Nicor Gas
Reviews and Complaints

Nicor came to work at my house today and I had to leave for a doctor's appt. They told me to call the number on the blue tag they left on my door, to have someone come and reconnect my gas and they would be here within one hour. I waited for 2 hours and 15 minutes and called them to ask what was going on. The emergency operator stated that someone had come to my house and called me three times, but no one answered. I told her that is a lie. I told her no one had called me, and no one had come to my house ... I am sitting here waiting in total silence for them. She said he knocked on the window. I said no one knocked on my window and he needs to come to my front door like a normal person. I said my dogs are inside with me because I have been waiting for him. She said she would put the request in again. About half an hour later I heard a light tapping on one of my windows and I told him I have been waiting for almost 3 hours ... he needs to knock or call like a normal person instead of sneaking around the alley tapping on my window. He said he would not go in my front gate because he is afraid of the dogs. I said my dogs are inside the house with me! I told him THREE TIMES that my dogs are in my house, shut in my bedroom, and he still refused to come in my house to reconnect my gas. He either has a serious attitude problem or he is stupid. Either way, he should not be doing this kind of work. He can't work in a house with dogs, even when they are locked up away from him? Really? He refused to come in and said he was leaving. I called the emergency operator and told her to send someone else and she said there is no one else, and he feels it is unsafe to come into my house, so I have to call customer service in the morning. So I am without gas service because of this idiot's incompetence. He couldn't pick up a phone and call to say he's outside. He can't come into a house where there are dogs who are safely locked away. I can't believe they would employ someone who is such an idiot. I am without gas service now because they do!

NICOR GAS
takes advanaged of people by overcharging them for gas usage in the summer my bill runs any where from 49.00 dollars no lower than
36.00 d0llar i know that my sound cheap but i only have a gas furnance and water heater its only me and my husband that lives in our
home. what a ripoff. most people bill run about 20.00 dollars a month.

Nicor gas was giving credit on a gas bill. In June 2011, they sent a thousand dollar bill, with a new meter number. What happened to the old meters. This lady who would not give me her name has been switching meters, ( saying they need them somewhere, else. One meter switched came a hundred miles away! What kind of business practice is this. I have requested that they return the meters and they have refused. They will not even tell me why! These switched meters are old, old, , meters.! Don"t gas meters give off mercury!
They have never, never informed me that they are going to take off meters.
I am a Black woman. I can't help wondering is it racial. I am a multi-init building owner.
Is it the law that if a unit or house is vacant for two years, they must remove the meter ?

I created this page to give a voice to the victims of Nicor Gas, Inc. Please feel free to post your stories below. Here is mine:

I started working at Nicor in 2009 shortly after I began to experience what I would consider blatant mistreatment of myself and my Asian/Indian coworker on behalf of our supervisor. My department consists of 3 White males, 1 Asian/Indian female, myself a Black female and our supervisor White. What I immediately noticed was the degrading and condescending manner in which our supervisor spoke to the other female and I. After working there less than 6 months I received an extremely negative and harsh review. As time continued I noticed a pattern of my supervisor deliberately discarding my work or delaying in submitting it to the proper departments in a timely fashion when I emailed to her for approval. I began collecting emailed proof of my report submissions to her and proof of her refusing to approve my reports for days beyond the due date without a reason and then her stating that she had no idea where my reports were. This treatment of deliberate work sabotage continued for several months and I spent months collecting documentation of this through emails and other written submissions. Approximately 6 months after a Black supervisor was hired and my supervisor was to be a direct report to her. When we asked why she was brought in solely to have one person report to her she responded that she was brought in to bridge the “gap” between our supervisor and the field employees.
From the time I began I also noticed other inequalities within the department the white males were afforded company credit cards and other privileges the minorities were not. I began to question things like why it was necessary for me to submit my work for approval to my supervisor and not my counterparts whom started working for the company around the same time I did. I also began to question why the white males within the department were receiving promotions and pay raises and not the minorities. After several attempts to seek help from management and being ignored I decided to choose a different route.
After months of collecting work sabotage documentation and confirming my suspicions of unequal treatment, unequal pay and alienation with the other minority female within the department and having her agree the same; I decided to speak up by contacting the “Nicor Ethics Hotline” an internal ethics reporting hotline (which is disproportionately used to fire blacks) . Immediately following an interview with 2 white employees in HR and my supervisor out the “blue” the Black supervisor (who was new to her position) was called in the “handle this”. A sad depiction of what some Black people will do to in order to please their perceived superiors. A few days following I was placed on a PIP and immediately fired. I had never had any history of write ups or the sort.
I decided to file a charge with the Illinois Department of Human Rights and after submitting all my documentation, having the parties at Nicor admit to the charges during the “fact finding conference”, and having Nicors’ Attorney withdraw from the case the next day after the conference. Somehow the IDHR investigator ignored all written evidence and confessions and dismissed the case. The investigation by the IDHR was held and the witnesses contacted by the IDHR were the SAME 3 perpetrators whom the charge was against. All witness I named were either not included in the report or refused to talk. Now I have No IDEA (neither did my attorney) how it is that the IDHR is using the same person the charge was filed against as a witness to confirm no discrimination took place …but they do.
In conclusion, it is my belief that Nicor offered some sort of compensation to the investigator in exchange for a dismissal of my case. I do not regret for one minute my decision to fight for equality and stand up to the ugliness of discrimination. It is sad that in 2011 we are still subjected to the same injustice and inequalities that this country was founded on. The sadder truth is the number of minorities whom are willing to turn on their counterparts in order to save themselves.

