Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  02/01/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I signed a commercial contract with NOCO for electric for our **** ******* facility on 11/11/22 for a service start date of December. I was cold called by Ryan G***** an Assistant Vice President with NOCO Sales. This took place over a 5 month period until my current electric had expired on December 5th 2022. I have every bit of communication between he and I. When it came time to start their service I called Ryan on Dec 7th to make sure we were switched over. He said that their had been an issue with ******** **** accepting the change over to NOCO. I asked Ryan how the difference in electricity charges would be handled due to this error and he said NOCO would make up the difference because of their error. There was 24 days from when I signed the contract and them not executing on the contract. They didn't start my service on Dec 5th like the contract was supposed to. Because of this I incurred an additional $29,000 in electricity charges. I got the bill for electric for almost $49,000+ dollars which is approx $29,000 more than expected based on the agreed upon rate from the new contract I signed. I bought this new bill to their attention and Ryan was "shook" and could barely speak on the phone he was so stunned. He then got another Assistant Vice President involved and his name is Christopher C*******. He told me that this wasn't NOCO fault and they wouldn't be responsible for any on the charges incurred. He acknowledged the contract signing date and was on the phone with Ryan(VP) and I. He was dismissive and rude. I said that I would be consulting an attorney to rectify this and his response in email was that they are now cancelling my contract with NOCO and returning services back to ******** ****. Now i will incur a higher electric bill again because the rate is much higher than what my December contract is agreed to. So they cancelled me because i called them on there error. These are disgusting business practices and I could lose my company

  Business response

  02/13/2023

  Good afternoon,  We are in receipt of the complaint and have forwarded it on to our Natural Gas and Electric Department.  We apologize for the delay and expect to have a more appropriate response by the end of business Friday, February 17.  Alicia L********* 

