I paid an electric bill. The electric company has no record of it. They say I owe $400+. I paid it? Help?

Question

I moved 3 times in 3 or 4 years. I had electricity in one place, fine. Then I moved into Chicago, had it in my name, paid it every month and often extra. Then, I moved elsewhere and had it taken out of my name. Then I moved where I live now. Fine, electric is on. 3 weeks later they send me a past bill for over $400 for the place before last. I called them 6 times. 5 people have diffrent past due amounts, and for different dates they say I still owed. Today, I talked with a so-called "supervisor" person, who was very arrogant, and be-littling to me, and my situation. At any rate, he said this bill is not for August of 2005 to November of 2006. It basically is for November of 2004 thru August 2005, because as he said, they have no record of me paying the electric bill that entire time. Well, the bill was paid prior to November 2004, thru the last bill that I had it taken out of my name. I can't prove I paid it, and I did. I have no reciepts. What do I do? I paid allready!

Answer 1

I think I would use a family or friends name and social,, just tell someone your situation.. Or have a family or a friend just put them in their name for you .. Everyone know's you need electricity !!! I'm sure someone would be willing to help you.. Now I do know there are a lot of different electric companies now.. , whether they check with each other is another question,, I know of several in my area.. I do own some rental property, and have tenants in this situation, They use another provider and or someone else's name and social,, they seem to always make it work for them

Best Of Luck To You

It's Just Tooo Hard Dealing With The Know-It-All's At The Electric Company... It's a nightmare just trying to get them to listen,, So I'm sure in your case it's even harder.. Once you lose a receipt THEY HAVE YOU WHERE THEY WANT YOU..

GREAT QUESTION

HOPE YOU HAVE ELECTRIC SOON .......

Answer 2

The best bet might be to contact the bank you were using and see if they have any record. While it is tough since you've moved and I would think you were crazy if you did somehow retain the receipts through all those moves, I would think the bank should retain such records. Otherwise, you may want to contact the BBB. I think they're pretty helpful for situations in which a business will not work with you to resolve your problem. But in the meantime if you haven't already, document all the information the electric company gives you, including the names of people you are talking to. Also, assuming you get the situation resolved, pull your credit report and make sure they haven't put a collection against you. Good luck!

Answer 3

Depends on how you paid if you paid by credit card then have a copy of your credit card bill sent to you.If you paid by money order find your reciept and have the money order tracked. If not any of the ways I stated then you might have to find the routing number from when you paid the bill. Just retrack your steps! have them send you a copy of all the payment that you have ever payed them . Then back trak from the dates where you were living , look at there dates then yours. Then Have the rental companies or landlords send you a letter stating from move in date to move out date. You will be better backtracking your payment dates and moving dates from present to past.

Answer 4

If you paid with a check, your bank should be able to give you a copy of the check. Or if you did it through bill pay online, call your bill pay provider and explain to them the situation and maybe they can give you some sort of proof that you could send the electric company. Hope everything works out.

Answer 5

Did you pay with a check or debit or credit card? You can contact the bank or financial institution and ask them for your cancelled check or bank records to prove you paid it. If you got a money order, you may be able to contact the place where you got it and they may still have record. This is so stupid because if you didn't pay the bill that long ago, why did they keep giving you electricity? They wouldn't of kept giving you electricity if you didn't pay!

Answer 6

If you paid it using a check, credit card, or debit card, the bank may be able to supply you with a statement or cancelled check to show the payment. I'm not sure how long your particular bank keeps documents, but they probably have some kind of back up. I would call them right away to find out what they can do for you. Good luck!

Answer 7

Did you pay your bills with a check? If you have, I"d contact the bank you had an acct with during this time and get a copy of your check, then forward that to the electric company.

Huge lesson in keeping your stuff, and paying your bills either online or with a check.

Answer 8

You have to use this situation as a learning experience, if you didnt live there and have reciepts for the dates (of bills paid) when you did live there, as well as copy of your leases with dates on them, you will not be liable.. but i am guessing that you donnot have that information.

I wish you good luck, but fighting this type of situation with no evidence is a losing battle, guaranteed..

Answer 9

This is why you keep your old bills, and cancelled checks.

Is there any way you can go to your bank and get cancelled checks for the time period? Have you checked? Some banks will do that for you. Then, you got them! Until then, get ready to grease up and bend over, buddy - because they are the electric company, and they can screw up your credit something fierce!

Good luck!

Answer 10

change your name and refuss to be known as the person on this bill they are a pain they do that over here as well,they know after all this time the chance of you still having the reciet is thin thats bad ,,,,pull a fast one ,,,tell them you want the meter read as you are moving ,or send them the last reading in the post ,then change your ame and ask for it to be turned on in the new name as you have just moved in ,,,,stuff em ,they are a bunch of crooks so why shouldnt you be ,anyway you int as you payed ,