I created this page to give a voice to the victims of Nicor Gas, Inc. Please feel free to post your stories below. Here is mine:

I started working at Nicor in 2009 shortly after I began to experience what I would consider blatant mistreatment of myself and my Asian/Indian coworker on behalf of our supervisor. My department consists of 3 White males, 1 Asian/Indian female, myself a Black female and our supervisor White. What I immediately noticed was the degrading and condescending manner in which our supervisor spoke to the other female and I. After working there less than 6 months I received an extremely negative and harsh review. As time continued I noticed a pattern of my supervisor deliberately discarding my work or delaying in submitting it to the proper departments in a timely fashion when I emailed to her for approval. I began collecting emailed proof of my report submissions to her and proof of her refusing to approve my reports for days beyond the due date without a reason and then her stating that she had no idea where my reports were. This treatment of deliberate work sabotage continued for several months and I spent months collecting documentation of this through emails and other written submissions. Approximately 6 months after a Black supervisor was hired and my supervisor was to be a direct report to her. When we asked why she was brought in solely to have one person report to her she responded that she was brought in to bridge the “gap” between our supervisor and the field employees.
From the time I began I also noticed other inequalities within the department the white males were afforded company credit cards and other privileges the minorities were not. I began to question things like why it was necessary for me to submit my work for approval to my supervisor and not my counterparts whom started working for the company around the same time I did. I also began to question why the white males within the department were receiving promotions and pay raises and not the minorities. After several attempts to seek help from management and being ignored I decided to choose a different route.
After months of collecting work sabotage documentation and confirming my suspicions of unequal treatment, unequal pay and alienation with the other minority female within the department and having her agree the same; I decided to speak up by contacting the “Nicor Ethics Hotline” an internal ethics reporting hotline (which is disproportionately used to fire blacks) . Immediately following an interview with 2 white employees in HR and my supervisor out the “blue” the Black supervisor (who was new to her position) was called in the “handle this”. A sad depiction of what some Black people will do to in order to please their perceived superiors. A few days following I was placed on a PIP and immediately fired. I had never had any history of write ups or the sort.
I decided to file a charge with the Illinois Department of Human Rights and after submitting all my documentation, having the parties at Nicor admit to the charges during the “fact finding conference”, and having Nicors’ Attorney withdraw from the case the next day after the conference. Somehow the IDHR investigator ignored all written evidence and confessions and dismissed the case. The investigation by the IDHR was held and the witnesses contacted by the IDHR were the SAME 3 perpetrators whom the charge was against. All witness I named were either not included in the report or refused to talk. Now I have No IDEA (neither did my attorney) how it is that the IDHR is using the same person the charge was filed against as a witness to confirm no discrimination took place …but the do.
In conclusion, it is my belief that Nicor offered some sort of compensation to the investigator in exchange for a dismissal of my case. I do not regret for one minute my decision to fight for equality and stand up to the ugliness of discrimination. It is sad that in 2011 we are still subjected to the same injustice and inequalities that this country was founded on. The sadder truth is the number of minorities whom are willing to turn on their counterparts in order to save themselves.

