Consumers Beware! Enbridge Horror Story
Consumers Beware! Do I have a horror story for you! Now I don’t normally like to bring negativity to SaveaLoonie but this is not just a story of negativity but also a warning for all of you! For those of you who don’t know Enbridge is a natural gas distribution company in Ontario.
So let’s go way back to January of last year. Ryan and I moved into our house here in Peterborough, ON. We rent this house and pay all the utilities here. For the first 4 months living here we never received a bill from Enbridge (to be honest we didn’t even know we had to pay for the gas). Well then in April of 2010 we received a bill that came to our house but was addressed to the company we rent from. No big deal, we set up the online account and began paying the bill.
In August last year, there was a billing issue so I called in to speak to a representative about the problem and was informed because the account is not in my name they are unable to discuss any of the details with me. I understand, it’s the Freedom of Information Act. So after a big run around between us, our landlord and Enbridge we finally got things straightened around and a new account created for Ryan and I. Well go figure, then they wanted a $250.00 security deposit or for us to sign up for automatic withdraw. We elected for automatic withdraw.
During this whole process we also found out that we had been over paying the old bill. So after we had sent in proof of payment for the old account we received a substantial credit on our new account. Score! Being a little naive I suppose, we didn’t question the amount of the credit and carried on. So again, everything was fine. The bill amount was automatically being deducted from my account each month. Then at the beginning of February we received 2 bills from Enbridge, one for our account and one for the old account.
So we opened both bills and discovered that not only we were being billed for our monthly payment, but apparently our old account also had an outstanding balance of $341 and change. Keep in mind, this was the first bill we had received from the old account in 7 months! I called into Enbridge and after an hour on the phone with a representative we finally sorted things out. It turned out that when I sent in my proof of payment instead of just crediting the new account with the overpayments they instead transferred ALL of the payments that I had made on the old account over to the new account, hence the larger than anticipated credit. On top of that, they somehow then also charged the $250.00 account set-up fee to the old account as well as late payment charges! You can assume I was rather up-happy (but still polite) by this point.
The only solution to this problem (I was told) was we had to pay the $341+ balance from the old account as we did technically still owe payments on the old account now. She then applied a credit of $250.00 to the new account as we should have never been charged that fee and now had to pay it. The representative also revoked the late charges. So now even though we have a credit with Enbridge and don’t have to pay for a few months, we had to pay $334+ in one lump sum. Needless to say not everyone just has $334 laying around to cover someone else’s screw up! But we came up with the money and paid the bill.
Fast forward to yesterday. Again, 2 bills from Enbridge arrived one for the old account, one for the new account. I opened the old account bill first expecting to see a 0 balance. Nope, $2.28 credit. Ok, on to bill #2 expecting to see a credit of around $80 remaining. Nope, $409+ credit. WHHAAAAT?!?!? Ok, time to call Enbridge again. And after another 45 minutes on the phone this is what happened. With all the confusion, we actually wound up paying the $334+ to the new account by accident. I take responsibility for that error. As for the $2.28 credit on the old account, the bill printing only reflected the removal of the late payment charges and didn’t show the actual balance of the account. Now we’re back to the same problem as before – they can’t transfer money between accounts. So the Enbridge rep tells me that we have to contact our bank, have them revoke the payment and re-pay the bill. So then we call the bank and they proceed to tell us that before they can revoke a payment they have to contact the merchant (Enbridge) and get permission from them. Then they process the paperwork and the money gets re-deposited into our bank account. Apparently this whole process takes 5-7 business days.
So as it stands right now, we have $334+ in limbo and an account that is past due and now accumulating late fees that isn’t even in our name! We still haven’t gotten another bill for the old account stating the current balance either. I am far beyond annoyed with this company.
Let this be a lesson to all of you. Monitor your bills and payments carefully because you never know when a company could be messing with your money!
UPDATE: Yesterday, I received an email from the Ombudsman from Enbridge! I emailed her back and later received a phone call from her. After talking on the phone for a few minutes she said she would fix this problem and contact me back. Sure enough, I got an email later yesterday afternoon stating that the balances had been adjusted and everything was fixed! YAY! I am so glad to have this experience behind us, and big Thanks to the Ombudsman at Enbridge.
