Business ProfileforDirect Energy, LP

Beginning in January of 2018, the BBB Houston began receiving several complaints that are exhibiting the following pattern;

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 has 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.

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recent 2020 customer complaint alleged a door to door rep explained the needed to sign up, "..because the building was outdated and everybody else had it."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.

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.

To date, Direct Energy has provided written responses to all complaints forwarded by our office.

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