Washington Gas

We thank you for the opportunity to respond towards concern raisedWe also want to apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused the customerUnfortunately due to the multiple occupant accounts (Illegal Gas Usage) the customer was referred to the Office of Mr***We have
notified Mr*** regarding the case filed by the CuStomer.For inquiries and follow-up, the customer can reach us thru our customer service hotline at *** ***Thank you for the opportunity to review this matter for youSincerely,
William S***
Specialist
Consumer Relations

Washington Gas was within its right to disconnect service to this property due to nonpaymentWashington Gas general policy is when service is disconnected for nonpayment and the bill is paid, an order is scheduled for the next business day to restore serviceDue to scheduling needs, same day orders are requested and have to be approved by a Washington Gas dispatcher if there is an available technicianPlease keep in mind, technicians can be interrupted during the day to respond to an emergency gas leak callWashington Gas technicians complete orders to restore service Monday-Friday, 7am-5pm

We
thank you for the opportunity to respond towards concern raisedFor
the purpose of making sure that the privacy of the account holder is
not broken, as the name of the case filer is not on the account, the
account holder was contacted to get consent to discuss the account in
this letterIt
was verified that the account holder used his second
name in filing the caseThe customer was informed that the deposit
request was removed as a courtesyThe customer explained his
attempts were unsuccessful in enrolling to Automatic Payment Plan
when it was clarified to him that the account was never enrolled to
the said programThe customer was advised that the website is
available for the customer to make the enrollment thus making sure
that future payment will be made on timeFor inquiries and follow-up, the
customer can reach us thru our customer service hotline at
###-###-####.Thank you for the opportunity to review
this matter for you.Sincerely, William S*SpecialistConsumer Relations

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the responseIf no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]
Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because: The issue remains unresolved, yet my service was interrupted while this issue is in disputeThe interruption occurred with no prior notice and after numerous requests, I still have yet to receive a bill by mailIn an effort to prevent further service disruption however , since I do have young children in the household, I have made payment arrangements with someone in their ***, MD office to pay off the sum in monthsYet when I call to make a payment to satisfy this month's usage, I am told I will need to pay off the amount in fullI have asked three different representatives to check their notes, speak to a Supervisor/Manager, but they all come back with the same answer that I need to pay the full amountI am trying to contact the representative in the *** office, but she told me before that she could not accept the payment in her office and suggested the automatic payment systemTheir automated payment line transfers you to a representative
Regards,
*** ***

Please note: This is not a WGES customer. This customer has a concern about his utility account and this complaint needs to be forwarded to the local utility Washington Gas. Since this is not a WGES customer we cannot help him resolve this issue. Please remove this from WGES
and forward to *** *** *** Utility. Thank you

Industrial Road
Springfield, Virginia
May 2,
Revdex.com
K Street NW, 10th Floor
Washington DC
20005-
Attention: *** ***
Re: *** *** ***
ID#***
Dear ***:
The inquiry regarding the above referenced customer was forwarded to my office for review
The budget installment was based on the history of the gas usage of the address, taking into account factors that may contribute to potential increase or decrease in the usageThe budget amount was set so that by the end of the budget season the total gas used would be almost equal to total amount paid, as whatever dollar difference would still be billed to the customer as part of the programs policyThe Budget installment amount was adjusted $on the 7th installment in the program on the 8/20/invoiceWe apologize to the customer for the inconvenience that the budget installment amount was set in such that the debit balance when the budget season ended was not minimizedThe debit balance by default is deferred to months; however the payment arrangement is open to be set for more that the preset months if the customer makes the request
For inquiries and follow-up, the customer can reach us thru our customer service hotline at ###-###-####Thank you for the opportunity to review this matter for you
Sincerely,
*** ***
Specialist
Consumer Relations

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the responseIf no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]
Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because: Even thought it's nice that you removed the charge from my bill, you didn't address one single thing that I requested in my complaint; which centers around deceptive billing practicesThe point isn't that if a consumer complains you'll make it quietly go away, the point is that consumers are being deceived and abused through these billing practicesI'd like to see it addressed; especially for poor families or the elderly on fixed incomes
Regards,
*** ***

October 26, Dear *** ***:The inquiry regarding the above referenced
customer was forwarded to my office for reviewWe made contact with the customer after several attempts and apologized for the
trouble the issue has caused herWe have advised that the
desired
outcome/settlement has been addressed with the back-end system being resolved
and recommended to wait for the launch of our new and improved website for
plans of registration to any planThe customer’s account has been refreshed
from having records of late payments within the affected period and late
payment fees have been taken offFor inquiries and
follow-up, the customer can reach us thru our customer service hotline at
###-###-####.Thank you for the
opportunity to review this matter for you.Sincerely, Isaiah *S.SpecialistConsumer Relations