UPDATE #2: So we thought everything had been worked out. Not quite. On Tuesday, I arrived home to find a COLLECTIONS NOTICE for the balance owning on the old Enbridge account 
This notice was dated after the last time I spoke with the Ombudsman and was told the issue was corrected. So I immediately called the collections company and surprise, surprise – because my name was not on the account they wouldn’t tell me anything. So back on the phone with Enbridge. I first tried calling the Ombudsman again and she was out of office so I left a rather snappy message (so not like me but I was livid!). I then called back and spoke with another customer service representative. Upon first looking at the accounts she told me that the old account was a balance of $0 but the new account still had a $400+ credit! I almost lost it! But after further investigation she did find out that the balance on both accounts was correct. At least that was a moment of relief. Then after some more discussion with a supervisor and time on hold I was assured that the situation was resolved, the balance on both accounts was correct and that the collections notice should be disregarded and it will not affect ours or our landlords credit. I took down the rep and the supervisors name and ID number for my own records. I then emailed back the Ombudsman and told her it had been dealt with on the phone and to apologize for my earlier message. The next day the Ombudsman called me back and apologized for the continued problems. She wasn’t sure why the collections notice had been issued as the account had already been settled. She again assured me that everything has been corrected and taken care of. She is a very nice lady, but all I can do now is wait for my bill to arrive and see what it says. I have a feeling this isn’t the last of my Enbridge nightmares.
UPDATE #3 (14-5-12): I have officially had ENOUGH of this company now! I didn’t update about the last incident since I was ASSURED it was correct so I left it alone. But now I’m going back so that you have the full story.
So mid-April our bill for March arrived. I was right. The nightmare wasn’t over. Our bill was still showing a credit for well over $300. So I called the Ombudsman once more. She said that there should be no problem, she would look into it and call me back. And she did, just a few minutes later. She explained that everything on the account was accurate (showing a $60-ish credit at that time I believe). She said that it was most likely that there was just a delay in the latest correction adjustment being posted to the account and that the bill had been printed before the adjustment was posted. She once again assured me that NOTHING was wrong with my account and the next bill will be perfect.
The beginning of April, we switched our banking to the new RBC Optimum account, so I called into Enbridge customer service a week or 2 later for advice on how to change my automatic billing information. She had NO clue what she was talking about but from what I gathered she paused my payments so no more money would come out of my old account and I had to email or fax in my new banking information with a hand written letter explaining what it was. Well after all of our issues I’m sure you can imagine I was a little more than hesitant to just fax in my banking information with a note. I wanted a little more clarification before I proceeded. As an addition to that, I also asked to know the balance on my account, still showing over $300 of credit.
So the I emailed the Ombudsman once again. Even though I’m sure it is no where near her department I asked for advice on how to proceed with changing my banking information and asking once more for her to look into our account to see what the balance was. I got a reply May 1st (not from the Ombudsman but from her office) saying the balance was a credit of $21.96 and the old account had a $0 balance.On Friday when our bill arrived, that all went up in smoke.
Our bill, after 2 months of Enbridge saying it was fixed, still wasn’t. Our account is STILL showing a credit of $317. Of course, their customer service is closed all weekend so at 8 am this morning I was on the phone. After a half hour on hold and trying to explain this whole situation over again to a representative this is the ASTONISHING news I was told:
The credit didn’t really exist (shocker!) and that we actually now OWE Enbridge around $20 for last month’s charges! There was “something” blocking the proper credit/debit transactions from showing on our account. So now not only are they not sending me bills that have a correct balance, they are building a tab for me in the meantime! Can you believe that? Now we are right back into the same position we were in that started this whole thing. They want to give us a credit when in fact there isn’t one. I emailed the Ombudsman once more this morning to make her aware of the situation and how unhappy I am. Haven’t heard back yet.
At this point, we are so confused with money moving here and there, and credits and charges and account numbers and reversals and everything else, that I have NO IDEA how much money we really owe or are owed. This has been absolutely, without a doubt, the WORST experience with a company I have ever had. I’m honestly disgusted with their customer service and their ability to resolve customer issues. We are in the process of filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau so that MAYBE they can get this issue finally resolved for us. And rest assured, we have vowed to NEVER be involved with Enbridge again. Unfortunately, going with another company is not an option in this area and moving is currently off the table as well. But when we do, we will keep this in mind and make sure that we avoid this company at all costs.
