Atmos Energy

I would not even give them a 1, but had no choice, just like with gas service in my area. Atmos is the only service provider and they will do whatever they can to make doing business with them a miserable experience. They are a bunch of disrespectful and unprofessional people in their call center. They dont care about customer service and certainly don’t do anything in a timely manner. They have no regard for anyone other than themselves. They have us trapped and know that we have no other options, so they feel that they can treat us like crap!

As you can expect from a utility that has no competition, high prices, terrible service, technicians that set 5 hours windows, do not respect your time and do not call before arriving after multiple requests. I wish I could kick them to the curb.

My husband and I are relocating to Round Rock for work. We had the electricity and water connected with no issues since no one has to be at the house for that. I am still in NM with our two children, packing up, while my husband had to go for Feb. 1^st to start his new job. When I called (and rather than waiting on hold, I got a call back since the wait time on the phone was 30+ minutes). The first service rep I spoke with was very nice. We got everything organized and set up an appointment to try to connect the gas for that Monday (I spoke with him on the Saturday before). My Husband would be driving to Round Rock that evening and knew he’d be without heat on Sunday. So he bought a space heater (only two were left at Lowes, since there is a cold snap right now, and they were $ 200) and decided to «camp out» in front of it that night. On Monday, he recieved NO call from the tech (he needed a call ahead of time so he could drive home and take his lunch break to do so). So I called back (another call back to me because of 30+ minute wait times) and was told that the tech had called (NOT) and had already been by the house. So we needed to make ANOTHER appointment for the next day. I told them that there was no one there and my husband needed a call in time for him to drive home and meet the tech. The tech called him today and said, «I’ll be there in 5 minutes,» My husband told him he needed 20 minutes to get home from the office and asked him if he could maybe go to another appointment and come back to our’s afterwards. The tech basically said, «Nope. Sorry. Nothing I can do.» Awesome, Thanks for your help. :/​So I called back again and had another call back due to high wait times… (temps in Austin are feezing at night and only about 40 °F during the day). The rep sounded like she was on Valium and I could barely understand her at times and she would start a sentence and then just stop (WTH?) so I kept having to ask, «Hello? Are you there?» I told her what was going on. She asked, (just like everyone else has) «Is there anyone who can wait at the house?» I told her we were relocating and have NO friends or family there and that I am not even going to be there for another week. My husband has no heat, can’t cook or even shower. He has just started a new job and needs at least 30 minutes notice to drive home from Austin to Round Rock. They have all told me, «Well we can ask the tech to call before, but that doesn’t mean they will,» Really? REALLY? I asked her if there was any way to get in contact with a tech that would be servicing our area. No, of course not. And the 5 minutes «notice» my husband got today is about enough time to finish going to the bathroom and go open the door for a tech if you’re home… not enough time for him to drive back from AUSTIN. How is there no way to ensure a tech, who needs to go to your HOUSE, calls you before hand? This is just ludicrous to me. No one seems to care that, in the middle of the winter, someone has no heat or hot water. So we set up yet ANOTHER «appointment» for the tomorrow (in that awesome 4 HOUR window they give you) and I told her that it NEEDS to be put in the notes that the tech needs to give 30 minutes notice, there is no one who can be at the house to meet him unless that happens. I asked her, «What if my husband was single, just starting a new job and had no one that could ever be there unless he got notice that a tech was coming by?» She said, «Well that’s just something the customer has to figure out,» Maybe if Atmos Energy’s hours went past 4 pm…(since most people work until at least 5) that’s something that would be possible! When you’re moving from out of state, you work your last day at one job on Friday and start your new job 700 miles away on Monday… how exactly does one «just figure that out»? I’m so frustrated at this point. My husband now has to go to the local gym and get a month’s membership just so he can shower for work. We don’t have the money for him to be eating out every meal, but other than living on sandwiches and cold food, he can’t even eat at home! This company has the worst service I’ve ever experienced. Perhaps they need to put in some time training their techs on how to use a cell phone to contact their next appointment, and give them more than enough notice to walk from the back of the house to the front. The fact that they are the only gas company for our area, they can pretty much have the worst customer service ever, and no one can do anything about it. If I could covert our house to all electric, or move to a house that already is, I would… just so I didn’t have to deal with this ridiculous company. If I had known it would be such an issue, we wouldn’t have rented a home that had a gas stove and furnace. Even tho I prefer gas heat and cooking, it’s not worth my husband having to camp out in our own home.

Service has been solid, pricing not bad but the base fees are irritating. Overall for a utility company I can’t complain. There was an issue with the auto pay but I wasn’t charged for it.

Their computer billing problem, their misread meter, but it was my bank account that the huge incorrect amount came out of. I called 5 times (to Waco), each time was treated courteously, went 3 supervisors up the line, was assured she would call me back but didn’t. And I cannot get my money back in time to pay my credit card bill. They could send me a check (10 days) or just have it show up as a credit on my next 5 bills. We’ll see if that even happens.

I’d give zero stars if I could — they’re just such a bunch of crooks. More here:

Atmos sent me a treatning regular mail form letter because my $ 37 on line bank payment did not go throught. My guess is that I made a typo when I entered the bank account… When I called, made the payment and commented that they should have sent me an email or a nicer form letter, all I got was something along the lines that the letter is right and it is my fault. No customer relations. JLC

If I could give them no stars, I would. Due to an error with an online bill pay, they shut off our gas. No note on the door even saying they did so. Even so, the overdue amount (a big whopping 112.00 BIG DEAL) wasn’t even 30 days late. I held for 10 minutes the first time and wasn’t satisfied so I was guaranteed a supervisor would call back. I asked 4 times «are you sure they will call me back.» «Yes ma’am, I am taking care of it myself.» Guess what? Nobody called. In the meantime, we called back, waited 20 minutes and they disconnected the call. We called back again and waited on hold for 54 minutes and no one ever came on the line. Thank god for space heaters. If we could use another service, we would. I loved Southern Union Gas but they don’t provide gas to our neighborhood. UGH