Business ProfileforDirect Energy, LP

Beginning in January of 2018 and up to today, the BBB Houston has received complaints and reviews that are exhibiting the following patterns:

According to consumer’s complaints and reviews, it has been alleged by several consumers that they experience difficulties when attempting to address contract, fixed rate plans, and refund issues with Direct Energy. Consumers report when reaching out to the company to address this matter, they are met with rude and unhelpful customer service representatives. It has also been reported that consumers experience delayed resolutions to contract and billing discrepancy issues. Additional complaints and customer reviews received allege Direct Energy’s door to door sales representatives are misrepresenting themselves as the consumer’s current energy and/or gas provider, failing to be transparent during the sales process, misleading consumers, and using deceptive sales practices to sign consumers up for their services.

Consumer's have also stated they have been approached by rude sales representatives who refuse to show identification and made them feel uncomfortable.  They are knocking on doors as late as 8:30 in the evening. Consumer stated they have no solicitation signs, but the reps will know anyway.

Recent 2024 complainant stated a sales rep showed up to their door and wouldn’t leave. The rep told them, “Direct Energy would continue to come to the door until I switch.”  Another consumer stated when she asked if they were trying to change her current supplier, she was told no, “They said they were not selling anything and this would not change the supplier on my bill. They implied they were with the SCO (standard choice option) for the utility companies and said that my account had accidentally been switched to a variable rate and they were going to switch it back. All of this is a lie..”

In a September 2023 complaint, after the door to door misrepresented that he was with her current provider, he asked her to sign a document without letting them read it. When they refused to sign, the consumer stated the rep told her, “..it’s okay, I’ll sign it for you. Let me just scribble this in...” Their signature was forged and he left their porch.

June 2023 complaint stated a door to door rep walked up to her gate to her back yard trying to talk to her, when the rep was told they have a no solicitation sign posted. She stated she caught him in 2 lies and told him she didn’t want to sign up with DE but he signed her up without her permission. She stated she refused to answer the confirmation call. Per the consumer, he came back to her home and began banging on her door so she yell for him to leave her property.

In recent 2023 customer review consumer is claiming the company will not take ‘No’ for an answer when trying to get themselves removed from a calling list.  He stated, “the guy even admitted they were going to keep calling until I completed their survey and switched supplies.”

In September 2022 a consumer was trying assist his elderly mother who is handicapped and on a fixed income from being overly charged. Her contract was for $ .10 per kwh but was charged $ .018 per kwh on her recent bill. When he tried to speak to a supervisor, he was told his supervisor no longer speaks with consumers and that he, (the representative) was as high as he could go and he was going to do nothing.

A customer review received in December 2020 stated a door-to-door sales representative told him, "We're from Direct Energy your gas and electric provider. There was a power outage in this area that affected our computer system and switched a bunch of our consumer to a variable rate and we want to make sure you're getting the fixed rate." The consumer was not a customer of Direct Energy.

A recent 2020 customer complaint alleged a door-to-door rep explained the needed to sign up, "..because the building was outdated and everybody else had it." A recent customer review stated they had asked the company to please stop calling them.  Allegedly, the rep told the consumer, "I must listen to their offer to get off their list."  Unfortunately, the consumer updated the BBB that the company called the next day.

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Per BBB Policy, the company is allowed to make a statement regarding the pattern and custom text issues.

Direct Energy LP would like you to know:

At Direct Energy, we strive to provide best-in-class service to our customers. We recognize that a small fraction of our customers may not always receive the level of service we strive to deliver. There have been occasions where customers have chosen to turn to the BBB for assistance. When customers have a concern, we encourage them to reach out to us.  We welcome the opportunity to do everything within our power to make it right. Before submitting a complaint, Direct Energy ask that consumers contact our office to try and resolve issues by emailing DERPresident@directenergy.com or calling (844)875-2368 Mon-Fri from 8am-5pm CDT. 

Direct Energy’s complaint history shows a significant complaint reduction over the last three years.   We have reduced our complaints year-over-year since 2014—resulting in a greater than 50% reduction over the last four years. 

At Direct Energy, we take complaints and their resolutions very seriously.  Customer satisfaction is very important to us, and a few things we are doing to address customers’ concerns are:

• Employing dedicated customer service representatives that answer calls in a timely manner with a passion for helping our customers
• Performing robust root cause analysis of issues to prevent future complaints
• Communicating proactively with customers around contract expirations to give customers multiple renewal options
• Reviewing Quality Assurance processes for door-to-door and telephone sales to identify, investigate and cancel questionable sales
• Adhering to a zero-tolerance policy for aggressive door-to-door selling behavior