Deml

After hearing so many horror stories with Direct Energy, I’ll add my own. We are in Scarborough. Our furnace started acting up a few weeks before we were scheduled for maintenance: it would stop when the house was heated but it would not start up again until we turned on the switch manually. At first it was inconvenient because he had to get up a couple of times in the middle of the night (this happened in the middle of winter) but little by little it became scary: the furnace needed many tries until it finally would get started. It was clear that something was very wrong and it could possibly be about to stop altogether.
The maintenance guy and the first technician that came in said there was a sensor that was dirty and just needed cleaning. They both assured us that we would have no more problems after they cleaned it. Not true. As soon as they left the same issue came up. The second technician even said that he was on call that day (Dec 24) and we could call again if necessary. The problem persisted. We called many, many times but nobody picked up. We got another technician on Dec 26. He said that two parts had to be replaced. It was late in the day but he said he’d order the parts and we should receive them the following morning. No parts arrived. When I called at 2:30 p.m. to find out the status of the delivery, they said that they were short staffed and that they had not placed the order yet. The parts arrived in the morning of Dec. 27. We called again to schedule a technician. They said he’d come in between 9 pm and midnight. Nobody showed up. No calls. No apologies.
The technician showed up at 6 p.m. on Dec. 28. He found out that the switch was the wrong part and he ordered another. He said the problem was not with the motor and he wouldn’t replace it. Next morning the new part arrived. The technician came in at 1 p.m. He changed one of the parts (the other was the wrong part again!). The furnace seems to be working fine now.
In the mean time, my husband did a lot of research in the Internet and found some advice in a forum: to blow some hot air into (I don’t know what part of the furnace) with a hair dryer. He did that and it worked much better while we waited for DE to fix the problem. We still need to switch it on manually but only once (not 5, 6 or 7 times every time). We maintained heat in the house all along, but we are on vacations now. What would have happened if instead of being in the house for the holidays we would have been out of town? The pipes would have burst with all the mess and expense it would imply. The maintenance guy should have fixed it at first try. What if we had been working? We would have had to miss several days of work waiting for all the technicians they sent during the week.
We pay for service that’s very, very bad. Some of the call centre people are nice and courteous, but others have zero customer service training or are plain dumb. They don’t know anything about technicians’ schedules and usually put you on hold for as long as 15 minutes while they connect with another department. Some of the technicians complained privately that many times Direct Energy sends private contractors whose only concern is to get in and out of the house as soon as possible. They are paid per visit so they are not going to fix something that takes long to fix. They’ll leave it for the next guy.
As soon as I can leave without penalty I’m off of the plan. Given the amounts that we have been paying monthly over the years, I’m sure I can purchase a new furnace every few years and deal with a local, more responsive gas company in case we run into problems. Direct Energy demonstrated to be extremely unreliable.

I changed my plan with Direct Energy Home Services at the end of September, when I was called by a customer representative to do so with a better one. At the time of the call I asked the question about me being penalized for changing my plan, to which i was told NO. A month later I WAS. $42.38 since I had supposedly used a part of the plan that was being charged and therefore back dated. I have being in correspondence for the last two months, but very conveniently they do not have the recording of my convesation with the person I spoke to in September, but they do know, because I MENTIONED it to them that I had changed my plan. No record of who I spoke to but a record of me changing my plan and being charged $42.38 for arrears. After being a loyal customer for the last 3 years, it is safe to say that I will be terminating my contract with your company and telling others about it so that they are always careful of being taken advantage of their money when agreeing to anything that is supposedly the truth by the CSR. It seems that there is a disconnect betwen CSR and the BILLING dept, since the CSR dept seems to know what was wrong, but when transferred to the billing cannot see it. When I asked for Mike Ahearne's # instead of giving it to me, I was told that they do not speak to him and the telphone call was disconnected.

If anyone wishes to contact me or further details and the contents of the emails that was sent between me and the billing department. I can for that too.

I AM VERY VERY VERY DISAPPOINTED WITH DIRECT ENERGY HOME SERVICES.

did a wonderful job. satisfied with the work. I have been with direct energy for over 8 years and they have been doing an excellant job for all these years. I would recommend to any body.

