Southern California Edison DISHONEST BILLING PRACTICES, INCOMPETENT CUSTOMER SERVICE ROSEMEAD, California

I was enrolled in direct-pay through the SCE website. In early May I had to change my payment information because my CC# was stolen. I changed my payment information on the SCE website 2 weeks before my auto-pay was scheduled to go through. May 16th, SCE sent a payment confirmation via email. May 30th, SCE sent a "returned check" notice via email. I called to ask why, and they told me that they charged my OLD account and it was returned as NSF (it wasn't NSF, the bank account was closed)

I was told by the first customer service rep that it was my fault, that I had to change my payment information over the phone, not online. The website says nothing about this. I asked her to reverse the fee, and I would pay the balance immediately over the phone. She refused so I requested a supervisor. She said the supervisor would have to call me back. I got a call back after 10pm that night!!

I called again, this time I was told that I would need to pay the balance and the fee or my service will be interrupted and it will "only get more expensive" for me. I asked if the call was being recorded, he replied that it was. I asked "RICK" if I could speak to his supervisor and I was put on hold for 2 hours. My cell phone eventually died. 

Third call, another representative, this time I was told it "takes 2-3 billing cycles" to change payment information. That is completely ridiculous, the website said nothing about this when my payment info was changed, it was not in the T&C (which I printed, BTW). I again asked to speak to a supervisor, and this time didn't get a call back at all.

I called yet again, and this time told the rep that I would like to speak to a supervisor. Again, I was told a supervisor would call me back. I asked her to let the supervisor know that I would be filing a complaint with the Public Utilities Commission if this does not get resolved TODAY! Finally a supervisor called me back, didn't argue or try to explain, didn't try to threaten me into paying the fees, simply reversed the charges and updated my payment information.

The moral of this story: they evidently only respond to threats. While I'm happy to have my account settled finally, I HAVE STILL FILED WITH THE CALIFORNIA PUC. What happens next time I need to change my payment method? What if I move? This isn't the first time I've been given the run-around (which is why I document EVERYTHING and print T&C for everything)

Since my bank account was closed due to security issues in late April, you can imagine I had to go through this with multiple companies I make payments to. Most of the time I am able to get through to customer service, the ONE fee is reversed and life goes on. However, SCE isn't the only company pulling this scam on their customers. They hope customers will take the loss rather than risk having their services shut off.

I've seen other rip-off reports of similar complaints, with rebuttals (yeah, I see you Robert the SCE employee) saying "get a life, it's only a couple bucks". I did the math, and the late fees for SCE+my cable company+my car insurance company ALL pulling the same thing comes out to nearly $100!!! So no, it's not just a couple bucks. It's dishonest, and I refuse to pay no matter how small the charge is.

There are MANY people with the same complaints. And at some point there will be a class-action, you can bet on that. If Bank of America and many other big companies have had to pay out tiny settlements to hundreds or thousands of customers, why shouldn't Edison??