I wouldn’t recommend them to my worst enemy. First they make you sign a 12 month contract for prepaid lights pay a deposit for prepaid lights the least you can pay on your lights is 20. Then they charge you what they want t ou especially if you have more than 50 dollars in your account your average daily use will jump from 1.84 to 4.90 to 10.00 and you don’t have to be home I think they are a load of horse $@#! Simply my opinion. I would give no stars if possible
Response: Ms Sampson- There’s a lot included in your complaint so please allow me to summarize. You are stating that you were forced into a 12 month contract with Payless Power and made to pay a deposit as well. You do not like that there is a minimum payment of $20. You also are saying that it feels like we just charge you what you want even if you are not home . Let me say that if that was my impression of what was going on with my provider I would probably write a horrible review too… maybe even worse. It’s definitely not good if you feel like your charges are unfairly out of control and you are stuck as well. The good news is that we can take a look and see what is causing it to seem like this and if something was set up incorrectly we can fix it. The first thing to address is the contract . We actually have 2 options available to every customer when they enroll. A 12 contract plan with a cheaper rate and a month to month plan with a higher rate but with the freedom to switch without the early termination penalty. We do see that you have been with us for a while and we thank you for that. Our records show that you enrolled with a Payless Power New Service Consultant over the phone. We will review the enrollment call to ensure that it was handled properly. We can even play this call for you to help put you at ease if you like. If we find that you were pushed into the 12 month agreement against your wishes we will fix it for sure and make things right. As for making you pay a deposit, please let me clarify that we do require deposits. A deposit is money that is held in addition to your payments to protect against a broken contract or non payment. We do indeed require an initial payment be made to start an account but since we offer pre-paid service, a customer must put money on the account in advance… a pre-payment if you will. We don’t set this payment aside… it goes into your account for your immediate use. Now lets take a look at your charges . The first thing I would say is that one of the main benefits to pre-paid service is daily billing. This should assist a customer by giving them a better idea of how much energy they use so that they have an actual chance of making changes quickly to stay within budget. Looking over your daily billing I don’t see any $10 invoices but I do see some recently in the $4-$7 range. Keep in mind that $2.67 of this is your daily customer fee. This also includes your first 17KWH each day. Over the past few weeks there has also been an extra $1.00 per day deducted to repay the deferred payment plan that we assisted you with . When someone is a moderate consumer of electricity like your self that extra $1 will be noticeable. The good news is that it s looks like that is completed. The most important thing to understand though is that your charges rise and fall with your usage . This usage is reported by Oncor the operator of your meter and if we reported that you used 40 KWH in a day any other electric provider would have also reported that as well. We all get the meter data from Oncor. But… you can also verify independently that we are only charging you for what your meter reports. Just log in to your Payless Power account and there is a link to www.smartmetertexas.com . This is a site operated by the State government that tracks your meter usage . You will actually be able to see your meter reads the same time we do. It also lets you see your daily usage in 15 minute increments which should help you determine when and what is using the power in your home. I hope this helps. We will reach out after we listen to your enrollment call to share what we found. Published on January 06, 2021
This company has been gouging me every since December 9th. I keep getting transaction fees early termination fees and my electricity is constantly flickering on and off. I wouldn’t recommend this company to anyone. I paid over $160 since December 9th and today is only the 26th of December.
Response: Mr Goosby- Your review states that you feel you are being gouged, are being charged transaction and early termination fees and your lights are continuously flickering on and off . These are all major concerns and if you do not have a good understand of what is going on or what you need to do it easy to se why you would direct your frustration at your electric company. The first thing I would address is the flickering of your lights. This is clearly an electrical issue at the home. Whether it is due to a problem with the meter outward, or due to an issue inside the home would have to be determined. If you are renting I suggest that you contact your landlord immediately to report the issue. You may also contact your local utility, Centerpoint Energy to report the issue (800 332 7143). We also do see unusually high electric usage between 12/14 and 12/18. If this correlates with your flickering lights then these problem may be related. It is important to understand that retail electric providers bill you on what is reported by the meter and all provider use your meter data as provided by Centerpoint. In short, you would have received the same usage for those days regardless of the electric provider you used at the time since Centerpoint provides the usage data. You do have options to have the meter tested and this could result in a usage adjustment if you experience these problems with your new provider. We did receive a small credit adjustment when we received your final meter read that is available for refund. In regards to the fees you have mentioned, the terms of your plan include a daily customer fee of $2.67 that includes your first 17 KWH of usage included. If you exceed 17 KWH in a day (which you did each day that you were with us) then you would be charges the low per KWH for the additional usage . You were also charged a one time early termination fee which was outlined in the terms of the 12 month contact plan. We would be happy to go over this or any other questions you may have regarding your usage or your account. Just call us at 888 963 9363. Published on December 29, 2020
This is over priced paying double than I did when I had an electric bill monthly! Ridiculous
Response: Ms Ervin- Your compliant states that you feel Payless Power is over-priced and that you are paying double what you paid on a monthly post paid service. It is not good to feel that you are being gouged or overcharged by your electric provider. It can definitely feel that way if your usage is increasing during to colder weather. The good news is that we can go over this with you . One thing is for certain… Our rates are not twice as much as any other company. We are actually competitive with any other reputable provider in the Texas retail electricity market and we also do not have reconnection fees , disconnection fees, customer assistance fees , payment fees or late fees that many other providers add in their fine print. Mostly likely, if you have experienced and increase in your charges it is a result of high usage . We would be happy to go over this with and also show you how to confirm your usage with the State of Texas so that you know you are actually getting charged for what you’re using. A supervisor will contact you or you can also reach us at 888 963 9363. Published on January 04, 2021
Didn’t realize it was a prepaid acct. I do not like this..
