DTE Energy

When I pointed this out to the telephone representative, he limited his response to asking if I wanted to continue getting DTE's monthly report for my home. The complaint I was making appears to have gone unregistered. I suggested that DTE could do better than to issue a meaningless, incorrect report at my expense... and no, I no longer wanted their report.

When I spoke with them in February, for 76 min, they explained to me that I had a $544 credit after they deducted the amount that was improperly allocated from an address that was previous even to my previous address. The representative I am on hold with now is saying that she is unable to access a couple of bills from this year that were archived... So she is looking further into it to see what is going on with my account... Again. It has been 38 min and 37seconds so far. I feel that we need more choices in Michigan for electric service because, if I had the choice, I would certainly have left DTE!! Unprofessional.

Here I am two months and some days later to be told a check with the balance was forwarded to my address some time ago. I have two words… BULL CRAP! Now of course they have to “investigate” and no one knows how long that will be. SMH. But it’s no surprise. Consider this: the culture of DTE is one of greed and apathy. A monopolizing entity that would rather allow folks to freeze to their deaths, than lose any money providing energy in cost effective ways. So what do you really expect from such a culture? In reality, they weren’t losing anything with my request to move the balance over, but I guess when you have a practice of underhandedness you’ll still deem it necessary to look a gift horse in the mouth. Fret not though. Like everything else, DTE will one day be brought to its knees by some innovative Einstein and do what Uber and Lyft has done for the cab companies.

Fast forward to August and I log in online and I have a shut off notice. The notice says to pay $5 to avoid shut off. $5. Of course I am confused, but I went ahead and paid the $5. The next day I logged back in to make sure everything was copacetic and imagine my surprise when I saw another shut off notice asking me to pay $5. I called DTE again to resolve this issue. The agent on the phone could not explain why I was being asked to pay $5, since my account was current. Nor could she explain why I continued to receive this message. She advised me to pay the $5 AGAIN, 'just in case'. I did. I continued to receive this same message 4 times. Then it went away. I never saw the $30 I paid from these notifications applied to any balance/credit on my account.

Color me surprised in September when suddenly, I don't have a bill. I log in, and my balance is $0. My usage had magically dropped to $95. October, I suddenly have a bill due for $105. November - no bill due. December - no bill due. Now I have received a notification saying I am enrolled in their budget plan and to pay $167/mo. My usage averages $90. No one at DTE can explain any of this to me. I can only surmise that I am somehow paying someone else's bill. Of course no one at DTE can fix or resolve anything; and you HAVE to pay the balance or your services are shut off. How is this choice?

Recently I found my case was passed to TransUnion, a personal credit collection company. NOW I CAN SEE UNPAID BILL FOR THIS CASE ON MY CREDIT HISTORY. This is horrible experience with DTE energy: They messed up my account. I called them four times and tried to resolve the issue from 4 months ago. They kept doing the wrong thing and sending my case to third party company. The customer service (CS) always can promise something or just put some action plan on the case note. But most of actions never really happened. The CS is like the secretary who keeps recording the meeting minutes, but never cared if the customer problem is really resolved. Because of their fault, I need to clear the bad record on my credit history. Is this the service quality of American Fortune 500 Company?

They are taking down more trees on the property (if you live out there you also know how many the county took down this summer for their road project...). We had a tree part way up our drive under the wires, but still 5-7ft below the wires that they asked about and we said we did NOT want it taken down, the guy said they would leave it alone. Bob got home a while ago and they were in the process of taking it down, branches everywhere... And they had all their trucks in our driveway again... Muddy mess now.

My husband posted this on FB: Well, I'm not sure if DTE employees are just totally incompetent, or just dishonest, unprincipled jerks who enjoy messing with people. DTE has crews in Ingham County removing trees. On December 8, 2017, a DTE agent came to my door and asked if I would mind walking the power lines with him to agree which trees needed to be removed, which needed to be trimmed and which could be left alone. The agent identified 14 trees which needed to be trimmed or removed, I agree with all of them. We also agreed that one specific tree was not to be touched. Each tree was clearly marked with either an X for removal or a straight line for trimming. He assured me at least 4 times that they would not touch a single tree that was not marked.

I got home today to discover that by DTE's own admission they had removed 20 trees, and when I arrived were destroying the tree they had agreed not to touch. I checked the crew on it and was told "we cut whatever we feel like it, if it was marked or not, we decide on the spot." Obviously I am very upset, not only was I deliberately lied to, but am I out 6 mature Black Walnut Trees, and I now live on a lot that looks like it belongs in downtown Detroit, not rural Ingham County. I called their customer service office and was told "OOOPPPS". Equally obvious is the fact that DTE is completely void of corporate integrity or principles. If any of you are forced to do business with them I would urge utmost caution, based on my experience, even a written agreement is totally worthless.

Well on the day of my appointment I received a call from the technician stating that he is at my house and that no one was there. I explained to him that no one was there because this call should have been alerting me that he was on his way to my home. I then let him know that my brother lived around the corner and that he’d be there in 10 minutes. The tech agreed to wait the 10 minutes. 5 minutes later I receive a call from my brother telling me that no one was there. I called the tech back and he told me he canceled my appointment and that I’d have to reschedule.

