Stream Energy - Company Information

“  We had our power cut off twice in the last couple of months due to accounting errors on Stream's part. Their customer service was non-existent! Talking with the technicians, I learned some horrible stories of how Stream is relentless in helping out its customers when a payment is delayed/lost/not made. I'm currently shopping for new service as we speak. ”

“  I've called multiple times asking question about my bill, and can never get a straight answer. Nor can I get someone on the phone who is easy to understand. I've asked on a couple of occasions "I'm sorry, I'm having a difficult time understanding you through your accent. May I please speak with another representative?" and I ALWAYS get hung up on.

When I went to pay my very first bill from them, I asked if there was somewhere I could take my payment so it wouldn't get lost or stolen in the mail, and was told "Can't you just look it up online? I don't feel like giving that info out at the moment." REALLY??? THAT'S YOUR JOB!

Not the best way to keep a client - unfortunately, our land lord set us up with them, so we are going to stick with them through the duration of our lease. If we resign the lease when it runs out, I'm going to request an energy company change.

This company needs an attitude over haul. Big time. ”

“  This is the worst company my family has come across.3 out of the 6 months I have been with them, and they have messed up our accounts. Customer care was extremely rude and didn't have any sympathy. They business systems seem to have some kind of delay on them when you make payments. ”

“  It is so funny to read the reviews. Notice how only people who have a problem write reviews. Just think McDonalds has served billions and has millions of complaints tens of thousands of law suits and haters world wide. The moral of the story is... you cant make everyone happy and some people will never be happy. I am happy with Stream. Just thought you should hear both sides of the story. Yes my rep did speak English, I was not on hold for 2 hours and if you pay your bill they dont shut it off. what a concept that someone would cut you off for not paying a bill... what a crock huh. (heavy sarcasm)Try not paying your car payment... see if they dont come take it back. Thats the way the world works people! ”

“  I signed up for a 6 month contract with Stream Energy. About 5 1/2 months later I received the warning email advising me that my contract would be expiring soon and that I would automatically be on a month to month variable rate plan until I signed up again. Because of some minor problems I had experienced with customer service, I decided to switch to another provider after 8 months. I then received a notice that they hd me listed as signed up for a 9 month contract, not 6 and so I would have to pay a $250.00 early disconnect fee. I had signed up with my daughter at the same time and hers was 6 months as well. I tried to re-activate the Stream account to wait out the last month of their "9 month" contract but couldn't do it on the phone or online. I still refuse to pay the disconnect fee as it is not fair. They have harrassed me with bill collectors ever since. But I won't pay it. Their changes to the original contract and refusal to reinstate the contract for the month was unethical. ”

“  I have been with Stream Energy for a little
over a year now and would not recommend them.
I can't switch until my 2 year contract is up
in January 2011 without being charged $250.00.
Customer service is TERRIBLE. You call, hold,
enter the same information over and over again,
can hardly understand the people your talking
to. They almost refuse to let you talk to a
manager. When you do, same thing all over
again. Charges are questionable but it's
almost impossible to resolve because of holding
for literally hours at times. But they are
really quick to disconnect when they want to.
I will be changing as soon as possible. I
would NOT recommend using them unless you like
being extremely irritated when dealing with
your electric service. ”

“  Cannot get service transferred from previous owner to new owner without interruption in service. Been working on this 6 mo. Finally in the process of disconnecting service for previous and attempting to start new service. It has bee exasperating. Old owner still getting bills and has to mail them to me which I then have to pay a late fee because of the lack of your being able to transfer service smoothly. What a pity. ”

“  Lousy customer service and too long of wait for them to come on phone. And when they finally come on they make mistakes on your account. ”

“  Due to oversight, my account was one month overdue and they cut off my service. I called to try to have the power turn back on and was on hold for over TWO HOURS!!! ”

“  This company is not good. They charge you ridiculous rates in the summer, charge you to have someone come read your meter, and give you a late fee while you wait for the reading!!! Just ridiculous. Also, when you call in no one speaks English!!!! Good luck if you go with this company. ”

“  I am not happy at all with the customer service of the organization for the following reasons:1. It takes too long time to get and agent to talk to on the phone.2. I helped to secure a new customer new to the country. When he started work and I called stream energy to change my name from the account to the new customer's name, it became a big problem to effect. Surprisingly, I was called by by a collection agency to pay for a bill I didn't incur because the new client failed to pay for a month or so. I have never been contacted by Stream Energy and I have never seen the said outstanding bill. Now, the collection agency is threatening me that it will be reported in my credit report for not paying on a bill I am not even aware of until today. To make mattters worse, your agent on the phone cut me off when I was explaining to him. ”

