Oh, Sheila! Conroe woman struggles to get refund after overpaying power bill by more than $8,000

HOUSTON — When Sheila Case contacted KHOU 11 Information, she was pissed off and brief some huge cash.

In early January, Case sat right down to pay her electrical energy invoice. She pays payments on-line by means of the invoice pay choice along with her credit score union.

“One way or the other or one other I inadvertently didn’t concentrate the place that darn decimal level was,” she mentioned.

As an alternative of paying the $85.15 she owed, Case unintentionally typed in $8,515.

The quantity was processed, and some days later, she realized her mistake.

“My ideas are you both snigger otherwise you cry, and I’ve already cried and that didn’t do it both,” Case mentioned.

She contacted her credit score union and was advised to contact her utility supplier. She contacted Entergy, her supplier, and was advised that the overpayment could be credited to her account.

“My husband and I had been very vocal right here in the lounge saying ‘completely not that’s not acceptable,’” she mentioned. “I’ll not even be alive by that time (of utilizing all of the credit score), so no, you’ll be able to’t hold my cash.”

A handful of cellphone calls later, Case mentioned she was advised a examine would arrive in two to 4 weeks. However two months later, there was nonetheless no examine.

So, she despatched KHOU 11 an electronic mail and shopper advocate reporter Tiffany Craig drove as much as Conroe to assist the retired instructor.

 “I’m not making that decimal level mistake once more,” she mentioned.

“You understand this might have occurred to anyone,” Craig mentioned.

KHOU 11 reached out to Entergy on her behalf and defined what occurred. We had been advised that the utility firm would look into the error.

Whereas we waited to listen to again, we contacted Dan Parsons with the Higher Enterprise Bureau. He is shocked that the big mistake wasn’t caught by the financial institution or the utility firm.

“There must be sufficient checks and balances to go ‘wait a minute, right here’s a daily buyer.’ The system ought to flag it and go ‘wait a minute this can be a mistake,’” he mentioned.

The subsequent day, we bought this response from Entergy:

“When a buyer overpays, a credit score is robotically utilized to their account. Normally, clients use the credit score to offset their subsequent invoice. Nevertheless, in circumstances the place there’s a giant credit score as a consequence of overpayment, clients can request a examine refund by calling 1-800-ENTERGY. As soon as a request is made, an investigation is opened, and if authorized, the refund examine is processed after which mailed to the client. Due to the time it takes to evaluate and course of the request, typically, checks are usually not issued for refunds on accounts aside from substantial overpayments not prone to clear inside a month and for refunds on overpayments of ultimate accounts.

“Entergy Texas spoke with the client Wednesday night to allow them to know that we reviewed their request and issued a refund. We apologized to the client for the size of time this investigation took. Entergy Texas strives to ship superior customer support, and we’re sorry this wasn’t resolved sooner.”

Two weeks after KHOU 11 contacted Entergy, Case bought her refund. She snapped an image with the examine earlier than depositing it.

The expertise taught the retired instructor a precious lesson.

“Once I ship out a invoice now, I undoubtedly look and ensure it’s precisely what’s displaying up on that invoice earlier than I hit submit,” she mentioned.

If you happen to’re ever in an identical state of affairs and you may’t get the case resolved, contact the Public Utility Fee of Texas. You’ll be able to go browsing and file a grievance at this hyperlink or name 1-888-782-8477. They may open an investigation and assist get your a reimbursement.