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Ive been a customer for over three years and this customer has gone from really
good to absolutely horrible. They previously had local customer service and have outsourced overseas which is a large part of the issue. I signed a 3 year contract with them to be locked in at a certain rate and in recent months, with no changes to my lifestyle, my bill has nearly doubled. Very difficult to get any answers from customer service. ”
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I have been a customer of Direct Energy since 2018. I have subscribed to automatic withdrawal, and an average monthly bill for my home would be on average $250. On August 10th, 2021, I received a bill from Direct Energy in the amount of $843.73. In reading this notice it stated I was delinquent on my May, July, August 2021 bills. I called immediately and asked why the payments hadn't originally been withdrawn or why I had not been notified that my payments had not gone through. In reading my bank statements, and discussing with the customer service representative with Direct Energy, it was confirmed there was enough funds in my account for the withdrawal, and I simply neglected to notice the payment was not withdrawn, as did Direct Energy those months. In that conversation, the Direct Energy Representative informed me that for the past year, I had been paying 4x the going rate for gas and electricity. For example, the going rate in August was roughly 6 cents per kj, and Direct Energy was charging me 21 cents pr kj. To add to that statement, the August prior I had changed residences, and asked if there was a better rate for a long term loyal customer, and the representative declined that there was a better rate. For the 3 months after the change in residency, they kept sending my bill to my old address, and I called every month to correct this, and they continued to state that there was a glitch in their system. Still, in these conversations of cost discontent and glitches, nobody offered me council on improved rates.
I escalated to a manager as the representative stated their hands were tied and the manager was equally unhelpful, and told me if I did not pay this bill, that was 4x higher than the going rate, Direct Energy would take me to collections.
Today, I received a bill of an additional $361.98 for the remainder of the month, after having had cancelled on August 10th, 2021 and switching to EPCOR. I called and asked to be put through to a manager. They offered my $50 off the outrageous amount, which $361 continued to be 4x the going rate, and although stated she was not satisfied with how I had been treated thus far, proceeded to kindly tell me there was nothing more she could do and when asking me if there was, I asked to leave a complaint, and she abruptly disconnected the call in that inquiry. Another encounter involving customer service was during the cancellation of my bill. The customer service agent did not attempt to council me a) that I would continue to be charged, b) that I would continue to be charged the quadrupled rate, c) on how to rectify the previous bill. Bill cancelled August 10th, 2021. Charged again August 18th and August 27th 2021. Began service in 2013. Communication: I had not registered for an online account, and trusted the automatic withdrawals and paper mail notifications, however, the notifications did not get received in the mail.
I would say that Direct Energy willfully misleads you on their billing arrangement, and continuously has "glitches" in their methods of communicating (mailed to wrong address, did not receive a phone call, or email, or did not have a record that was sent in the mail at all), and then when does not withdrawal automatically will claim delinquency and charge you fees for non-payment. When making complaints, was rushed off the phone, or placated until the representative seemed to run out of patience - this occurred with multiple managers and staff consistently. ”
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I signed up with Direct Energy about 5 years ago, hoping to save some money. All was ok for awhile. I was happy and thought I was saving money.
One day about 4 months ago I checked my rates with my local gas supplier, they were between 6 and 7 cents lower. I called Direct Energy to see if they could lower my rates to match my local gas supplier, they said they could not match the rate at the moment but would be able to lower my rates in a couple of months.
To compensate me they offered me 2 $75 gift cards, I have 2 accounts.
That was in May, in June I called to check rates, they still could not match my local gas supplier, I also checked on the gift cards they were supposed to send me, they said they were mailed and I should receive them any day.
When they could not match the rates of my local gas supplier, I cancelled my gas account.
As of this date, August 11, no gift cards were received, when I checked they told me because I had cancelled my account, the offer was no longer available. After spending over an hour on the phone with Brandon and his manager Jose, I gave up trying to deal with them.
I was with this company for 5 years and I was a loyal customer, a lot of good that did. I am so disappointed with Direct Energy and hope no one else has to go through what I had to do. ”
“ I have made an order with Direct Energy 1 month before my contract was ending with PulsePower because of their offers and rates. There is no email about order confirmation, so I called before my contract start date and they said my order was rejected. So, customer service told me to create a new order and I did it again. Same story repeats again. No confirmation, no customer service call. My previous provider disconnected my service. I have called the customer service again and again the same offer to create a new order. ”
“ Do not do business with direct energy they do not care about clients and price gauge people . The reps are very deceitful as they suggest plans such as average price that should not be suggested without having any history of usage at the current location. ”
“ Yes. I don't know how they stay in business. Absolutely horrible experience with them and I'm never making THAT mistake again! ”
“ You sale power with my SS to deferent consumer on meadow st and you call me and hang up on me ,this your service after you disconnect my power you you ask me for $700 and you want me to fix the problem . We need to resolve the problem officially you provide my SS to deferent person this is against the low ”
“ Reps came to my door and refused to take no for an answer after I finally got rid of them didn't think twice about it. Now I just noticed on my bill that somehow they switched me anyway. These people are scammers, I never agreed to switch. ”
“ Direct Energy replaced my previous electricity provider without my knowledge or authorization. Direct Energy charged an annual deposit for an electricity service plan I did not request or agree to. When I discovered that Direct Energy had replaced my electricity provider without my knowledge or authorization, I switched to the electricity provider of my choice with terms and a rate I agreed to in advance. For the short period of time Direct Energy was my provider, I paid the monthly bill for the service provided by Direct Energy. However, I did not agree to a service plan with annual deposit for the electricity service that I used for a short period of time. I contacted the company to let them know that I did not request or agree to a short service plan with an annual deposit. Nevertheless, Direct Energy reported this unauthorized annual deposit to the credit reporting agencies.I encourage Direct Energy to reach out to me to resolve the issue. I will post an update on this website in the near future to report if Direct Energy took action to resolve the issue. ”
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It was with shock and anger that I was being billed by Direct Energy .208313 per kilowatt for the cost of electricity at my home in Hopedale Massachusetts. When my daughter and her family moved into my home back in 2015 I allowed my son-in law to purchase electricity rates on line and he signed up for a very attractive rate with Direct Energy. Immediately following the expiration of this agreement, Direct Energy started increasing the cost of electricity charges on my account. Since I paid my bills by direct debit I never actually looked at the charges on my bill until recently. I was not only shocked at the charges but quite pissed off! I filed a complaint with the Attorney General.