“  a really good service until you need help -- thats lacking a bit. i have been on this computer for 1 and 1/2 hours, and I have not gotten my business taken care of yet. however this is truly a very good and truthful company. i would highly recommend this electric company to all. They just need to work on their help for renewing service. ”

“  My biggest complaint is that they charge me to pay my bill online. And there customer service is very much lacking. ”

“  Electricity is electricity. Under Texas deregulation you are basically deciding what you want to pay & who is going to bill you. My experience with Stream started with difficulty getting them to switch my service. Then came random billing dates, a failure to apply my payment which they did receive on time, an associated late charge with difficult removal of same, a double billing, & 3 lost faxes of my auto bank draft application. When they finally got an online ability to accept auto draft information they failed to send the draft to my bank & charged another late fee. These billing problems pale compared to their phone or email customer service. Email may or may not get a reply. My conservative estimate is that over the last year I have spent 5 hours of my life either on hold or attempting to communicate with several different people at each call who could barely speak english. Several times my call would simply get dropped and I would have to start the lengthy process over. ”

“  I was a customer for 10 years. I paid my bill online on 7/9/10 & was double charged $146.35. I faxed my bank statement to Stream showing it cleared twice. I called every day regarding this. Now, I am told that I never called in requesting a refund, and since my bank refunded me, that they no longer have any responsibility. On my bill, I am being charged $171.15 for last month, and it shows that I was double charged. Yet, they refuse to take any responsibility whatsoever in refunding my bank or I the $146.35.

I am paying the last bill that I recieved and switching to Just Energy today after 10 loyal years!

If you want to be ripped off and blamed for it, sign up with Stream Energy. I guarantee they will not let you down. ”

“  In 2008, the only surprise was additional "fees" for access, taxes, and "payment processing" [up to $3 if you pay online or at a local merchant in order to avoid the "late charge" problem when paying by check--the check clears the bank before due date, but they don't post it to the account on time].Since then, problems with 1)renewing contract [which enabled the company to charge a higher rate] 2) accessing account when they changed web page providers [the new page wouldn't let me log on and locked me out] 3)reaching anyone live on customer support [on one occasion, a recording announced the toll-free phone number was temporarily disconnected] 4)receiving a disconnect notice when bill was paid on time, but not processed by their company in a timely manner.Today, once "fees" are added to actual usage charges, the savings over Reliant Energy is not worth the aggravation.The CEO @ Stream needs to spend less time posting to Facebook and more time running his company. ”

“  I used to be an "independent representative" for this company. As such, I've dealt with my own headaches with them as well as customers - friends, relatives, etc. Problems I've personally seen occur include incorrect bills, service cut off without adequate notice, very short time from bill sent to bill considered late, hard to reach anyone on the phone... All in all, made me ashamed that I talked anyone into using this company. I certainly won't do it again, and switched my provider today, when my contract ran out. ”

“  I locked in my rate for 2 years. In the small print, I missed the fact that they could charge me 16 cents a kilowat hour if I used more than 2000 kilowat hours! I feel that I was misled and duped! ”

“  We started using this company when we lived in Bonham, Texas. At first, it seemed like a good deal. When we moved to Honey Grove, Texas our service was supposed to be transferred over. First off it was turned on at the wrong residence, and took approximately 2 days for service to be rectified to our address. We were sent on a wild goose chase trying to get it turned on, the customer service staff were rude and percentage rate was higher than it was quoted. We have had nothing but rudeness, un-helpful Stream staff from this company and
and we have had other people who have stream experience the same problems. I have been in customer service and know the importance of courtesy to customers in order to maintain and keep them. Would I recommend this company? No I would not, because I would feel guilty should they be treated with discourtesy and lack of care and concern. The lack of disregard to customer service is a shame. Once the contract is signed, we are no longer a priority.Verytrue ”

“  I was a loyal customer for over 6 years and referred many people to Stream without any compensation as they advertise and when I terminated my service 39 days before the 30 day grace period the charge was $250. They would not discount it in anyway. When I decided to try the new company it was with the knowledge that I would be able to come back to Stream but that will not happen. In the shape everyone is in today this is not the way to do business. Please check before you sign, the company I signed with is lower and I have it in writing that I will get compensation for referrals. ”