Our gas contract should have ended in June 2007, but we found out it’s not that easy to end. Although we did return their "form" clearly marked "Declined" before their deadline, for some reason "they did not receive it". I had no idea they were so dishonest that I should have sent it by registered mail.

I should have known this would happen. We had been hounded for several months by calls to renew our contract, both before and after I had mailed their “declined” form back. They don’t take NO for an answer. We asked several times that they not call again, that we are not changing our decision, but they kept calling and we had to ignore the phone. When we realized the calling had stopped, we thought they had accepted our decision and were done with them.

We did not notice in July 2007, that a new rate of .439 cents (double the original rate) had come in effect. Our bills are low in the summer and, furthermore, Direct Energy had told us our contract was ending in November of 2007. And those statements are not clear. When we finally realized in March 2008 that they were still acting as our supplier and charging us double for it, we first contacted Enbridge and had their name removed. It's still too soon to be sure, but I hope we are done with them.

We are now trying to collect the overpaid difference which is a minimum of $400 in excessive gas charges to date. They gave us a claim number but nothing else was happening. Two days ago, we filed a complaint online with the Ontario Energy Board. Then Direct Energy called this morning to say they had not received the Form we had “declined” and would not refund us. I am not surprised about this.

I hope the OEB can do something about this malpractice. It's not just about the money; it's the deceptive, callous, dishonest way they operate. When a contract expires and you’ve already told them a dozen times you don’t want to renew it, it should end. Expired means it no longer exist! Period. We will never sign up with a marketer again.

It was one of those 'bad luck' situations when the weather was -20 and my furnace was out for lunch when i HAD to get a company to come in and fix it, not just for the sake of me and my wife but for our 6 month old little girl. I decided to go with the well known energy empire (still wondering how we let it happen) Direct Energy, to my surprise the company is not more than a greased up business that sucks people dry, using deals and promoting meaningless incentives just like a pizza chain.

After 2 days i managed to have someone come in no earlier than 12:00 at night, as i wasn't lucky enough the guy barely spoke english, my system that had a rather complicated issue became something that Energy Direct (the pros of house heating and cooling services) wouldn't even look at, why? good question, a different answer each time the guy had to defend his employer: "Energy Direct only covers a small portion of the system", "We would help you only if you sign to agree on paying us over a course of 2 years and you'll be totally covered", "I have no time", "I'll call and get someone that deals with the entire system but you'll get charged more", "not my department".

After an hour of not doing nothing, the gentleman that came in to 'FIX MY SYSTEM' turned a valve that was the main water valve telling me that it should be off (after 1 day the system almost burned?!!)

Angry, having my wife and baby staying at her parents, freezing and lonely i decided not to pay the guy and called his boss that not for a second stopped defending his employee, "The guy was there you must pay", as much as it was freezing in my house that night, that MANAGER heart was even cooler. (He was lucky that we weren't in the same room i can tell you that).

Sure enough i got a nice bill on the mail ($600 including $200 gas bill :S ), i called a friend that sent 2 young "PROS" that figured out that it was the pump?!! As simple as that. water didn't pump well into the system causing serious damage, it was fixed at no time and not for more than $300 including a $200 pump???

Happy but angry as hell at Direct Energy i decided to write and at least warn other people, you are covered with stupid deals but once you need those guys to actually work they are not professional, STAY AWAY!

And to answer my first question, how is it an empire? do the math, $400 for not doing ANYTHING??! compared to $100 for the 2 guys i hired that fixed the whole system (think about it for a sec.)

Sincerely yours,
Adam.

At the time we purchased the house in June 2006, it had a rental water heater and a rental furnace both rented from Direct Energy. Recently I had a home energy audit which resulted in us purchasing a new high efficiency furnace, new thankless water heater and A/C from a company called Enwise Power Solutions.

Prior to the purchase and installation of the new equipment I called Direct Energy to ask about the return of the rental equipment. I was told that I could return both the furnace and the water heater at any time and the charges would be removed from my bill. I called Direct Energy again, closer to the date of the installation to ask about where to return the water tank and the furnace and they gave me an address in Etobicoke, Ontario. On the day of the installation I called again to confirm where to return the equipment and was given the same address. They told me to hang on to the receipts and fax them to Enbridge to get the charges removed from my bill.

The installers returned the equipment and got a receipt for the heater but not the furnace because they were told by the Direct Energy people there that they (Direct Energy) stopped renting furnaces a while ago so they don’t have a process for returning them however, they did take the furnace anyway (but we didn’t get a receipt).

So today I called Direct Energy to follow up and find out how to get the two rental charges off my bill and to my surprise they are telling me that I have to pay the full cost of the rental furnace because the old owners had a contract that I inherited through the purchase of the home which says that I have to rent it for 15 years!!!!!!

They are telling me that the contract for the rental would have been included in the documents for the purchase of the home and that my lawyer would have told me all about it and would have ensured that I was aware of the contract. I am 100% sure that I did not have any such conversation with my laywer about an obligation to pay for this furnace for 15 years (I don’t even know when this 15 years would have started) and I know that he would have told me if he was aware. I don’t have a copy of the contract and I have NO INTENTION of paying for a furnace that I no longer have in my home when I was told from the beginning that I could return it.

I am extremely frustrated and worried that it's going to take an enormous effort to rectify this situation. The buy out price is over $2000 and I don't even have the furnace anymore. I told the Direct Energy Rep (who says he's a manager but sounded like a goofy teenager) that I never signed a contract and have never seen a contract and he just kept saying there is nothing he can do and that I will have to pay. They lied to me several times, don't EVER deal with these scammers!!!!!

Despite responding politely to the first three calls from Direct Energy's telemarketer's that I was already in an energy plan and was not interested in dealing with their company, they have phoned another half dozen times and (apparently!) will not remove my number from their call list.

In the summer of 2006 my husband and I made the mistake of signing up with Direct Energy for gas and hydro. Before we signed up with them we would receive our bills every month from Niagara-on-the-Lake hydro and they were always on time. We have not received a bill in 3 months and are not happy about it at all. I called them and they said that there processing times don't match up with Niagara-on-the-Lakes billing date. The girl on the phone said that we will be getting our bills every 3 or 4 months because of this. That is not good enough. We are a young family and have a 3 month old and a 2 year old. It is important for us to get bills every month. I will never sign up with a retailer again.