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Amigo Energy Complaints - overbilling

Review all Amigo Energy complaints

Amigo Energy

Posted: 2008-07-18 by Jan Atkinson [send email]

overbilling

Complaint Rating:

Company information:
Amigo Energy
Houston, Texas
United States
Phone: 888-4-my amigo
amigoenergy.com

The company overbilled and lied about it. Amigo attempted a verbal settlement amount and when
I demanded a written settlement I was told my service was to be terminated unless I completely complied with the demand of payment by moneygram, no credit or debit cards accepted, knowing I was out of town.

Comments

United States

Utility Services

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More Amigo Energy complaints

Amigo Energy - Ripp off

Amigo Energy - Amigo is Ripoff

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Amigo Energy - Breach of Contract

Comments

38 days ago by Keith Halstead [send email]

my service went to a variable rate with no warning that the fixed rate
had lapsed. my rate went from ~.15 for 4/5 to 5/6 to .20/kwhr for 5/6
to 6/5 2008 for a $513.46 bill . i was unhappy with that so i switched
providers. my final bill went to .25/kwhr resulting in a $721.69 bill for
6/5 to 7/3 2008. this is after i switched so i am still a captive to Amigo.
i called to complain but was basically told tough luck. i think this is
outrageous that the providers can increase the rate by 33% to 66% at a
moments notice with no warning. there should be some cap, say 5% or
less, i don't care what their 'agreements say'. i remember when i first
signed with them Amigo reneged on the original agreement and raised
the rate in spite of the 'agreement'. these guys are NOT your friend.
this is legalized robbery.
Keith Halstead
800

37 days ago by Mark Jones [send email]

Amigo ripped me off also. They were great at first in the winter but then as the summer months crept up, so did their variable rate prices. I started out at .10/kwhr and before I knew it, I was at .17/kwhr. I tried to switch as fast as possible but I was told I would need to wait 40 days. By then, my rates were at .249/kwhr. This has got to be a get rich quick scheme and they are definitely taking advantage of deregulation. Lastly, Amigo's variable rate is not listed anymore on 'Power To Choose' but rather, on Amigo's web site. Hmmm, let's make it harder to see what companies are charging everyone else. Power To Choose may only show the low price but disregards when energy companies make the kill. We are getting an illusion of fair prices.

35 days ago by John Smith [send email]
There's two things you can do about Amigo Energy, one complain to PUC if that does no good, contact Texas Attorney General. Two major TX electricity providers got fined millions. Amigo needs to remember a customer leaving could be a customer returning someday.

35 days ago by Victor Sanchez [send email]
Horrible customer service. I waited for 45 minutes on hold today, only to hear some condescending jerk named Michael explain their billing formula to me like I was a 5 year old. If you can choose, choose another company.

34 days ago by Chris Duffy [send email]

I have been a residential customer of Amigo Energy, an electricity provider, since May 2007. Until April of 2008, I was satisfied with their service and their rates. On 5/15/08, Amigo sent an email recommending customers move from a variable price program to a fixed price program. I elected to switch to Direct Energy, who had a less expensive fixed price program, on 6/9/08. On my next bill from Amigo Energy, the price per kWh rose nearly 30%, from $0.1519 to $0.1959/kWh. On my final bill before (thank goodness) finally cutting over to the new provider, the price rose almost another 25% to $0.2419/kWh. This at a time when dozens of other providers are offering variable price programs for electricity to my zip code for around $0.16/kWh, one as low as $0.133.

I believe Amigo Energy is overcharging customers to "penalize" them for not joining their fixed rate program.

In the Amigo Energy terms of service it states: "The price described in the Applicable Electricity Facts Label iis inclusive of all applicable energy, transmission, and distribution charges, but does not include non-recurring fees and applicable taxes. The price is subject to changes in applicable transmission, and distribution charges, generation fuel prices, and applicable taxes."

