(The approximate cost is calculated by the years of paid monthly charges)
I urge everyone with valuable time to stay far away from Direct Energy.
Unfortunately, like thousands of people in the Toronto GTA, my wife and I were affected by the severe thunderstorm on July 8th. Like thousands, our journey home was a long struggle to arrive to a flood in our basement that was impossible to bail with two buckets in the dark due to the power failure and, like many, we are still cleaning up.
We called DE the following day because our pilot light was out in our water heater this has meant no hot water at all. We were told that a technician would be sent on the same day to re-light it within a 4 hour window — between 11am and 3pm. I dutifully took time off work and waited. I followed up with customer service at approximately 2:30. The tech was running behind due to the mess left by the storm. It was explained to me that an error was made by a new customer service rep and, after taking a day off work, that the appointment was actually booked for July 11 (two more days to go without a proper shower)— though within 24 hours is usually the standard. Customer service made little effort to apologize, but given the scale of the storm the previous night, it was understandable that same-day service was unavailable and to err is human. So more time off work was needed for DE. The technician did come out on July 11 (hence the 2 star rating) and discovered a possible faulty part, he suggested just replacing the water heater. He assured that it would be all taken care of within 24hrs. No further action was needed from me so I signed on the dotted line and spent another day off work. When early afternoon came along and there was little sign of them, I called customer service to ask for an ETA. Unbelievably, I was told again that nothing was ever booked, but with apologies, they would have someone call me within the next 3 hours. Again, allowing that the delay was easily due to the storm, I hung up with my reference number in my hands. 4 hours went by and nothing. I called back “customer service” (note the quote marks now), after being transferred at least twice within the 30-40 minutes spent between agents and being on hold (recordings of “…your time is valuable to us”), I again reached the same supervisor who, without any empathy, told me a technician would now be out on Monday. Making it seven days without access to hot water.
In short, DE shamefully used the storm as an excuse for their incompetence. Why mislead customers by setting appointments that they knowingly couldn’t keep "due to the storm"? Not once, but three times — and given the odds — it’s yet to be seen whether the commitment to the fourth appointment is kept. As the supervisor nonchalantly said, “I guess we’ll have to deal with that then”. She also said that it wasn’t her fault that the other reps gave us false dates — she could only speak for herself. As a rep of DE, when you answer a customer call, I assume you are the voice of the company. When asked if there was someone more senior I could speak to, she told me to look it up on the website myself. This incident is not her fault —most customer service centres train by script — but it was like DE giving a big shrug over the phone. this only added further insult to injury as we continue to mop up around a dead water heater and then shower in nothing but cold water.
First world problems? Yes. But we pay first world service fees, which are hard earned. Why not expect first world standards from the companies that takes our money? Unlike, the executives at DE (surely bathing in hot water), it’s impossible to take this much time off work without taking a loss. When will large companies be held accountable?
Companies that practice integrity and commitment to customer service are well worth what is owed to them. Direct Energy is NOT that company. Avoid them at all cost.
