new apartment in September, didn’t receive any bill for ten months, called Enbridge so many times about it but in vein. They disconnected my gas connection due to not paying the bill (which I never received). Finally got 10 ten bill altogether with BBP and I am charged the double the amount of my usage. Have been trying to contact Enbridge again but no luck.
Why no one is checking on Enbridge incompetency?
August 16th, 2010 at 10:01 am
I have a $1200 for the BBP adjustment. Why should I have to pay for they’re mistake?
In my industry I can’t charge a client a year later, for hours worked that I “forgot to bill”. I would get laughed at. How is this fair? and who is in forcing this ridiculousness? And do I really have to pay? I also don’t remember signing up for this “average bill thing”
T
December 14th, 2010 at 8:59 pm
In August I received a letter from Endbridge telling me that it was time to have my meter changed. I have had nothing but but problems ever since. The meter replacement went well, in fact the service man was quite nice and pleasant to chat with. He did the work quickly and efficiently. Then I received an invoice. Infact, I received 3 invoices. I have received 3 invoices every month ever since. Each invoice is a little different. Typically, I get one invoice saying I have a credit balance. Then I get 2 on the same day, each different. Once says I have a zero balance and the other saying that I owe money. Most recently I received a letter stating that “as you are aware, we changed billing systems in august of 2009….”. No, I was not aware. Anyhow, the essence of the letter is that they are having billing issues and that I will “shortly” received an invoice for a balance owing. Well!! Let me tell you what a fiasco it has been ever since. Not accepting their explainations (apparently my meter hasn’t been working right since February of 2010) and so they have “guestimated” my usage and did a lot of crediting and debiting to tell me how much the have “estimated” that I owe. Needless to say I have escalated the issue to the Ombudsman. That was almost a month ago. I have tried on 3 occassions to reach the rep who is supposedly doing the research on my account. My most recent attempt (on december 13th) had an email bounce back to me to tell me that the rep was out of the office until December 3rd. Where do I go now to get resolution if I can’t even rely on the ombudsman? Meanwhile, winter is on full blast!!! Anyone have any suggestions?
April 3rd, 2011 at 9:18 am
I too have had a ‘nightmare’ with Enbridge for over 2 years now. Our house was picked for a ‘meter exchange’ and Enbridge couldn’t figure out for over 8 months that I had a new meter # on my house (isn’t that their job?) and kept sending me letters. It did take over a year to get my bills properly adjusted (I was estimated for 14 months!!), after at least 25 calls to their office and finally contacting the ombudsman. She did not reply to my email for over a month, until I called the office and left a message that I was going to the media.
She assured me after her investigation and a credit that my acct. was now all settled and everything was correct. One month later, I recieved a bill…sorry, make that 10 bills, which I kindly forwarded to the Ombudman, asking if this is what she called settled!?
Ok, so things moved along last fall, very smoothly (finally) and I received a bill in Dec/10 for over $300 in Direct Energy rental charges. I immediately contacted them at Enbridge…the lady was helpful and advised that due to the problems with my bills, Direct Energy had not billed me for a few months. However, when she looked over the charges (which were NOT itemized at all on my bill) she noticed there were double and triple charges for some months. They have been working on my bill since then, it’s now April and I just received my bill, no adjustments, no changes and LATE PAYMENT charges on it to boot!!
This is just unbelievable!! It’s a pathetic way to run a company. Off I go to the Ombudsman AGAIN, as I can’t get anywhere with Enbridge (pretend)customer service!
May 6th, 2011 at 7:48 pm
I live in Petawawa, i hadnt recieved a bill for 9 months and then moved to a new address. Some software issue. They sent me an extreme bill and want the money NOW. They wouldnt even settle on a lower amount seeing as no one can afford a huge lump sum payment these days especially since i have 3 kids to take care of. They should have atleast offered to drop the bill to a lower amount.
Enbridge, what kind of circus are you running.
