Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co Review

Theres 2 outages in the S.W. subburbs today. Its been 5.5 hours and they still have not dispatched to either outage. We all have to pack up and leave since its cold.

Impressively bad organization here. High pressure salespeople running the phones who sign you up for junk email without consent and try to tack on insurance and surge protection to your accounts. This company also has one of the most appallingly bad websites I've ever seen. Pages take over a minute to load, and it's almost impossible to find billing or payment information, often getting redirected to scammy looking payment sites that are irrelevant, because the credit card autopay is buried if you look deep enough. They also don't list the address associated with account numbers, so finding which account is your new address is difficult. Dismal representation of what a utility company should be.

Our power keeps going out. The other electric company always has power for their customers

Just signed up for my electric and got transfered to someone who tried to get me to sign up with their discounts on internet providers. I expressed several times that I did not want to finalize any of this, and they made it clear to me that they were only establishing a pending order and that it would NOT be finalized.
shortly afterwards I got an email from the internet provider notifying me of the order processing. I called them up, asked if it was actually going through and they confirmed that I was now set up with an installation date and everything. The exact opposite of what I confirmed with Cleveland Electric Illuminating over and over again. I canceled the internet order immediately.

The worst part is the internet customer service person I spoke to was completely unfazed by this, so I assume this happens often. If you're signing up with CEI, DO NOT even entertain the portion of the call that tries to set you up with internet. Not great to be taken advantage of before my electric service even starts.

The only reason the Illuminating Company gets even one star from me is that once you get past the barriers between you and the basic need of electricity, they actually provide it. I have never written a review of anything before in my life, but this is where I draw the line. The prolblem is that they have a customer support system that seems specifically tailored to being the least helpful process as possible. There is no way to get ahold of an actual representative, and you need an account number for everything... even to get an account number. If that wasn't bad enough, the few times I have interacted with any of the staff, they have been rude, short, and fundamentally unhelpful, giving advice that was the exact opposite of what exactly I needed to do to accomplish my goals with them. If you have any chance of not interacting with this company, take it and run. I don't think I will ever rent an apartment from anyone who uses their services again, and I suggest you avoid doing so as well if you don't want a series of headaches and financial penalties due to their inattentiveness to the needs of their customers.

The account holder is my mother and she somehow forgot to pay her bill so obviously they shut off the service. they have a "call before 12:30pm for same-day restoration" but...how is that possible if they disconnect you after 1pm???? so now we're without power till tomorrow? thats absurd and hyper inconvenient. you guys are ridiculous for not sending the truck back when the bill was paid not even 10 minutes after the shut off occured. "Sorry sir you must call before 12:30" *disconnects after 12:30*

Great customer service! When our power goes out for whatever reason they are quick with repairs. Most recently I had 3 street lights out on my street including my home and neighbors on both sides. I was told it could be 3 days or longer however the street lights were fixed the next day. Thank you for your quick response!

I'm still waiting for the next call for installing my outside lighting

This company is terrible. I've had numerous issues with them and the bill paying system is awful. If they didn't have a monopoly in the area I'd switch electric providers but there aren't any other options.

I live in an apartment at Kingston estates and for a couple days now have been going through a mess of problems with the customer service over the phone. In November of 2017 i moved here and transferred service before i even moved here. The past couple months i have paid my electric and received a bill. This last time i went to login and it didn't even show a bill just showed a closed account. This was 3 days ago and I am not able to pay my bill over the phone or online. I've talked to 15 different people on hold multiple times, wasted entire day on and off phone with my problem never being fixed. I don't understand how a utility company this big can get away with this and not be able to fix the problem in a timely manner. It was their fault they had an account opened in 2 names at a wrong address in the wrong building of my apartment complex.

Now i have to wait to get through to them and HOPE i can find someone with some.sort of knowledge that can fix the problem for once. I'm so severely aggrevated I'm ready to call the governor of the state. Now i have to worry about a shutoff notice and i can't even pay my bill. Apartment manager talked to them and even got a confirmation number saying problem should be fixed when IT IS NOT FIXED!

I wish i could avoid this company but unfortunately i don't think there is any legitimate company i can deal with in my situation.

I needed service temporarily. Very easy to turn on and off.

Power goes out Sunday night. Won't be fixed until Wednesday. Lines were down across my driveway. They showed up late Monday and told me they couldn't move the lines. I get home from work Tuesday, and all they did was cut the old lines out, set up a new line, DIDNT CONNECT IT, and just left the new wire across my driveway.... Plus caution tape.
So I'm still blocked in and still have no power. And they refuse to come out and finish. Why didn't they just FIX THE POWER when they were here earlier?!?!?