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
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.
Regards,
*** ***

On March at 17:hours I received an email notifying me that the auto-payment process for Washington Gas process had failed back in December for hundreds of customers I had continued to receive the emails in Dec/Jan and Feb stating the amount I owed Washington Gas and the date and amount the payment would be auto deducted from my accountTying to be a diligent customer- I tried to log into my account so I could at least pay the money Washington Gas failed take from the auto payment process I entered my USER ID and password and I was turfed to a new screen asking me to enter a new password and answer security questionsI did so I tried to log on with the new password and I receive the error message "UserID and Password don't match"Puzzled I call the support desk where I am informed that I should use Chrome -- I said I have "Explorer" and that this web browser has worked fine for last three years Then I was told that the help desk would reset my password - but I was to then wait for 1-hours and then clear my cookies so I could access my account I noted I could not clear cookies since my computer has a profile lock and I have no access to that area I was told then that I could not access the web site until I could find another computer and clear my cookies I said that was ridiculous and asked to talk to someone about the account to fix it so I can pay by paper billing, work on a payment plan or understand the scope of the financial issue I was then told "you can only manage these issues or questions by logging into your account" NOTE: This is the Account that the help desk has just told me I could not access unless I cleared the cookiesThe conversation deteriorated from there with both me and the support desk becoming testy The help desk stated they would initiate a Password Reset (Oddly, I was able to log on as a "non-registered" User later that day and pay WG their missing money without CLEARNING ONE COOKIE OR THE CACHE)At 12:I get an email that states "I had a "first time user" password update and states WG has received my updated user password and security questions So I go back into the web browser and enter the new password and get an error message "you have entered an incorrect password for the profile associated with this email address"So I enter the "forgot password" option and then I enter my User ID and get the error "User profile is not registered for this portal" I had just received an email stating that his Portal was acknowledging the password and security question update on this "profile"
So I decided, if the web portal says I have no profile (that it acknowledged was updated minutes ago) that the next step would be to register for a profile -- I started the process and entered my information and yet another password and answered the security questions for the second time and clicked on "send my bills by email" and "I have read and agree to the Terms of Use" " before selecting "Submit" I received another error message "This account is not eligible for paperless billing" Then, I click off the "paperless option" and then select “submit” and the website does nothingclick it againno action, DEAD END! No resolution, no account created, no error message; nothing just a dead endMeanwhile, I get a password reset message I dutifully enter the UserID and then the temporary password - and it doesn't work I have a friend carefully re-enter it It doesn't work, I type it in notepad and copy paste and it DOES NOT WORKSo the password sent to me by the help desk does NOT WORKI call the help desk to tell them their "forgot password" doesn't work, nor does their "Register for an Account" Finally a staff member helps me at least pay Washington Gas the money I owed which is the right thing to do, although I am puzzled that there was no contact from the company until today in March when the auto-payment failed in DEC At the time of writing this compliant, I cannot log onto my account and I have no other solutions other than the round and round about process the technical team and the web product has trapped me into I dread going through this again in a few days to try once again to gain access to and manage my account Washington Gas sends password resets that don't work, tell the customers to use a single web browser "chrome" and to make things worse: expect EVERYONE to not only know how to clear their cookies but to do so every time they want to log in (BY THE WAY, I DIDN"T CLEAR ONE COOKIE or CACHE AND WAS ABLE TO LOG IN AS A NON-REGISTERED USER) So essentially the advice from technical services is wrong and to compound matters I still can’t get into my accountWashington Gas needs to fix their web portal and communicate more effectively with customers to assist in service recovery My trust has been damaged! I don't mind a company having a problem, but when they are this inept at working with customers to resolve a very basic issue, then I am very concernedI wish Washington Gas luck and suggest perhaps a more robust software testing process before transiting software to production in the future

Industrial Road
Springfield, Virginia
May 30,
Revdex.com
K Street NW, 10th Floor
Washington DC 20005-
Attention: ***
***
Re: *** ***
ID#***
Dear ***:
The inquiry regarding the above referenced customer was forwarded to my office for review
The customer’s request for the Final Bill Adjustment up to 08/23/cannot be made due to the failure of providing access to the meter for us to turn the service off and do the Actual final readingIt is for the best interest on both parties to get an accurate reading before we turn the gas off to stop customers billingSince access to the meter was not available, customers billing continued
Unfortunately we can’t request the account to be removed from the Collection Agency until final bill has been fully paid
For inquiries and follow-up, the customer can reach us thru our customer service hotline at ###-###-####
Thank you for the opportunity to review this matter for you
Sincerely,
*** ***
Specialist
Consumer Relations