Response: Ms Matthews, Your comments state that you did not realize the service was a prepaid service and you do not like it. It is never a good thing if the customer does not realize what they have agreed to. To ensure that everything was correctly disclosed, we are reviewing your enrollment call to see if there are training opportunities. Your plan was a month to month product with no early termination penalty. Your account is closed with a small final balance due. Please contact us at 888 963 9363 to take care of these final details. Also, please note that while pre-paid service may be something that you are not used to , it can help customers save money by managing their usage in a ways that post -paid service cannot. We send daily invoices and account access that shows your daily usage and charges. This is designed to work in a similar way to a gas gage on a car. It allows you to monitor your usage and account balance and make changes to your usage habits if it appears that you are in danger of exceeding your budget. With post-paid service this is really not an option and when you open your monthly bill you can either afford it or you can’t. With Prepaid you actually have a fighting chance to make adjustments to stay within your budget and studies show that pre-paid customers on average use 27% less energy that post-paid customers living in similar sized homes. Payless Power has many features and options that will also benefit customer’s financially. Payless Power does not charge reconnection fees, disconnection fees, late fees, payment fees when using our automated systems or with an associate, or customer assistance fees. We also offer payment extensions and deferred payment plans. When you add all of this up , Payless Power offers as many assistance options as any electric provider in Texas… all with the flexibility of no deposit and easy payment terms. Please call us at 888 963 9363 if we can answer any questions for you. Published on January 04, 2021
Últimamente me esta saliendo muy cara la luz
Response: Estamos muy agradecidos por su evaluación y nos encantaría tener la oportunidad de hablar con usted sobre sus cargos, para que podamos ayudarlo en todo lo que podamos. Lo invitamos a que se comunique con nosotros por correo electrónico o por teléfono, para que podamos ofrecer más ayuda. Published on December 18, 2020
It was easy! I didn’t have to wait all day on the phone to do something simple.
Response: Thank you Kimberly for sharing your service experience! Published on December 14, 2020
By far the worst electric company I’ve ever been with. I had a prepaid account with them and I wanted to switch to a cheaper company with my account being in the positive they disconnected my power before I switched to my new company even though I have money in my prepaid account.
Response: We apologize for the experience. We would love the opportunity to speak to you about your charges, so that we can help you in any way we can. We invite you to reach back out to us via email or phone, so we can offer further assistance. Published on December 14, 2020
20$ every week ends up being more than a regular light company
Response: We are so thankful for your review and would love the opportunity to speak to you about your charges, so that we can help you in any way we can. We invite you to reach back out to us via email or phone, so we can offer further assistance. Published on December 04, 2020
Paying to much for electricity
Response: We are so thankful for your review and would love the opportunity to speak to you about your charges, so that we can help you in any way we can. We invite you to reach back out to us via email or phone, so we can offer further assistance Published on December 04, 2020
I agree with the past customer who stated they always pay, and yet this company does not want to work with you. I owed 6.00 and was disconnected. I only wanted them to extend the deadline for that day. I too, always pay. Even after I spoke with Supervisor Daniel, and explained I have children at home online schooling, he stated there was nothing he could do, and the disconnect order was out. I don’t know if they don’t have children, or if they just don’t care to keep their customers, but I have completely lost confidence, and will be going back to my previous carrier as soon as possible. I told him that I would also be looking for another electricity provider, but it didn’t phase him at all. I hope this customer was worth the $6. I am extremely disappointed that they don’t care to keep their customers.
Response: Ms Kretz- Your comments state that you are a good customer and you always pay and that you feel that Payless Power employees either don’t have kids at home or simply do not care about their customers. You stated that you asked for an extension because you were $6.00 short but this was denied to you. Its never good to feel that way and as a parent (most of our employees are parents) I do know how stressful it can be when you can’t pay your electricity bill. Its one of the worst feelings a parent can have.That’s when we offer the following 1.) same day account protections… just call 888 963 9363 before 12:00 noon and the system will protect your account until 8:00 PM if your qualify (it will not allow this to be done multiple days in a row) 2.) We notify every customer of the disconnection deadline (12:00 noon) so there are no surprises. If your account is negative you have to make a payment or set an arrangement by 12:00 noon or you run the risk of disconnection. However if you have at least a penny on your account you will have service that day. We also offer deferred payment plans but you must repay your active payment plan in order to get another. We re-worked payment plans for customer participating in the Covid-19 Relief Program but are no longer able to do that not that the program has expired. We also do not charge a reconnection or disconnection fee or late fees . We know of no other Electric Company that does this . If, as in your case, you were disconnected prior to calling our Care Dept and let us know that you will commit to make your payment that day we will go ahead and reconnect you prior to receiving a payment as long as you have kept your commitments when we did this before. It may not feel like to you right now but hopefully you can see that we offer many many options to customer because we do care. We will continue to do this for you in the future. Published on December 02, 2020