Deposit Issues and Complaints (145 reviews)
Deposits for electricity in New York can be a hassle and usually range from $100 to $500. Some companies handle them well with lower deposit amounts or lower credit thresholds while others turn you upside down and shake the lunch money out of your pocket. If deposits are causing you issues, you can read deposit related reviews from other customers before you sign up for an energy company.
Not worth the discount
“ This is the worst company I have ever dealt with. The customer service is horrendous. I can go on about how they shut my power before my due date on my bill then charging me a reconnection fee to increasing my deposit by $300.00 and only giving me 2 days to do it. Just stay away. ”
June 11th, 2015
Terrible customer service
“ I was new in the area so they required a $400 deposit to open an account, which was ok. The deposit would be "refunded when your bills are paid on time for 12 consecutive months".Fast forward 10 months and all my bills had been paid in time. The 11th bill was more than double from any bill I had received from them, including the hot summer months when the A/C is on full speed. Mind you, the 11th bill was for November when the bills are usually a lot lower. 10 days before the bill was due I emailed them asking what the bill was about. It took them 5 days to reply, and I tried to call them several times during those 5 days. They apologized and blamed it on internal billing issues. I asked them to give me the correct amount so I could pay the bill in time. They never replied to my email so I kept calling them but since they never picked up the phone after 25-45 minute on hold, I gave up. One day before the bill was due, I just paid the full amount, even though it was wrong. I didnt want to mess up my 12 months of paying on time. But of course, they received the payment 1 day late. I then paid the 12th bill on time and contacted them for the deposit, but since I was one(!) day late on the 11th bill, I did not qualify for a deposit refund and had to make 12 new payments on time. I was pretty pissed but, for some reason, I decided to stay with them. Fast forward again and I had 12 payments on time and contacted them again for the deposit refund. And guess what, the deposit would be refunded towards the account balance and used as a credit towards future invoices.Excuse me?! Towards future invoices? What exactly does that mean? I asked them if they could just use those $400 for the next invoices until the deposit account was "empty". No, it "didnt work that way". I asked them for an explanation but never received one. So, you can imagine if they require a $400 deposit from, lets say maybe 5000 customers or whatever - that would give them $2 million which they could just keep and, on top of that, get interest from. So their customers is actually giving them a free loan and THEY get the interest. If thats not a scam, I dont know what is. A deposit is YOUR money and its supposed to be paid back in full, as long as you dont violate your contract in any way. Yes, I was one(!) day late the first time, after THEY made a mistake on the bill. It would not surprise me if they did that deliberately.I cancelled the contract and moved to another provider. I asked for my deposit (again), and they sent me a check of $150. I asked them where the rest of the money was. Of course, that was kept as termination fee. Worst company I have ever dealt with. And dont expect to get any answers or explanations from them. If they do answer, its just jibberish and they always leave you stranded if you ask them the "tough" questions.I would rather live in the dark than to give these folks my money. ”
February 10th, 2015
Beware of AMBIT billing practices.
“ If you miss a month's payment, the unpaid balance will not appear in subsequent bills until after your power has been disconnected and you get charged a hefty re-connection fee, security deposit, and your introductory rate is replaced with the AMBIT "standard" rate. I missed my June payment, but when the outstanding balance did not appear in my July or August electric bills, I erroneously assumed that it had been paid. My error cost me several hundred dollars. I also lost my introductory rate. I had reservations about signing up with AMBIT because of on-line reviews I had read, but I did it as a favor to my neighbor. Fortunately, I only have two months before my contract is up and I can switch electricity providers without further penalties. I was wrong in missing my June payment, but I think that AMBIT's practice of not rolling over outstanding balances is dishonest. They make it very easy to default. Buyer beware! ”
September 7th, 2011
Nightmare & lies
“
So I had to put down a small deposit, which I did, no big deal. However, despite paying for it, it continued to show up on my bill that I needed to pay it. WTF? Took a rediculous amount of time to get this resolved. Was brought on with a certain plan that had a membership with it for walmart, ok, cool. Except you can't have it for 60 days, and if your payment is 1 day late (not kidding, yes, there were obviously stupid circumstances involved, or it would have been on time) that 60 days resets again. No exceptions.
But, my 60 days didn't even start until last month anyway, because they didn't even put it on my account back in November! So, while I Should have had it long before now, I am now starting 60 days over again, because of this. Don't go with these people. Not to mention, somehow, my bill went up 200 kwh...on days that I wasn't even home??? Funny how that is happening? And they just say, "Well, that's what the meter reads! Oh well!"
Contract be damned, I'm looking for another electricity company. ”
February 15th, 2024
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