If I could put 0 stars I would the illuminating company and its customer service is trash. They don't care about helping you even if you have used them as a provider for 7 years. Everyone I talked to was rude and unhelpful, they don't care to help you out especially if they're your only option for electricity at that address. Can't wait till karma takes care of you guys

Still did not fix my power outage on the gang so bad service

Blown equipment happened in our neighborhood in 90 degree weather. Crew came out to check the situation and another crew was dispatched little later afteriafter was determined the equipment was damaged and needed to be replaced. Messages with status updates were right on point and even completed ahead of schedule. even before thecthe

We get nothing but problems from this company. Plus our power's out again for like the 4th damn time this month. It's ridiculous, honestly.

8 hours of my power being out, and still no update and it has not been fixed at all

Electrical technicians Tim and Mark were punctual, professional and knowledgeable. They are a good representation of the company. Thank you gentlemen.

Just bought a house and scheduled a week ago to get someone to come out and turn on our electricity and to put the bill in my name. No ones come out, no email, no call. I've called all morning and no answer.

I have to call them frequently to start, stop, and adjust service for my job. I have never had a negative experience with them. They are always able to take care of what I need quickly and are very friendly.

-5 STARS. WHO DID YOU CHANGE TO? I THINK MOST OF US ON THIS FORUM WOULD LOVE TO SWITCH OUT FROM UNDER THE ILLUMINATING COMPANY. THE PRIVY IS JUST TOO MUCH, THEY FEEL LIKE THEY CANT BE TOUCHED SO THEY PROVIDE HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE. IF WE ALL START TO SWITCH OVER, THEY WONT HAVE A CHOICE BUT TO CHANGE THEIR BEHAVIOR. SPREAD THE WORD! LOOK INTO OTHER COMPANIES!

Called about an outage and within an hour and a half had a crew on site to restore power to my 60 degree apartment. Thank you for the fast response. Definitely need power when it's 18 degrees in Cleveland!

We used to have a different provider. We switched to Illuminating Co. quite a few years ago and I am so glad we did! We rarely go without power and if so, it's for a very short time. If it goes out, like maybe 3-4 times a year, it's just long enough to have to reset clocks which is NOT a bother considering we were out for hours quite often with the other provider!

I have some problems but that's with every where these day's we would like everyone to treat us like we and them would want to be treated if they were on the phone but we all have thise days

Might as well go to CPP their employees are unprofessional as hell! Especially the Applications Rep Stacy! Their pay runs off our business. She should humble herself.

I imagine people only leave bad reviews. I mean, who reviews utility companies unless they have a negative experience? That being said, I never had any issues. I think my power was out once for a short time due to a storm, but that happens. Easy to pay bills online and no billing issues.

All previous negative reviewers, I am sensing a pattern. Ummmmmm.......pay your bill???

If i could give them a zero, i would. They are awful.

If I could give 0stars I would. Customer service is the worst!!!. You get transferred several times on hold for 30 to 60min and get hung up on. Had anew meter box put on from storm damage have to get some work order number to give to city inspector and get my line connected to get power back on. There has to be a better way than to be dehumanized by utility companies!!! Wrote this while on hold with, yes you guessed it The Illuminating Company.......

Have experienced more power outages with this electric company than any other that I have had to deal with!
Also... when there is a problem it seems to take them and absurdly long time to remedy the situation.

I had to move out of the county to get away from illuminating company. They are NOT helpful. They are NOT understanding. They DO NOT MAKE THINGS EASY FOR THE CUSTOMERS. I was on hold for a HOUR just to get told that I need to call back another day. Unbelievable I have never been treated the way I've been dealing with this company. Unbelievable. Disgusted and furious. Would not recommend to anyone. I would tell them to move out of the county to get away from them because that's what I had to do.

This organization is complete garbage. We are part of a small non-profit organization and wanted to get a service disconnect and reconnect (prior to the meter) to protect individuals that were going to perform some tree removal. The service department sent us a quote of almost $1000.00.
I called to discuss this with customer service and report my displeasure and she wanted to transfer me back to the initial service guy (Lee) that I originally discussed this with. We will be transferring our service at the first opportunity - we've been with them for as long as I can remember. No loyalty!!

One of ten houses who s power remained out in the neighborhood. My power went out on Sunday spent 3 hours on hold never contacting a customer rep until Monday with a representative to let them know a family member within my household was LVAD dependent and needed electricity to stay alive. They rebuttaled said best they could do was restore service three days later from the the outage and if anything gets worse call 911 and would not offer refunding of my rotting food. Two days into this I have yet to see an illuminating company employee. Extremely insensitive and hard to reach avoid at all cost if possible.

I really don't know why that place is okay to just bring power that's what it's about

The Company sucks! I m in college and one of my roommates moved and when they moved they had a balance on their account. Another person moving in decided to put the lights in his name. They told me I had to wait until that person paid their bill in order to get my light restored. Huh? It made absolutely no sense. So, I had to contact my landlord tell him to say that person left, then call them back so they could call him. When I called back they still refused me service. It was like pulling teeth. Horrible!!!

