National Grid

This review is not for this particular location but National Grid in general and if I can give a review in negatives I definitely would. I called 2 days before moving into my new apartment to activate service. First, a rude representative made a big deal out of nothing, so I called them back again and I was requested to send my lease with id. I do that and no one calls me, so after waiting few days, I call them myself and then they say earliest that someone can come to activate service is in 5 days. Having no option left, I opt to go with that date. Today is that date and I’ve been waiting since morning for someone to come. When I called at 4pm, I am told time is all day which means till midnight. Like, seriously! It’s 830pm and no clue whether someone will come or not. Really frustrating. If there was another gas company option for Brooklyn, I would definitely go with them. Just hoping someone actually comes today!
After waiting all day, at 930pm I am getting a call that they are not going to come! This is just ridiculous. Now, they are saying they will come between 8am-​11am tomorrow, which I doubt it!

I called customer service about setting up an account. The rudest guy in the world got on the phone and immediately started getting defensive and attacking me for no reason. I said I live in apt 2 °F in my building and he said something about how he was checking apt 1 °F right now. I said «oh I said 2» and he starts shouting at me about how he knows and that he’s been doing this job for 8 years and he knows what he’s doing so I don’t need to correct him… oh my god, I just thought it was a mistake, you don’t have to jump down my throat! I hate national grid customer service. They are always so terrible to deal with and some of the rudest people on earth work there.

Horrible. This company didn’t make my payments for 3 months, so I paid $ 300 to make sure it wasn’t turned off, I paid on Thursday and nothing went through until the following Friday. (Today). I spoke to a woman Monday she said I’ll give you a few days to have the payment clear. They immediately disconnected it 2 days later, payment never came out, in order to reconnect I needed to pay an extra $ 324 dollars and then my next bill will show a reconnection fee of $ 60.bullshit. I called yesterday (Thursday) they said someone will be there between 8 – 1 I then waited until 1:30 no one showed up until he called me at 2:30 and said I’ll be there in 10 minutes, I told him I have to work and he said to cancel the appointment and call back to get a different time. Now they are going back and forth with me and won’t turn my gas on until TUESDAY! Today is Friday. I told them who can live without gas or any type of hot water, they said I understand, put you on hold some more and then tell you the same thing. They have no recordings of previous calls they are liars! Awful.

On the phone, they can be THE WORST. But in an emergency, I agree with Toni M — they are pretty swell. I had a similar experience where I smelled gas and they came to my place within half and hour. Turns out I did have a small gas leak in the oven but the National Grid man fixed it and took off on his white horse into the night. If only their customer service center was as helpful, responsive, and nice as their emergency team, we’d have something real here.

i hate paying bills. but. last night I thought I had a gas leak (came home around 10pm and place reeked of gas). I called their emergency number and they arrived within half hour. Were extremely friendly, and even called a second team to check it out.
I’m not sure what the day to day service is like, but in an emergency they’re pretty swell.
also, turns out I didn’t have a gas leak, so that’s nice too.

I can’t even give them one star. The worst utility company I ever dealt with. Extemely rude customer service. Each representative will give you a different story and different resolution. The lock up your meter as soon as they don’t get payment. No warning, emails or letters.
avoid if you have an option.

National Grid is the worst utility company I’ve ever dealt with. If there had any competition, if there were any other options, I would immediately cancel my accounts and go with the competition.
I manage a building with several residential units and a large commercial unit. I rely on National Grid for hot water and heat for the whole building.
Their service is good, I mean I get my natural gas delivered to my stove and water heater. But their customer service is terrible and their billing department is awful. I’ve had my service disconnected several times for not being up on my account, but I never get any warning, phone calls or letters in the mail, they just shut it off without warning and charge me a reconnection fee. By the way, I have the money and would be fine paying my bill, it’s just that I had no idea that I was late or that I was going to get my service disconnected. In the winter, when the bills get really high due to the heating costs disconnecting the service can be very dangerous harmful due to the winter tempertures and not having heat, even for a day.
Also, when you call and speak to a representative they usually tell you one thing, then the next representative will tell you something different. One will say you are up to date on your bills, and the next will say we are turning off your service. This is really confusing and can again be dangerous when you are trying to budget heat and hot water costs for a building with several units.

Get our gas service from here and can’t say it hasn’t been reliable and priced as you’d expect; enroll in everything automated and check the bills for accuracy. FYI multiple listings.

Sending proof of ID docs is impossible… via email they never get them, via fax is always engaged. Its a nightmare.

it’s like trying to get gas from the soviet union. been dealing with them for 3 weeks and still don’t have gas turned on. their appointment windows of «sometime between 8am and midnight» are more of a bluff than an actual thing that will happen. i went along with it though, and worked from home all day on a tuesday. at 7:30pm I called and confirmed they might still be coming at some inderterminate point before midnight, they assured me they were. 11pm rolls around and they call and say they won’t be coming, and would i like to reschedule for «tomorrow between 8am and midnight??» yes, hold on let me quit my job so I can spend all my waking hours waiting on a gas technician to turn a valve. despite this being an appointment to get gas turned ON, the day before this they mailed me a BILL for «using» $ 27 worth (2 therms) of gas.
it only took 9 days just to make the appointment in the first place because i had to email them verification documents and they were a week behind on checking them every time I called in.

