Minnesota Energy Resources Corporation

Customer Service Center Reviewed the conversation history with the customer as follows: The customer is a self-read customer due to being a Farm Tap accountMERC sends out a meter reading letter advising the customer when to submit their self-readsIf the reading is not submitted by the date on the letter, the bill is estimated the following day On 4/26/16, a letter was sent advising to read the meter between the dates of 4/29/and 5/1/The customer called on 5/to enter the meter readingThe consultant entered the reading and advised the customer was billed on 4/with an estimated read On 5/24/16, a letter was sent advising to read the meter between the dates of 5/23/and 5/25/The customer called on 5/to enter the meter readingThe consultant advised the estimate was submitted on 5/The consultant offered to cancel the estimate and re-bill with the actual reading, the customer declined the offer MERC is aware of the letter issue and we are looking into a resolution for our farm tap customers

In Summary: · The turn off scheduled for 12/28/was ‘system generated’ from a request that originated on 12/21, which indicates the request to turn off service was generated from MERCs website · The tenant called in on 12/21/to ensure services would be out of their name The tenant said they don’t want the services turned off but rather transferredDuring the call, the tenant was advised that the order to shut off services was scheduled for 12/28/and that the meter would be locked if the new tenant did not call to start servicesThe CSR advised the caller they couldn’t put it in someone else’s name based solely on their request, that the new tenant must call in for service.The customer agreed· The landlord did not call until 12/30/17, days after the service was shut off to have the services turned back onThe order was scheduled on the next available date of 1/2/ Leader Misty spoke to [redacted] on 1/and advised since there was not an owner agreement in place on the property, it would not have ‘automatically’ been placed back in her name [redacted] expressed frustration they had to wait until 1/2/to have the services restored Sadie attempted to contact [redacted] again 1/11/to advise of the results of the investigation & offer an owner agreement forthe customer's rentalsThe customer did not answer Misty, however, left her direct line for the customer to call Action: We will be adding owner agreements to both of ***’s properties to ensure services will not be interrupted in the future MERC followed the correct process for the turn on, despite the landlords expression of dissatisfactionThe process when someone calls to take service out of their name is to lock and seal the meter unless, A) there is an owner agreement on the account which reverts the service to the landlord or B) someone else calls to start service which will cancel the turn off orderThe landlord was not assessed a re-connection fee

The customer was contacted today by our Project Manager of ServiceChoiceBelow is the conversation: Dear Ms [redacted] : It was a pleasure to speak with you today and I thank you for bringing the ServiceChoice promotional pricing discrepancy to my attentionI know you tried to get this corrected several times through our customer service team and the issue was not resolvedI apologize for the frustration and extra time this has caused for you and I commit to getting this corrected in our system ASAP and any credits applied appropriately to your accountI will contact you once I have this corrected to let you know what we did and what to expect on your next ServiceChoice bill Sincerely, David [redacted]

Since this issue has been going on for several months, I am rejecting this response because they do not indicate when this issue will be resolvedFor months, they have indicated they are aware of the issues and they are working on it but this does not tell me anything

Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2016/02/18) */ A customer service associate reviewed the account, put in a work item to credit the customer back to 1/29/per the customer's requestCSA called and told customer that a request was put in for the adjustment so they will have an adjusted billCSA let customer know that this was the first time the local office had heard of this complaint and we apologized for the delayCustomer was happy with the resolution Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (2000, 7, 2016/02/19) */ (The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.) Shawn from the main office called and informed me that they had not heard of the complaint and that they will be crediting my account and sending me a corrected billing showing thisShawn did informa me that this could possible take up to a week to receiveDid let her know that I did reach out to the Revdex.com and she informed me that is how she acutally found out about the issueOnce I recieve my corrected statement I will have clear up the account that I do owe as long and they follow through with the corrections

Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/05/14) */ A tech was dispatched to the customer's home on 5/13/to talk with the customer and reconnect serviceTech went to the home on 5/12/to reconnectHe knocked on the door several times over minutes and called ahead to let customer know approximately when he would be at the home but nobody answered the doorThe customer was shut off on 5/6/for no payCustomer paid on 5/11/and the reconnect was schedule for 5/12/We cannot reconnect the gas service unless we can get into the house to do a safety check

Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 8, 2015/07/22) */ We finally found the issue that was causing us not to get the Budget Balance to reflect what was on her last billAttached is an account workup showing each month's charges and payments and how it broke down into the Budget Balance, which she now owes $All ServiceChoice Charges have been removed and ServiceChoice has been cancelled as requestedShe has a $credit on her budget balance, so that will be deducted from the $budget charge on her next billing bringing it down to $She should only pay $and then her monthly bills will be the $ Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (3000, 10, 2015/07/23) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) which she now owes $All ServiceChoice Charges have been removed and ServiceChoice has been cancelled as requestedShe has a $credit on her budget balance So do I owe $or do I have a credit for $as you've stated bothThis could be why what shows up on my bill is never the same amount as what I'm told to pay Final Business Response / [redacted] (4000, 12, 2015/07/27) */ She has a $credit on her budget balance, so that will be deducted from the $budget charge on her next billing bringing it down to $She should only pay $and then her monthly bills will be the $

As of today Mr [redacted] has a credit of $on his accountAll payments he made in error on his ex-wife’s account have been transferred to his account

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/09/08) */
The tax exempt form was entered in the system on 8/3/for all accounts requested; however, they were not backdated so the customer was charged for the taxesI located the form and all accounts will be credited the taxes that were charged
The call center attempted to contact the customer to advise may take 1-bill cycles to reflect on the statementA direct phone line for *** at the call center was left as a message to the customer if there should be more questions
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 7, 2015/09/09) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)

We have spoken directly with the customer. They have agreed to payment arrangements. Their gas will be turned on tomorrow, October 7th. They are satisfied with the resolution

After reviewing the accounts we show that the new owner called in to start service which generated a system generated turn off for *** ***We did find a call from *** *** (from that time period) however, it’s an archived call and we are unable to access it to ascertain
the reason he was calling Therefore, in this case we will send a request to have the charges written offWe will call the customer and advise we are writing off the charges. *** *** * *** *** ** ** *** *
*** *** * *** *** ** ** *** *

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. thanks*** l ***

MERC is aware of the letter issue. If a situation like this occurs again, the customer can call and provide us their actual read, and MERC would cancel the estimate read and send them a new bill. We will work with the billing department to make sure we get the cancel / rebill completed should the customer choose that option during the transition period with the letter mailing issue

I am rejecting this response
because:Payments made below are still in exwife account and have not been returned due to choice by Minnesota Energy LLC moving money from old legacy account to my ex-wife's new account set up by them. This change of location was also their choice. Proper accounting practices on their end should have caught and flagged this error as amounts did not line up with any invoice sent from my ex-wife's account01/24/18BILL PAY MINNESOTA ENERGY ON-LINE xxxxxxxxxxON 01-$81.3902/13/18BILL PAY MINNESOTA ENERGY ON-LINE xxxxxxxxxxON 02-$217.96Payment below was made under duress to cover January, February and March payments to avoid having my services shut off I have multiple threatening letters to this end if needed. I had to spend an hour on the phone with Wells Fargo trying to figure out why prior payments were being directed to the old account as this was not my intent after I directed Minnesota Energy on what had probably happened and they found my payments. The customer service representative said as much on a recorded line. Perhaps we should request a copy of this recorded conversation. $was paid in duress on 3-13-and that is why account is zero balance. Not anything corrected by Minnesota Energy.03/13/18BILL PAY MINNESOTA ENERGY ON-LINE xxxxxxxxxxON 03-$

