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Sent: Sunday, October 30, 2016

Subject: our shut-off by DTE

After returning home from surgery ,tuesday ,october 25 2016 about 1:30 pm ,my husband was approached by three dte workers who were coming to shut-off power .they handed him a letter that read,''your service has been interrupted for safety purposes,(citing rule 460.136) .please remove the locking device and call us to arrange to have the ,"new advanced meter installed", for power restore."

those words show it is quite obvious it had NOTHING to do with safety ,it was all about me wanting to keep my analog meter because of health concerns.our meter was working perfectly fine and measuring our usage every month just like it has always did,, and not to mention there are still meter readers sent out in our area,, but i would have been more than willing to send in my readings every month when there isnt.

so my husband told the workers that i had just returned home from surgery and was sleeping and he would go and get me,by the time i wrapped a blanket around me to come to the door there was a woman employee out there and the 3 men were at the pole with a power line cutter and had already cut a wire.i asked them to not cut the wire and the woman said ,,CUT IT !!,even though we also stated again, that i had just gotten out of the hospital an hour ago and just had surgery.these employees were very heartless and uncaring of the situation except for one of the workers that seemed to care but could'nt do anything about it.

i told them that they knew as well as i did that they could have that cut thin piece of metal holding the lock at anytime just as they have at other homes ,but were harassing me as a customer to make a POINT or statement to others. cutting the wires would make it more difficult for the power to be restored which proved true.

i called the 1-80*-441-**** which was on the letter and the rep told me that it had already been scheduled to be turned back on.i said who scheduled it,,she would not give me any info except it was going to be turned back on.i told her i had just gotten home from surgery also.

i called the 180*-477-**** later that evening to check on power and the rep said that (no) it was not scheduled and they would not turn power on until the lock was off and they would come out the next day to check.i also told that rep that i had just had surgery and also i did not want the opt-out meter and i never agreed to it ,,but if they were going to FORCE me with no power, then put the smart-meter on because it is basically the same to me and i need my power restored.

(Wednesday) ,without my knowledge they installed an opt-out meter on my house. we are on a fixed income,disability, and cannot afford the additional one-time fee and the monthly fee.i called a few times that day ,and also asking to talk to supervisors and each time they assured me it would be turned back on as soon as possible and they would expedite it and that they worked up till 11;30 P.M. especially when i told them i had just had surgery.,power was not restored that evening.

(thursday),i called at 11:15 am after waiting on line for 20 min the rep told me they cant come out because of the rain and they would come out when it stopped ,,i told her it was'nt raining here in romulus. at 4:00 pm i called again and the rep told me they after putting me on hold for 15min, that they would be out to restore and if they dont come call back at 8:00 pm.

i called at 7:40 pm and asked for the supervisor and she put me on hold and came back and said she called dispatch and they told her i was misinformed and the previous rep never called dispatch ,,so they wouldnt be here till friday,,i said what time several times,she finally said ,morning.

(friday) 12:15 pm i called and talked to supervisor,,got her name and id# ,,mindy e62288 and she said she would call dispatch again and talked to a supervisor there and told her of my health situation,she said they would expedite it,,which she was very nice and apologized to me.

so finally around 3:00 pm after 3 days in a cold house with no landline, and a refrigerator and freezer of thawed out food our power was restored,,so who created the real SAFETY ISSUE,,i say DTE did,,(rule # 911)

i truly feel i was harassed,mislead and out right lied to by many employees of D.T.E over these very stressful 4 days and treated worse than someone who doesnt pay their bills.

i have not been able to rest and recover because of all this stress and my blood pressure has been very high with bad headaches,,

i have always paid our bill on time or early and have done so for the last 41 yrs of our marriage.

i have known people who were shut-off for non-payment and have had their power restored faster than we did.

and their power lines were NOT cut in the process.

i am also very concerned about the the charges that they will put on my next bill and also had to spend money on purchasing more minute for my cell-phone because i didnt have my land-line due to no power.

DTE is the most unreasonable company that i have ever dealt with in all my yrs and im convinced it is because we have no choice if we want power, because there isnt an option for us!

what harm would it have done if they allowed their concerned customers to keep their perfectly working analog meters and send in the readings like i have done in years past when they would send out a card to us????

consumers energy is allowing customers that have concerns to keep their analog at this time,,as one judge asked a dte rep,,what harm does it do?these are paying customers?

i have documented all the calls and medical info and am sending it to Michigan house of representatives.

Gary Glenn ,state representative vice chairman,house energy committee had just sent a letter to the midland public service commission in Lansing,,concerning the shut-offs of 30 customers due to the misapplying of rule 460.137.

sincerely

michael and constance finley

Reason of review: Poor customer service.

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