Upon strong recommendation by Direct Energy (DE) located in Toronto, I had DE install a new Trane XR11 central air conditioner and gas furnace iin 2005.
The Trane system broke down repeatedly, requiring substantial repairs over 7 years. To add insult to injury, the HVAC salesman from Direct Energy had grossly misrepresented (in writing!) the warranty period, and I had to threaten legal action before DE agreed to honour the agreed-upon warranty.
It's now the AC is acting up yet again, and Direct Energy doesn't wish to fix the problem. They're aggressively trying to sell me a new AC unit and interior coil, along with an overpriced cooling protection plan that has more exclusions than items covered, AND their repair guy admitted to me that what they sold me in 2005 was a piece of crap.
I will never be a willing customer of Direct Energy again, and I'm not likely to ever buy a Trane HVAC product ever again. I'm in the building and development industry, and have been sure to let many of my colleagues know about Direct Energy's terrible customer service and Trane's lack of quality.
Common themes in dealiing with Direct Energy:
Phone games:
DE makes customers wait for long stretches on the phone, and play Kafkaesque games with them. Customers are bounced around from one phone agent to another without continuity, and poor hapless souls are forced to repeat their details again and again each time. When direct lines to repair bookers are provided, bookers rarely answer these phones live, and customers are sucked into lengthy bouts of telephone tag.
The four hour window:
Customers are obliged to sit at home for four hours stretches (the famous "four hour window") awaiting the repair guy. That often means having to book a half day off work to wait for them at home, as evening and weekend appointments are hard to secure. I've had situations where the repair guy "forgets" to show for the appointment. This time, with the broken Trane AC, the dude showed up three and a half hours into the four hour window, then told me he needed to stay at my place for another four hours conducting a coolant leak test. I refused. I couldn't get him out the door fast enough.
Direct Energy's HVAC and plumbing protection plans:
In my opinion, they're not intended to benefit consumers. They're kind of like the extended warranties that salespeople try to sell you for flashlights, except way more expensive. There's a credible analysis and review of these plans, written by another disgruntled former customer of DE, at
http://www.consumerswakeup.com/Direct-Energy-Scam-Report.html
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