I had a tenant vacate my house without warning. She choose to turn off the electricity a she moved out, completely disregarding the fact that there was a second tenant. The second tenant had been splitting the bill..
So this created an emergency situation where I needed to get electricity quickly. I called Reliant and they quoted me a huge deposit, unless I could get a guarantor who had been using Reliant for a year without missing a payment. Then they told me (I did not suggest this at any time) that because I already had a Reliant account, which I had been current on for years, I could serve as my own Guarantor. This seemed reasonable to me and I agreed to do this. Reliant sent me the following to pages in a pdf that I could not edit.
I sent in the form the next day and called to confirm that our electricity was being turned on.
Then they told me that I could not be my own guarantor.
Reliant sent me a document, signed by Bill Clayton, where -they- had me listed as both guarantor and customer. I had that document signed and notarized.
I am quite sure that Reliant, has informed a customer somewhere that this document is a valid legal agreement. But let me assure you that this is not true. Reliant has informed me that I did not have a contract with them. That this is not enforceable and that they will not be turning on my electricity unless I found some other arrangement.
I could have found some other arrangement from the start (including just not working with Reliant) if they had told me what my options actually were.
They have assured me that “the other department” forbids them from honoring this agreement, and that they “cannot” do that.
The message is very very clear. Reliant regards this contract as enforceable if I violate it, but not when they do. It is binding on me as a consumer, but not them as a service provider.
This company is a bully in the marketplace and I recommend avoiding them if possible.
-FT