Billing Problems and Complaints (550 reviews)
Used to be awesome, now billing nightmare
“ I've been a StarTex supporter since 2008. They were awesome - had the lowest rate, and offered great customer service.However, they were purchased by another company and things have gone downhill with their billing. I was double billed once (which was actually Oncor's fault) but it took months to straighten out because of StarTex's inability to generate a bill in a timely manner. Even though I had no bill to even pay, I got collection notices and daily phone calls about not paying the erroneous bill. Most recently, I moved, and even though I was assured my rate would stay the same since I stayed in the same service area, my rate went up 1.45 cents per kWh. I called and they generated a new bill, except kept the same rate. I called again, and they generated a new bill, but this time, they only gave me a credit for less than half of my usage. I had received a new meter, and they only credited what was on the new meter. My contract is up in less than a month and will be finding a new provider. It's a shame they were bought out and the customer service has gone down hill so much. As they say "StarTex, where customer service is always free" - what they don't say is that it's not always right. ”
May 30th, 2018
Auto Pay Problem
“ I went with Startex because they had a great rate. This was my second to use them. I received my first bill and in Large Bold Red Letters it said "Do not pay, payment will be made electronically." I checked their website which confirmed that I was set up on auto pay. I get the second bill, it shows a past due balance and a late penalty fee. Again, it had the bold red statement saying "do not pay". I called the company for an explanation, after long hold time, it turned out I wasn't set up on auto pay. They said that possibly because I was a previous customer and was previously on auto pay, generated that notation. I said fine, please remove the fee and lets get me set up on auto pay. Gave my credit card info, etc. Was put on hold again. Then the very same customer service rep that I had been speaking with for over 45 minutes came back informed me that I had a past due balance and asked if I would like to go ahead and take care of that now before a disconnect notice was sent out! I was so shocked! I said, "Seriously? This is John, correct? The same guy I've been talking to for the last 45 minutes trying to get a billing error taken care of!". He said yes mam, then repeated that I had a past due balance and that I would soon be receiving a disconnect notice if I didn't take care of it! I told him that I was done with him and asked to speak to a supervisor. After another long hold time, the supervisor came on and defended John's statement saying that he was just trying to help me out! I had to give my credit card info to her to pay my "past due" balance. I'm so thankful that it was only a 3 month contract! I don't have time for this nonsense! ”
May 30th, 2018
Better 100% wind companies, keep shopping
“ I really wanted to like this company because of its dedication to the environment! However, I cannot say I do. First, billing is great. They give weekly updates of usage. Account management, not so much. They are trying to modernize their company to help with this but, at the moment customers who wish for phone or email to be primary contact are out of luck. Customer service is very polite. They help with whatever you need. However,15.6kW/hr negates this, at least for a graduate student. I cancelled my service because my energy bill was $200 dollars for my 919sqft apartment. Also, I changed the credit card information on our automatic debit and they still used the old information. This led to a late payment and lights being cut off. They did respond very quickly to the mistake but offered me a rate of 12.9kW/hr to make up for it. I went with another 100% wind company for 6.7kW/hr AND their first line of contact is phone and email, not traditional mail (more modernized form of communication is just my preference). So, in summary, the customer service is nice albeit indifferent. I would rather have a company that is less expensive and is so efficient that customer service is almost not needed. ”
September 30th, 2015
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