July 15th, 2011 at 10:18 am
I rented a house in 2009 and received an Enbridge bill for Direct Energy Services for furnace/boiler maintenance. I called both companies to inform them I was a renter and they need to bill the owner. Two years and two addresses later and numerous phone calls I have been reassured it will be corrected. This week it was sent to a collection agency and is on my credit report. I was never sent a notice that this was going to happen. I just filled out an on-line complaint to the Better Business Bureau. Can we not sue these people for 2 years of stress and anxiety? I will never deal with Enbridge again as long as they are associated with Direct Energy.
October 21st, 2011 at 5:41 am
Holy Cow!!! Don’t even know where to start! My issues with this demonic company started the day I took possession of our 130 yr old house. After having transferred our account at time of sale in August 2007, silly me but I thought that completed the due diligence required of me the consumer. The gas chap showed up on the very day that house became ours to shut off the gas. Turns out that the last TENANTS had called in a termination of service. The TENANTS had been out of the property for over a month and the owners had assumed the account so how is a non-sitting TENANT allowed to cancel service??? Issue #1
After 3 hours on my cellphone mid-day (not cheap)with one of several employees that I would deal with over the ensuing 4 yrs, I was able to get them to take the gamble that as my name was now on the deed I was the most likely schmuck that would be paying the bills from this day on and so in order to suck any money out of me that they would have to at least make it look like they were prepared to provide me with service…though not like any other service that I have ever had the misfortune to receive. Issue #2
Since then I have had no end of issues with whoever is running this entity…the latest in this debacle is a bill arriving for $1300 as an adjustment for my BBP…hold the phone, what BBP??? I purposely didn’t buy into that after a horrendous experience with Ontario Hydro but alas that’s another tale of wasted time and money to be fleeced anyway. Issue #3
In addition to this BBP crap, there is the little issue of the company claiming to not have received any meter readings for 9 months yet there has been a man at my house on 3 separate occasions with their credentials to read said meter…so if they’re denying his existence does that mean that there is a chap casing out my town??? I have put that into the hands of the OPP so will update as info comes in. Issue #4
Back to my story.
So, they don’t have any readings but managed to estimate that our usage in Feb’11 was more that our previous years combined…now we don’t have a grow op and I am therefore stymied as to what other activity we could be engaged in to consume that much power in 1 month…after countless calls to the 1-877-no-help-line I have finally gotten some attention from the Ombudsman…we shall see what falls out of this next set of dealings…Issue #5
There are far too many issues that have developed during my dealings with this outfit to even list here.
If I had any other option I would take it but they have Ontario homeowners by the short and curlies. Until the Honourable??? Dalton McGuinty is forced to step in and end this monopoly or crucify them in court on behalf of 800 000 of his constituents suffering under the boot of this utility, this promises to remain my hobby.
I suspect that the chap that posted his suspicion of the company being run by wild monkeys may be onto something…
January 12th, 2012 at 8:06 pm
Enbridge is not run by wild monkeys although I like that image. It is run by people who are so far removed from reality that they cannot comprehend what goes on in the real world. I used to work there. It sucked so bad that I used to wish I would have a car accident on my way into work so that I could not go into work. They create stress for their employees to the degree that they become non-functional.
October 22nd, 2013 at 10:35 am
I’m having the same issues…I moved in to my new place nov 2012 received bills till January then they stopped…I’ve called twice since to complain about not getting a bill but nothing….well out of sight out of mind….it’s now oct 2013 I received a bill…thought it would be scary but turns out only owe 400$ for all those months but am scheduled for disconnect….I immediately called to make a payment arrangement to pay the complete bill by the following Friday when I got paid…not only was the woman real rude she basically told me sorry for my luck but they are coming to disconnect …well it Wednesday 2 days before I can have the bill paid and they shut me off….the guy that came snuck in the yard and cowardly put my notice on the bottom step….didn’t even come to the door…too bad now I regret not letting the dog out!