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2016/01/18) */
Information is being provided by supervisor Gary ***"I received the original complaint via rightfax on December 1st, and left a message for Mr*** requesting a return call that included my direct office lineI didn't hear from Mr
*** for several days, but was finally able to discuss the matter with him on December 8thAfter hearing Mr***'s version of events surrounding the incident, I determined further investigation was warranted and informed him it may take a few days to resolve the matterI requested all calls surrounding this incident both to and from our call center be pulled and sent to me for review that same dayI had received recordings of all applicable calls by December 11th , but was unable to review them until the following week due to scheduling conflictsAfter reviewing all eight calls on December 17th, it was determined that sufficient misinformation had been given to Mr*** by our call center to warrant reversing the chargesI did not want to adjust the charges on the account until I had spoken to Mr*** personally about the resolution, and reinforce with him that only authorized MERC personnel are allowed to turn on gas service due to safety concernsI left a message for Mr*** that same day which included my mobile number requesting he contact me at his earliest convenience to discuss the matterI did not hear from Mr*** again until January 12th when he left a message on my office phone threatening a Revdex.com complaintI was able to discuss the matter with him later that same day, and informed him that MERC would reverse the charges due to the misinformation supplied to him by our call centerI sent instructions to our area Customer Service Associate to remove the charges from Mr***'s account that same dayI received the Revdex.com complaint the following day on the 13th
It is important to note that the gas service was shut off for construction resulting from a city infrastructure improvement project in MayA note was left on the door by our area technician at that time informing the resident that the gas was off from construction and they needed to call for a relightIt is also important to note that we did dispatch a technician to relight the premise on October 1st after the first call from Mr***, but no one was homeThe shut off valve was not broken at that time, but was found broken and subsequently replaced on a follow up visit the next morning."
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 7, 2016/01/27) */

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2016/02/18) */
A customer service associate reviewed the account, put in a work item to credit the customer back to 1/29/16 per the customer's request. CSA called and told customer that a request was put in for the adjustment so they will have an adjusted...

bill. CSA let customer know that this was the first time the local office had heard of this complaint and we apologized for the delay. Customer was happy with the resolution.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 7, 2016/02/19) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
Shawn from the main office called and informed me that they had not heard of the complaint and that they will be crediting my account and sending me a corrected billing showing this. Shawn did informa me that this could possible take up to a week to receive. Did let her know that I did reach out to the Revdex.com and she informed me that is how she acutally found out about the issue. Once I recieve my corrected statement I will have clear up the account that I do owe as long and they follow through with the corrections.

The customer was contacted today by our Project Manager of ServiceChoice. Below is the conversation:
Dear Ms. [redacted]:
It was a pleasure to speak with you today and I thank you for bringing the ServiceChoice promotional pricing discrepancy to my attention. I know you tried to get this...

corrected several times through our customer service team and the issue was not resolved. I apologize for the frustration and extra time this has caused for you and I commit to getting this corrected in our system ASAP and any credits applied appropriately to your account. I will contact you once I have this corrected to let you know what we did and what to expect on your next ServiceChoice bill.
Sincerely,
David [redacted]

As of today Mr. [redacted] has a credit of $387.74 on his account. All payments he made in error on his ex-wife’s account have been transferred to his account.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/10/27) */
We have an order in for today to complete the dryer repair. The funeral that was referenced was true. Our tech had asked for the day off on 10/23 to attend the funeral of his friend,the officer, who was killed in St. Cloud. We will rebate the...

customer's account for one month of ServiceChoice for her inconvenience.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 7, 2015/10/28) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
I understand things happen, however, the way I was treated on the phone was unacceptable. I worked in customer service for over 20 years and know how it goes.
Final Consumer Response /* (3000, 14, 2016/01/05) */
My Service Choice was cancelled without valid explanation. No response to written inquiry.
On 10-27-2015, I filed Revdex.com Complaint Case# [redacted] (Ref#19-22000451-[redacted]-3-210). This complaint was resolved. However, On December 5, 2015 I received a letter from Mr Ed [redacted] of MN Energy Resources stating my Service Choice program has been cancelled. The letter cited "unsafe working conditions." Up until this point, we had
never received any notice of unsafe working conditions in our home, nor were we given any indication that there was a problem so we could fix it if there was. So, we feel that this in retaliation for our complaining about the quality of their service work and the time it took to get the needed repair completed. A letter was sent December 7, 2015 asking for details so any issues could be resolved. We have heard nothing. I feel that this is not good business practice and that there was no just cause for discontinuing the repair service. Copies of both letters are available upon request.
I would like reinstatement of my Service Choice appliance repair service.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 16, 2016/01/06) */
This memo serves as final response to [redacted] Crosby MN 56441. Under the Service Choice Terms and Conditions policy the company or customer may cancel given written notice. The cancellation of our contract with this customer has nothing to do with the Revdex.com complaint, rather the concern our technicians have with the working conditions inside the residence. We are exercising our right based on contractual terms and will not reinstate this Service Choice customer.