My power goes out all the time. On days when there are really bad storms, I guess I kind of understand (even though both streets on either side of me often still have power) but when it's perfectly sunny and dry, I just don't understand.

3rd time my power went out this week. Please update and fix your equipment. You guys are terrible

Moved to a new house in Auburn Township (Ohio). Over the past 5 months we have lost power 5 times. at my old house in peninsula we lost power 4 times in 15 years. American citizens are powerless to fight these Monopolies! This was posted at 4am December 27 and it is 5 degrees outside. Figure 4 hours to pipes breaking.

You deserve ZERO stars. The fact that they have a distribution monopoly in most areas is complete BS.

My mom downsized from her home of 15 years where her electric bill averaged at $35 per month for 3000 sq ft with CPP. She is retired and moved to a smaller place, less than half the size of her house and The Illuminating Company has been sending her on average a $121 monthly bill, but get this, she just received a bill for $200 for last month and customer service that two charges of $50 and $53 are charges for supplier use of the line. WTF? And no her gas isn't electric, her gas bill is $70 for the winter. All of the lights are always off in her unit except for her television. There is absolutely insane. I am calling the media and the Attorney General on today to request an investigation into this company's practice. My mom will have to move because of this outrage and unfair billing practices by CEI.

They can't answer simple questions and the automated system is useless will not recognize what you are saying.

The incompetence is beyond belief. Enormous battle with them to get them to send us a bill which culminated in them turning off our electricity with no warning whatsoever. No bill, no notice, no phone call, no email. Thankfully we don t have children or illnesses which make us dependent on electrical aids. They make every step of the process extremely difficult and the incompetence seems to be both at the individual level and institutional level. Processes are in the stone ages... taking down bank details to enter later probably isn t even ISO compliant and convenience fees for every type of payment is just taxing the customer. So glad to be changing power company.

Honestly, this company has frustrated me to the point to where I honestly want to move out of ohio. First Energy and Cleveland public power are just poorly run and it's been going on long enough to where I don't think they will ever do any better. No wonder half their customers don't want to pay at the end of every month.

Terrible customer service. If they did not have a monopoly I would never use this company.

I'm not sure why I am even wasting my time writing this review. Reviews cant mean much to a company with a 2.2 star rating and not a single response to any of its reviews. But, here goes anyway.

I normally pay for our services by phone. I got ahead of myself and thought I paid the bills early because we were going on vacation. The day I got back they turned off our power. It turns out I hadn't paid the bill. It was about noon. I called right away, waited on hold 30 minutes and then was able to speak to someone. They said since it was after 12:30, they could not turn the power back on that day. I pleaded a little bit and they said, well you could by our $25 fee in addition to the $35 for reconnection and you can have the power back on. I said wait a minute, you just told me you cant turn the power on, you should have said you wont. I tried to explain that it was the first time this has ever happened and would they please waive at least one of the fees. No, we cant, its our policy they said. What a crappy company. Zero customer service, even the bank will waive one late fee. You guys totally suck.

If I had to pick 3 words describing my experience with the illuminating company they would be: betrayed, unprofessional, and obscene.

I recently moved out to Ohio for a short time over the summer due to a short time summer job. Moral of the story is that I was pressured to use this company as it was the company that my Co-Workers have previously used for the apartment complex that I was staying in (It was also the only company electric/gas company that could be used for this specific apartment complex at the time) My co-workers had previously warned me that their customer service was terrible so I had better hope I didn t have any problems. *Minor Disclaimer* I have had no issues with the actual service. Where I had my issues with was obviously in the Customer Service department, if thats what you could classify themselves as.

On August 10 I called the illuminating company, verified my identity, and cancelled the service. My summer job was coming to a close and I would soon be returning home to Colorado. I thought this would be the last time I would hear from the Illuminating company...3 months later (November 21) I receive a phone call saying that I have a past balance due of 350$ for service between the months of September, October, and November.

I call the customer support line and talk to the first customer service representative that came to the line since I had not been living in that apartment complex or been using their services. After hearing my side of the case, she apologized for the inconvenience, and also for the fact that there was nothing that she could do about the balance due. She also explained that there was no records saying that I ever called to cancel a service. She then patches me through to a higher up manager that handles these types of situations. After verifying my identity for the 3rd time in the same phone call, I then re-explain my situation to the manager to see if there would be any way I would be able to get the charges dropped or even reduced, since I had called to cancel, had not used the service for months, and was not contacted by phone call or text message until November. (Text message or phone call has been noted as the best way to reach me). The manager rudely explains that there would be absolutely no way that the charges would be dropped since they had no record of me calling to cancel, and then proceeds to ask how I would like to pay the overdue balance, or if I would rather get sent to collections. I respectfully try to portray my side of the story again, hopefully trying to get through to this woman. It didn t work, she rudely refused to help me or hear my case and once again asked how I would like to pay the balance...Moral of the story is that I have to pay 350$ for their mistake, or get sent to collections and have my credit suffer. (I have never missed a single payment from any company, service, or retailer and have an excellent credit score of 755)

As a paying customer I feel betrayed and very upset to say the least. I don t feel as if this situation between a customer and manager was dealt with properly. I will never use this service again and I recommend that you do the same. I m surprised with management like this that they even average 2/5 stars on google.