Unfortunately, Massachusetts Deregulated electricity rates when they allowed consumers to purchase energy direct. This is how these companies make their money on consumers like myself that loose track of billing rates and contracts.
Beware is all I can say. Don't get trapped like I did. Utility Companies like National Grid or Eversource Electrical are required to shop the rates with suppliers of two times per year and are still regulated by Massachusetts for the rates they charge.
Stay aware from Direct Energy as they are thieves as far as I am concerned!!!!!! ”
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Warning! If you notice a sizable increase in your monthly Gas Bill which I have had for years! Call your local provider to see what the Ccf amount is and check who your Gas provider is. According to my records, Direct Energy has been over charging me double to triple the Ccf for over the last 8 years! I cancelled the service immediately and am waiting on "The Office of the President" to respond!
According to their source when the contract expires they put the household on a variable rate which is considerably higher. No communication in years.
Thank you to Columbia Gas for bringing this to my attention! ”
“ This company will rip you off I realized my payment was tripling. When I call to find out why they said because I didn't call to renew my plan. My plan went from 9% fixed to 14% variable. I do not recommend this company I will not ever use this company again please stay away from this company... BIG A$$ RIP-OFF!!! NEVER AGAIN!!! WILL CHEAT YOU OUT OF YOUR MONEY, AND WON'T EVEN TRY TO ACCOMMODATE YOU. ”
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Be careful of their low rates TO PULL YOU IN, every single month we receive the bill in the mail 1 to 2 days before the due date. because we get the bill with such a short window we always send out the payment the day we receive it. never fails that we start receiving harassing phone calls wanting to collect, oh and don't forget about the late fees. I honestly believe they send out the bills with very short due date windows so they can charge the late fees. EVERY SINGLE MONTH IT IS ALWAYS THE SAME. STAY AWAY FROM DIRECT ENERGY
I have been a 25 year customer of TXU and never should have switched
MICHAEL TODD WELCH ”
“ Never been late . Only once and they cut the electricity off. Paid it right away when I realized the extension online did not go through. So I paid it right away and they told me 2 to 4 hours I'm still sitting here after 4 hours with no electricity in the covet pandemic. they said it's all electronic that don't have to come to your house so why can't they just turn it off but instead they make you suffer for 4 hours when you have deep freeze full of food knowing the pandemic and you cannot just replace that food. ”
“ This is the 2nd month that Direct Energy has auto debited my bill amount TWICE!!! The first time for nearly 400 bucks and this time over 200! This caused an overdraft situation both times for me, and Direct Energy didn't give a crap! ”
“ No courtesy call to let us know that our electricity was being turned off. Our credit card on file was replaced by our bank after the number was fraudulently used. We forgot to update it and with no notice from Direct Energy our electricity was turned off. First time user & when our current contact expires, we will never use them again. ”
“ After the sales guy left my driveway, I realized that he lied to me the entire time and tricked me into filling out the application with all the answers he wanted. He had an excuse for every question. Saying things like "You can't see the contract without completing the application anyway because it has to be emailed, and we don't want to waste paper, so say yes that I showed you a contract " and, "The pandemic is why they ask if I left the house yet, but they really mean am I outside of the building." I'm cancelling because when he finally emailed me the EFL it was nothing like he said it would be and worse than my current electricity company (7 cents per KWH was what I was told). Honesty and trust is completely lost. ”
“ I shifted my gas and electric in this company because i met the custoer service rep during their launching of promotions of 1 month free bills and less rate. i want to warn consumer that it was a complete lie and front only. Also the charge is a way higher and incomprehensible. Pls dont consider this company ever. ”
“ Worst company ”
“ I am actually on hold now (5:34pm, Houston, TX). Jorge is the representative who is providing poor customer service. I questioned why our new rate (according to an email I received today) does not start until 8/14 (our old plan expired on 7/31- so one would think that the new plan should have started on 8/1, right?). He offered no apology, just restated what I just told him. Not to mention he asked me what my name was when I just told him as soon as we started talking! Clearly, he cannot think logically, and is only going off his usual script and routine. When I asked again why exactly we, as the customer, are not informed that the new rate does not start as soon as the old contract ends, he again told me "it starts when they do the next reading." Again, this does not answer my question! I even mentioned how the first thing he should have done to provide good customer service is to at least offer an apology for the lack of communication and to best represent the company he is working for, but yet he still refused to! I asked to speak with a manager and he out me on hold. Now I am holding on w for 20 minutes and still going-- clearly he just put me in hold without telling a manager that I asked to speak with them! Clearly an dishonest employee who dies not belong in a customer service role! Knows nothing about service recovery! My husband and I will never use direct Energy again, and I will make sure my family and friends do not, as well! I demand for a supervisor to call me and make this right!!! ”
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