CenterPoint Energy
Reviews and Complaints

We completed and mailed the request for rebate offered by Centerpoint Energy October 12, 2017, after having a new 3.5 ton heating and air conditioning unit installed. The installers completed their portion of the forms and we our part. I called to request a rebate status report at the end of November and received no help whatsoever from Customer Service, was transferred to the Rebates Department line which did not and never has answered, the garbled name message is always that the garbled name rep is not at their desk. I tried again yesterday, customer service first then the useless transfer to the useless rebates garbled name phone. I called seven times yesterday, always the same garbled name message, left my name and number each time with absolutely no call back whatsoever.

Trying to be patient, I tried again today, same as yesterday and the times I have called before.

If I were asking something difficult or unreasonable I might be able to understand this horrible treatment, but all I asked for was a status report on the rebate -- the rebate Centerpoint Energy told me about with their bill inserts. I did not start this, Centerpoint Energy did and apparently is not trustworthy even to back up what they claim their policy is.

This is just my first stop. I'm giving you the chance to make this right before I go to the BBB and the authorities in Little Rock and D.C. Fraud is not very popular ever but is being scrutinized more closely than ever lately and dealt with.

My water heater was leaking. I called Center Point Energy which I have a plan. I was told that they would be out and gave me a window of 4 to six hours for a technician to arrive. When they showed up there were 3 techs, one a supervisor. Thank God I had shut off the water to my home due to the water continuing to leak from the water heater. I even drained the water heater. The three of them told me that I could turn the water back on and said that the water heater had to be replaced, however, they couldn't replace it until the next day and gave me a price of $2, 000. oo or more to replace it. I had no idea that the valve to the water heater was not operating and after being told by the three of them that I could turn my water back on to the home. After they left I noticed much more water from the water heater because of the level that shuts off the water heater was not working. How incompetent is that?. I turned off the water, drained the water heater and called another company which came the next morning and replaced the water heater at a much smaller rate. What can a consumer do about the negligence of these companies that get your money and not live us to the contracts that we are paying them for. In the past Center Point Energy has been very good about fixing my appliances, I want to cancel my contracts with them, however, I am 71 years old woman and unable to fix things myself. Since they could not fix the problem, I think they could at least pay something on the cost of my replacement.
This incident happened on November 15, 2017 in the city of Bloomington Mn.

I contacted Home Service Plus on Friday July 14, 2017 due to a furnace issue in that the blower motor was not operational. After some discussion, I was told and received email confirmation that the earliest appointment available was on July 18, 2017 between 10:00AM - 2:00PM. With temperatures pushing into the 90's over the next few days, this concerned me with the comfort of my family. I indicated this concern during my phone conversation with the Home Service Plus customer service agent and was again told that the date and time for July 18th was the earliest date available. I look at five days as excessive and knowing that this blower was replaced by Home Service Plus in the past few years is something that needs to be considered from my (customer) perspective. I ended up having an outside HVAC repair company repair my unit that afternoon. I did re-contact Home Service Plus that afternoon to cancel my appointment as the repair was made and explained my disappointment with how my service request was handled. I then had a service person arrive at my Home early Sunday July 16, 2017 to make the repair and indicated that they were not needed as the repair was already made. My invoice for repair was $670.00 for labor and parts and requested reimbursement from Center point Energy Home Service Plus. I was told today after my request for reimbursement was denied, that it was denied because we would have needed to wait five business days until I could contract an outside repair company. This means I would have to wait seven calendar days as Saturday and Sunday would not count for the waiting period. I think with the five day lead-time for repair and the fact that this blower motor has been replaced twice now supported my request for reimbursement. As a loyal customer of Home Service Plus for over 15 years this truly shows their lack of ensuring customer satisfaction is met.

My tenants called me yesterday and said that something was wrong with the gas at one of my properties in Houston... a 4plex from the 1920s.

I've had gas turned on at that address in my name with Centertpoint--the gas monopoly in that area--for over twenty years.

I sent my maintenance person out to see if he could figure out the problem but--aside from the fact that none of the gas appliances were getting any gas--she could not find anything that could be causing that. So, we called Centerpoint to have them send someone out to find the problem.

Well, it turns out that--a coupld of day ago--some complete stranger was walking down the street near my building, thought she smelled gas as she was walking down the sidewalk--called 311 (I guess), they transferred her to Centerpoint, she gave them my address as the closest address she could find--they sent someone out to that address--without contacting me--the account holder--whose information they have on file--and since no one was home exactly at that random time when they happened to show up--without notice--they simply shut the gas off to the building and left.