I just wanted to comment on the efficiency of Nicor's "Credit Assistance" service. I received a notice of pending disconnection on Monday, called the credit assistance line the same day and just today received a call back from a "supervisor" named Amanda. I have not had work in weeks - no doubt a common complaint among Nicor's customers in the current economic times - but told both associates I spoke to that I could pay half the amount due today and the remainder next week. The only "assistance" they offered me was that they would shut off my service if I didn't pay the total amount due. They offered no alternative whatsoever, so not only is the "credit assistance" title a total farce, but I completely wasted my time in even contacting them. Why recommend this service to customers if there is no credit assistance to speak of? We're not talking about a ridiculously large or overdue bill here, either. I've had a perfect payment history with Nicor for 5+ years in my current residence, and they still treated me like a deadbeat. If there was any option BUT Nicor in this area, they'd already be out of business.

OVER-Estimate Usage:
I have no problem paying for the gas I have actually used, but when I receive NICRO Gas bills that start and end with estimated readings then I have a problem. I have a vacant dwelling and I have received three monthly bills that are ALL estimated readings. Each month they continue to read higher and higher billing amounts. For the past three months, no one has been living there or using any utilities in the dwelling. They billed me for 23 CCF during the hottest months of the summer on a vacant dwelling. I am livid and unsure who I could seek assistance from on this matter, I would like to have my bills adjusted.

No Intention of Shutting Of Gas as Requested:
Another matter with NICOR is that I have called them for the past three months and requested over the phone that they SHUT-OFF the gas. Each time they have indicated they would handle my request, but they never shut-off the gas service adn continued billing me for estimated usage. Today I was told I needed to put my shut-off request in writing, so of course I typed up a letter and sent it immediately. Again, I feel this is a very deceptive billing practice and I wonder if I could receive any type of assistance with this matter?

Any suggestions would be appreciated...

it was in October 14, 2008 i was unthorized gas in my name with my permision thewy used my name for 1 year someone used my brothers last name with my social security number but get this the person that turned the utility on in my name was a female and they still turned it on so how does that work i just got this year to turn new service on in my name and i have to pay 18.46 that someone else used so i had to fax three papers in on my id and the person that was using my socail never had to di that now i don, t have gas service right now because of there mess up how do i sue them

I don't know where to go to submit a complaint to someone it will matter. My husband and I were behind 4 payments. I know that is bad however with the economy and have a child that started off with complications we focused on medical bills. So, when they turned off our gas we called to see the quickest we could get it turned on. They for some reason didn't take our debit card over the phone because of the logo on our card; which I have never heard that in my life. Ok so fine, whatever, we found a currency exchange (which keep in mind none of those are a direct pay to Nicor). My husband makes the payment and we have to wait for that to post. Now we were able to schedule an appointment to come out and have it turned back on. This happened on a Thursday and the earliest is this coming Wednesday. That is the earliest? My husband called to see if there was anything they could do to bump up the date. We were told they have to cancel our existing appointment and wait for a call back, and then there were no guarantees we would get earlier and it could be way passed our scheduled date. Their policy is a call back from a Supervisor within 48 hours. Now, if I said that to a customer at my job I'd be fired. So now I have to wait a week with no gas and we have a infant that needs certain care. My husband and I could care less about us, we can survive but they won't make an exception for children or elderly? Is it because they are a monopoly and can get away with such an antiquated system as well as customer service? I don't know what to do to prevent this in the future to someone else. I want to stop this type of treatment to customers. Yes, were we late on our payment, and we understand we are in the wrong. We heard the people across the street from us are 9+ months behind and they just had their gas shut off. Can anyone direct me on how to log an official complaint. We've tried on the phone and get absolutely no where.

