Direct Enery - Watch Out!
|
Submitted by Taren on Tue, 19/02/2008 - 3:08pm.
|
|
|
Posts: 1
Joined: 19-02-2008 |
If a Direct Energy representative comes knocking at your door, the best thing to do would be to send them away. After receiving my February gas bill this month I was shocked to see it skyrocket up to $277.00! That is $130.00 MORE than Teresen gas would have charged me for the month. Direct Energy is now targeting Fernie's residents to mislead into signing contracts that will allow them to charge rates as high as $10.49 per G/J stating that the gas market is expected to increase dramatically anytime now and these plans will save you big money in the long-term. $10.49 per G/J is a huge difference from Teresen's rate of $6.92 per G/J, but once you have signed on with Direct Energy, good luck getting out. After doing some research on this company I was overwhelmed by the number of complaints from customers. Direct Energy has a disturbing reputation for misleading consumers with their pushy and confusing sales people and even going as far as to forge consumer signatures to get accounts. They have been investigated in the U.S and Canada (Ontario and Alberta)and have been found guilty and fined for forging contracts and misleading consumers. The statistics show that most customers never saw any savings by signing on with Direct Energy. Please do yourself a favor and send these pushy sales people to the curb when they come to your house to sell you a scam. At the least, please do a quick search on he internet for "Direct Energy complaints" and you will see how this company does business. |
|
Joined: 07-05-2006
It isn't just direct energy it is every gas marketeer. They are all charging approximately the same rate. None of them are regulated so they can do what ever they want.
Joined: 26-10-2006
These companies buy gas on the futures market, betting that it costs them less to buy the gas than they can charge consumers. They are gambling on the fact that natural gas prices will drop. Kind of like shorting the market. They then go out and convince people to buy into a fixed price, which is close to or even a little less than current market prices. Bingo, you are on the hook. If prices go down as their vast research department has hypothesized, the company makes money and you pay more than you should. If gas prices increase you have the chance of actually paying less. The latter scenario is rare and is usually not allowed by clauses in the contract. The sad fact is usually those who can least afford higher prices are often those who get into these contracts. A little bit of if it sounds too good to be true it usually is. A bit of a simplified explanation and likely biased.
More info on direct energy:
http://www.ontariotenants.ca/electricity/articles/2004/ch104e16.phtml
Joined: 06-08-2008
this outfit is dangerous!
Here in Ontario they have succeeded in getting their billing included on the invoices of Enbridge in such a way to suggest that their services are tied to the supplying gas to your home. This implied association gives them access to the credibility Canadians have traditionally given to regulated providers of essential services so that when a gas customer seeing the Direct Energy name on their gas company invoice calls this outfit for service they are unaware that they will be pounced on with an outlandish charge which would not have borne scrutiny in a free market situation
I attach an article from the Orangeville Ontario Citizen describing an incident where the victims fought back