ABC13 did what 11 phone calls from woman to power company couldn't

SPRING, Texas (KTRK) -- When she logged on to pay her bills earlier this year, Nancy White said she hates to admit that she made a $1,000 mistake.

"I paid my May electric bill and my hands shake so I hit the two at the end twice, which moved the decimal point over a place," White told ABC13's Ted Oberg.

Her bill was supposed to be $120.42. She paid Reliant Energy $1,204.22 instead.

White, who lives in Spring, said the company called her two days later to let her know she overpaid and would be refunded, but actually getting the money back wasn't easy.

"I think I called them 11 times," White said. "Once a week until the end of July."

She said the electric company ended up getting her bank involved, asking for proof that she overpaid. Her bank sent over a statement showing she overpaid, and the company gave her confirmation they received it.

The weeks kept passing and she still didn't have a refund, she decided to 'Turn to Ted.' We asked the company about the error in July and Reliant issued a refund within days.

"A friend of mine suggested that I call a TV station and so I did, thankfully, and it was wonderful," White said. "Within three days I got a check."

"We found the problem. Her refund was processed and sent back to her through the ACH Clearing House, Check Free, but it was never credited to her account. We stopped payment on that transaction and will have a check for her just as soon as possible. We've talked to her to apologize for the delay. I realize that this started as a mistake on her end, but we certainly should have gotten to the bottom of this sooner. Thanks for bringing it to our attention and giving us the opportunity to solve the problem," the company said in a statement.

Now whenever she pays her bills, White said she's going to look twice before she hits submit and encourages others to do the same.

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