We had a balance of roughly $800, on 04/06/2010 we paid $300, on 04/17/2010 we paid $200, on 05/04/2010 our gas was shut off for a past due balance of $15.23, with no notice. I have 3 small children living in my home and they are telling me nobody can come hook the gas back up for 4 days! This is ridiculous and Nicor should not be allowed to just shut someone off with no notice, I am beyond livid!

I have been a customer in good standing for over 2yrs. Back in Nov. my husband left and I was stuck w/all the bills. Knowing I would need help, I contacted ILHEAP and was accepted. I was on the budget plan and auto pay prior to this. When they changed my name back to my maiden name, the computer pulled an old written off commercial account balance into my residential acct. So w/in a matter of minutes my HEAP money was gone and I had a balance of $1605. I called and spoke to several customer service reps. who verified they cannot combine comm & resid accts. I tried to rectify this situation since Dec 09. I make my weekly phone call with no help. Well, they finally dissconnected my residential acct. I called and spoke with 2 different people this morning, they are saying sorry this fell on deaf ears for so long and promised to get the gas put back on today. They have admitted they were wrong to turn the gas off, because once they pulled the commercial acct balance out and credited my HEAP payment I only owe 92. Anyone with similiar problem, I want compensation for my 4 month headache.

I feel so stupid admitting to this problem. I believe I have been bilked by Nicor. My husband enrolled in a lock plan a few years ago. I knew they had bad press and felt we over paid. When I received a letter that we have been adjusted down in billing do to our energy conservation I re-enrolled. We had paid $175 monthly but our new lock was $134. The first bill was $334. I called and they said that was for 2 mos. I put the bill on a credit card so I would always pay on time. The next two bills were for $412 in Nov. and Jan. ( I was being billed every other month and did not catch this). I did not have any statements to view since they were paid on my credit card. This month I received a bill for $266 for March. I had the statement. This bill was for Nicor Advanced Energy (lock12) $134 and Nicor Gas $131.

I am wondering if I have been double billed. I have not paid Nicor gas since I have been on the lock. I had always paid monthly by check to Nicor Advanced Energy and never more that $175. It is a lock and it went down in cost, yet my costs have soared. I have been reading the posts and fear I am doomed. I know I have not stayed on top of this. They sound like they make a habit of cheating. What options do I have?

I hate Nicor Gas SOOOOOOOOOO much, that I can't even put it into words.

I can't even type my complaint calmly and/or rationally.

I hate them. HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE

They run a monopoly here in the Chicagoland area, and they know we are dependent on them, so they will charge whatever & whenever they want.

I am spending my entire day (and then some) seeking out alternatives of having to give them any more of my money.

Electric, propane, solar, wind... ANYTHING but Nicor.

I hate them.

I have waiting for assistance from LIHEP for payment of my Gas bill Nicor was aware of this and now have received the payment as of last week. I received the new bill today and NICOR took $39.48 in late charges from my LIHEP payment they received. They were aware of my inability to pay the bill at the time, that's why I requested assistance from LIHEP. I called NICOR and spoke to a Cust. Ser. person Cynthia #434 who was the moist rude and arrogant person I have had contact with in the past few days. Due to my health and financial issues I have had many conversations with snobbish employees who are supposed to assist customers but instead make very effort to piss you off and end the conversation. This will not end and I have no intention of paying this extortion money to this company who plunders the hard working people and those down on their luck in this ruthless economic time of crisis.

Andrij Skyba

I recently turned on my gas at my new apartment and after all was set up they tell me that there is a 1622.44 balance on the account from a house where my ex lived and that because I was linked to the address they out this bill on me even though he called stating that the bill should be billed to him not me and that I did niot live there at the time. They efused to work with me on this bill or send it to him. Stating that I would need to take him to court to get it off. In the meantime I need to pay this bill along with the new bills that will accumulate or my gas at the new place will be shut off if balance is not paid in full within 4 months! I am very upset and angry at the way the employees are sooo rude on the phone an incoroperative. Nicor is a RIP-OFFF! Going after people for bills that are not theirs!

We have been sent a huge bill of 1300.00 dollars by NICOR for one of our rental property. This is so shocking for us. Since couple of months we were having problem getting rent from this tenant and whenever we visited our property it looked like no one was living over there but gas meter was on. This made us suspect that something dubious is going on.

