Reliant Energy, Houston, TX - moved from one location to another - originally told owed no money at former location but six months later was actually billed $ 1,200

Complaints.com received the following consumer message on January 30, 2003:

From: Danny Tosh [Email User] RE: Reliant Energy, Houston, TX - moved from one location to another - originally told owed no money at former location but six months later was actually billed $ 1,200

My family and I have been Reliant customers now for about 5 years, as long as we have lived in Houston. We bought our first home back in May of 2002. Before we moved from our apartment, I called and recalled Reliant Energy to make absolutely, positively sure they would be able to switch our service to our new house. I was given a date and everything, so we were happy.

After a month and a half went by with no bill, I called to make sure they had switched our service. The representative there said "Yes, sir, we just need to have somebody come out there and check your meter." Nobody ever came, so I called again a couple weeks later. This time I was told I owed no money at all. I said "Well, I moved here to our new house a couple months ago, are you sure?" The lady said "No, you don't owe anything and we'll switch your service over as soon as we can."

I called every couple of weeks just to check on what was going on. I was repeatedly told that I didn't owe a dime. Finally, six months after we moved to our new house, we received a bill. It was for about four hundred bucks. We thought it was a lot of money, but for six months, hey, that's great.

Then a day later, we received an "adjusted" bill for $1,200.00!!!!!! After hassling back and forth, I was able to get a payment plan working, but for the next six months we'll be paying an extra two hundred dollars on top of our regular bill. Not very easy for us. After all that they emphatically told us "DO NOT BE LATE WITH YOUR PAYMENTS ON THIS PAYMENT PLAN!"