piney
17th August 2009, 02:01 PM
Thoughts and comments are most welcome!
On Friday August 15, 2009 I arrived home and was very surprised to find out that my natural gas service had been turned off. I immediately contacted my gas billing company - Direct Energy Regulated Services. Below is a summary of what transpired over the 24 hours that followed, and includes my efforts and frustrated attempts to get my gas (furnace & water heater) turned back on. Please understand that I work away from home the majority of time and that the Direct Energy bill was simply overlooked and not paid up to date. The weather in my city at this time was dipping down below 5 degrees overnight. A working furnace and hot water were a necessity for the individuals living in the house.
My first call to Direct Energy was straight forward. I provided a credit card number to the CSR and was given a reference number where the account had been paid off. The individual that I spoke with informed me that I would need to call Atco Gas (the service provider) first thing the next morning (Saturday) to have the service turned back on. I was also given the phone number to call.
I called Atco gas shortly after they opened at 7am Saturday morning only to find out that the number that I was given by Direct Energy was the Monday-Friday number for Atco gas. I did a search and ended up calling the 24 emergency number for Atco and got through to their dispatch right away. Atco went into their files and had yet to receive an order from Direct Energy to turn the service back on. How could this be? My account with Direct Energy was paid off the night before.
Another call was made to Direct Energy. I explained to the CSR that my account was paid off, and that Atco Gas had not received the order to turn the service back on. I was put on hold for at least 5 minutes while the person on the other end of the line investigated. The Direct Energy CSR came back on and explained to me that she had tried to call Atco Gas also and found out that the number was for Monday to Friday only and that I would need to wait until Monday for Atco to turn the service back on. I explained to her that there was a 24 emergency number that Direct Energy could call in order to speak with Atco. Again I was put on hold for at least another 5 minutes. When the CSR came back on the line she explained that she was unable to call the Atco emergency number for reasons she could not explain. She did however give me an connection order service number which I could give to Atco.
I called Atco Gas once again, explained all of the above and I offered them the service order from Direct Energy to have my service turned back on. The individual from Atco explained that they could not accept a verbal service order from a customer, and needed to have electronic confirmation directly from Direct Energy to proceed.
Again another call was made to Direct Energy. This conversation included a summary of everything that I had gone through to this point. Once again the CSR that I spoke with could not do anything for me and would not call into the Atco Gas emergency number to have my service turned back on, and to get myself and my family out of the cold. I was put on hold at least another 2 times and it was at this point I requested to speak with the CSR’s supervisor.
I was transferred to the Direct Energy call in supervisor. This individual was very direct to the point where it seemed as though her responses to me were scripted in front of her. The comments she made were very demeaning and obviously meant to make me stand down and accept the fact that I would not be getting gas service until Monday at the earliest. The conversation between me and Direct Energy supervisor went on for at least 25 minutes where I explained that me and my family were sitting in the cold with no working furnace or hot water, and that all she needed to do was to call the Atco Gas 24 hour number and give them verbal confirmation to turn my gas service back on. This person stated that they did not offer emergency service and it was not their “policy” to call Atco gas on behalf of the customer.
Below are a few more notable points from the conversation I had with the Direct Energy CSR supervisor:
1. I asked what Direct Energy would do if it was the middle of winter @ 40 below making the house unlivable and the water pipes freezing. I was told that it wasn’t cold enough to be a concern and that Direct Energy had different policies for winter. It was at this point that I realized that the conversation I was having with the Direct Energy CSR supervisor had nothing to do with their policy and everything to do with the power trip which this individual was on. I am sure that she was proud of the fact that she had the ability to deny my claim, and to leave myself and my family in the cold with no hot water for another 48 hours. Again I was told that Direct Energy would not be calling Atco Gas on a Saturday.
2. I asked the supervisor to be put through to the next level of authority. The supervisor said that she would put me through to the Direct Energy “Customer Experience Team.”
3. She hung up on me.
Again I called into Direct Energy. This time I spoke with a different CSR. I explained to him the whole situation and again I was put on hold. The CSR came back on the line and explained that he did not have the ability to call the Atco Gas emergency number from his system. He asked me if I had the ability to conference call on my phone and if I could call Atco Gas and have a 3way conversation. It was at this point that I began to realize that there may be light at the end of the tunnel. I do not have conference call on my land line so I called the Atco number on my cell phone and put both telephones on speaker so that Direct Energy could speak with Atco Gas. Authorization was given to Atco Gas by Direct Energy to turn my gas service back on as soon as possible. The Direct Energy CSR provided his employee number to Atco Gas as confirmation of the order. My gas service was restored later that day.
In the end I did whatever was needed to get my furnace and hot water turned back on for the weekend. I fully admit that I messed up with the Direct Energy bill and have since set them up to do direct monthly withdrawals from my cheqing account when billing is due. I really have to wonder why I had to go through what I did in order to get the basic necessities of heating and hot water for my home. Direct Energy needs to do a complete revaluation of their policies for emergency service to ensure no other customer has to go through what I did. This will happen again to another customer who may simply sit back and accept the fact that Direct Energy will not be able to do anything for them on a weekend. People will get sick because of this or even worse.
I learned early on in my quality career that one of the main objectives of quality is “satisfying customer requirements.” Direct Energy has a long way to go if they want any hope of achieving this objective. I am thinking of emailing my story to the President of Direct Energy.
