Direct Energy Reviews 130

A complete scam of a company. They scammed me into their services. Their Walmart representative assured me over and over again that I would not be signing up for their services and this was only for me to take advantage of a deal they had. After disputing this FOR MONTHS with Direct Energy, they admitted to knowing about this scam but still insist on charging me. I will never ever use Direct Energy and will scream it from the rooftops on the scam that this company is.

I guess they hire these unlucky low wage minorities to do their dirty work and go door-to-door with this script: "You pay your AEP bill online or by mail? Can you check your bill to make sure you're not getting a surcharge?" Guy didn't even tell me who he works for until I finally asked him. I'm not stupid. I know these energy wholesalers' con game and when I said to him before slamming the door, "I'm good", he fired off like rote ready reply "Yeah you good, bro?" Right. His south central L.A. attitude reared its head all of a sudden when he saw I wasn't buying what he's selling. He seemed ready for that cold reception. He seemed well-practiced with my reaction. Go figure.

Said they were sent by PECO to correct a billing error and needed my info to do that. Pure bull. and highly obnoxious guy.
This scam needs to be stopped, and the company should be prosecuted for fraud!!!

They will take any chance they have to get every dollar they can put of you please please please for the sake of everyone in your household DO NOT USE DIRECT ENERGY

Do not recommend they scam people if you transfer they will charge you average billing is ridiculous once your contract is up you end up paying more !!!! 400$$ who has that kind of money in a Aparment they signed up my father for a contract HE NEVEr agreed on !! We already contacted congress about their scam !!

I had signed up for the cheaper three year rate put forward by Danielle Smith. What I didn’t know, is that Direct Energy was going to close my account and set up a new one. Because I had an amount owing above the pre authorized payment because of the stupid rate. I planned on paying the $1200 off by paying $300 a month till it was gone. All the while paying my new bill as well. I phoned, they said I have to pay it all within 10 days or it goes to collections. They said they will take my $300 now, but my remaining payments will be to the collection agency. Why couldn’t they let me pay my bill? I’m just peeved and need to vent.

If I could give negative stars I would.

Today (June 11) I received a paper notice on my door that Direct Energy has shut off my natural gas leaving my household without heated water or a means to cook. I was very confused by this, as I don't even deal with Direct Energy for my utility needs, I have only ever used Enmax since the last time I had issues with Direct in 2017. I have confirmed with Enmax that I have no balance owning and they have not moved my service to any other company.

I immediately reached out to Direct Energy to find out who's mistake this was and to have it remedied.

I have never dealt with a more useless bunch of "professionals" in my life, with the exception of Sergio (who I hope is doing well and finds a better company to work for). I have been given 3 different answers from 3 different "supervisors" and nobody will take responsibility. I'm being told by Enmax and ATCO that this seems to be an accounting error on Direct Energy's part, but they are refusing to do anything without me giving them information about the business that is allegedly associated with my address. Supervisors Carla and Jimmy were extremely unhelpful and stated that the only way they would remedy the issue is if I paid the outstanding balance and a reconnection fee for an account that isn't even mine. I highly recommend that everyone avoid this company like the plague, as they seem to be okay with trying to extort money from people who don't even have an account with them.

Awful customer service, asked to be notified of bills via email, and they don't.
Tried to discussed things with them several times and nothing changes even though they agree over the phone, they can't find you in their system half the time so you waste multiple calls trying to sort anything out

How these corporations can get away with fraud in Alberta is beyond belief. The Alberta energy board should be looking into this company, its subsidiaries and its deceptive sales people.
I have been a great long-term customer and they closed my account at the instruction of an Atco gas fraudulent sales person. When I contacted to explain that I was just shopping around for rates they said there was nothing they could do about it. They charged me to close the account, pay out the year (from June 1st) and reopen it. Turns out they are owned under the same corporation. So they are basically scamming customers by closing and reopening accounts with each other without the customers permission. This should be illegal and investigated. I explained to them that they have the phone recordings of my call, and then it proves that I never signed up, however, the manager at direct energy said he couldn’t do anything about it!?!? Seriously!?

TERRIBLE!!!
I've been a customer for over 10 years and the customer service is horrible. The chats, emails and calls I've made to get help is ridiculous.
The new website is also horrible.

Id give 0 stars if possible. Their billing system had a “glitch” and wouldn't recognize my payment. I have been trying to have my bill corrected four months now and have had four hour long fruitless phone calls. This is the most untrustworthy company I have ever known. Do not trust them. Do not give them your business. I have reported them to the BBB and I suggest everyone else having issues with them do the same.

Shocking set of cowboys trying to get information by pretending to be energy brokers.

