Stream Energy Consumer Reviews - Page 6

DALLAS, TEXAS -- Each time my Stream Energy account has come up for renewal, I have received a notification email. We receive our billing electronically, as well as paper, because we travel frequently and want to make sure we do not miss important notices. My online account is set to "receive new documents" via email as well.

Today, I was shocked to see my bill jump almost $100 from the previous month, and called to inquire. I was informed that my contract expired, that I was now on month-to-month at a higher rate, and offered a renewal contract. I first asked why I never received my renewal offer/expiration notice and was informed that it was sent via paper mail in April.

I explained that while that very well may be true, I was traveling almost half the month of April, and I paid that bill online -- and thus probably never opened the envelope, which is specifically the reason that I have the "send me new documents electronically" option selected in my online account. Note: Stream has not once, ever, failed to send me an electronic notice that my bill was due.

I explained that while I was happy to stipulate that they probably did send a paper notice, they must in good faith acknowledge that their failure to send me the notice electronically -- as optioned in my online account -- and their inability to explain WHY that e-notice was never sent would dictate that I not be penalized for missing the renewal. Not when every single other renewal notice in my 3.6 year history with the company was sent electronically.

Rather than pro-rate my bill to the old rate (about $85/$90) and renew my contract retroactively to the renewal expiration, they let me go off and find a new energy company. Which I was happy to do, given their terrible excuse for customer service today.

ATLANTA, GEORGIA -- An acquaintance of mine was putting some pressure on me to be a Stream Energy representative in Ga. After overcoming all of my objections I reluctantly agreed to be a customer, it was more to save a social relationship than because I thought it was a good idea. It had all the earmarks of a pyramid scheme and red flags were going up but I was in an awkward position and felt what could the harm be to use their gas service. I felt pressure to sign up another family member who also felt it wouldn't really be a big deal to have a different gas provider. Boy were we wrong!

My family member called right away to say she thought the billing was very expensive in comparison to her old provider, I was paying around 50-60 a month so I felt alright about the service. The bill crept up and up. I started getting bills for 150 then finally 245. I called and it turned out they raised my therm rate to the variable and I was paying a month to month of just over a dollar/therm. My fault I guess I must have missed that. I called to change the therm rate and the locked me into a year long contract at about half what I was paying, the operator said, "this should make a big difference in next month's bill."

We'll next month I was still billed at a dollar per therm, I called and was told that although I was locked in for a year it would take them two months (two billing cycles) for them to process my rate change. Now I was stuck paying a dollar per therm for 4 month (December, January, February, March). My bills were huge and although I kept calling they were still "processing" my therm rate change. Really?

My bill for March showed very high consumption compared to all my other usage, I wonder if it was an "estimate" which they are allowed to do if they "can't read the meter." I can't know for sure but it seems like more than a coincidence that there was so consumption the last month of the high rate. So, my bills got very high and we got behind, they shut off our gas for being $86 behind. I never saw a final termination notice or anything stuck to my door, just all of a sudden no hot water.

I called and paid them $100 the next day, still no hot water. I called them back and found they had not scheduled a reconnect even though they had received payment online. I was told they could get my gas reconnected by Monday (gas was turned off Tuesday night). I was floored that they shut off service for $86, no one knocked on my door to ask for payment, and it is so punitive that they have my family living with no dryer or hot water for 6 1/2 days. When I think of all the payments I have made to them for very moderate gas usage it is just horrible.

Again, a day after I paid them they had still not even scheduled a reconnect with Atlanta gas light, so if I hadn't called how much longer would I have been made to wait for service for the lousy $86 (which they had received in spades for the two extra months of overcharging me). Horrible experience, I feel so ashamed I put my other family member through this as she has had loads of other trouble with her bill from the beginning.

DALLAS, TEXAS -- This the worst customer experience of any service, bar none, I have ever experienced. From navigating their website, to speaking with people directly. The indifference oozes from these people. Their employees have all the passion for helping people of an IRS employee. For months I attempted to get my bill's due date moved two days later, so I can pay it on the day I get paid. It was a simple "help me give you money," kind of thing. Not rocket science.

This a pretty common, simple request any utility provider will accommodate. But not for these people, this is like asking for China, or to move a continent. It took five months to accomplish this, meanwhile I'm getting late charges every month that I have to contend every month. Each time the excuse is "it's an automated system... it does that when you don't pay the whole bill every month." Yeah people, get my bill right and I'll pay the full amount. Pretty simple.

One time I asked them to reverse an automatic debit because it was grossly off and I couldn't afford to pay them twice that month. They said they couldn't do that, and to call my bank. OK fine, so I did it through my bank. A month later I called them up to inquire about what was the 2nd or 3rd "accidental" disconnects (which they charged me for, mind you) and they asked me if I'd like to pay my $330 electric bill for my 1100 sq ft apartment.