I contacted Amigo Energy customer service and said I believe I am being overbilled. I asked to see the a detailed breakdown of changes in applicable transmission, and distribution charges, generation fuel prices, and applicable taxes for the last three months, which would account for their need to raise prices by 43% over that period. They said they couldn't do that.

I filed a complaint with Texas Attorney General (www.oag.state.tx.us/) and the Texas PUC (www.puc.state.tx.us/) and suggest everyone do the same.

34 days ago by Ba Culam [send email]

I got a same problem with Amigo exactly as your scenarios. I called to complain about that big bill.
My final bill was 675 dollars instead of around 350 dollars. After 2 complained calls, Amigo creditted back 120 dollars because they said they billed based on this month's rate instead of 2 months ago 's rate.

I believe Amigo tried to take some money before they will run out of business. Because with their high rates, they can not compete with other companies.

31 days ago by Gean [send email]

they ripped me off as well :( my june bill of 08 was 285. in july, when the temps have avged the same, it went to 759!!! almost TRIPLE kwph usage!!! i am ONE person living ALONE. i conserve my energy. unbeknownst to me, they jacked my rate up. in june, it went to .20kwh. in july? over .24kwh. Why not .75 a kwh? When is it legal to rob someone? When you're in the electric business, that's when. to have no cap in today's day and age is just mind numbing. but that all being said there is NO WAY i used TRIPLE the amount. i had a re-read on my meter. they said it was accurate. i live in a decent neighborhood, but i still walked around the house to see if there was any way to plug up to my house to steal electricity. nope. if i want to check if my meter is working properly? 25 bucks!!! oh, that'd be FREE if i lived here OVER 4 years. I'd love to be the fat cats sitting around a table making up these rules of robbery. They must be laughing and high-fiving each other the entire time. no wonder our ecomony is in the shitter

31 days ago by Gean [send email]
PS: complain to the PUC people! (public utilities commision) i did. they must know of this: http://www.puc.state.tx.us/ocp/complaints/filing.cfm

30 days ago by Keith Blackwell [send email]

My wife and I signed with Amigo Energy on 12-28-2007 for a rate of .107 per KWH. supposedly for a year. On 6-28-2008, 6 months later, the rate went to .1979 and, 3 days later, on 7-1-2008 it jumped to .2419. This is outrageous and so very wrong. We're low income and have an oxygen concentrator running. The thermostat is always set on 82 degrees, but holding one's breath through the summer months...not an option. The $505 bill is almost half of our monthly income. Even with the Lite Up discount for low-income, the bill was still $457. This is nothing more than gouging, pure and simple.
Is Amigo trying to out-greed Exxon-Mobil ?

30 days ago by Chris Harrington [send email]

Well we are also victoms of Amigo. I also was not aware of our fixed rate expiring and for the month of June my rate went from.125 to .19 for a bill of $646.00. I was shocked and the call to this company was a complete waste of time. After finding a better rate with Reliant I called to switch service. I knew I would be at their mercy until the next billing cycle and sure enough my rate jumped to .2419 for a final bill of 853.00. What if anything can be done? Its a shame that a company of this quality is still in buisiness...

29 days ago by Lumar [send email]

Goodness Gracious !!! - I must be the only one satisfied LOL. They have never been anything but helpful to us.

We started with Amigo in March of 2007. Variable plan of .109 / kwh - Variable rate held fairly steady, between .109 and .1349 (3/20/08). Then crept up to .1439 next month and .1769 next month (May, 2008) Upon receiving that billing I immediately called, spoke to a gentleman and transferred to a fixed rate of 0.169 - this was 1/2 way through biling month. He also GAVE ME a $55. credit against the next months billing (inecentive credit for changing) and, to my amazement, when I received the bill the amount charged for usage was not calculated from the day I called, but from the ending period of my previous billing.

