ComplaintsforDirect Energy

• Initial Complaint

  22/11/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I received another **** dated November 3, 2021, however, I was never living at this location. The account number for this **** is ************. The address on the **** is for ** ** ** **** MD of *************** and this is not where I am residing. I tried calling them a multitude of times to indicate this, but to no avail. I live in ************ and not ***** Alberta. Even the current **** has *********, AB written on it which does not exist as ********* is in ************. I feel I should not be responsible for paying this ****.

  Business response

  23/11/2021

  Upon review of the account the customer called in on July 14th, 2021 to setup services with Direct Energy.
  The customer clearly provides the service address of ** ******** *** ******** ************* *** *** as the required location for his electrical services.
  As Direct Energy is an Alberta Based Utility company and only able to provide services in the province of Alberta, the sales agent should not have proceeded with the enrollment of services for this location as it is not in Alberta.    This agent has been provided coaching accordingly.
  Mr. ****** called back on October 7th, 2021 to cancel his account the account was cancelled as per his request and this is the only call, Mr. ****** provided to Direct Energy with regards to his concerns about this account.
  Direct Energy recognizes this account was created in error and has closed the account and removed all the billing under Mr. ******* name as of today, November 24th, 2021.
  We have attempted to contract Mr. ****** to share this resolution and have left a message for him with this outcome.

• Initial Complaint

  09/09/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Direct Energy overcharging, as well as not completing automatic withdrawal funds for **** and stating delinquency on payment even with confirmation that funds were available for payment.Charged 4x the rate for oil and gas. Charged me 21 cent per kj, when going rate was 6 cents per kj.Average **** $250/mo: charged $****** + $****** for 4 months. 4x regular rate.Poor customer service: was kindly but abruptly disconnected from a call from a manager when expressing my discontent. When cancelling my **** 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 ****. **** 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.

  Business response

  13/09/2021

  • Upon review of the account, the customer called on August 4, 2020, and requested a transfer of service from address ************************************* to address ************************* to start on August 20, 2020. The transfer was completed but the mailing address was not updated to the new location at that time. 
  • On January 29, 2021 the customer called regarding the address showing on the statements. The address was updated to *************************. The customer was sent reprints of the statements. 
  • The customer called on February 21, 2021 requesting to speak to a manager as the statements still reflected the old address. The supervisor was able to confirm the mailing address on the account was correct and it was an issue with the address appearing correctly on the statement. The issue was correct and the statements generated to reflect the address was showing correctly and sent to the customer. 
  • On April 15, 2021 an NSF letter was sent to the customer at address ****************************************, due to a returned payment.  On the statement generated on April 29, 2021, the returned payment was indicated on the account summary. 
  • On June 15, 2021 another NSF letter was sent to the customer due to a returned payment and the automatic payment plan was cancelled due to the third returned payment on the account. On the June 28, 2021 statement the returned payment was indicated in the account summary.  
  • As the balance of $****** carried over from the previous statement, this was added to the current charges on the June 28, 2021 statement. The total amount due was $******.  
  • On the statement generated on July 28, 2021, the prior balance of $****** carried over and was added to the current charges at that time, for an amount due of $******.  
  • The customer cancelled his ******************** on August 15, 2021 and was sent an estimated final **** for gas generated on August 18, 2021, for usage between July 13, 2021 and August 15, 2021.  
  • On August 27, 2021 the final **** with the actual readings for both gas and electricity were generated. As there was 0 gas usage the account was credited for the estimated usage amount on the statement from August 15, 2021.   
  • The electricity consumption on the **** from July 13, 2021 to August 12, 2021 was nearly double the prior months consumption. In total 1058.00kWh of energy were used. The total amount due included the prior charges of $*****, plus the current charges of $******, less the credit of $***** for the gas charges, came to an amount due of $******.   
  • As the customer had not renewed their contract in March 2021, the account was automatically enrolled in the 1-year open flex plan subject to market rates. Due to the increase demand for electricity caused by the record-breaking temperatures, the market rates were increased in June and July. The increased rates combined with the customers increase in usage of electricity for that time period resulted in the higher **** compared to what the customer was used to seeing.  
  • We were able to contact the customer and go over the information he was seeing on his bills and discuss further the issues he was having receiving his mail. As he had not received the renewal information, the customer will be credited $*****. The amount is calculated using the difference in the rate he was on and the market rates he paid.  