I wish I could give them zero stars. I bought my first house and signed for it August 1^st. It was oil, but there is gas on the street. So, I set in motion the steps for gas conversion. I was told by National Grid, that you had to first fill out the application and the total process would take 6 – 8 weeks. I figured that 6 – 8 weeks wouldn’t be so bad, as I wouldn’t desperately need heat until November. So in September, after the house was ready to accept gas, I put the application through. No word from National Grid, despite the fact that we started calling frequently at the end of October for answers. Fast forward to November. I finally complained publically on Twitter, in which they finally answered and reached out. Basically, no one ever touched our application. We were told due to «holidays and vacations» that it was a 2 week processing time for applications… okay, but we submitted ours 10 weeks ago. Everything was ready in the house, the plumbing was set, the pipes were in place, all National Grid had to do was bring the gas line from the street, to the front of my house. Fighting ensued and they finally mailed us a date of December 13^th. So you can imagine how elated I was when, on Dec 4^th, they showed up (unannounced, luckily I had no work trucks blocking it). So did they finally bring the gas line to my house and now I have heat AND hot water? NOPE. They broke the storm drain water pipes instead. Left my steet torn up, and haven’t returned to fix it. Now on top of a high electric bill due to space heaters to try and keep my pipes from freezing, I also have to deal with a cold house I can’t move into, and now flooding out my neightbors and my street and backyard. Unfortunately, because National Grid has no competitor, they are able to treat their customers like this. Not only would I imagine you’d want to make a good impression on a new customer, but my parents have been customers for 23years, where is the loyalty and respect for existing customers? They simply don’t have to respect you because you have no other choice. If you take a look at their social media accounts, Facebook and twitter, they are flooded with complaints. I see people with children at home who have been out of heat for 17 days waiting for the arrival of National Grid. It isn’t just on Long Island either, the problems run far and wide, even stretching to National Grid UK. It’s not fair what they are doing to people and awareness should be made. We thought LIPA was bad, but this is only a sad reflection.

I can say without hesitation, this is the most incompetent and unprofessional Company I have ever had the misfortune of dealing with. It is currently 9:59pm. I have been waiting since 10am this morning for them to come and turn on my gas. The service man just called me to say he wouldn’t be able to make it. No apology. And I now have to wait an additional 5 days to get gas since I have to be at work. They should be ashamed of themselves.

I have never encountered a less professional company in my life. After waiting 2 ½ weeks for my appointment, then spending 7 hours waiting for them to actually show up, I have to assume they’re not coming. Call the help line – they say the guys are just late, but will be there. When? Nobody knows. After hour 9 I call again and speak to a manager.
She was rude, combative, and told me I shouldn’t complain because there are other people who don’t have heat. Tells me «It doesn’t look good for tonight.” – when I ask for an explanation, she yells, and threatens to leave me on hold as punishment. Wow.
So I’m supposed to wait at home until midnight the next night, a total of over 36 hours, with no guarantee its even going to happen. Since they have a policy of canceling your appointment if you aren’t there when they actually do show up, I have no choice but to spend my entire weekend waiting for the gas company.
I’m particularly amazed because despite all this, my experience with them seems mild in comparison to others. If there were any other choice available, this company would be out of business in a matter of hours. This is exactly why monopolies are bad, folks.
The public should have some recourse against companies that exhibit behavior like this; particularly when they’re expected to provide essential services.
There is no rating low enough for National Grid.

My interaction with this corporation has been consistently bad. There is apparently no concern for accurate, honest or trustworthy action on the part of the National Grid staff or management.
My first nightmare occurred when I was informed that I would charged an extra fee to have have a meter reading because they had been unable to read my meter. I work from home and am home 7 days a week.
Then I needed to schedule time so they could install a meter that could be read from outside of the house.
I then received notice that they needed to read the meter. I needed to be home so they could get in to read it. A young gentleman arrived to read the meter in the morning. Later that day an older gentleman showed up to read it. I pointed out to him that someone read it earlier that day. His response was «I don’t care, I need to read it again».
I asked why the meter could not be read externally as designed and was told that it needed to be «reset». It would not be a problem again.
Subsequently received billing that indicated that I had a credit balance due to overpayments as a result of faulty balanced billing. Zero balance for the next five months. The first bill after the five months of a zero balance indicated that I now owed $ 700.00 due to a problem with balanced billing that failed to charge me for the prior five months.
Two months ago, two representatives showed up and said they needed to «read the meter». They spent about five minutes checking out the plumbing and the floor of the meter closet. I asked why they could not read from outside and they said they would check on it. They never took a meter reading.
A week later, another rep showed up. He needed to read the meter.
A week later I received notification via letter that I would need to schedule someone to come out and read the meter. I called them and they said it was a mistake. On the website, my next meter reading was scheduled for September 30, 2014. I was home all day yesterday, September 30,2014 and no one showed up to read the meter. The website indicates my «next meter reading» is yesterday.
I am now expecting a letter advising me that I need to schedule time so that they can send someone out to read the meter. …if they feel like it.