Industrial Road
Springfield, Virginia
July 7,
Revdex.com
K Street NW, 10th Floor
#000000;">Washington DC 20005-
Attention: *** ***
Re: *** * ***
ID# ***
Dear ***:
The inquiry regarding the above referenced customer was forwarded to my office for review
The customer’s settlement document confirmed that adjustment to bill the account until February 6, is meritedCustomer was contacted to inform that a corrected final will be made and sent to the account’s mailing addressThe collection was also notified of the adjustment to be done to the account
For inquiries and follow-up, the customer can reach us thru our customer service hotline at ###-###-####
Thank you for the opportunity to review this matter for you
Sincerely,
*** ***
Specialist
Consumer Relations

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the responseIf no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]
Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because: For one I tried calling Daniel back yesterday after I got off of work as my work does not allow personal calls on company time Their escalation department said they could not take my call and to leave a message which I did stating the hours I was available to speakNot all of our payments have been posted to our accounts For example a payment in the amount of $was made on Dec26, (conf* via the confirmation email they sent) That amount has never been credited to our account and the statement on January 8, shows no record of it When I called right after receiving that bill dated January 8, I was told oh yes we'll get that credited right away Do date that has never happened When I called again on Monday Feb1st I was given an incorrect balance that not only did not show that Dec26th payment nor the payment I had just made that morning Their system is not processing payments made Their system has made it so we cannot access our account to see the correct amounts owing And their representatives only spit out what your last bill says (which is obviously incorrect in this case) I've attached the bill we received in January showing the incorrect amounts along with the confirmation email for the Dec26th payment.Regards,
*** ***

July 8, Dear *** ***:The inquiry regarding the above
referenced customer was forwarded to my office for review.First and foremost, we would like to apologize to the customer for the
inconvenience regarding the misallocation of the payments towards their (4)
four
accountsWe made contact to the customer (President) to discuss the process on
how they mailed the check payment, and as discussed, customer was mailing the
check with the stubs that indicate the amount due for each accountWe also
confirmed, advising the customer that the payment adjustment to correct the
misallocated payments has been completed, leaving the accounts currentWe are looking at a possible human error on this caseWe will review
our process to avoid such controllable error/s in the future.For inquiries and
follow-up, the customer can reach us thru our customer service hotline at
###-###-####.Thank you for the
opportunity to review this matter for you.Sincerely, John D***

*** *** ***
***, Virginia ***
January 31,
Revdex.com
K Street NW, 10th Floor
Washington DC 20005-
Attention: ***
***
Re: ID# ***
Dear ***:
The inquiry regarding the above referenced customer was forwarded to my office for review
The request to set up an account for the customers has been completed and customer will be billed for usage starting his move in dateCustomer was provided the account number under his name for the addressThe account was not made immediately available since the processing of the would be account of the customer was done after days as usage needs to be backdated since customer called and request to set up account after the move in date
For inquiries and follow-up, the customer can reach us thru our customer service hotline at ###-###-####
Thank you for the opportunity to review this matter for you
Sincerely,
*** ***
Specialist
Consumer Relations

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the responseIf no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]
Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because: The fourth paragraph of MrD*** letter is exactly what was done as you can see in the attached email to the property manager...I contacted Washington Gas, notified them that the gas meter was in a locked room that only the apartment management had access to and requested that they first stop at the management office so that they could open the maintenance room where the meter is kept Washington Gas confirmed they were aware that they needed the apt management staff give them access to meter and they assured me that they would do that. I am certain MrD*** is aware that this apartment complex has apartments more than half of them have the gas meters locked in a maintenance closet that only the apartment management staff has access toNot only did I give the complex my permission to enter the apartment the lease is clearly states that apartment management office has the right to enter the apartment for maintenance of that equipment In addition, I am certain that MrD*** is aware that "power is supplied to the the remote Encoder Receiver Transmitter (ERT) through a self-contained lithium battery with a life expectancy roughly equal to its shelf life which is - years Installation of the ERT can readily be performed with only a screw driver in minutes"(excerpt from Integrating Microelectronics Into Gas Distribution edited by *** *** *** *** *** ***) So, the ERT had to be replaced and not just the battery as previously stated and as a result the method for reading the meter was in fact "defective," since the ERT had most likely exceeded its shelf life.As you can see in the attached email, the apartment manager was surprised that Washington Gas would even contact me about inspecting the gas meter since they know that the tenant can not access the room where the gas equipment is stored MrD*** makes reference to the fact that the meter was not defective, however his notice specifically states, "inspection and maintenance", which implies that the meter had not been maintained and that ERT was most likely defective since Washington Gas admits that its "battery" (i.e., the ERT) needed replacement The Public Utilities Commission requires that these meters be tested and maintained regularly so that consumer billing is as accurate as possibleI notified the apartment management office that Washington Gas needed access to the gas meter and set up not only the appointment on July 28, and on a second appointment and placed a note on my front door directing them to contact the management office for access to the meter But Washington Gas failed take the necessary steps to gain access to properly maintain the equipment on both occasions.In response to receiving this bill, I called the Washington Gas office on three separate occasions asking for some explanation on this bill I was told that a manager would call me back but none ever did I finally walked into the Washington Gas downtown office and spoke with a Mrs V***, one of the customer service representatives She told me that the bill was a result of an actual reading which was done in response to me transferring the service I suppose the Washington Gas technician, went to the management office to gain access to the apartment which I had instructed them to do from the start I asked when was the last time the meter was read and was tested but MrsV*** did not provide me with an answer Instead, she explained to me that the billing was in line with the previous tenant in that apartment and those resident in the complex I explained to her that I did not actually live in the apartment and was gone months at a time therefore my usage should not be based on others usage I asked what was the method of estimating gas usage when meter fail to register and if I could be provided a copy of how that was documented I asked what date the equipment was placed in service, the last time the "battery" was replaced, the date of the with its last calibration test, if the equipment resets to "zero" when the battery is replaced None of my questions could be answered I was told that they would send someone out to check the meter and that I would be contacted with the results I phoned MrsV*** every day last week and left a message at least twice and I have not received a return call yet.I received a message from Washington Gas last week and called MrsV*** to inquire about the results of the inspection of the meter at my old address I left a message but have not received a call back I paid the $bill because I did not want any adverse credit reporting done while awaiting some answers about this billing I reject Washington Gas' response because I should not be responsible for paying Washington Gas $as a result of their lack to service their equipment and their inability to disclose some very important information about the condition of their equipment, its maintenance history and the last time a meter reading was accurately reported which directly relates to the reported usage Washington Gas is now attempting to bill to me
Regards,
*** ***

