The plan cost is $21.99 as it appears in my second post, not $24.99 as in the first post.

Sorry for the trouble.

Tony

Back in November of 2011 (just about month an a half ago) my old furnace stopped working.

I found out that the issue was most likely the thermocouple, so I called Direct Energy to have it replaced.

I was told that I had 2 options. One option was to enrol in the “Heating Protection Plan” before placing the service call in which case I would be charged a nominal fee regardless of what needed to be fixed (as long as it was below $500.00).

The second option was to just place the service call (without enrolling in the program) in which case I would have to pay for the full cost of the repair.

Because the furnace was over 20 years old, I agreed to enrol in the plan.

However, when the technician showed up and repaired the furnace, he told me that the plan was only good for low cost repairs. He said that if the furnace broke down again and it needed a major part replaced, the technician would most likely recommend that the furnace be replaced due to being over 20 years old and would not repair it.

This meant that being enrolled in the “Heating Protection Plan” in my case didn’t benefit me that much.

Because of this and the rebates the Canadian Government is offering at the moment, I decided to have the furnace replaced.

The new furnace is covered by a 10 year parts and labour warranty, so now I don’t really need the “Heating Protection Plan”.

I called today to cancel the coverage, but to my surprise was told that the plan is a one year contract and if I cancel before the year is over, I will have to pay for the remaining of the year (in my case 11 months).

I explained that I was not told about any contracts (at least I don’t recall being told) and because the technician actually charged me as if I was not enrolled in the contract (he told me that I had to call to get the charge corrected) I would like it cancelled without any penalties.

I was told that I should have received a package in the mail explaining the details of the plan (I don’t think I got it because I don’t remember seeing it) and that I had 10 days to cancel the contract if I didn’t want it.

Anyway, I understand that a contract is a contract, but because I was not told about it when I enrolled and because I don’t really need the coverage now that I have a new furnace (with 10 years parts and labour warranty) I was hoping that Direct Energy would agree to cancel it without charging a penalty.

But they refused. They said that all they could do was to refund the difference between what I was charged by the technician and the flat fee that I should’ve been charged under the plan.

However, the difference is only about $13.00. The service plan is costing me $21.99 per month, so the refund is minimal in comparison to the cost of the plan.

I don’t think that posting here is going to make any difference, but I just want to make my experience known, so others will be aware of what they are getting into when joining a plan offered by Direct Energy.

Tony

I’m writing to you as it doesn’t seem that I can get a resolution for my issue. I tried calling Direct Energy as suggested by your CSR however when calling them they were very confrontational and to be honest rude. I was encouraged to sign up for the Heating Protection Plan from a phone call last year and was told that I would be under contract for 1 year and after the year I can cancel it at any time. I had recently received an email suggesting that I had not taken advantage of the free maintenance call so I thought I would call and schedule it thinking it was from last year. As I tried to cancel the Heating Protection Plan today a Misty, who I must say was very rude and then a Christy who was the ‘Supervisor’ advised that I was under contract for another year and that I would have to pay the balance for the year even if I cancel the plan. I feel I was misled when they signed me up for this plan, also Misty was down right rude and confrontational through our whole conversation, the reason I would like to remove this plan is that we are trying to cut costs as we feel that it’s not necessary.
I know that the issue is with Direct Energy however as I pay for this plan under my Enbridge bill I was hoping that I can get some assistance with removing this plan.

If required I will draft a letter to Robert Comstock SVP for Direct Energy as I feel I’m being treated unfairly for a service I was misinformed about.

Thanks