Direct Energy - Company Information

“  I was a Direct Energy customer for almost 2 years, before I ended up moving. I thought the plan I had through them was price competitive at the time and have few regrets in using them.

The customer service was fine but the billing irritated me a little bit. Specifically, when I'd go to make a payment with them over the phone, they'd charge me a "convenience fee" to make the payment. What this really was a surcharge added to my bill to cover their costs with a third party billing group, I'm guessing. It irritated me that paying on time was still punished to the tune of about $36/year when I made my payments. I guess my alternative was to mail a payment, and that wasn't happening.

I would go with them Direct Energy again if they had a plan I liked when I was shopping for electricity. They gave me an overall good experience. ”

“  Over all direct energy is fine, but don't select online billing only, you can't read
your bill so select both online and paper bill.. ”

“  I used to have Direct Energy, but decided to switch when I moved.

When I called to tell them I was moving and switching companies, they asked if I wanted to pay my last bill over the phone. I didn't have my bank account information at the time so I told them I would just pay online. The rep kept asking me over and over again, until I started to get annoyed.

Then I started to get calls asking to pay the bill, WAY BEFORE THE DUE DATE. They said it's a courtesy call.

Then after I paid the bill, they called me still to tell me to pay the bill. I had to tell them I already did.

I was a good customer, never behind on paying, so they should not have had to harass me. ”

“  A double payment was made on 8/25. I called that morning explained I needed one cancelled it was an accident I have rent due. Associate said I can't it has to go one bill that is not due yet. Talked to supervisor she says she fixed it. No money call back associate says it went to bill and there are no notes from supervisor. Talked to another supervisor ok I fixed it. Look on my account says future bill was paid. No notes from that supervisor either. Needless to say now refund did not even go in effect till the 1st of September and they are still saying 10 days. I Want my Money and I want you to pay my late fees. Immediately. ”

“  I decided to terminate my DE service because there was lack of details/transparency in my statement. Unfortunately, after I switched my service provider, DE made another error in my last bill and overcharged me again. I can only contact DE through online chatting and the representative did her best in assisting me, which was good. However, it will take 1-2 billing cycle(s) to correct the error and their system can not even generate a ticket/tracking number for me to follow up. I believe such treatment is below industry standard and DE really needs to improve in this area to serve their customers better. ”

“  Our electric bill more than doubled and for months we soul-searched to determine what we were doing to use so much power. Then I went online and looked at the rate we were paying vs. NYSEGs rate at the same time. We were regularly paying DE as much as 3X NYSEGs rate. So we switched back yesterday.

After speaking with NYSEG, we learned that DE lured us away from NYSEG a year ago or so into a slightly cheaper fixed-rate plan with a fixed term. We took the bait! Then when that term was up we were put on a sky-high variable rate. Had we stuck with NYSEGs low (and regulated) variable rate we woul have saved hundreds! ”

“  Your online chat, Michael C.,was very helpful. I believe he was the same rep I chatted with last time. ”

“  My contract was up with direct energy and I decided not to renew. They have been calling me non stop for two months. I block the number and they call from another number. I cannot get them to stop calling. ”

“  Billing is very sketchy
No help from customer service on billing-4 calls with 4 different stories
Pay close attention to your billing-they will say a payment cancelled will be credited back from where it was paid from then tell you it was credited toward your next bill but with the adjustment line on your billing the numbers will never add up
Pay close attention to your bill and always check the adjustments line above your current balance
For this reason I WOULD NOT recommend this service ”

“  I have a fixed rate, so there is nothing to say except that the customer service is poor. Unlike the phone agents who refuse to accept complaints regarding it, the chat agents are eager to get you off the line. This will enable them to enjoy the remainder of their evening at home. They offer excellent rates. The answer is yes, but there is more to it than that. ”

“  Tried to sign up with PHONE# THIER WEB PAGE COULDN'T F0INE ME ALTHOUGH I'VE BEEN CUSTOMER FOR YEARS COULDNT LOCATE USEING CUST # EVEN METER NO DIDNT WORK CHAT DIDNT WORK FINALLY WELL U KNOW 2HOURS LATTER ”

“  I was reupping with Direct and found the rate was to be higher than before. So I dropped them and tried to sign about a month later. It did not work. Why should a loyal customer have to pay more the next time they sign up? ”

“  My recent experience with Direct Energy was not exactly pleasant. My bill was very high, I cancelled the service and went back to MetEd with lower rates. However Direct Energy charged me a $99 cancellation fee after only a little over 1 month service.
I responded to their email to rate their service and explained how upset I was to be charged the cancellation fee as the representative had told me it was not usually enforced.
I have just received another email from Direct Energy stating the are voiding the fee for me. I greatly appreciate this since I am on a limited income. Thank you so much for this!!!! ”

“  Do not allowed the undertrained representatives to take your payment over the phone. I authorized one amount for a specific bill amount verbally and was a charge was placed on my debit card for the entire balance which was not yet due. When discussing their error with their rep immediately after I called back when seeing the incorrect amount on my bank account, I'm told I have to wait 14 days to receive the money back, and then pay the cirrec t amount AGAIN that day to keep connected. UNACCEPTABLE! I then requested next level who said they would cancel the incorrect payment and restore services until my refund is back and I can then pay the accurate amount. That's an ok attempt, but now it's been 3 days and the funds are still pending withdrawal, I have at least one NSF charge to deal with so far because of this, and am not able to buy groceries for the family until my next payday or this money is back in my account. When I asked the second mgr on the second call what happened I was told the initial representative "made a mistske!" Cancelling contract ASAP this is careless. ”

“  They not the worst, but certainly not the best. The rates are 'ok', but what will get you is if you have to pay late. 3 days after the due date, they issue a disconnect letter, and there is a $30 charge if they send it. It's a ridiculous practice and the customer service dept is not very helpful. ”

“  I do like that they have a deal with Hallmark A/C. They check our system for free and that is a nice touch. ”

“  It wasn't the best reason to choose an electric company, but I chose Direct Because I'd been seeing their banners all over the place at the Rocket's games. I figured I'd give them a shot. Well, I did, and I would have to say that they haven't done anything to set themselves apart from any of my past experiences with Reliant and TXU. Their prices are ok, but not fantastic. I would recommend them to someone else, but mostly just because of worst experiences I've had with other providers than anything special they've done for me. ”

“  I tried getting through with Direct Energy today. The computer kept asking me to enter a credit card number instead of putting me through to a representative. I just wanted to talk to a representative to get a refund since I accidently overpaid them. They hung up on me twice. I am going to end my service with them because I was so frustrated. ”

“  I wanted to know why I have 2 bills from this company on my credit report for 2 different prices it's not adding up at all because I only had service with you guys once and I nevered had an electric bill on my credit report...I'm disputing this ”

“  I was a customer for a couple years. rates were good until all the sudden they hiked it up to 13 cents without telling me. our monthly bill sky rocketed. needless to say i cancelled their service. ”