The
inquiry regarding the above referenced customer was forwarded to my
office for review.Based on the billing and payment
history reviewed, customer was late in payments which brought the
previous balance forwarded to the bills currentLate Fees and
Deposit assessed on the
customer’s account or any other Washington
Gas account are both approved by the Virginia State Corporation
Commission, with guidelines as a basis to when an account will be
charge of the followingWe also tried to make contact to the
customer for the purpose of providing guidance on how the billing
statements are presentedWe left a voicemail to contact me directlyFor inquiries and follow-up, the
customer can reach us thru our customer service hotline at
###-###-####.Thank you for the opportunity to review
this matter for you.Sincerely, John D***SpecialistConsumer Relations

*** *** ***Springfield, Virginia 22151December 14, 2015Revdex.comK Street NW, 10th FloorWashington DC 20005-3404Attention: *** ***Re: *** ***Case ID # ***Dear Ms
***:The inquiry regarding the above referenced customer was forwarded to my office for review.We have contacted the customer and advised that the issue has been referred to the appropriate department to meet the customer’s demandsWherein the customer responded that he has been contacted regarding the situation prior our conversation.For inquiries and follow-up, the customer can reach us thru our customer service hotline at ###-###-####.Thank you for the opportunity to review this matter for you.Sincerely, Isaiah VS***SpecialistConsumer Relations

We thank you for the opportunity to respond towards concern raisedWe also want to apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused the customer.The customer’s account for the old address has been adjusted to reflect billing up until September 10, All the bills that were previously sent
billing the customer after the date was cancelledThe adjustment was initiated after it was verified that customer’s lease ended on 9/10/We apologize to the customer for the inconvenience regarding having the lease sent more than once as the previously received was unreadableThe account is now on a zero balance standing and the account was never reported to an outside collection agency. For inquiries and follow-up, the customer can reach us thru our customer service hotline at ###-###-####.Thank you for the opportunity to review this matter for you

Industrial Road
Springfield, Virginia
May 16,
Revdex.com
K Street NW, 10th Floor
Washington DC 20005-
Attention: ***
***
Re: *** * ***
ID#***
Dear ***:
The inquiry regarding the above referenced customer was forwarded to my office for review
The account was on its 12th installment on the Budget in the 2/10/invoiceThe Budget settlement took place on this bill, the total gas usage was compared to the total amount paid on the budget and showed a debit balance of $This amount was automatically set up for three installments ($per installment), to be billed on the incoming monthsOn the March 12, invoice, since there was a $payment received on 2/21/14, the account was asked to pay $which includes $for the new Budget installment for the new season and the 1st installment for the debit balanceThis is the same reason that only $shows as the Paid to Date in the Budget Plan that reflects on the 4/10/invoiceCurrently, the account has already paid installments of the Debit balance, the remaining last installment of $was billed on the 5/9/invoiceWe apologize to the customer the confusion brought by the bills
For inquiries and follow-up, the customer can reach us thru our customer service hotline at ###-###-####
Thank you for the opportunity to review this matter for you
Sincerely,
*** ***
Specialist
Consumer Relations