Before moving out of his South Loop condominium in December, renter Andrew Hess contacted his utility providers and canceled service.
When his final gas bill arrived in early February, he was surprised to see he owed $127.09.
The bill was “significantly higher” than he was accustomed to, Hess said.
After some digging, he discovered Peoples Gas had continued to charge him for two weeks more than it should have — weeks in which a new tenant was living in the condo.
“When I called in to report the error, the rep immediately acknowledged their mistake and told me they would send me a new bill,” Hess said.
The new bill, for just $68.49, arrived several days later. Hess promptly paid that balance by check.
“The check was cashed and I thought that was the end of it,” he said.
Not exactly.
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A few days later, he began receiving calls from a collection agency, which said he still owed money to Peoples — charges the gas company had erased before sending the corrected bill.
Even worse, Hess found that his credit history had taken a hit. Peoples had reported his account as unsatisfactory to Equifax and Transunion, he said.
Try as he might, Hess could not get Peoples to correct the mistake, he said.
“Since my discoveries in early February, I’ve been on the phone with Peoples Gas for more than 20 hours,” he said. “I’ve written letters to (the collection agency), Equifax, TransUnion and Peoples Gas, and I’ve faxed more than a dozen pages of documents to each. Each entity is saying that only the others can clear my credit report of the negative notation.”
Most frustrating, he said, has been Peoples’ response.
“Every time I call, its reps tell me that there is nothing it can do,” he said.
Worried his credit history would be irreparably damaged, Hess emailed “What’s Your Problem?”
“I don’t know how to proceed here, or even which of these agencies can actually act,” he said.
Hess said the last time he spoke to Peoples, on Wednesday, a representative told him the gas company would try to fix it.
“I want to hear ‘We’re going to take care of this for you,’ not ‘We’re going to try and see what happens,'” said Hess, who now lives in suburban Los Angeles. “What I’ve been hearing for three months is ‘Sorry, you’re on your own.'”
The Problem Solver called Jennifer Block, spokeswoman for Peoples Gas.
On Friday, Block emailed to say the company has resolved the issue.
“We’re very sorry for the time it took to resolve this issue any inconvenience it may have caused,” she said. “We’ve spoken with Mr. Hess to confirm his account is paid in full and have updated this information and shared it with all credit agencies.”
Hess said he’s happy that Peoples had contacted the credit agencies, but remains perturbed that he will have to check his credit reports again to make sure the negative information has been removed.
He said he has already used his three free annual credit reports in dealing with the mix-up. A fourth report will cost him.
“How do I know (Peoples followed through)?” Hess asked. “I shouldn’t have to pay anything at this point.”
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