They claim that they left a door hanger somewhere on the property notifying the occupants what had happened and who to call to get the gas back on--but we never saw anything.

I spent an hour on the phone with various Centerpoint "customer service" personnel this morning trying to get some answers as to how a complete stranger walking down the street has the power to have the gas turned off at my property--without notice and without contact from Centerpoint--but they could not give me any good reason. They just kept droning on about how "in an emergency situation like this"--yada yada yada.

I asked if--when their technician was out there--he found a gas leak--either inside my property or outside my property. "No." They answered. He did not. Even though he disconnected all three meters from my buiding and tested all three gas lines inside the building.

"So if there was NO gas leak found--how is this an "emergency situation"?"

"Well, that's just our policy and our procedure. If someone calls in and says they smell gas, we have to treat is as an emergency."

"Ok. So when you determined that there was NO gas leak at / in my property--thus there was NO emergency--why did you turn the gas off and just leave? Why didn't someone CALL ME--the property owner-the account holder--to let me know?"

"That's just our policy. If no one is home we can't turn the gas back on. And we don't call anyone. We just leave a note on the door."

So... because of their [censor] policies and procedures--a complete stranger walking down the street was able to have the gas turned off to my building for two or three days--and cost me at least a half day of work dealing with it--and having to having to pay my maintenance staff to respond, try to figure out the problem and resolve it--and then waiting around for hours for Centerpoint to show up (they give you an eight hour window!).

What a joke.

i was provided complaint #claim #GPP2017041085 by Ms.Tenaya(billing dept) and provided claim adjuster Ms.Gretta Walters october 30, 2017 and have not heard from anyone concerning this situation.
may2017, centerpoint gas line crew were dispatched to my home (wednesday May3, 2017)tropical wind storm with lightening striking Centerpoint Energy Gas line setting a tress on fire.
myself, son and 83year old mother had to leave out home to a hotel. Centerpoint crewmen asked to leave access to my inside and outside iin order to repair.
october 2017, on a very cold day, we attempted to turn my central heat along with our fire place on and there was no Sound to allow lighting our always working fire place and only received COLD blowing air from our Central air and heat system.
The last and only people allowed to necessary service were from Centerpoint Energy Gas crewmen.
i contacted Centerpoint Gas to dispatch a tech to check the system and he disovered a "FLEX Line' (unknown) damaged and concluded reason we are unable to access our Gas appliances.
we are asking Centerpoint Gas to repair and/or replace this FLEX LIne and turn our inside gas back on which Centerpoint Gas Tech apparently and necessarily turned off during their repair of outside gas line damaged from lightening May2017
the weather never was such cold to attempt the use of our gas appliance which worked fine before May2017 and we did not have a need to use our gas appliances(fire place and centeral heat)until Cold Day in October and even NOW.
photos available upon request.
Contact [protected] or [protected] Rhonda Johnson

I am extremely dissatisfied with the treatment we received from Mrs. Karough (not sure if I spelled or right). I was back and forth with her and the electric services department trying to explain my situation. My gas services were disconnected without notice and we stayed without gas for a couple of days. I called in and I was told the reason for my disconnected services was because we supposedly owed $65 from a past due account that was opened in July. I tried to explain that I did not move into my new residence until October which would make that debt absurd and inpossinle. After 3 hrs of back and forth calls they finally came to the conclusion that they were associating me with the previous tenant and I was being pressured and manipulated into paying the $65 which I refused to pay. Mrs Karough insistes that The electricity company revealed records of us having electricity since July and therefore supported the fact that we owed those $65 on the gas. I told her there must be a mistake since we weren't even in Houston in July. She insisted I call the electricity company directly and have them call her to validate that info. I did as told and the electricity company spoke to someone else from Center point. They were about to resolve the situation when suddlently the call got disconnected and when I called back Mrs Karough answered again saying things like "don't you remember speaking with me — I told you already you have to pay the overdue balance otherwise you won't get the gas reconnected". She said this about 4 times very rudely and then I stopped her and demanded to be allowed to speak. I told her I did remember speaking but that someone else answered when I called back and was about to resolve issues. She said that agent was New and did not know what she was doing. I then said "how is that my fault?! " to which she responded "it's your fault because you keep calling back and speaking with different agents". I then told her that it was absurd to think that it was my fault. I am simply doing what I am told— I call the number I am told to call and any random agent takes the call and it's supposed to be my fault that their agents are not prepared to handle any case. She then made me call the electricity company again and this time the electricity company informed me they could not call the gas company to provide that info- they said Center point had to call them. So I then call Mrs Karough again for the one millionth time— and someone else answers- says they will leave message for her— she doesn't call back at all-
We had to call her back the next day and ended up paying $47 for same day installation for something that was clearly not our faults. For something that was the company's error and which inconvenienced us so much. We were taking cold showers and without being able to cook for 3 days! This is unacceptable and unethical and I will make sure that justice is served wherever I can- even if it's though social media. I will be heard because even the corporate offices did nothing- they only referred me back to customer service and Mrs Karough.