Update #4 (17-5-12): I am so hopeful that this will be my final update on this blog! The Ombudsman at Enbridge contacted me on Tuesday by phone and after a short conversation she said she would look into this again and get back to me. She sent me an email later that day explaining that when she originally moved the payment from the new account to the old account, the payment got hung in the system as was awaiting approval. So it was all showing fine on their side but not on our bills. So now that has been released and finalized and SHOULD correct the problem for good. As a good will gesture, the Ombudsman also credited us back the $22 we would have owed for this month plus an addition $100 credit on the account. For that I am grateful. So now here’s hoping, pretty-pretty please with a cherry on top that this is the END of our Enbridge Horror Story.
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This sounds EXACTLY like what happened to my Telus accounts! My hubby and I decided to combine our Telus bills and after three 1 hour phone calls, a representative FINALLY figured out to transfer the credit (bc I overpaid the bill) form my hubbys account to mine and to close his account. Well, they closed his account, but the 72$ credit form his bill was never transferred. We kept getting bills for both phones, even though they told my hubby he would no longer have ANY affiliation with Telus after the bills were combined. So after about 5 months of getting the bills with the credit, last week, lone behold, I got a cheque for 72$ from Telus, lmao. What a bunch of tools! Hope your trouble gets worked out soon!! The stress I felt after dealing with them was crazy, I really feel for you!
I hope everything does get sorted out completely and sooner than later. I’m wondering if we are about to face an issue with Enbridge. I’m in my 3rd house in 4 years each time changing my account with Enbridge. This last move I had a credit owing to me on the old house .. Ive yet to receive a new bill for the new place we moved into .. and I’m not sure how if at all we get this credit applied or refunded.
I wouldn’t mind if it was a small amount but its almost a few hundred dollars worth .. Ive yet to see any sort of indication from Enbridge how they address that …
sorry you had to deal with that..Enbridge is trying to put a pipeline from Alberta..across BC into Kitimat BC. Alot of people here in BC are against it..
Glad you got it all straightened out
that is just crazy, this happened to me once with our security company ADT, we had a past account with them that we thought we cleared up before we moved which they ended up called me 8 months after we moved stating that we owed 150.00 in a past account. I was totally confused as i thought the account was closed and a new one was opened with a new address, needless to say i spoke to a ADT rep and since i’ve dealt with her before and i was a good customer she said if i paid the 100.00 she would write off the remaining 50.00 for being a good customer and keeping with my payment arrangements on time. I now only deal with her when i have an issue with the company and i now own the security system in our apartment and only pay a small monthly fee.
OMG that is what happend to me 6 months after we moved we got a bill from an old account and we paid it. I really hate that we have to go through this but I am glad you got it all sorted out. I am going to watch my bills carefully and hope this doesnt happen again, I was actually suprised at the amount of my old account 7 hundred something dollars shocking but i did pay it but thought it would be around 4 or 5 hundred, i wonder if i got screwed too. Im in Oshawa
I had issues in the fall with them as well. We were sent a supposed make up bill since we pay equal payments, well the bill was $1100! Now during that year we switched our water heater from the old style gas one to the tankless style, knowing we would be SAVING money, not loosing it! Well I called them and asked them to come read the meter again and they refused said it was not a mistake. If we did not pay the bill they will shut the gas off and it was days before winter was coming! Well we borrowed money to pay this bill. The next months bill ended up with a credit of $1200. When I called back I did not even get an appoligy or anything and they said it was to remain a credit and would not send me the money back even though it was their mistake! I have went all winter without having to pay the bill but also had to pay interest on the money we borrowed to pay it. The company sure has a monopoly on us all! Wish we had more than 1 to choose from! Thanks for listening and sorry for your ordeal as well!