• Initial Complaint

  08/09/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I signed up for energy services (both electrical and gas) with Direct Energy on June 29/2021.I received a welcome e-mail from them the next day.My energy services were to begin on July 10. They did not as I found out the previous tenants to the home I was moving into had services disconnected prior to leaving. I phoned Direct Energy as my power and gas were not on, and they directed me to call ****** Alberta to inquire as to why I had no power.****** turned the power on 2 days later, after which **** turned on the gas the next day.I received an ad from them for a year of free energy contest on July 30, and again on Aug 24.I got my first **** on Aug 25 containing 2 extra reconnection fees totaling $393.I contacted them about this to which they claimed they notified me on Aug 12 about this upcoming fee. I did not receive such an e-mail, and they are refusing to waive the fee based on this notice that was not delivered to **** should not be charged for the last tenants probl

  Business response

  10/09/2021

  Upon review of the account the address of *********************************** was disconnected on May 12th, 2021.
  **************** enrolled services for both Gas and Electricity via the Direct Energy Website on June 30th, for services to begin on July 10th, 2021.
  On July 2nd, *************************************************************** gas at the location, as he was not an authorized user on ****************** account, therefore no reconnection information was provided.
  On July 10th, 2021 **************** called in to determine when services were going to be turned on, he was advised that an energize request was sent.    Direct Energy failed to inform him at this time of the reconnection charges for the account, and coaching has been provided to the agents at this time.
  **************** was sent an email advising that notification of reconnection fees was sent on August 12th, 2021.  There was no email was sent to the customer to advise of the reconnection fees, this was an agent error and coaching for the agent has been provided. Because of this Direct Energy will waive the reconnection fees for both Gas and Electricity.  

  Customer response

  11/09/2021

  While I am certainly happy that Direct Energy finallydecided to waive the fees, the response given by them is untrue, and I feelthis should be on record. After my initial complaint to Direct Energy on Aug. 25, theagent I spoke with failed to create a case file. I called again a week later, that agent created a case. Thiscase was rejected within 2 days. I called again the day it was rejected (Sept. 3), waited onhold for 20 minutes after speaking to an agent, then was told a manager wouldcall me back. This did not happen. Aagain Sept. 7, and after waiting over an hour onhold, I spoke with a manager who investigated Direct Energy's claims that I wasnotified on Aug 12 via e-mail of charges, which she could not find, so sherecreated the case AGAIN, and I submitted a BBB complaint. The next day I received a call from the individual whoresponds to BBB complaints, and after much long-winded discussion, he outrightrefused to do anything; claiming that the fees were the responsibility of thelandlord. A resounding NO was offered to me. On the morning of Sept 9, I received yet another call fromthe same person I spoke with on the 8th. He told me that his "higherups" overruled his decision given that ****** was waiving ALL reconnectionfees for EVERYONE for this summer. Direct Energy themselves were refusing time and time againto help me out. ****** made it possible for them to "waive" my fee(which was about to be refunded by ******). Direct Energy then decided to payfor the **** Gas reconnection fee because of this. I had to spend hours of my time on the phone fighting theseridiculous fees and arguing with them about their own communication; giventheir false claims about notifying me via e-mail. If any proper notice had beengiven, these fees could have been reclaimed from the previous tenants by mylandlord, but instead I was only notified via a **** received 6 weeks afterreconnection occurred. I am happy to be switching providers.
  Sincerely,
  *****************************

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