I moved to a new apartment and called National Grid on Monday the 16 to turn on the gas. I was told that it’s on and I should be fine within few hours. By Wednesday I still didn’t have gas, so I called again, and was told that all I need is to turn on the valve in the apt. In their system, it showed that the gas was on. By Friday I still didn’t have a gas. Called again, and was told that now I need an appointment for a technician to turn on the gas somewhere in the basement of the building. Meanwhile when I called the first 2 times I was assured that there is no need for technician or appointment. So on Friday they tell me the closed appointment is the following Monday (June 23) and I have to be home between hours of 8 am and 11;59 pm. Who needs to work on Monday!!! We all sit home and do nothing, right??? When I mention that I have a small child who did not have a hot meal for almost a week now, I’m being told that since I waited for so long, I can wait till Monday!!! Really!!! That’s awesome customer service you got here!!! I ask for a supervisor, who tells me that there is no record of me calling them and complaining on Wednesday and why did I wait so long to call them… WTF??? Seriously!!! But she can try and do me a favor and make an appointment, still on Monday, but now between hours of 6 pm and 10 pm. She also asks me if I want a phone call from technician prior to coming but if I miss it (and all they do is 2 calls) it’ll cost me $, so I say, no, no call, I just want him to show up. Well, it’s 9:30 Monday eve and still no technician!!!

I wish I could give National Grid 0 stars. Worst customer service I’ve ever experienced. Our gas got turned off and we were given no solutions whatsoever. The staff was rude and wouldn’t let us send our lease via email. They said to fax it since apparently it’s 1995. Thanks for nothing National Grid

Incompetence doesn’t begin to describe National Grid!
Problem started when an apartment in my building had a problem with their gas line or something. NG turned off the gas of each apartment. They never bothered to tell me. I go to use the stove… nothing. I asked a friend in the building if he was having problems. He explained the situation and told me to contact NG so they can send someone to turn the gas line to my apartment back on. Uh, ok.
Made an appointment for a Saturday. Yes, I had to be there, was assured someone would be there between 6 AM and 1 PM. 2 PM… nothing, 3 PM… nothing. I called them. The woman said that they called at 9 AM and 9:30 AM, there was no answer. I said, that is incorrect, they never called. And, why did they call anyway? Why not just ring the bell?
She informed me that the representative who I made the appointment with chose the call first option (he never asked what I wanted) then entered the wrong phone number. IDIOT!
She assured me that they would have someone there soon. 90 minutes later I get a call from the truck, «yeah, we’re outside.» Me: «So why aren’t you ringing the bell?» Another NG idiot was at the wrong building, despite very explicit instructions. «Uh, I never get that information.» They left at 5 PM.
I filed a complaint with the NYS Commission.

0 STARS — Bleak
As a life long New Yorker, who has been to the Post Office, Ticket Court, and Time Warner Cable — I can safely say that my experience at the National Grid Brooklyn Pitkin Avenue Office was by far the worst. One gentleman customer service agent at the National Grid Brooklyn Pitkin Avenue Office was super verbally abusive and disrespectful to me just for his own entertainment. All sorts of fake rules and requests for additional paperwork, «You can send a fax, but you cannot leave to send the fax or I will not open your account today». So I sent the fax using a phone app. The abuse continued with all sorts of rants and lectures directed at me — while I was being held hostage to have my gas turned on. High plastic partitions, apprehensive customers. All I was doing was trying to open my account, after my gas was shut off without warning or notice. They originally requested the paperwork by email which they did receive but choose not to use. Someone took all my bank information months ago, which is not in their system. Information provided to me by National Grid — over the phone to set up the account and to come in person were inaccurate and incomplete. I was told that my gas won’t be turned on for another 5 days. They admit their website has problems and does not work, etc…

I wish there was another gas provider alternative!!! This week was the coldest that it has been in decades — 10degrees and sub 0 wind chill. National Grid shut off my gas on Tuesday evening! No paper, e-​Bills or calls were made to tell me that there was a shut off notice. I found out that I owed $ 140…which was 2 – 3 month late, but I’ve had a history of always paying on time. Absolutely heartless that they would turn off my heat in these conditions!!! This is a corporate policy issue and ridiculous that they would treat their customers in that way. It took me seconds to pay for the bill and random NG workman (who did have a heart) came in and turned the heat back on. As stupid as it sounds — Shame on you National Grid! If I was an elderly or disabled person, I could have frozen to death.

National Grid charges for missed appointments.
I made an appointment with National Grid to turn my gas on; the appointment time was between 8 – 1. I sat on the couch with my phone next to me from 8 onwards, even taking the phone into the bathroom with me. At 9:30 I get a call from the National Grid Switchboard saying the technician tried to call me twice and that since I hadn’t picked up, my appointment had been cancelled and I would be charged.
The technician did not call me. I had the phone with me the entire time. I showed no missed calls. They obviously had the right number as the Switchboard was able to get in touch with me.
I wonder if this is a scam? Charge for missed appointments, then claim you missed the appointment? Has anyone else had this happen to them?