We had something similar happen when we moved into our house over a year and a half ago in New Brunswick. We just bought our first house and we didn’t get a bill for a few months. I was thinking that you get one every 3 months or something (thinking that gas wasn’t all that expensive). When we did get a bill it was for around $400 with late charges and everything. When we called we were told that they had been sending our bill with to the previous owner at their new address. We had set up an account with them the day we moved in so we still don’t know why it went there. We were then told that we had to pay the bill and could we pay it right now. We didn’t have $400 so we tried to set up a payment plan, which in the end they had to make it a bigger payement because they didn’t calulate it right. So finally a year and a half later we had it all paid off. There was no help from the company for their clerical error. I’m glad you got to the bottom of it and had someone call you back!
I am having the same problem with bell!
Hi, that really sucks! Just be careful with the collection agency. I work in collections, you need to make sure enbridge has it pulled and not just the agency closing the account (it can be marked as “closed/dispute” but still “active” and just sitting around until it’s time to move to the next agency. And also, just because it’s closed doesn’t mean it’s gone. If someone at enbridge doesn’t know what is going on they will just transfer it to another agency and the whole thing will happen again. usually things get reported every 30 days to equifax or transunion, But not all companys report, so you should check your credit in a couple months.
I have had issues with Rogers and Bell. Rogers itself sent a note saying they were going to cancell my internet service (I’m not even sure if it was a legit note) so due to others problems I ended up going to another company for my internet, but Rogers kept charging for the internet they cancelled for 6 months. Every month I had to call and say why am I being charged? tell them everything all over again and over again even though it is all in the file. I even asked if the service is still available since I am getting charged for it. The answer I can’t answer that question I am not able to say if it is or isn’t. Finally the last person I talked to told me basically the other solutions were bandage solutions because essential I was given a one-credit every time but the problem wasn’t resolved hence why I was charged. I was told I had to cancel the account for the service that Rogers cancelled NOT me. I was flabergasted REALLY I had to cancel it really shouldn’t Rogers know if they cancell the service to cancel the account? Anyways She cancelled it for me I had to wait 60 days for it to go through and pay for two months of service I never got. She said she wasn’t allowed to give the credit the others did. I paid and finally all settled.
With Bell you have really pay attention with your bills. During the summer (2011) I had phone problems and one was inside so I had to pay for it, no problem I paid. During Dec 2011 that charges appears again with the July date. I couldn’t believe it but it was srted out quickly.
My neighbor was trying to get her bell internet hooked back up, because she didn’t have a phone line she used our phone, which is under my dad’s name. It took ten days after they said it would be on and her forcing them to send a technician for it to get fixed. The dumb thing was, they kept calling her Larry, my father’s name because she was using our phone which is also under Bell. She had to correct them over and over and they still kept trying to “fix” stuff with our account instead of hers.
Tell them to close any old accounts and mail you a letter stating that the account has been closed.
I am not a lawyer but it stands to Reason that if these bills are not in your name WHY then are you responsible for paying them??? if you are not able to ACCESS an acct why would you pay anything ?? at this point I would hire a lawyer…this IS harrasment and defamation of Character seeing as how the bills are in collections, the accounting misconduct of a company is Not your responsibility in the first place and you are now in a arrears for an non exsisitant acct…..
I had nightmares with Bell Canada –they had open a second account without telling me. paid regular account, then found out it’s for second account. I had to fix up all the messes they did. after that, had enough, got rid of them. they call me almost everyday and I don’t answer they mail me some junk. I don’t care for these guys at all and hope they stop bothering me for stupidity.
If you don’t want Bell calling anymore tell them if they don’t stop you will contact a lawyer and have them charged with harassment. They called my house at least every other day, then I told them that and I haven’t heard from them since. I still get the snail mail but at least they are not calling me any more.
Sounds like every experience I ever had with Bell and then with Virgin after Bell bought them. Sorry you have to deal with their incompetence.
I am not with Enbridge but I am with Union Gas and well after 2 1/2 years of the same thing as your going though I had enough and I called my MPP and asked for advise. Gas Companies are Regulated and he told me to file a complaint. I had my issues solved in 3 weeks a Letter form Union Gas saying that as of that date the figures in the letter were the only ones they would go by. I also advised them if the problem ever comes up again I will contact a lawyer first thing. in the last 5 years I have had only one small problem. I was put in touch with a supervisor and it was fixed in 10 days. I had two small bills to pay which totelled what one bill would have been and no other problems so contact your MPP. Ask for advise. Even though both companies supply gas in Ontario different rules might apply and things have likely changed in the last 5 years.