Based upon this doubt and understanding our responsibility we called NICOR to make them aware of some thing wrong is happening. We kept calling NICOR to know whether gas service for this property is still ON or not? They refused to give any answer saying it is not our responsibility.

Now when we are going through eviction process with this tenant and want gas connection on our name; NICOR comes with totally different story that connection was switched off couple of months back and somebody was stealing the gas. Since we were sensing something wrong is happening we tried to inform NICOR long back. They ignored our request and now they want us to pay this huge amount which is because of Tenant misusing gas and NICOR ignoring our request.

If NICOR would have told about service being switched off at the time we called, we would have escalated this issue and would have stopped this from happening. Now we are being asked to pay this huge amount which we are not at all responsible; we are feeling totally ditched and is looking for Justice. We have been talking to all level people in NICOR once we came to know about this; but no one is at all helpful.

We will be taking this issue to Court.

I just recently moved into a residence, last week Nicor came out to turn my gas on. They said everything was approved and ready to go, so the gas was turned on. Three times I asked the gentlemen from Nicor who called me if I needed a lease or copy of my soc. security card and he told me "no everything is ready to go your fine."
Three times I asked and three times he told me that was not needed. Now I get a call from Nicor yesterday telling me I have to have a copy of my lease. This is all because of the people who lived here previously. I am not responsible for past renters and it is not my responsibility to pay past renters bills, that has nothing to do with me.. Just because they have the same last name as me, I am being prosecuted. My landlord leaves during the winter, which is why I asked three times if a lease was needed and I was told by Nicor no that if that were the case, then the lease would have to be sent in before the gas was turned on, so they came out and turned on the gas...I was told yesterday either send a lease or pay the previous renters bill or Nicor is shutting my gas off, now thats considered a threat. I called my personal attorney. I told him everything that has happened. He said Nicor told you everything was fine and no lease was needed, they proved they said this by coming out and turning on the gas, threfore they cannot hardly turn around now and say you have to have a lease or you have to pay or we turn off your gas. My Attorney said even if the past renters have my last name, it is not my bill, and I am Not responsible for it. I was lied to by Nicor and I have done nothing wrong, I have no bills in my name and I owe no money to Nicor, therefore I am not responsible for past renters. I do not even know if I can get ahold of the landlord now, so if I cannot then I will have no heat. My Attorney told me if they shut the heat off to call him, because I was told everything was fine and now Nicor is contradicting themselves. My Attorney said that the past renters owe Nicor money, so they are going to try and get it from who they can, however, it was not my bill, and I'm not responsible for it. This is discrimination against me because I have the same last name as the past renters.

I purchased a property in Elgin Illinois that is a foreclosure property and didn't do a home inspection since I knew the bank won't do any repairs anyway. After the closing I called Nicor gas to tell them that I was the new owner of the property and need to connect service. Since the previous owner didn't pay the bill they disconnected the meter from outside of the home and they told me that in order for them to connect the service again it will take up to 8 weeks for them to send somebody to put a new meter. It is winter time and I told them that is impossible to live in a house without gas and all the told me is nothing they can do. I believe this is happening because they don't have any competition otherwise they will take care of the customers like all the phone companies. They know if they don't do what they are suppose to do we move to somebody else.

After being a loyal customer of Nicor for 13 years, and always paying my bill on time, I received a bill from Nicor for a whopping $2, 416.13! After calling customer service, I spoke to a rude woman who insisted I got this bill because the past 15 months were estimated bills, and I was undercharged. She offered a payment plan of $161.08 in addition to my regular bills, and insisted I must pay or have my service turned off. The bill contains two meter numbers for 1 house, and the CSR ("Vickie")insists this is because a new meter was installed last year. Yet, my last bill, dated April 2, 2007, still contains the original meter number assigned to me 13 years ago.

This is especially trying as I recently lost my husband in a motorcycle accident (May) and we are less his income, and in the middle of trying to settle his estate. I explained this through tears to the CSR "Vickie" who refused her last name, and she said the bill and my husband's death have nothing to do with one another. She also said if I continue to protest (while crying) she will put me "on hold until I get it together". Naturally, I hung up on her.

This bill, and their explaination of it cannot be accurate.