PSNC Dishonest Customer Service Ripoff dishonest customer service Raleigh North Carolina

My first contact with PSNC was in early November. I moved in to my new home this past fall and I called PSNC's toll free customer service number in early November to schedule an appointment to establish new gas service for my furnace.

The first customer service person that I worked with was very polite and friendly. She informed me that this time of year was their "busy season" and that she would not be able to schedule a service person to come out until Friday November the 19th, almost two weeks away. I agreed, assuming that this was the first available date. She said that I would need to be there between 1pm and 5pm in order to let their service person in to my home. In order to do this I would have to take off of work for the afternoon, but I was willing to accept this one time inconvience so that I could have heat.
November the 19th came around and I went home early from work. I was at home by 1 pm and so I proceeded with what I assumed to be was a long, but reasonable wait. Around 4pm I started to become impatient. I had made plans for the evening and I was hoping to get out of the house by 5pm. At 4:30pm I called the toll free number for PSNC and was told that the service man was behind and could be there as late as 8pm. At 5pm, after not encountering the repairman, I left in a very perturbed state.

After arriving back home, I found a note on the door: "Sorry we missed you." The note stated that PSNC's service man could not complete his task because I was not at home. The note had a written time of 5:59pm, nearly an hour past the end of the given wait time. I was not impressed by PSNC's upfront dishonesty concerning their scheduling. If they knew that they could not keep their appointment they should have informed me upfront or contact me by phone on the day that they were late.

However, I wanted gas; so the following weekday I called PSNC's toll free number again to set another appointment. I explained what happened to the customer service representative and she informed me that they are commonly as late to their appointments as they were on November 19th. She said that she could set me up for the next available day: Friday, December 3rd between 1pm and 5pm.

By this point I desperately needed my gas turned on so that I could heat my house. Again, I took off work on the afternoon of December the 3rd. Again, I arrived at 1pm, but this time I prepared to stay until 8pm.
At 7:30pm on Friday December the 3rd, no PSNC service man had arrived. I once again contacted the PSNC toll free customer service line, weary after the six and a half hour wait.

The PSNC customer service person, Bobby, was helpful and friendly. She told me that it was possible that somebody came by and turned on my gas, without me noticing. She instructed me on how to check to see if my meter was unlocked, it was not. She told me that there was nothing that I could do that night, but I should call back the next morning to try to get another person out to check the gas.

The next day (Saturday December the 4th), I once again called PSNC's toll free customer service line. The woman that answered did not give her name. I explained the whole back story to her. In turn she put me on hold. She stated that the computer showed that my gas had been turned on the afternoon of November the 19th. I told her that this was not true, that a note had been left on my door saying that they could not complete the service. She put me on hold again. She said that it had been on since Nov. 19th, but they completed the service yesterday, Fri. Dec. 3rd. I told her that it was impossible, that I would have seen someone come by, and besides that the lock that keeps gas from flowing to my house was still in place on my meter. I said that if anything had been done at all, that the first thing the service person would have done was remove the lock.
The customer service person went away again. She stated again that my gas was on and that my service was complete. I said if that was true, then I would have heat. She said that maybe my furnace did not work. I said that no, a service person never came by, and the lock was still on my meter.

She finally suggested that I schedule another appointment for a service person to come out. She said that she could schedule one in about two weeks. I said "NO!" Fed up, I told her that I had taken off eight hours from work already and I was not going to sit around the house and wait for someone that may or may not come. Suddenly the next Monday (Dec the 6th) was available. I still refused, citing that I had already taken off enough work. She said that it was impossible to send someone out on the weekends. I told her that they had to because they screwed up. She said again that it was impossible, except in an emergency. I told her that I would think about her offer and hung up.
I am a shy person so the heated conversation with the stranger exhausted me. In my place my father tried again. He got to the same place as me with another customer service representative: it was impossible to send a service person out for a non-emergency on the weekend. He immediately requested her supervisor. He never spoke to her supervisor, but 15 minutes later the customer service representative came on the phone and said that they COULD send out a service person that day (Saturday). They said that apparently there was a computer glitch and they had NOT turned on my gas.
I later stated the problem more simply, the PSNC customer service representatives were liars. Not only did they not tell me up front how long I would have to wait, they also repeatedly lied about sending out a service person, they lied about the status of my account, they lied about having completed their task, and they lied about being about to send out a service man. Also, not once in the process did PSNC admit to me that they had messed up, or apologize for being dishonest.

I have no other option for heat aside from PSNC. I have a gas furnace and PSNC has a state sanctioned monopoly.

James
Raleigh, North Carolina
U.S.A.