NYSEG Ithaca, NY Customers for over 20 years, horrible customer service, terrible online payment option Binghamton New York

We have also been clients of NYSEG's for over 20 years, mostly because the Ithaca area does not have another place we can go to for our needs. I was outraged a few weeks ago when some came buy our business, first at 8am to check the meters, and then again at 2pm to turn off our electricity (without stopping in to let us know she was turning the electricity off). The note on the door stated that we were behind on our bills. But how could this be? We had been making regular payments online since February? I immediately called NYSEG and waited for 30 minutes before I was told that this was a "customer error" and that the payments we had been making were being made to a null account. Hundreds of dollars were being tranfered into an account that was inactive...We did not choose to make transfers into this account, however the online banking system automatically sent our money there. I paid whatever dues needed to be paid and was told that the money in the null account would be credited to the correct account after I made the payments. I was also told that someone would come to turn our electricity back on. After 3 hours of time wasted on the phone with individuals who kept assuring me that this was a "customer error" and that the late fees would still need to be paid, I finally got on the line with a supervisor. The supervisor told me that this in fact WAS an online banking issue, and that we would not have to pay the fees. She assured me that the funds would be transferred into the correct account. However, she told me that no one would come to turn the electricity back on until the next day. How could this be when I was told earlier that someone would come? I requested to speak with this supervisor's supervisor, and finally they sent someone around 7:30pm. The man who came asked what happened since NYSEG rarely paid extra for people to come after hours...So, finally I thought everything was resolved. I checked the bill this month and we had 100s of dollars to pay again. Nothing had been transfered from the null account. Again, I wasted another hour of my day on the phone and then was told that I needed to send all of our bank statements in from February in order to prove that we were paying these bills into the null account...Does NYSEG not have this information? Do they not know where their payments are coming from? I asked these questions and the answer was exactly as I suspected, no they do not. 

This experience alone made my blood pressure rise so much that I honestly cringe at the thought of ever having to communicate with NYSEG again. They are the absolute WORST! They will fight with you by phone and try to convince you that you are in the wrong just so they can earn some extra bucks by issuing late fees. I have never experienced something so frustrating.