YIKES!! It totally sucks dealing with Enbridge. Believe me when I say..I feel your pain. I am sure that there are numerous horror stories out there about how awful this company is. And the worst part is, they do it because they can!! I have no other options in Toronto but to get our service with them and clearly they take that into account when dealing with their customers. My family and I went without gas service for 3 weeks because no one there had a clue of what they are doing. I have never had to deal with an Ombudsman to get a company to do what they are suppose to do, until Enbridge. I am truly sorry for your dealings and any future dealings with them and can only bid you GOOD LUCK!! (you’re gonna need it)
boy…I am SO SO SO glad that everything is built into my rent at my apartment, all i pay is one bill. And since I STRONGLY dislike TV (lol) we aren’t even hooked up to cable, so no TV bill. It’s nice only having to pay my rent and my Bell bill every month. My wife is a TV fan so we pays a small amount every month to sign up for a site where she can watch her shows (legally, I know some people don’t mind downloading, but I’m a indie author of e-books so I’m not going to let my wife screw the writers around lol) but it comes out of our paypal automatically….I am so thankful for that.
Sorry to hear about the nightmare you have been dealing with. When I read your story one thing that stuck out was that you got a collections notice. Have you ordered your credit reports to ENSURE there is no collection outstanding ours either of your reports? Given the run around would want to be sure it was gone to not affect anything down the line. Just a thought.
I used to work for Enbridge’s billing department, and this is exactly what I used to deal with. It is SO confusing for customers when they have spoken to several reps that do NOT know what they are dealing with. I had several customers that would call me directly (I had my own line because I was in the back office), if they had any questions regarding their bills. I am so sorry that you have gone through all of this frustration and miscommunication! Word of advice for ANYONE who moves into a property with natural gas or electricity: Find out prior to moving in if you are responsible for your gas and electricity bills! Also, NEVER pay an account that is NOT in your name, for ANY utility. You wouldn’t pay rent or mortgage for previous tenants/owners, why would you pay their utilities?
I sincerely hope that this is the end of your nightmare with Enbridge.
I am pretty happy that everything’s included into my rent at my apartment, i only pay one bill and that’s the phone bill and internet. I DONT EVEN DEAL WITH BELL OR ROGERS ANYMORE! I have had enough of their b*llcrap we don’t even have cable since you can view almost everything on the internet these days. It’s nice only having to pay my rent and ACN bill every month. My mom on the other hand, I am fighting her battles with Enbridge. As a matter of fact i have a similar fight to take on with them before the week is out!
Let me clarify, is this the organization that’s promising to build a pipeline across the Rockies?
Boy does this all sound familiar. I was the landlord of a triplex where I was to pay the Enbridge bills. It turned out that for over a year Enbridge had been sending the bills somewhere (I think that it was the apartment itself) which had not been paid. I have absolutely no issues paying these bills: however, when I sold the place I thought that everything was right up to date. Suddenly I started receiving calls from Enbridge’s Collection Agency saying that I owed over $700 for an apartment – I simply said fine – send me the bills. Well, they don’t have them I said get ‘em and send them to me and I will pay. The person I spoke to thought that this was a fine idea – I waited a couple of weeks and the dunning phone calls kept coming. I had had enough and called Enbridge and asked that they forward the entire bills for this address. Turns out that there were also two other bills outstanding from that same address. I asked WHY they did not send these last bills m to me since they had been doing so for some three years – no answer. Eventually I did get the bills (including some from the current owner – possible Privacy Act violation), paid the bills and thought that this was the end. Turns out that the phone saga is not quite finished. I have been getting calls from the collection agency telling me that I have to provide them with proof that the bills have been paid – I said stuff it – call Enbridge and get them to tell you. I await further info. To be fair, the lady from the collection agency is quite pleasant – we are on a first name basis, it is the continued phone calls that is irritating. I have already fired one letter of complaint to the head office in Calgary and am waiting for something from them (yeah – I know – probably nothing). I feel another is in the works. In my view, Enbridge lacks communication between themselves and their own collection agency and the concept of customer service is shaky at best.