There was no hot water in the house. The receptionist was very friendly on the phone and arranged for a technician to check out the hot water tank the next day. The repair person was prompt, friendly and fixed the hot water tank within minutes. Very satisfied.

This company seems to do everything possible to keep old, outdated equipment in your home. When I had a basement renovation, I had to move the water heater, and I quickly realized just how much I was paying to rent a water heater - pretty much the cost of a purchased water heater every year. When I dropped-off the rented water heater (they charged something like $80 for pick-up), they told me the water heater would be scrapped. Glad I was paying so much for a basically scrap unit.

I have Furnace maintenance service which includes parts and labour.
A technician from Direct Energy came to do the annual maintenance and broke my furnace. The furnace was running fine until the technician touched my furnace. He said he has order a part and need to be replaced. When I received the part I called the Direct Energy and said the part has arrived. The technician came and try to install the part and the he said the part was wrong one. The he ordered for another part. The parts has arrived the 2nd time and the technician showed up and said that part is wrong one then he ordered for the part. And on and on. This is going on for the last 5 days and they cannot fix my furnace. I have seen more than 10 technicians. I have two kids staying home without heater. Both of my kids have allergy and asthma. The electric heater is not helping my kids. My breaker went out twice.
I think the technician are not qualified and lack of experience.
If you can’t fix it then replace the furnace. I cannot wait any more.

I paid for Home protection plan for furnace, AC and plumbing. We have a leak under the kitchen sink and they scheduled us today, Saturday between 8am-12nn. I usually do not make appointments on weekends because that's my precious time with my family. However, because it is needed, my husband said he'll just go to work after 12nn. The plumber called at 11:45am (15 mins before the 4 hour window lapse) and said that he is running late. Never heard from him after that and it is now 7:30pm. I called Direct Energy again and they said they'll find out what happened, I was on hold for more than 15mins and never heard a sorry from them. They even said that the plumber is just running late! Are you kidding me? 7 hours late? Reference# 46329.

Direct Energy annual Furnace clean and check

The whole experience was a pleasure.

I had been hounded and felt arm twisting from the installer that had installed this furnace Dec 12/2009 warning me that without proof of annual clean and inspection my Lennox warranty would not cover parts but I was not pleased with the sloppy work on the install so I went shopping for service and found Direct Energy customer service person Elizabeth that provide options at a very competitive price,

The tech Dave that came to the house was very proficient, experienced,communicator, explained all the test results of his work and offered me advice and options on correction some of the sloppy work left by the installer.

Very excellent service and will consider keep the the full package next year.

My local funace guy had retied so I went to this company for our annual furnace inspection and when the tech came out (3 hours late fo the appointment with no phone call or apology) he seemed to be in quite a rush. He didn't spend very much time looking at the furnace (10 minutes) and told me that it needed a new belt and the fan bearing shold be replaced. I had never had any issues with my funace and it worked without issue. The belt was $20 and he said that he had to replace that when he was there or there would be a $50 service call charge when he came back. The fan bearing would be more and he would get the office to call me with a price in a 'few days'. Well I never heard back from them.

The problem was resolved in 2 visits, only because Direct Energy had to order a part. The technician that visited my home was Ericka, I was extremely happy with her work, I asked for her for my second visit, and from now on she will be the only technician that I will ask for. She is friendly, knows about her work, made me feel very comfortable with the way she works, she took the time to explain, which is very important for my peace of mind. She talk to me about filters and how important is to have the ducts cleaned, I will definitely consider Direct Energy to do the duct cleaning only because she made me feel very comfortable and trusting, ( I will have them done next year as sears cleaned for me not too long ago)she spoke about the Enbridge team work all the technicians are very good, have good training, I used to hire sears for furnace work, I will definitely use Enbridge for my house work, I already recommended Direct Energy to 5 of my friends, and I mentioned how good Ericka was in fixing, knowledge, and friendly. I was considering cancelling my protection plan at the end of my contract, but after speaking to Ericka and knowing that she works for Direct Energy I will definitely keep my protection plan as is hard to find someone to trust and be happy with the way they work.