  Business response

  02/15/2023

  Re: ** **** ******* *** * *** ******** ****** – BBB ID #******** Explanation of actions taken by NOCO before the customer contacted the Department of Public Service:  ** **** ******* * ******** ****** (Customer) was a prospect of NOCO for several months.  Sales rep Ryan had reached out and established a relationship with customer.  Customer eventually agreed to a fixed rate supply agreement and signed on 11/11/2022.  The agreement was countersigned on the same date with an anticipated start date of 12/1/2022.  It is worth noting that the agreement clearly states on the first page (Length of Agreement) that the agreement starts on the first meter reading after enrollment is deemed effective by *** (in this case, ******** ****).  The effective term commencement is also clearly stated on page 2 of the agreement within the Terms and Conditions under Section 2. Initial Term and Renewal Term(s).  The fully executed contract pdf is attached for your convenience.  At the time of the contract signing, the customer’s electric supplier was *** **** *******    Once the supply agreement with NOCO was signed, our operations team initiated the enrollment with ******** **** on 11/16/2022.  On 11/17/2022, our enrollment was rejected by ******** ****.  The enrollment was rejected due to a pending change by another ***** which prevents us from initiating service for the upcoming bill cycle.  Our best guess is that *** **** either initiated a rate change or possible re-enrollment (if customer notified them of a drop).  Due to this situation, NOCO was denied enrollment for the December billing cycle.  Once we received clarification as to the enrollment issue from ******** ****, the customer was notified on 12/7/2022 of the enrollment issue and unfortunate delay in the start of supply services from NOCO.  Per the utility’s request, we informed the customer that in order to enroll his accounts on his fixed rate, he would have to authorize the *** for his enrollment with NOCO.  The customer obliged and provided an LOA via email (see attached email – RE: ******** **** Enrollment Authorization).  The customer was also given notice by NOCO that due to the delay by ******** **** in accepting the enrollment, he would remain with his current supplier for one additional billing cycle before his agreed upon fixed rate with NOCO would take effect.  In other words, his December billing cycle would continue to be supplied by *** ****.  ******** **** finally accepted the enrollment on 12/9/2022 with an effective start date of 1/5/2023.  Upon receiving his utility bill for his December usage, customer was irate at the supply rate charged by *** ****.  The supply cost was $0.1995 / kwh.  Customer was very frustrated that his electric bill for the December billing period was much higher than he anticipated.  Customer turned to NOCO for assistance and reached out to Ryan.  Ryan suggested, both on the phone and via email (see attached email – FW: Energy Information Request), some actions that customer could take to improve his situation.  Ryan suggested the customer reach out to *** **** for a rate adjustment, as well as offered to review customer’s past bills to ensure *** **** was providing the customer with pricing consistent with his then active agreement.  Customer reached out to *** **** Energy on or around 1/18/2023.  In an email shared by the customer (see attached email – ** **** ******* 12/3 – 1/3 bill), *** **** emailed the customer and indicated that they were going to be handling a billing resolution with ******** ****.  Ultimately, they did not and left the customer with  extremely expensive electric bills.  Customer, understandably, was very frustrated at this point and came back to NOCO demanding we pay the difference between the rate on his bill and the one on his NOCO contract, which had yet to take effect.  Per Ryan’s request, a phone call was set up with the customer, Ryan and myself.  This phone call took place on 1/25/23.  At all times the customer was shown sincere empathy by NOCO.  The customer insisted NOCO dropped the ball by not having our fixed rate on his most recent bill.  We thoroughly explained that the utility company had failed to accept our enrollment, which was previously indicated to him.  Customer insisted that the only way NOCO could make things right was by changing his supply rate from $0.1995 / kwh that *** **** charged him to his NOCO fixed rate.  The customer was repeatedly informed that since NOCO was not his current supplier at the time, NOCO would have no way to change another suppliers rate.  The customer ended the call by requesting that we email him a resolution by noon that day or else he would be taking legal action against us before hanging up the phone.   The customer made one more call to myself just before noon to see if we had changed our mind about adjusting *** ****’s supply rate.  He was again informed that we have no authority to change another supplier’s rate.  I informed the customer that I was in the midst of completing his email and he would have something from me shortly.  That email is attached (see RE: NOCO Energy / ** **** *******).  The email clearly set forth two options that NOCO fully supported in his case to have his rate adjusted.  It was even offered to allow the customer to void our newly signed supply agreement and return to *** **** with no penalty (if he so chose), if that was the only way they would agree to help him.  Based on his email response back to myself, none of the suggesting solutions were acceptable and he indicated that he was turning the matter over to legal representation.  Based on his pending legal action and threatening tone, NOCO decided to terminate our supply agreement return the customer to the utility for electric supply and clearly communicated this to the customer.  Customer asked that we reinstate his contract until March.  I informed the customer that unfortunately a two month term was not an option available, but we would honor the full 24 month commitment or continue to return his supply service back to the utility.  As the two month term was not an option available, the customer said never mind and threatened more legal action against NOCO.  The customer was returned back to the utility effective 2/3/2023 (See attached email RE:NOCO Energy / ** **** *********   Explanation of actions taken by NOCO after the customer contacted the Department of Public Service and a QRS case was sent to the company:  NOCO returned electric supply services to the utility company for the next available meter read date.  Customer is aware that he will see NOCO supply charged for one billing cycle at his agreed upon fixed rate.  As well, the QRS case was responded to.   Explanation of why the services provided believes the actions they took were reasonable:  NOCO has remained empathetic throughout this entire process and has acted as a resource to the customer in helping him find a just resolution.  Customer insists that the only resolution he deems acceptable is NOCO changing the rate with ******** **** that was charged to him by *** **** Energy.  It has been repeatedly indicated to the customer that due to the fact we were not his supplier at the time of his questionable bill, we have no authorization to change his rate – a rate charged by a different ESCO.   We truly want to see a resolution for this customer, and that resolution would be a rate modification initiated by the supplier in question – *** **** ******.  Relevant documentation:   See attached contract and relevant emails.   In conclusion, NOCO sincerely empathizes with the customer and completely understands the customer’s frustration.  However, it was the actions of his incumbent electric supplier at the time of our agreement signing that delayed our effective start date.  It was also that same electric supplier that subjected the customer to a month of very high electric rates causing significant and unexpected expenses.  I am happy to answer any questions or concerns to help with this matter.  

