PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — A Port St. Lucie couple called Contact 5 after purchasing a generator from a Fort Pierce company that they claim they paid for but never received.
“This is where it would have been,” Annette Speach told Contact 5.
When Speach and her husband moved from New York to Port St. Lucie last year, they knew right away that they wanted to purchase a generator for their home.
“Coming from up north, we were a little worried about hurricane season. So right away, within seven days, we researched generators,” Speach said.
The two ended up hiring Energized Electric in Fort Pierce back in January.
While there’s no delivery date on their contract, Speach told Contact 5 they were told they would have the generator by Feb. 28.
“They came out between the February date and sometime in June three times to do work that was related to what was needed for the generator," Speach said. "However, no generator ever appeared and we’ve had a very difficult time communicating with the company. Several attempts to call them, no answer, or no returned phone calls.”
Speach and her husband filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau last month.
BBB records show three other complaints from people with similar issues.
The company responded to one customer saying: “The standard installation time is 3-5 months with up to an 8 week wait on the generator that has been disclosed to the customer day one.”
Contact 5 stopped by Energized Electric earlier this week and nobody came to the door. WPTV also tried calling the company and emailing them several times and they never called or emailed us back.
“Next week, it’s gonna be 10 months and hurricane season has come and gone," Speech said. "It’s really frustrating.”
A billing statement from Energized Electric that Speach gave Contact 5 shows the couple has paid thousands of dollars to the company.
They’re hoping if they can’t get the generator, they’ll at least get a refund.
“Part of the decision to contact you was also to prevent other people from losing money and being in the same position,” Speach said.
Since Contact 5 first spoke with Speach and her husband last week, they’ve received a response to their BBB complaint from Energized Electric.
They company said:
“We sincerely apologize for the delay, and we thank you so much for your patience. Due to COVID, price increases, a last minute back out by an investor and shipment delays, we have not been able to complete some of our customers as quickly as we have intended to. We are continuing to install generators, tanks and completing jobs. We have the list of every customer, and we continue to reach out to each customer on the list as their installation date approaches and the tentative date becomes clear. We also had to vacate our previous office and to relocate to a smaller office, because our rent was going to be increased by 40%. We are having issues with our phones since the move. We continue to fulfill all services for maintenance agreements that have been set up. Again, we apologize for the delays and really appreciate your patience.”
However, Speach told Contact 5 she and her husband are rejecting that reply, saying they’ve received the same excuses from the company for the last 10 months.