Apparently, when rejecting a payment through your bank, their system blacklists your payment method. Now each payment gets rejected every month. It's either this, or pay their $2.95 payment over the phone fee every month, on top of their ridiculous charges. I'm not destitute, but it's the principle.

So I cancelled the service August 30th, and knew I still had a last invoice. So I found out it was two; one for my regular bill, the other for a reconnection I got charged for they were supposed to wave. So once I learned that my last payment was rejected (Sept 18th) I send them a check. I look online to see if it was received, and it was credited to my account.

So I call to make payment arrangements, and the kid on the phone tells me they received my last payment on Oct 1st, and sent me to collections on October 15th, and kept pushing me to call the debt collector. I asked his supervisor what would happen if I walked across the hallway (there in my business complex) and made a payment, and he said it would still be in collections with a zero balance with the other company until I pay it through them.

So after 14 years of paying my bills on time, I now have a mark on my otherwise perfect credit, all because I was dumb enough to give this company my business. This company has absolutely NO desire to work with, accommodate, or even provide reasonable service to their customers. Biggest mistake I've made in a long time. This is the worst company to do business with, hands down.

Hello again, this time I like to share a few recommendations for the next time you dial the customer service number on stream. First of all we everybody know from the beginning that you need help, and always for security purposes we need to verify the customer information. So, for the next time calling, if you say "you already know who I am, you don't need to check my information" honestly THAT'S WRONG and you are losing your time, it is the procedure and is part of our job. Imagine that you are with the doctor, and you just say "you already know, I'm sick give me those pills" without letting the doctor work.

Verifying customer information helps to update an old phone number, email or anything else AND be sure that nobody wants to access your personal information, a representative is taking care of the account and he need to keep all in order. Now, only the account holder or the spouse is authorized to dispute something on the account, if you are the friend WE ARE SORRY we can only give you basic information and that's it.

Sometimes the boyfriend is calling very upset, trying to defend his girlfriend or his uncle, screaming and not letting talk. That's not the solution. We want to solve the problem immediately but most of the times we need to look deeper on the account, SOMETHING IMPORTANT HERE!!! The only person who knows the consumption is YOU as a customer.

Every time that you call we need to search, and based on the training and experience along with technology (of course it is different from a representative to another) we can see what's going on. Sometimes it is really hard even for us, honestly if you say "WHY MY BILL IS SO HIGH?" is basically because you used more electricity or you have an estimated invoice (about estimated ill talk about it later).

Is better for you (and me) if we all get informed about how much electricity is using the new flat screen TV, the AC cooler, the fridge or maybe we had a party last weekend with loud music all night. I don't know and I don't care we need to pay what we used, sometimes I can't buy things for me because of my bills, this is normal and of course irritating most of the times.

Remember, by producing electricity we are using wind, water and solar resources and there is some gas emissions on the excavations, those ones are affecting so much our planet. If you're paying more for electricity is because WE NEED TO SAVE ELECTRICITY SO WE CAN SAVE OUR PLANET or at least for a little bit more, this is the KEY.

If somebody read this, I remind you this is only to be informative and is not under Stream Energy, I'm sharing my experiences focusing on help only. I do apologize but somebody needs to say things as they are, because believe it or not I care about it. Good bye, take care everybody.

SELLERSVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA -- I've been with Stream for almost three years and called customer service several times. It's like all customer service departments, sometimes you're on hold for a long time. But I've always gotten an answer or solution! Enough with all the whining, take some responsibility for your actions and quit complaining! I've saved hundreds of dollars with Stream on my power bill and my cell phone service!

COPPELL, TEXAS -- I've been with Stream about 10 years now. Has to be one of the lowest rates around. I'm a realtor and often see sellers provide their electric bills. I've seen bills that were 3x the rate I pay. My jaw about hits the floor. Amazing to me that people will pay for new windows... pay for more insulation, but won't switch their electric company which could save them more than any of those things. Happy with Stream on my end.

TEXAS -- Horrible service worst company ever do not make business with this scammers !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK -- We went through the whole hassle of changing locations these past two weeks and Stream, our energy provider, has been great with following along with us and assigning any kind of help we needed to move their service in terms of advice etc. Really grateful to these guys, plan on prolonging the contract for sure!

TRENTON, NEW JERSEY -- We have been using Stream's energy service for close to a decade and while we did have our ups and downs with them it still doesn't come close to the hassles we've had with other energy companies in the past. Generally things run as they're suppose to and I can't remember the last time this contract gave me a headache, which is, as a business owner, a huge deal. If you're looking for a clean-cut energy solution, straightforward business relationship... I'd recommend Stream Energy every time!

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK -- As far as I can gather Stream Energy is a company that wants to give you good service (we use electric) and make sure your needs are met. We've been getting this exactly for three years and with zero or minor hassles only. Definitely recommended as this kind of company-client relationship puts a good load off of entrepreneur's shoulders!!