Comments on: Pre Buy Electric of Texas, Bankrupt, Yes No?!

By: Rob

Rob — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 21:19:17 +0000

The problem with having a dishonest family running a family business is that the inbreeding causes all the familymembers to treat customers badly and, as a family, conspire to rip off as many people as you can before you get caught. Then, whichever family member was greedy enough to be the boss will be sent to jail by the other family members who will testify against him.

By: Rob

Rob — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 21:18:16 +0000

I'm surprised to hear that Pre Buy had 9000 customers. Me and the few I heard from that tried PreBuy were really ripped by the dishonest bosses at PreBuy.
I gave up trying to get them to "true-up" my account and switched my service.
They didn't actually have you pre-buy your electricity; that's impossible, since no one knows how much power you will consume the next month. They had me post a large monthly deposit each month to get power for the next month. If you overpaid, the credit was carried to the next bill, but you were still charged the same high deposit each month. After a few months, I had used less than half of the electricity I had paid for.
Their agreement said that after six months of service, a customer could request a "true-up", and have their account reconciled and get a refund or credit of any over-payments.
The problem was getting them to actually perform the reconciliations and credit you with the overpayment. They told me it would be done within 30 days of my request. After 30 days, they told me there was no record of my first request, so I would have to request another true-up and wait 30 days. They owed me hundreds of dollars they had overcharged me each month, but they kept coming up with new excuses to not pay or credit my account.
I gave up on the PreBuy thieves and switched.
Someone someday soon will file a class-action suit to get PreBuy to return all the money they have stolen from customers.

By: Steve D

Steve D — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 10:56:28 +0000

hey yogulick!

Congratulations! That is officially THE most pathetic argument I have ever read in my entire life. Blame the politicians because you didnâ€™t pre-buy anything and instead played the speculative market. â€œGee, weâ€™re not really bankrupt, weâ€™re just screwing our customers because we love them like family and we are a family business! And besides, if you canâ€™t screw family, who can you screw?â€

Go slither back into your snake hole you disgusting boot-licking company shill!

By: Linne Kerns

Linne Kerns — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 22:12:05 +0000

I paid for Electricity for the month of Jume before I found out Pre-Buy went out of business. I called and after an hour on hold I was told my money would be returned. I also would be refunded my deposit. Now I have to pay another deposit to yet another company and I have yet to have this money refunded. I cannot afford to lose the $266 which I paid for June and I have a $210 deposit. I also was overcharged each month I had the electricity since I used only half of what I paid for. When will this money be returned–EVER? They owe me about $800. I need $250 for the next company and I don't have it. Please contact me as I am tired of getting a busy signal all the time when I call now.

By: Linne Kerns

Linne Kerns — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 22:08:57 +0000

I paid for Electricity for the month of June before I found out Pre-Buy went out of business. I called and after an hour on hold I was told my money would be returned. I also would be refunded my deposit. Now I have to pay another deposit to yet another company and I have yet to have this money refunded. I cannot afford to lose the $266 which I paid for June and I have a $210 deposit. I also was overcharged each month I had the insurance since I used only half of what I paid for. When will this money be returned–EVER? They owe me about $800. I need $250 for the next company and I don't have it. Please contact me as I am tired of getting a busy signal all the time when I call now.

By: Jorge

Jorge — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:15:49 +0000

Etricity is another company that has gone out of business because of POOR EXECUTION

By: tovaric

tovaric — Mon, 26 May 2008 22:48:59 +0000

I'm not sure what not hedging has to do with Pre-Buy going under. In a pre-paid contract, how is it you're obligated on a fixed term?

Deregulation has been littered with predatory companies that have attempted to make money in the pre-paid space with little regard for long term viability.

You can't blame not hedging for Pre-Buy's collapse. It's poor execution yet again.

Where do these companies keep getting the funding to do this.

By: yogulick

yogulick — Mon, 19 May 2008 17:49:48 +0000

Just to let people know, I work for prebuy and i can say that we have not declared bankrupt. That is miscommunication. The owners of Prebuy are family oriented and everyone that works there is like family. Yes the customers have been switched by ercot, but not because they are bankrupt. They tried something that had never been done before. Prebuying electricity, and for over 8000+ customers, People should not have to go without electricity just because they dont have great credtit or 300 to 600.00 for deposits just laying around. Our world has changed and everyone isnt equal. The world is set up for the people who have but built on the backs of people who dont have. Maybe the people who are so busy talking trash about our company should think about the politians that have allowed our gas prices, electricity and anything else that people cant live without to soar to astronomical prices than maybe we could still be Prebuy. We may have lost the battle but we have not lost the war. Thank you.

By: Randell Dean

Randell Dean — Mon, 19 May 2008 17:15:47 +0000

There was a time when only entity that could own electric futures was someone who had end users of that electricity. Now anyone can jump in and speculate on energy futures and drive the power up. Since January temperatures have been basically the same as 2007, but natural gas prices and electric rates are through the roof. Large Hedge Funds and other Speculators continue to drive these prices record levels and the consumer continues to pay higher and higher electric prices to heat and cool our homes. Rumor has it that there is a Hedge Fund in Houston, that controls natural gas futures. Sound like Enron? Funny, rumor also has it the fund is run by a former and very talented trader who is also an ex-employee of Enron. Lord help us all.

By: TomFowler

TomFowler — Mon, 19 May 2008 13:25:57 +0000

FYI
Customers moved to new provider as electric retailer misses payments: (http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/biz/5789933.html)