I had a contract with Direct Energy Essential Sevices that expired June 30. Direct Energy Regulated Services sent me a bill for June 28/29 saying that they automatically assumed my service since my contract expired. I had switched to anoter supplier that begat July 1.
I would bet that they do this to many unsuspecting cusomers just to obtain extra charges. This is outright fraud.

They say that they are two different companies but I see a direct link.

Bad Customer Service on the phone and billing us even we don’t even have any service from them anymore.

I called in Direct Energy On March 3 times about the Remove the Water Heater tank from my house. The representatives mentioned the Billing will stop as soon as we drop off the Water Heater tank in the Drop off Stations. So we did on March 29th, 2010 and we received the Removal number.
I still received the Billing from Direct Energy in April. I called and the representative told me it will take 2 or 3 billing cycles. I should still pay the bills, which I did until August Bill.

I called in August 20, 2010 3:30PM, the representative; “Kennel” answered my call. But I was on hold for 20 minutes. He said he was trying to call other department for this issue. At the end, he said he will call me back and I gave him my contact number. I NEVER HEAR FROM HIM.

I called back on August, 23, 2010 11:35 PM, the representative; “John” answered my call. He confirmed that I should get the refunded back. I was happy about that. But I forgot to check the refunded amount.

I called back on same day at 12:19 PM, the representative; “Ashley” answered my call. She gave me the total amount $95.03. But it was not the right amount. I asked her to give me the break down and she refused to do so. She said it was the system calculated and she couldn’t give me the break down but just the period – April 16, 2010 to August 23, 2010. Even I paid August bill in full.

I mentioned it should start from March 29th, 2010. She said they got the Water Heater tank from the Drop off station until April 16th, 2010. It was not my problem when your internal transfer the tank. It was in your company place and I got the confirmation on March 29th, 2010, you had the tank. I asked for the Supervisor and I got the run-around statement – “No Supervisor right now, he/she will call back you in 72 hours”. (NEVER HEAR FROM ANYONE!). I asked that what happen if no one calls back. She said call back here again! I bet Ashley never put my request for Supervisor, just like the first time – no one call me back.

I asked what about my last Friday’s call. She said no one record any call back from last Friday and no one called “Kennel” in the term.
I paid $22.99 + GST in past April/May/June and HST on July and August. I don’t get all my money back. It is crazy. Don’t ever trust them when they ask you to pay first and they will pay you back - WITH LESS THEN YOU PAID THEM for no service at all.

Direct Energy is a complete rip-off. I was charged over $70 on my first bill which was for 9 days. They gave me a bill stating I used over 500kw of energy during that time; however, I had no appliances other than a refrigerator (no TV, microwave, etc.), neither did I leave lights on or made extensive use of a/c or heating. I don't even have kids or anyone that lived with me. When I inquired about the charges, they said they would send someone out to check the meter at "my" cost. They checked it, and of course said that there was no error on their part. For the remaining 5 months on my lease, I averaged half of the initial usage, and my bills were about $30 a month. No more than $40. No way I could have had that amount of energy consumption in 9 days if I wasn't using it in 30 days. Also, Upon disconnecting my service, I requested my deposit to be mailed to a separate address since I decided to move. I was told the information was updated, and that my payment would be received within 4-6 weeks. I called multiple times to verify this information was accurate. I was told everything was taken care of. However, I checked online and the address was incorrect. I called and they corrected the problem, but after I didn't receive the payment for some time, I called again. This time I was told that my payment was mailed to the wrong address (my old address, even though I updated my information), and that I would have to wait an additional 4-6 weeks for them to mail my payment again. I told them that the period of time was unacceptable, and asked that they mail it overnight. I was then allowed to speak with a supervisor, who stated that the payment was made to the correct address (the first employee I spoke with gave me a different story), and that there must have been an error with the mail system. I asked the supervisor if my payment could be mailed overnight even if at "my" expense, but she continued to tell me to wait 4-6 weeks. I asked to speak to someone else, but she came back to the phone only to tell me to leave a message on someones machine. By this time, I was through asking for "my" money (I was calm and professional the whole time). I got real firm with them. (I let them know I was serious without speaking loud and outrageous). My payment was then mailed overnight. My advice... be firm, and seek legal action if you have to. IN YOUR FACE DIRECT ENERGY!!! lol

My husband and I moved 2 years ago to a home that we built. My husband changed our service provider to Direct Energy. We started getting bills for Direct Energy and Direct Energy Regulated. They would give us a bill for $149.00, we would pay it. Next thing I knew we received a bill for over $800.00 for Direct Energy and then another bill for Regulated. We attempted many times to recify this issue but continued to get the "run-around". It has been very frustrated. We received yet another bill from them for over $800.00 in January. We cancelled them as our service provider and resigned with Enmax. We now have a bill of $1200.00 for Enmax and a $800.00 bill for Direct Energy despite making payments to our existing bills. I don't claim to be a highly intelligent person. I am a RN so I feel as though I should be able to 'figure' this out. I am frustrated to tears and each phone call I make ends up confusing me further. I feel (and know) that I am being taken advantage of. My husband and I are going to go broke. Because of our bills through Direct Energy we are unable to pay our others. I am seriously afraid of going bankrupt! Someone help, I don't know what to do. I work three jobs and make decent money---what is the problem?

In Apr 2009 water heaters started failing in my neighborhood. When my neighbor's water heater burst - I called a Direct Energy technician to have my 15+ year old heater assessed and replaced. It was a know fact that most water heaters in my neighborhood were failing around the 15 - 20 year age mark - the age range of the houses.

I was told the water heater was fine.

Fast forward to Apr 2010. My water heater burst and flooded my basement. I was charged $150 to replace a plastic pipe that was apparently not to "code". My insurance company says that you are negligent in the maintenance and replacement of water heaters an that they are suing you for what appears to me to be a lack of maintenance process and a blatant lack of integrity. The flooded basement is a HUGE hassle. I notified you in advance and you did nothing.

DR you are UNETHICAL, OPPORTUNISTIC, LAZY and should go out of business for punishing your loyal client base. I hope someone starts a class-action suit against you so that you realize you cannot hide behind the power of your self-serving corporate arrogance and play the "system" to your financial benefit. You cost clients money and frustrate them to no end, your inflate the costs of insurance companies, and give yourself a bad name in the process.

You should be horrified by this treatment of customers - instead - you seem complacent.

I hope you go bankrupt very quickly and that your Senior Executives work at Wal-Mart as greeters for a few years to learn a bit about personal integrity in business.

This process cost us a few days in salary, a $500 insur. deductable, a $150 service charge. Add it up. This could have been prevented.

Irvin Kovar
Mississauga