On Friday August 15, 2009 I arrived home and was very surprised to find out that my natural gas service had been turned off. I immediately contacted my gas billing company - Direct Energy Regulated Services. Below is a summary of what transpired over the 24 hours that followed, and includes my efforts and frustrated attempts to get my gas (furnace & water heater) turned back on. Please understand that I work away from home the majority of time and that the Direct Energy bill was simply overlooked and not paid up to date. The weather in my city at this time was dipping down below 5 degrees overnight. A working furnace and hot water were a necessity for the individuals living in the house.
My first call to Direct Energy was straight forward. I provided a credit card number to the CSR and was given a reference number where the account had been paid off. The individual that I spoke with informed me that I would need to call Atco Gas (the service provider) first thing the next morning (Saturday) to have the service turned back on. I was also given the phone number to call.
I called Atco gas shortly after they opened at 7am Saturday morning only to find out that the number that I was given by Direct Energy was the Monday-Friday number for Atco gas. I did a search and ended up calling the 24 emergency number for Atco and got through to their dispatch right away. Atco went into their files and had yet to receive an order from Direct Energy to turn the service back on. How could this be? My account with Direct Energy was paid off the night before.
Another call was made to Direct Energy. I explained to the CSR that my account was paid off, and that Atco Gas had not received the order to turn the service back on. I was put on hold for at least 5 minutes while the person on the other end of the line investigated. The Direct Energy CSR came back on and explained to me that she had tried to call Atco Gas also and found out that the number was for Monday to Friday only and that I would need to wait until Monday for Atco to turn the service back on. I explained to her that there was a 24 emergency number that Direct Energy could call in order to speak with Atco. Again I was put on hold for at least another 5 minutes. When the CSR came back on the line she explained that she was unable to call the Atco emergency number for reasons she could not explain. She did however give me an connection order service number which I could give to Atco.
I called Atco Gas once again, explained all of the above and I offered them the service order from Direct Energy to have my service turned back on. The individual from Atco explained that they could not accept a verbal service order from a customer, and needed to have electronic confirmation directly from Direct Energy to proceed.
Again another call was made to Direct Energy. This conversation included a summary of everything that I had gone through to this point. Once again the CSR that I spoke with could not do anything for me and would not call into the Atco Gas emergency number to have my service turned back on, and to get myself and my family out of the cold. I was put on hold at least another 2 times and it was at this point I requested to speak with the CSR’s supervisor.
I was transferred to the Direct Energy call in supervisor. This individual was very direct to the point where it seemed as though her responses to me were scripted in front of her. The comments she made were very demeaning and obviously meant to make me stand down and accept the fact that I would not be getting gas service until Monday at the earliest. The conversation between me and Direct Energy supervisor went on for at least 25 minutes where I explained that me and my family were sitting in the cold with no working furnace or hot water, and that all she needed to do was to call the Atco Gas 24 hour number and give them verbal confirmation to turn my gas service back on. This person stated that they did not offer emergency service and it was not their “policy” to call Atco gas on behalf of the customer.
Below are a few more notable points from the conversation I had with the Direct Energy CSR supervisor:
1. I asked what Direct Energy would do if it was the middle of winter @ 40 below making the house unlivable and the water pipes freezing. I was told that it wasn’t cold enough to be a concern and that Direct Energy had different policies for winter. It was at this point that I realized that the conversation I was having with the Direct Energy CSR supervisor had nothing to do with their policy and everything to do with the power trip which this individual was on. I am sure that she was proud of the fact that she had the ability to deny my claim, and to leave myself and my family in the cold with no hot water for another 48 hours. Again I was told that Direct Energy would not be calling Atco Gas on a Saturday.
2. I asked the supervisor to be put through to the next level of authority. The supervisor said that she would put me through to the Direct Energy “Customer Experience Team.”
3. She hung up on me.
Again I called into Direct Energy. This time I spoke with a different CSR. I explained to him the whole situation and again I was put on hold. The CSR came back on the line and explained that he did not have the ability to call the Atco Gas emergency number from his system. He asked me if I had the ability to conference call on my phone and if I could call Atco Gas and have a 3way conversation. It was at this point that I began to realize that there may be light at the end of the tunnel. I do not have conference call on my land line so I called the Atco number on my cell phone and put both telephones on speaker so that Direct Energy could speak with Atco Gas. Authorization was given to Atco Gas by Direct Energy to turn my gas service back on as soon as possible. The Direct Energy CSR provided his employee number to Atco Gas as confirmation of the order. My gas service was restored later that day.
In the end I did whatever was needed to get my furnace and hot water turned back on for the weekend. I fully admit that I messed up with the Direct Energy bill and have since set them up to do direct monthly withdrawals from my cheqing account when billing is due. I really have to wonder why I had to go through what I did in order to get the basic necessities of heating and hot water for my home. Direct Energy needs to do a complete revaluation of their policies for emergency service to ensure no other customer has to go through what I did. This will happen again to another customer who may simply sit back and accept the fact that Direct Energy will not be able to do anything for them on a weekend. People will get sick because of this or even worse.
I learned early on in my quality career that one of the main objectives of quality is “satisfying customer requirements.” Direct Energy has a long way to go if they want any hope of achieving this objective. I am thinking of emailing my story to the President of Direct Energy.