  Customer response

  02/15/2023

  Better Business Bureau:  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.  NOCO continues to shirk their responsibility for this situation.  I have an email from Ryan telling me that I needed to sign the device contract in order to begin services in December as agreed.  He had that signed document within hours of him sending the document to be signed.  At no time was I ever told that services wouldn’t be in place with over 3 weeks to get them started.  I wasnt even made aware that the service didn’t start by NOCO.  I called Ryan on December 7th just to ensure everything was in place and he said “oh…. By the way we will need an email stating that you wish to have NOCO supply energy services for ** **** *******”. If NOCO was aware that the service start date had been rejected, why wasn’t I told about it right away?  I had to call to find out this information on my own.  Only to be told, whoops, actually it was rejected.  I was also told by Ryan on the phone that NOCO would make up the difference in cost if there was one.  Ryan knows he said this to me and acknowledged that he said this to me.  I trusted this guy to do his job after he touted how amazing the service was at NOCO.  “90 years in business and no complaints” he told me.  When it came time to make a complaint about their service that cost me $30,000 or so, they dismissed me.  I’m not going to be OK with this situation.  I, as a customer did everything this business asked me to do in the timeframe that they asked me to do it.  I am asking for the difference in costs of electric from the .064 cents per kWh on the contract I signed.  Im certain that others reading this have had similar situation where the big corporation doesn’t accept responsibility and tells the small business owner to pound sand.  It’s unacceptable.  These to guys at NOCO are dispicable.  Buyer beware.  I have all the supporting emails and documentation between all parties start to finish.  I appreciate the BBB being responsive here and allowing me to warn others of these type of disgusting business practices by Ryan and his compadre over there at NOCO.  Regards,  ******** ******

• Initial Complaint

  08/24/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  NOCO/Warm and Fuzzy Installed new furnace and line to my apartment at *** ********* Buffalo NY in 2019. The line was installed to the wrong apartment. The GAS folks National Fuel refuse to turn on gas, until this has been corrected. NOCO who bought Warm and Fuzzy, is refusing to take my calls. NOCO took the initial call to go out for the service call. Their service guy confirmed the furnance and line was installed to wrong apartment. I pd. NOCO $108 for this service. I feel NOCO should correct problem free of charge.

  Business response

  10/11/2022

  We have reviewed Mr. ********* complaint (see complaint number above) and conducted an internal investigation to determine what happened.  We are sorry that he had such a bad experience with Warm and Fuzzy.

  The work in question was performed more than a year before NOCO purchased information from Warm and Fuzzy.  NOCO purchased information only from Warm and Fuzzy, but the contract absolved NOCO of any labor guarantees and/on previous work. NOCO has helped numerous warm and fuzzy customers,  but NOCO would not guarantee work performed by Warm and Fuzzy for more than a year.

  Mr. ******* spoke to a NOCO representative over the phone, and discussed that quality and safety are our top priorities. To maintain quality and safety, we do not take short cuts, use materials NOCO doesn't own, or exceed our estimates.  We provide parts and labor guarantees, warranties on our work and employ the best professionals in the industry. The estimate he received reflected those guarantees as well as an estimate of parts and labor.  We discussed that the final cost would likely be less than the estimate.  We also advised that electing to use a handyman will cost less than a professional HVAC company but comes with none of the guarantees or insurance.

  We understand that he also reached out to ****** **********, which is owned by the same group that sold Warm and Fuzzy.  NOCO is not affiliated with Allied.

  At this time, the manufacturers warranty attached to the complaint may still be in place, but the consumer would need to reach out to the manufacturers directly.  Trane for the heat exchanger or Honeywell for the thermostat. 

  If you have further questions, please contact me via e-mail at alineberger@noco.com or by telephone at (716)614-1148.  Thank you.  

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