Anmar sent a message to Gerard M. Anderson – Chief Executive Officer of DTE Energy Company – Email Address that said:
Dear Gerard,
I am a City lawyer and business consultant from London, United Kingdom. My original background is Electrical Engineering and Renewable Energy. I visit Michigan, USA a few times year to visit my elderly parents (US citizens) who live in the above address.
To cut a long story short, I am reporting here an incident that was handled extremely poorly by a well-presentable and leading company like DTE Energy.
Back in June 2016 and for a few weeks, my parents had a few incidents whereby the electricity was flickering (going up and down) and with a few black-out events too. As a result of one of the black-out events, and as the electricity came back, this resulted in damaging the TV and it stopped working. This would be due to the utility voltage level was out of the acceptable limits as the electricity came back and resulted in damaging some of the electronic components inside the TV. This flickering is something I witnessed myself too during my last trip to my parents in beginning of July (having electrical engineering background, I have wealth of knowledge on this subject).
My parents are elderly, and they don’t have the patience nor the energy to deal with matters like these, but I am here to help them and act on their behalf:
1. I personally contacted DTE Energy on 13th July at around 4pm MI time whilst I was there myself and reported the incident to them and to file a claim for reimbursement of the cost of the TV (or at least the cost of repairing it). I was advised that DTE Energy would send a claim form, and we would have to fill it and send it back, and that we would hear back within 21 days. The person I spoke to was called “Marven”.
2. My parents received the claim form, they filled it up, signed and dated it and sent it back around end of July (a copy is attached). My parents, being very reasonable, didn’t even claim for a new TV, they only claimed for the repair cost of $300. For the record, as my parents are elderly, the exact date and time mentioned on the form may not be 100% accurate, but it would be within a few days off the actual incident date.
3. Time went by, and until 1st November, we hadn’t heard anything back from DTE even though I was personally advised that we should hear back from DTE Energy within 21 days of sending the claim form.
4. I contacted DTE Energy again on 1st November at around 6.20pm UK time (that would be around 2.20pm MI time with the current time difference), and after a very long wait and conversation (for more than 45 minutes), I was informed that the case was closed and the claim was rejected, and the only information I was given was “DTE found no negligence”. Literally that was all.
5. After being persistent on the phone, I was then given a contact number and a name to contact for further information and the name is “Kathy”.
6. I contacted Kathy on the above number on the same day at around 7.10pm UK time (3.10pm MI time) and I left a message with the claim reference number and details of the claim, asking for a call back asap.
7. Finally, I got a call back on the same day at around 4pm MI time, and I was informed that even if the power quality provided by DTE energy was poor and unacceptable, then DTE will not be responsible for this. Really? My parents are the customers who are paying to receive a good quality of service from a reputable service provider company. Has the service been delivered very poorly, who should be liable for this by any logical terms? The answer is very obvious.
In any developed and educated society, the way the above situation was handled and concluded would not be acceptable at all and it is utterly pathetic: (a) the way DTE closed the case without informing us, (2) the way DTE concluded the case and failed to report this to us even though I was informed we should hear some feedback within 21 days, (c) the amount and quality of information I was given after having to desperately chase DTE for extra feedback, (d) the way DTE not admitting the bad quality of power my parents were provided with during that time (even though this is something that can be proven). Surely a reputable company like DTE Energy would not like to be associated with something like this.
The reason of the damage is crystal clear, and this is something that can be easily proven by digging through some of the power quality historical data if even needed.
Based on this, I am demanding an immediate refund for the cost of the repair, as per the attached claim form.
I hope you will wisely accept to resolve this issue immediately without leaving me with no choice but just taking this to the next stage via our law firm in the US.
Sincerely,
Anmar