I was directed to Casey from center point energy a supervisor who was not helpful after I was 5 min late to an appointment ... she did not try to help to put me on the same day schedule after the fee had been paid. I understand I was 5 minutes late to the appointment and this is the first time this happens to me but I also work for a company and I know there is always ways around that and that you CAN overbook and make it work but she did not even try to do that. I will probably be switching companies

I placed a service request for gas. The company told me that someone would be out to my house on November 6 between 8-12am. When no one showed I called back and the automat d system said someone would be out between 8am and 8pm. Additionally, the confirmation email stated technicians start at 7am and until all orders are filled.
8pm came and no one showed up.
At 8:19 pm Monday November 6 centerpoint called me. I answered and no one spoke and the phone hung up. I called right back and it went to the automated system. I tried again and it said the office was closed at 7pm.
At 8:30 the company called again. This time it asked it if I was home and that a technician was on the way. I confirmed I was home.
9pm no one came, no one rang our door bell and no one called again. The next morning there was a ticket on my door stating no one was home and I had to reschedule.
At 7am I called and complained about the technician coming after hrs and then not ringing our door bell or knocking hard enough for us to hear him. There customer service rep stated that the technician wrote in his notes that he knocked on the door and no one answered so he left. He claims to have done this at 8:55pm. That is an hr after they were supposed to come out.
Customer service could not fix the problem. They said I had to pay a service fee for same day service. I explained I should not have to pay if it wasn't my fault. Asks dti speak to a supervisor and was connected to Paula Henton. She said the same thing the first rep said. I explained I don't have heat or hot water to cook to take a bath. She said I had to pay or wait until the next day. I refused on the basis of having my pregnant wife and three small children bath in cold water due to the company's inconvenience. While she apologized for the inconvenience she could do nothing. I was then connected to Vanessa Williams a call center supervisor. She stated after much deliberation that she would place a same day service order but could not be certain they would make it due to high volume orders. I stated that if they can do emergency calls and made day pay service they can schedule me free of charge for same day service as recompense for poor customer service by the technician. She put the order in confirming a call back number and that I would be home all day waiting. I agreed. She again said she cannot be certain they would make it insuating that because I didn't pay I would not be priority.
I asked for her supervisor number who she said was Tony Gardner. He is the billing director. She would not give me his number or email but stated to call the main center and they would connect me.

I understand having emergencies and a high volume of customers. However, I have already paid a deposit and deserve the same the respect we every other non emergency customer. If the technician was going to be late I should've been notified. If he was outside he should have rang the door bell and knocked to make certain I home since I already confirmed via phone I was home 25min earlier. The technician did not die his due diligence and therefore displayed poor customer service. As a result. My family had to suffer needlessly because of the negligence of this technician.
In addition, the ladies who assisted me were kind courteous and professional. However my disappointment with them was that they called me the customer a liar and believed a technician over two adults who witnessed no knock on the door or door bell ring.
A simple remedy would be to send the technician back out to finish the job today free of charge. Their unwillingness to correct their issue in a timely manner while blaming the customer is unacceptable. My deposit was paid. The company has my money. Why do I get less than quality service.
I wound like to be contacted and have an official apology from the company on behalf of the technician for lying on his notes stating he knocked on my door when he did not then subsequently describing my home in his notes in an effort to undermine any complaints about coming late and not finishing the job.
If my service is not turned on today I will continue to push this matter to corporate, the state, parent companies, investors, and shareholders to ensure each and every customer is treated fair and each case is respected. If service is restored today and I am not charged a same day fee for it I will cease all deliberations and live my life in peace. That simple.

