I’m in the process of switching checking accounts, which means I needed to move any service that was directly debiting my old account to the new one. For the most part I prefer to have automatic monthly payments hit my credit card, but at the time I signed up, PG&E only accepted checking accounts.

It’s been at least a year since I needed to log on to PG&E online. As long as I’ve got power and gas, there’s really no need. My username conveniently turns out to be the username I use most frequently these days, but I couldn’t quite remember the password. So I had a new password emailed to me, but when I tried to log in, I got this fun message:

I roll my eyes, slap my head, realize this is probably not going to be as painless as I’d hoped. So I call their customer service number, get transfered to their online service department, and ask if they could re-activate my account. Of course if that was possible, you know I wouldn’t bother blogging about this. Apparently they can’t. Even though my existing username is connected to my email address, and I was able to reset my password, I can no longer use that account to update my billing settings. Her advice: just create a new account.

Yes, PG&E, creating a new account is easy—but remembering all these accounts we create all over the place is not. I politely and humorously suggest that she please inform someone with the power to make change in her organization that expiring active customer accounts is bone-headed and backwards.

So I create a new online account, link it to my account number (this requires another phone call, because I don’t receive paper bills, I have no record of my account number), and when I attempt to update my billing information I get this fun message:

Argh!

Now I spend my days in front of a computer building web-based systems just like this one (albeit with fewer users), and I make my share of mistakes and poor design decisions, but moments like this make want to slap some programmers around. FIX THAT!

So I call back for like the 4th time, describe my story to yet another customer service rep, who transfers me to yet another online service rep who informs me that the first online service rep should have cleared my online account (or something) before I created a new account. So she presses her magic button, I create a third PG&E username—which chances are I won’t need to use again for at least a year, so it too will expire—and I am finally able to update my billing info.

I cannot, however, get that hour of my life back.

Update: I sent a follow up note to PG&E with a link to this post, and this was their completely ineffectual response:

Dear Justin,

Thank you for contacting us via our website.

Letting us know about your concerns and providing us with your comments helps to provide safe, reliable, and responsive services to all our customers.

We appreciate your time and are happy to be at your service.

Thank you for using our online services.

Customer Service
Pacific Gas and Electric Company

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