These CLOWNS continue to call me DAILY, despite my multiple efforts to discontinue the calls. They have my phone number, but someone else's account. I can't chose zero or negative stars or I would. This company is a total clown show. Everyone l've talked to insists they will fix the issue yet it persists.

I would give this company zero stars if the site allowed. Do not deal with this company- Beware. On 4/30 I called a representative at the Direct Energy line to find out what my rate would be after my contract ends in July. The representative told me the rate and I told him I would need to get back to him after I spoke with my husband. The representative told me the rate would be good until May 7th. I told him okay and hung up the phone. A couple of days later I see an email where the representative had enrolled me in a 3 year contract. I did not ask for a contract! I called and spoke with another representative who told me they would have to listen to the recording for my call to determine what occurred. Yes, this conversation made me feel like this company was trying to take advantage of us by enrolling us in a contract before we agreed. It's been 4 days now and they still haven't gotten back to us about canceling this contract.

Id give them 0 stars if I could. All they are, are a bunch of overpriced crooks. Its been 5 weeks and 20 phone calls and they still havent resolved any of my complaints/issues

Here's a cautionary tale about using Direct Energy as your electric provider. Our contract was expiring in February so we called about renewing it. We were told of a plan that was better than our current one and it would save us money. He even told us our highest usage last year during the summer would be a smaller payment under this plan. So, we signed up for a year. A month goes by and we were charged $150 for a minimal ???? Calls are made saying why this is the case. Bottom line - Direct Energy said they reviewed the phone call and they say we were told $150 is the minimum you will pay every month and it will only go higher on usage. This is a LIE - we were never told that. I asked to release the phone conversation record for us and they rejected. Why would we sign up for such a stupid plan. To make matters worse, they give us a new plan - called Direct Solar - we agree, but a few minutes later they call back and say since we don't have solar panels, that was a mistake and they reneged on it. We finally settled for another plan. So, lesson learned - if you use Direct Energy be very careful cause they will LIE to you. If you don't use Direct Energy, good for you and don't use them. The service is terrible!

What would you like to share about your experience?

I would let people know that this company does Not want to deal with serious issues. We talk to people all over the world such in my case Mexico, who have no clue of who to recommend speaking to a representative who actually worked for the Direct company. I asked and they have no clue! Get this: someone changed my account number for paying the bill. I was faithfully paying to the same account since 1998 and never had any problem. But in november of 2023 I wasn't giving any notice of the changes and I kept paying as usual to the same account we have for over 25 years. We get Scammers notices of changes in our visa, revenue Canada, the list goes on. Here a billion dollar industry Cannot Be BOTHERED to have people do their job! but have to use call centers to monitor and answer paying customers. Without those paying customers Direct Energy would NOT be making the billions they profit from. Let me direct this message to the DIERCT ENERGY owners that their company is totally unaware of the payers who have to deal with this kind of work from unprofessional poorly trained successful staff members. The question above is " would you like to share your experience? " You asked for it and I shared. I searched if any other shared this type of un-necessary and un-wanted disruption I had, Well I am not the only one that happened to. A fellow wrote the same comment of having to deal with someone switching his account. How many other un-reported errors?
After several calls we finally got our problem solved with our patience at another level. I share and will copy and paste to Google if they allow this chapter, at least a shorter version. Joanne Sevigny.

DO NOT CHOOSE THIS COMPANY
I was with DE for a few years after signing up at Walmart. The last two years I was on the regulated payment plan. My bill until May 2023 was $381/month. I tried to make additional payments but they were not accepted. In June 2023 my bill increased to $531/month. They made changes to their regulated payment option in the fall and I went to monthly usage billing instead. In Oct my bill was $867. In Nov it was $1831.00. Dec was $639.62. Jan was $3100.34. I have made several calls to DE to sort this out or arrange payment options to no avail. The first person I spoke to adv my complaint would be escalated and someone would call me back in 3-4 weeks. Until then I wouldn't have to pay interest. I've made two payments totaling $1100 and DE billing department is threatening to send me to a collection agency unless I pay the bill in full RIGHT NOW. No one there is willing to assist me with this matter.
UPDATE - May 14, 2024
I finally found a customer service agent to deal with my matter and we agreed I would make payments of $500/month until July when the account would be paid in full. I made my first payment in April and then paid the account off in full with my second payment on May 12. I received a call today from a collection agency advising DE had sent my account to them for collection.
This is a truly disorganized company that the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing and their customers are the ones that suffer.

As a follow up on $50 Amazon card from direct energy, I received email indicating that I would receive card Febuary 20th. It's the 22nd...no card.

Most dishonest power provider in Alberta. They have hidden charges which are in amount of $800 to $900 which they charge when you plan to get rid of them and switch to another provider. Please refrain from direct energy if you wanna save some money in this kind of high inflation time.