I just received my electric bill from TXU and it was 180.28 in which 108 was energy charges and the TDU charge was 72.00. The TDU charges are high and from my understanding centerpoint has their own rates that they charge each customer which inflate the electric bill. This is quite unfair to consumers who work and have to pay a vendor that is billing you and do not show how those TDU charges are calculated on the electric bill. I am writing to complain because we should not be charged almost 67% of the amount that our energy bill is listed for, that is unreasonable. We should not have to pay that amount which is almost the total account. This needs to be changed with Centerpoint Energy.

I called this morning and limited the supervisor told me that my permit to get my gas turned on was expired and that I needed to get a new permit.was also told I had to wait 5 additional days. Went down to the city inspector and Gene spoke with Kyle kirby aND Kyle said that it was false. I have a child that has a skin condition that requires him to have to take a shower every day due to not being able to get it turned on on the 19th my son has not been able to shower.

dear sir
I am DR, Medhat Moustafa working as consultant general surgery in KING abdullah hospital in Bisha.

I used to by my family clothes from your reputitive shop

yesterday [protected]. 10.55pm I found an offer called half back
(spend 100 sr or more on new collection and get half back as a gift voucher)

i bought clothes with 160 and they gave me the voucher of 80 SR.

before leaving the center point i choose one new collection and i tried to use the voucher i was informed that it is not working and may be problem in the system and asked me to come after 24 hours to use it

today i came i was informed that it is used already
I told him i did not use it, may be used by the cashier himself . he told me if the cashier use it he should keep the coupon with him in the drawer.

again i explained to him the coupon with me if it used it should be collected from me.

really i was upset and this gives me bad impression about the offer in the center point

the discount coupons number [protected]
invoice number: [protected]

my e-mail: [protected]@hotmail .com
telephone number: 0699 [protected]

To Whom it May Concern: 9/28/17

I'm writing to complain about a driver that was speeding through our neighborhood this morning at 6:35am. I was at the bus stop with my son along with other parents and their children when another child was crossing the road and one of your drivers was speeding and accelerating to go faster when he almost hit the little girl crossing the street. We all shouted at him to slow down as he had to slam on his breaks to stop. Thankfully he was able to stop in time. After he stopped he continued to speed out of neighborhood and never slowed down putting other children in danger at other bus stops. Please look into this matter. This driver was in the Canyon Gate at the Brazos subdivision in Richmond Tx. 77469. I was unable to get plate numbers because he was going to fast. He looked liked Caucasion, salt and pepper hair, about 45-55 years old. and had a very angry look on his face. The vehical was a white single cab truck with the yellow and black “CAUTION” on the tail-gate. Please look into who was in this area this morning and have a talk with them about the safety of our children. He should be driving like his children lived here! If you have any questions please feel free to email me at [protected]@gmail.com.
I’d also love to know this has been acknowledged.

Concerned Mother!

A circuit of approximately 60 homes in the Postwood subdivision at the intersection of Cypresswood and Treaschwig in Spring TX lost power Saturday August 26th at approximately 10 a.m. I have called Centerpoint numerous times reporting the outage. The response has been the problem is bring assessed. Roadway have been accessible since Tuesday afternoon. Mid-afternoon today the entire subdivision lost power. It is my understanding that repairs are prioritized according to energy consumption. However it is despicable that an area is allowed to be without power for a week simply because the power consumption is less than other areas. Several residents are elderly with health conditions as well as young family with babies and toddlers. After hurricane Ike, power was restored only a few hours before the local elementary school was scheduled to open. It is very concerning that a company controlling power for such a large area has so little concern for the customers providing their profits.

The technician came to my home to "assess" my outage. The technician automatically stated " that he couldn't put the lights on because there was too much water and that I had too much trash on my backyard" first of all, there was NO REASON they needed to go into my home because when the lights go out they never go inside my home. Second of all, the technician brought in my next door neighbor without my permission and told my neighbor that "they couldn't put the lights back on because it was our fault because of all the trash in my backyard and the water wasn't receding" this was SO UNPROFESSIONAL of this tech. It's like they were trying to shame me on my own home. THIRD OF ALL, the centerpoint box that the techs always check is on the other side of the street NOT INSIDE MY HOME. I think with these weather issues and the hard times the community is having, is the WORST time that a tech can be so unprofessional. We felt so humiliated in these times. This is the worst experience with a technician I have ever had.