I am considering, at the time, moving to another plan of 14.4 with them - 6 mo guaranteed (saving around 50 a month) as they only charge 25 to change plans and probably offer an incentive with this also. (hopefully) I have KWH usage monthly records dating back to 2000 so know almost to the KW how much we use. yearly averages have been between 19, 500 and 20, 600 (highest). We track our meter daily at the same time which gives us a guideline to ensure it is operating properly and also bill amount. We lived on a VERY FIXED income - Social security only, which is pretty low as when we paid in hardly anything was contributed

I do feel it is my / our / your responsiblity to be aware of when ending contract dates are - be it phone, electric, or even insurance. We all have a calendar to write on or a means to be aware. That woudl eliminate many complaints = HOWEVER, I do feel it would behoove companies to notify their clients of this. BUT, I have never, ever been notified of a contract term ending by anyone, not even cell phone company!

Best to you all.
Lumar

28 days ago by Jack [send email]

I am a former National Power Customer and was transfered to Amigo. I got a letter in the mail for the change over both by NPC and Amigo. Amigo said that my rate would stay the same at 16.5 cents per KWH. My last bill from NPC was till May 30th and was from May 6th - May 30th and was 113.00 for 713 KWH. The month of June went by and still no bill from Amigo. So I was like well maybe the billing cycle is from June 1 -July 1 or maybe a little later. I gave them about a week or two for the bill to get there. No bill still till this date. I contacted them by the number, which in the middle of July was not working, so used their website contact. I got an email comfirmation that it was sent in. I was asking where is the bill and what is going on. I did not want a $900 bill and wanted some resolution. I even gave them the benefit of the doubt that it was taking more time than usual because of the 8500 customers coming over. Still no bill. I called no success. Finally last night on 8-5 I called customer service and the number worked but was on hold and eventually hung up on. Tried four times last night between 5:00pm and 7:00pm. No success. So this morning I called at 8:00am and finally after one hang up and the second call got a live person. They said they sent me a bill and my total bill is now almost $800. Hmmm go figure my bills before this were never higher than $150. Well they guy on the phone was like we mailed them. We contacted you. We did this and that and they did none of the above ( I have proof). I have records of the calls to me and they called once for a sales pitch. Looked at my email and there were two sales pitches there and the two emails were not on the day they said they sent them.

Here is the fun part and where things do not add up. As mentioned for 24 days in May my usage was 713KWH. Amigo is trying to say that from June 1-June 8th I used over 1100 KWH and from June 8th to July 8th I used little over 2500 KWH. First off I have never used over 2000 KWH in my two bedroom apartment. Even last summer it never got that high. Second how is it in may, 24 days, I used 713 KWH and in 8 days in June I used well over that. Also if you did the math with that logic June to July which has been much hotter here in Dallas the KWH should be well over 4000KWH but was only 2500 KWH. This did not sound right. Well they gave me the 16.5 cent rate for the first bill of 8 days in June and then charged 24.19 cents for the June to July. Well after some research and some reading I noticed I was not the only one in this boat. So I called them back and asked for a manager. His basic thing was we notified you and you did not respond. I went through same song and dance with him. His final offer to me was if I signed up with a 3 year plan they would knock $75 off my last bill. I laughed and said no thanks and have now changed my service.

All this prompted me to call PUC. I enquired about how to file a complaint. They gave me Amigos executive line. I called that line and well lets say there are two options. Press 1 for customer service (which I will not go back through) and # to get to a directory. Well directory does no good. They do give you the option of pressing 0 for an operator in the directory but guess what it takes you back to the same two menus. I gave up and called PUC back. Explained this and PUC said that Amigo was required by law to give me the 16.5 cent rate for the first month (30days), which they did not. They also agree the numbers just do not add up on my usage and agree that things seemed very fishy. They took my complaint right over the phone and it is now in their hands.

My advice to anyone with Amigo change your electric carrier. They do shady things and they do things that are not ethical. They try and bully people into contracts and if you do not they screw you royally. I am just glad mine is in the hands of PUC and my lawyer now. I really do see Amigo going under just like NPC did if they do not straighten up. What they are doing is against the law and do not let them fool you. Just my 2 cents.

