I'd just like to share with everyone a terrible experience I recently had with Direct Energy.
Monday:
Late Monday evening our furnace started to make aweful sounds whenever it would start up. I decided to call Direct Energy (DE) figuring it's a large company and that they'd have plenty of knowledgeable staff and would be able to service this quickly. Within minutes of the call I received an appointment for the following day between 9 AM and 1 PM.
Tuesday:
Early Tuesday morning (around 2 AM) the furnace stops working. We are notified of this by our newborn waking up and crying. We check the temperature and its about 16C in the house. Luckily I called for a service appointment the night before. Wife and child have gone to stay with family since it's about 15C in the house and will likely just get colder as the day progresses.
It's now about 12:30 PM and I receive a call of DE and they assure me that a technician is on their way, but will be running a little late. After waiting 'til 2:30 PM I decide to give them a call and see what the status is. The DE rep says that my appointment has been pushed to a 12 PM to 4 PM timeslot and that somebody would be there shortly.
At 3:30 PM I receive a call and they assume me somebody will be there shortly... but again, they're running little late. By 5:30 PM I'm freaking out. I call them back again to check on the status. I tell them that I need somebody soon because I fear that they'll need a part and they won't be able to get it in time. They tell me that they have the make and model of my furnace and that it's a common furnace and that everything will be fine. Oh, and my appointment was set back to 4 PM to 8 PM.
Finally somebody arrives at my door at approximately 7:30 PM. The technician goes to the basement and takes exactly 2 minutes to diagnose that I'll need a new ventor motor and will have to wait until tomorrow to get the part. The part will be delivered to the door and I will have to book another service call.
Wednesday:
I wake up around 7:00 AM and to my surprise the part is already here. By the way it's now 11.5C in the house. I then call the number that the technician left me and tell the rep on the phone that I'd like to get the part installed. She looks everything up and then tells me that the next available appointment is Thursday... at this point I am very unhappy. She tells me that there's nothing she can do and that she can possibly talk to "Planning" to see if anything can be done.
It's now Wednesday 10 AM and I'm still waiting to hear back.
We have a furnace plan and everything. What happened to the "font of the line" previleges? I can safely say I will never use or refer Direct Energy again.
B.