I have lived in Sienna Plantation for 14 years and I must say that I am very disappointed with the nature of service provided by this company. Almost every week I have to re-set the microwave and oven timer because the I am always loosing power. I noticed that there some of my neighbors don't have this issue, but my block is notorious for this problem and it is very frustrating. So what am I paying for? A substandard service in a prime location, not to mention the occasional power outages. I'm sure I am not the first person complaining about this, and I can only hope that this is resolved in a timely manner.

I called the team on Aug 10 to schedule a tree trimming. They said the tree trimming team will come within 10 business days. During the 10 days, no one gave any update, no one contacted us. We called the customer service every day, every time we got the same answer. They just let us wait, wait, wait. No estimate of when the work can be done at all.

My impression with CenterPoint is very very very bad! It is horrible!

We got a notice the other day (they quietly hung them on doors and gates) that the power would be out on August 21, 2017 for 4 or more hours. It's to replace telephone poles because it's hurricane season. Hurricane season comes at the same time every year, yet instead of doing this in April or May when it's cooler they waited for the hottest time of the year and are essentially telling concerned people 'tough'. A lot of people will be gone to work when they do it but there are multiple elderly folks in my neighborhood that will be home, some disabled, some even need the electricity for their oxygen supply. Out of those that are at work, many of their pets will be left in their houses that will heat up. This is supposed to be a company that provides 'service, but there is absolutely no consideration for their customers.

This is the license plate of the driver who was driving extremely close to our vehicle on the freeway in Cypress, Tx on highway 290 ( which is under construction and extremely narrow) HVV 2946. I was in the vehicle in front of him with my two small children already going 5 over the speed limit and he was so close to my back bumper I thought he was going to hit me if at any moment I braked, then he proceeded to flash his brights at me. This is not the proper management of a company vehicle, it is irresponsible and plain stupid.

The outage happened at about 3:30 pm Saturday July 15th. We called in the outage and were told that they would fix it by 6:00 am. They appeared about 4:00 am. took of the meter checked and stated we had an outage on one leg.

They went to the transformer in the neighbors yard and said they couldn't get it open because a brick wall was to close. They left and told us to call in Monday.

I called Monday and the was told they would send someone. He came and said the same thing and did nothing. Again were without A/C. Some how I got a number for someone. As usual everything happens when the office is closed.

I called and talked to John Salinas who told me he was passing this issue off to Jermaine Davis and that he'd be calling really soon. He didn't call I called him. He eventually came by and looked over the fence and said to my wife, " we need to move it to your yard, you've got no restrictions.

I called again the next day after I contacted an electrical contractor because every time Center Point said "you've got a broken wire underground". Yet that had not gotten the transformer open enough to identify my connection or to tell if it was broken somewhere near the box. He called in a disconnect so they could begin work. Center Point sent out a man, but he couldn't open the box. So I'm still without power. Center Points man said he was called off the disconnect because they were moving the box Thursday.

We waited for two hrs Thursday before calling only to find out the work was scheduled for Friday.

Friday came the crews came my worker came the box got opened, I got disconnected which allowed my work to get done.

Summary of the event per the work crew: The transformer took less than 10 seconds for the repair crew to open. Their words were " you had to want to open it". The work crew, Center Point Rep - Davis, and home owner took about 2 hours to decide that the box was to be moved about one foot to the left and back about 4 inches.

While digging under the transformer it was discovered that in the recent past Center Point had come back through this neighborhood and installed conduit for the main power and that the transformer was moved then.

Conclusion:
I spent 6 days because a Center Point failed to do follow up on a sub contractor they hired and hadn't check on for many years.

My question is why can they do this to me. Who is my advocate against the power company and a government who lets them do as they please, break their own rules but make you follow them.

None of this was my fault. If anything my safety was compromised by having an open live wire buried on my property they refused to make safe.

I believe I deserve more than, We're sorry. They got to go home and enjoy their lives while they forced us to suffer.

Centerpoint lied to me and said the power was coming on at 5pm after it was down ALL DAY LONG
It did not
And they tried to stick me with a $50 charge (if it was my faulty equipment) to determine if the problem was with my brand new house or with their centerpoint equipment
I was told there was a power line down, They were instead doing some line repair in front of my house
I am complaining about the TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE and LIES THAT CENTERPOINT TELLS ME. I HATE THE COMPANY AND WISH THEY WOULD GO TO HELL