I was also one of the unlucky people to be switched over to Amigo when National Power went out of business. Sometimes I get a bill from them, sometimes I don’t. I have NEVER received a call from them on neither my home phone nor my mobile. I have to call them to find out how much my bill is or to make a payment. AND, every time I call, I am on hold AT LEAST 35-40 minutes before I can actually talk to someone! I have tried to set up my “MY AMIGO” account online but I get an error message each time stating “We could not locate this account. Please ensure that the information you entered is correct.” I recheck and re-enter the information from my bill and still get the same error. On December 12, 2008, I called and after being on hold for almost an hour, a customer service rep answered. I told him that I needed to make my payment on the newest bill that I had for $189.00. He told me that he could not take my payment because a disconnect notice had already been sent out a few days ago and that I would have to go to any Wal-Mart and make a payment via a MoneyGram ExpressPayment and that I had to pay $349.97. When I asked why I had to pay $349.97 when my bill was only $189? He said that another bill had already been sent recently and that I would have to pay that amount also in order for my service to not be disconnected and that it had to be paid before December 29. I told him that I had not received a new bill for the additional amount and asked if he could email it to me. He told me he could, got my information and said that he would send it immediately. I told him that I would go send the MoneyGram as soon as I got off the phone. I did, he didn’t. I still have not received the new bill, email or U.S. Mail. I have never received the infamous disconnect notice that was sent out either. Today is December 29 and at approx. 10:45 this morning, my power goes off. I immediately called Amigo. I was on hold for 1 hour and 12 minutes and finally Eileen anwers. I told her that my power just went off. She asked for my account number and then puts me back on hold. She comes back on and says, ” Ma’am, we just sent a re-connect request to Centerpoint this morning.” I asked why they would just send it this morning when I paid the amount that I was told to pay 17 days ago on December 12. This is when things get fishy. She said, “We sent a disconnect notice to Centerpoint electronically on December 12 and then you made your payment on December 12 so on December 13, we sent Centerpoint a re-connect notice.” I asked her “If you sent it to them on December 13th, why would you send it again just this morning?” She tells me that after they sent the re-connect request on December 13th, Centerpoint denied the request. I asked “Does it say why?”and she says “No.” I asks, “What day did they deny the request?” She says, “I don’t know.” I asked “Why didn’t someone re-send it before today?” She says, “I don’t know. All that I can see is that it was sent to Centerpoint sometime this morning and that it will take anywhere from 24 to 48 hours to have my power restored.” I asked if there was someone else that I could speak to or if I needed to call Centerpoint to find out why it was denied and when my service would be restored? She says, “There is nothing more that we can do. The matter is out of our hands and if you keep speaking to me in that tone, I will terminate this call right now!” Can you believe that? My tone….MY TONE! I hang up, call Centerpoint’s 800 number for power outages. I was on hold for approx 2 minutes and a lady named Cathy answers. I explain to her what Eileen at Amigo tells me and she looks up my service address. She then tells me that Amigo sent a disconnect notice on December 22 to terminate my service on December 29. She said that did not send anything on December 12 or December 13 and that they have only received a disconnect notice, not a re-connect notice. She said they could not deny a re-connect request for me if they never received a re-connect notice in the first place. She also said they they have to receive them by 2:00 P.M. otherwise, my power would not be on until tomorrow. She said that since it was Amigo’s fault, Amigo could send another request and that Centerpoint could do a priority restore so that my power would be back on by 5:00 for sure but that they would have to request it. She told me to call Amigo back right away and tell them to re-send the notice since it takes between an hour or two for the request to come thru. She also told me that Amigo does not have a name on that account and that when I call them back ask them to add my name since they are the only one that can do it. So, again, I call Amigo. It is now 12:47 and again I am listening to a recording for 32 minutes. Finally, Kerina answers. She is more help and more polite than Eileen was although she also said that she saw everything that Eileen had told me earlier. She said the she did not want to re-send the re-connect request because she was afraid that it would cancel the one that was sent in the morning. I asked her what time was the request sent this morning. She said it only shows AM or PM. I asked if I could speak to a manager or supervisor and she said that I would have to hold. She put me on hold and within 5 minutes, came back on the line and told me that there were no supervisors available. Then she said she talked to a supervisor and he told her that there was nothing that they could do and that he would not request an emergency restore. When I said that I thought she said no supervisors were available, she said “He is available but not to talk to you.” I asked what I should do since my power should not have been disconnected anyway, she said, “You can call Centerpoint back to see if they have received the request yet but other than that, the matter is out of our hands.” So, here I go again. I call Centerpoint and almost immediately, a rep answers. I tell her what the Amigo people told me and she says that was not very good customer service and checks again for a re-connect request. When I ask if there is someone else that I can speak to she said, “Would you like to speak to a supervisor? I’m not sure there is anything they can do until we receive the request from Amigo. You are welcome to call us back as many times as you need to until you find out that we have received the request.” I told her that I would call back around 2:00. At 2:20 I call Centerpoint once again. The rep answers right away and when I ask if she could tell me if they received my re-connect request she asked for my service address and immediately says, “Yes Ma’am. We have received it and rest assured your power will be restored between now and 10:00 tonight”. Thank God for Centerpoint AGAIN. My power came back on at 3:30 this afternoon. I think it is entirely wrong and should be considered criminal, to turn off power for a bill that was paid almost 20 days earlier. Amazing that Centerpoint’s customer service reps provided more assistance to another service provider’s customer! All of Amigo’s employees should be fired for their screw-up and NOBODY had the common decency to apologize….EVER! I also have still not received the last bill that was supposedly mailed and emailed and still haven’t received a disconnect notice. I will be sending a copy of this letter to the Public Utilities Commission on the advice of one of Centerpoint’s customer service reps. I called the 800 number that she gave me and the recording states that it could take up to three weeks for a response to their investigation.