This company is complete garbage. Had no issues until the final month of using them when they decided to actually do their jobs and read the meter and bill me back for an entire year of underestimated charges totaling over $600. Complete incompetence all around. Use someone else because I guarantee they ll screw you too!

Garbage!! Its not like you can pick another company......

I called this morning because of a voltage and arcing situation after the loop between the house and the power pole. Customer service on the phone was very professional and sent out service techs the same day. Techs Randy and Chad Morris were very professional and had the new line run and our power back on in less than an hour! These guys are there when you need them. This was a great customer experience!

The worst service of any company I have ever dealt with. The Illuminating Company has done nothing but cause me problems for 3 months I live in a duplex the landlord had a problem with the other tenant she called in and said she was the landlord and wanted the power shut off I have been fighting with the illuminating company for 3 months now if there was anyone that I could go with other than this company I would in a second I wish it was illegal to take advantage of people the way these people do

Thee worst i think a monkey is running this place because it's a zoo.

Power in my neighborhood goes out at least once a week for absolutely no reason. Takes at least 3 hours to come back on. Currently sitting here in the dark for the last 3 hours again after a very minor storm blew through. This complany is my only option and they seem to know it. No power multiple times a month yet the still bill me in full. The worst.

My power had been out since Friday Sept 13th at 10 am. It is sat night at 930 PM still no power. I called them and their automated system said estimated time would be Monday Sept the 16th at 4pm. The power is out due to equipment damage. I see no one working on any equipment. Now I have throw away everything in my refrigerator and freezer that's about 500 dollars worth of food. This is ridiculous. Shame shame on the electric company.

I have had numerous problems with this company. Numerous! The two that stand out the most are as follows. They are difficult to deal with especially with billing. They wouldn't allow me to setup direct withdrawal from my checking account but they would let me use the debit card attached to that account for an extra fee. Plus they did not do an accurate meter reading this January from when i purchased my house. They gave me a deal on Friday to fix my bill and now today they they are stating they can't hold up their end of the deal! I've filed a complaint with the Public Utilities Commission to see if they can resolve this issue

Customer service sucks. Automated machine demands you tell them the reason for your call. Only to be connected to someone who asks why you re calling. And only to be transferred two different times. All of which who continue to ask what you re calling about. Then you can t understand a word they say, and they get your addresses consistently wrong for start service and stop service. Are they even listening ?

I had a power outage on Sunday and they fixed it in less time than expected. They did a great job.

The slowest and most incompetent workers I have ever been unfortunate enough to rely on.

Had to call these miserable folks today. I just had a question, no outage. The person on the other end of the line was exceedingly and unnecessarily rude.

Why in he'll does our power go out almost every single day. Most times multiple times a day? We can never keep our clocks set or watch a full movie, food gets bad.. I'm sick of this. All my life I've had Cleveland public power and have never dealt with this bull... My 6 year old over here cry ing and scared. Hot as hell... security alarm. What happens when that can't work?

Awful called customer service to get my customer number so I could get a lower electric rate and the customer service person just hung up the phone on me. Currently filling a complaint with the Utilities commission

RUDE..RUDE..RUDE..NOT PROFESSIONAL AT ALL. Hung up on 4 times and just transferred without notice or reason.

Last night 7/4/2018 at 7pm a transformer blew up. We called the illuminating company and their was a crew here within 2 hours and by 11pm our power was back on. Now we're talking, on a holiday and a full crew, like 7 or 8 guys and 4 big trucks! Your crew was amazing. Thank you so much! Brookpark

I lost power Sunday at 3pm after several time changes for repair time we had to go to a hotel because of health reasons. We received a call that light was restore at 4am everything was lost in the fridge. Now today is July 5 and we lost power again and again they giving us different times for repair again we going to loose everything we just got yesterday for the fridge.

Called to set up new service and was accused of being a current tenant that had an unpaid balance. After having the property manager contact them they still refused to transfer service in my name until the balance owed by the prior tenant was paid. After 2 months of horrible customer service, I was able to have service turned on. I was never asked for a copy of my lease or ID which should have been enough to prove my identity.