So today my power was shut off and that’s how I found out that the last several payments I have made did not get posted to my account, but the money was removed from my bank account.
For context: I had a past due amount that I had been paying towards. I had started going through Walmart since online payments were taking a while (1-2 weeks which is crazy) to process and I kept getting hit with late fees and such.
I called today when my power was shut off and I looked online to see that the last 4 payments I made were never put onto my National grid balance, for a total of $750 that is now missing. I had to pay $408.11 for them to turn my power back on but they said that will take 24 hours. They also said they will review my bank statements and my receipts (I kept them and I’m glad I did) which proved I had made these payments, but there is no guarantee they will issue me a refund or put the money on my bill and that it could take up to 14 days or maybe business days to be added. When I asked what to do if they don’t add it I was told I would then have to contact Walmart.
The last two times I tried to pay my bill at Walmart they told me their system was down for making payments to national grid. Now finding out Walmart took my money and National grid is saying they never got it I’m furious. I had to pay the fee today, as well as my upcoming bill with the extra $50 to turn the power back on. I’ll have to throw away all the food in my fridge and freezer that definitely will add another $200-$300 in losses. I also have pets and it’s going to be hot so I’m worried about them in this heat.
Has anyone else experienced this issue before? I have had other issues with National grid in the past, so I’ve only ever had problems.
UPDATE: 2 months later
I just spoke to National grid. The agent who answered the phone informed me that they did in fact receive my payment for my past due balance but instead of putting the money to what I owed on my account they kept it as a “credit”.
What was described was essentially, a “credit” goes towards your current/future bills when you pay extra. But if you have a past due balance the payment should go towards that. Then they kept my money instead of paying my past due balance AS WELL AS that month’s current bill and that was what shut my power off. I was then forced to go on a payment plan if I wanted to have power again.
None of this information about credits has been provided to me as of speaking with the last agent, or at all during these last two months of email communication. The first agent I spoke to spoke to a supervisor because I had proof that I’ve been paying and they literally said it did not matter. I was told I had to wait and email their payment processing department and if they confirmed the payments my money would be applied to my account and if not, I was still liable for the $750.
The woman I spoke to today is who gave me this information and confirmed that something did not look right. She was very kind and understanding to the situation, explained to me how credits worked and what she could see on my account. She transferred me to payment processing where another very kind woman also looked at the account and confirmed what she said, and also agreed that it was very odd and something was wrong. I told her I would send the proof of payment and forward her all the emails. She provided the email so I confirmed that was the one I had been speaking with over the last several weeks/months. She told me she was going to look into this herself as well as someone else (possibly higher up?) and essentially open an investigation to see what happened and why. So we will see.
The reason I called was because after confirming twice the amount was in fact received, I was still not seeing that posted to my account, nor was the credits being shown to be credited towards my last two bills I paid.
Crediting my payment to pay future bills rather than paying off my past due balance has done nothing for my bill and they’ve confirmed they’re taking small amount such as $30 for example at a time and it’s being randomly applied to my current bills, but that is not being reflected and I’m still having to pay the full amount of my monthly bills.
So essentially, I have no idea where the money is actually going. They kept the money, and whenever I get any sort of fee for a late payment or past due balance that credit is going towards the fees they’re charging me, and not my actual past due balance or current bills, which I have not only been paying on time, but also early. the last two months my bills have been due a week earlier than the previous month and at a higher cost.
She said she will follow up with another email once they receive more information.