Conservice Utility Management & Billing

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: Conservice,Thank you for your reply. I continue to dispute this issue for the following reasons:First, although the lease does in fact say what you quoted in this reply, it states $50, not $50 monthly or for any other identfied cycle, It just says $50. I have already paid $20 and you are billing me for $70 more.And more specifically, per your records of my billings of:6/13/2016 - 7/13/2016 (received at Conservice on 7/21/2016 and issued to you on your bill mailed on 8/15/2016)7/13/2016 - 8/11/2016 (received at Conservice on 8/20/2016 and issued to you on your bill mailed on 9/15/2016 )8/11/2016 - 8/31/2016 (received at Conservice on 9/6/2016 and issued to you on your bill mailed on 9/15/2016)The very first bill I received from your company was a Statement Date of 7/16/16. It reflects a statement cycle of 6/1/16-7/1/16 and confirms that my move-in date is 6/11/16, which is accurate, and that the billing for the utilities listed (Electricity, Sewer, Trash, Water, your Account Set Up fee and monthly service fee) were prorated. In fact, your monthly service fee was no prorated and I paid the fee in full. The statement/bill did not have mention of Gas service or Gas service fees or charges. I paid the total amount in full by the due date of 8/1/16.The next bill I received had a Statement Date of 8/16/16. This included the first reference to Gas utility listing a Vacant Gas Fee of $16.54 (the cost of gas) and a Vacant Service Fee (what I found out by calling was the charge received for not having set up an Account with the Gas company in my name) of $20. When I opened this statement the end of August knowing the due date would be 9/1/16 in order to write a check is when I noticed these fees. I immediately called your company and spoke with Clayton. He explained the vacant service fee was for not opening a Gas account in my name. I told him that this prompted me that I had forgotten to open a Gas account in my name because all the other utilities didn't require I open an account in my name and that I would do it immediately because I didn't want to pay any more fees for that and he advised me to email your Customer Service email account right away with attn: to him with proof that I opened the account as discussed with him. I in fact did this within the next day by attaching a copy of my new account for Gas which I opened on 8/31/16. I paid that month's Conservice statement/bill in full by the due date of 9/1/16.I never heard back or received any reply to my above email.The next statement I received had a statement date of 9/16/16 and listed two more Vacant Gas amounts of gas usage and two more Vacant Gas Service Fees of $35 each, higher than the $20 fee from the previous month's statement. One covered 7/13/16-8/11/16 and the other 8/11/16-8/31/16. The later was not even for a full month. I again immediately called your company to clarify this and ask what the reasons for this were, especially since I had opened the gas account and provided proof as instructed the next day making you aware of this as of 8/31/16 and regardless of when you received any gas bills or posted them as billable to me, you already knew that my name and apt were associated with billing. I also questioned why there was a significantly higher amount for those two fees and that one of those was not even for a full month and that none of this was clearly stated as being ongoing in the lease. I was told that the lower fee of $20 was just an opportunity to alert a customer that they haven't opened a Gas account in their name and the later higher fees were more of a penalty for still not opening an account. II responded that I did in fact open an account in my name and sent proof the very next day after seeing and clarifying what the $20 fee was for and therefore did immediately appropriately make the change and should not be billed for the following months as your company had already known I put the gas in my name. I requested those fees be removed but I was told nothng could be done and I started my dispute directly with your company and my apartment community. Waiting for replies and not getting any response that was consistent, I then decided to make this complaint with the Revdex.com.Further, the same day I made this complaint a couple of weeks ago, I stopped by my apartment community to share this info with the Manager because I received a note from here stating that I would need to pay late fees for the remaining $70 I've been disputing because Conservice will not remove the $70 fees. I again expressed my concerns about this and the Manager called her Conservice point of contact with me there, and I explained the situation to her saying that given the way Conservice system is set up and bills does not facilitate the statement they make of charging a smaller fee (the $20 first Vacant Service Fee) in order to give the customer a chance to open the account in their name and later charge a higher fee because they didn't take advantage of the $20 warning fee because I in fact did just that and was still charged these $35 each fees. She agreed with this view and said she's ask her supervisor if he/she would remove the fee and call either me or the apartment manager the very next day with the answer. Neither I nor the apt manager heard back. I stopped by the apartment complex office a few days and checked with the manager as to whether she heard anything and she said no and we called the point of contact again but had to leave a message regarding this and left both our numbers again to be contacted. Still nothing heard back. Today I receive this reply through the Revdex.com and am still unsatisfied with the erroneous and non-customer-friendly dogmatic thinking and response, particularly because despite my many attempts to complain directly with Conservice, there is not a clear or timely process that is respected by your company and yet your company's charges are directly attached to my rent and standing in this apartment community and even with your statement of what the lease says, the lease only refers to $50, not monthly, and you are trying to charge me a total of $90, of which I already paid $20 the first statement that showed the fee.I am reluctant but willing to settle this by paying only $30 in addition to my already paid $20 even though my statements above still stand about there not being a fair process built-in for a customer to respond to the initial lower 'alert' I've been told is in place. Because I did respond right away. Since you refer to the lease as saying $50, I am willing to pay $30 to equal $50 which is the reference in the lease as a maximum amount and does not clearly, i.e. legally, require anything further.Please let me know. I am unwilling to pay any late fees as this issue has continued to be under legitimate dispute during the time it has not been paid. Thank you.[redacted]  
Sincerely,
[redacted]