23 days ago by Madismom [send email]

I too have been duped by Amigo...the rip off bandits. I guess de -regulation is the new way to screw customers on energy. I too was a NPC castoff and was sent to Amigo island. I did change my provider as soon as I heard NPC was sinking, but of course there is the dreaded 30 day waiting period before the change can take effect. I like to call it the holding cell. Like Jack above I never got a bill from them and inquired as to when I would be billed because I didn't want an outrageous bill..Ha Ha to being proactive. I finally got the dreaded bill today and it was a whopping $550, my KWH was 1940...NEVER in my 4 years of living in my home have I ever used that much wattage. I am doing nothing different, hell I'm actually not using electrical appliances as much as I have in the past. I have tried to call them several times now, but CAN NOT get through for the life of me. I will be contacting the PUC first thing tommorrow for sure on these yahoos. Everyone should call and make a complaint on this type of unethical business practice. Hell maybe a CLASS ACTION lawsuit should be brought against these rip off artists. Who am I kidding the $4.50 check we will get after the lawyers get their piec is not even worth it. Hopefully the PUC can remedy this issue and I will keep trying my AMIGOS and see if I can get some resolve.

21 days ago by Chris R [send email]

Me also, a former castoff from NPC.

My rate soared to $.2419 per KWh.

Absolutely outrageous. I hope a lawyer brings a class action suit. They hurt me too as well because we needed the extra money that we have to spend now for our NEW baby (1 week old). We were going to buy a new car seat for her, but NOT NOW.

http://www.amigoenergy.com/web/pdfs/npc_termsofservice.pdf - That's the facts label for NPC now hosted at Amigo's website for some reason. Section 4 states that NPC will not increase over 10% a month for variable.

Since we were not transferred to the Provider of Last Resort, but rather SOLD to Amigo energy, I would think Amigo would be liable for the NPC Facts label. If your cell phone contract is sold to another company, the new company honors the cell contract. I don't see how it would be different with power.

Contact the Public Utility Commission. Complain the the BBB. Complain to the Texas Attorney General. Raise hell.

If you are a lawyer, you may have a decent class action suit here to take on. (Please don't be too greedy for our sake) :o) .

I switched immediately after I learned NPC was closing, but it took them 1.5 months before I would be with a new power company. Amigo saw this as a cheap way to rip people off.

Too bad Amigo, if you would have been decent, you could have made some good new customers. Instead you probably have recruited over 15, 000 people who will bad mouth your company till the doors are shut, you are sued, and liquidated. If there is fraud, you could be seeing bars.

Kiss my Kilowatt using cow butt.

20 days ago by Nik [send email]
They royally SCREWED me also, I was smart, I changed to a different provider before it got too bad. My bill was normally about 150-180 dollars per month. My bill during the transition to my new provider was for 20 days and it was f04 437.00!!! Outrageuos 0.2645 cents kwh!! I have filed with the PUC. Everyone else needs to complain. Lets put these bastards out of business!!!

17 days ago by Marco [send email]

I am joining the ranks too! They scrw me too! After being transfer from NPC at a fixed rate of .125 and did not received the "first" billed then received the 'second" billed in Aug. 15 it was too late. What is this .2419 you talk about? 281.80 dollars for 1 month and 9 days of service. Bunch of thieves! my account number is 75737 if amigo is reading this! Hope you can call me or respond which I doubt it! I which providers on Jun 9 but by the time it takes the 30 days switch I got major fu..k. Just let me bend over and ... god! DO NOT USED AMIGO!

ps. Chris D. - thanks for providng links to PUC and Attorney General! I will be making a complain!

17 days ago by Marco [send email]
If anyone is filing a complain to Attorney General (www.oag.state.tx.us) they would asked you Amigo Adddress (which is different from the billed statement) and here it is: 777 Poast Oak blvd Ste. 700 Houst, TX 77056 888-469-2644 It is under Harris County