This is where the nightmare begins. I call DTE customer service explaining the situation and stayed on hold with them for over 4 hours while they “tried” to rectify the situation. Ultimately the rep ended up telling me that she had me on a priority appointment for the next day. I took off work the next day and waited there all day. Around 5 pm I called to get an update which is when they explained that a priority appointment can occur at anytime before midnight. I was also informed that no one would have to be there.

Moving along to day 3... I call DTE on my way to work to verify that my electric service was turned on and I was told that the work order was completed so all I would need to do is switch the breaker on. Well when I went home to switch the breaker on... nothing happened. Curious I walked around the house to notice that NO METER WAS INSTALLED!

At this point I’m furious. I call DTE again and this time the rep had me on hold for 3 hours. When she finally came back to phone she apologized to me and let me know that everyone that I had spoken to about this ordeal had given me misinformation. She let me know that she can get the service started but the first appointment was more than a week away. So due to the fact that I have no choice but to wait... I decided not to go off the deep end. Ultimately the power was turned on and I only lost 2 weeks of my life trying to get it accomplished.

Now... the gas needs to be connected and even though I have electric service I now have to prove my identity and wait 2 business days for them to verify who I am. The only way to do that is to email my Drivers License and Social Security Card to them. I have to email these items because DTE does not have any locations in the city so that I could just stop by and deal with a person face to face. I really don’t understand why this company loves to inconvenience people so much.

Management can't even call you back when you put in a request to speak to them several times! Our area has underground power lines as well. We came from Florida with hurricanes, tropical storms and daily thunderstorms and NEVER lost power. If the issue is so bad, why aren't they upgrading their system? Not to mention everytime we lose power, our bill goes up... so many issues I could just keep going. Stay away from DTE Energy.

Well I'm still without power 5 days later but thank God for the shiny new smart meter that's measuring NOTHING. That's right they installed the god damn meter they needed so desperately but still HAVE NOT restored my power so they got what they wanted but have still left me in the dark, destroyed all my food and forced us to deal with some nights that were below 50 because they could feel empowered and be bullies. My bill is current and was before this fiasco began. This company needs to be dissolved.

I call and get very rude people and get nowhere. "I'm sorry." When I ask if someone can come out and check the meter and do an actual reading I expect it to be done. Not "I'm sorry." This is an actual reading. I said "So someone came to my home and looked at it?" She tells me "No it's electronic." Well then it's not actual then is it. She was very rude and didn't seem to care at all. Told me that there's nothing she can do about it. Are you kidding me. I asked to speak to supervisor and got disconnected. 2 hours on the phone again and it happens again. This alone makes me want to leave Michigan. I have lived all over the states and this by far is the worst state. Makes me ill stressing over my Bill every month. I just want someone to explain to me why my bills are so darn high since the new meters.

Call DTE and they tell me I have a past due bill of almost $2000, and the whole amount needs to be paid PLUS late fees PLUS reconnection fees for sending crews out. (I have the DIGITAL meter, NOBODY has to come out to turn it off or on, they do it from the phone on their computers!) They literally would not change a thing. I pleaded and pleaded to pay half today, and the other half in literally THREE days when I got paid, they will not budge. I finally scrape up the past due amount (mind you, this has been more than once, it doesn’t matter if you owed $200 or $2000, they are not there to help or give a damn if your family freezes or melts to death) and she says “Okay it can be 15 minutes to 2 hours for it to come back on.” (Though it gets turned off IMMEDIATELY) Hours go by. Nothing. I call again and after being transferred 10 times, they finally found out they forgot to note my account to be reconnected.

THANKS **! So again I wait about an hour. In the past it had taken 5-6 minutes. Call again and they said “Oh yeah it should be on by now. Well there’s an issue somewhere so we’re gonna have to send a truck out, they’ll be out Wednesday.” (It was Monday afternoon...) I hung up. Called AGAIN, complained AGAIN, and the lady said there was never any action taken to turn it back on, and she has got it on within 4 minutes of being on the phone. I am now going to pay my bill, which says it’s due immediately to prevent shut off (had to wait till payday) and all it tells me is to download their app. I try, there’s no option to pay. I go back online and it says “Sorry we cannot accept your payment, click here to chat or call us”. Chat is offline. They are closed. It’s 9pm. This company is complete and utter garbage.

Instead of changing out a friend’s meter for a smart meter (it was scheduled) DTE lineman ran up the pole and disconnected their service (watched by two neighbors, one neighbor questioned them) and then was told “Oops. It is going to be 3 days for us to come out to reconnect. We are sorry!” When is someone in the state of Michigan going to stand up to this bully. At least 30,000 people (I was told this by a DTE rep) so it is probably triple are not getting their bills. No one in government will stand up to them so they pretty much do what they damn well please. I would pay double to change to another provider if I had the choice but I don't!

My check had bounced a couple weeks before. I had thought they would send a letter or shut off notice saying my services would be shut off (my mistake). I was behind 106.19$. I had to wait until my husband got home from work to pay it since I had no money on me. I talked to 4 different people and apparently a "supervisor". 5 people had told me 5 different amounts I had to pay in order to get my power back on. No not just the 106.19 plus a 20$ reconnect fee (which is what I owed). They told me I had to pay a security deposit of 600$ (which could be paid in 5 days) plus 140$ today. I got off the phone and waited until my husband got back with the money (3 hrs later).

Now this is where I realized DTE is a bunch of crooks. I called back with the card in hand ready to pay what I had to pay. I got a hold of someone. She never told me her name or even gave the usual line for line script they use. I told her I spoke to a supervisor earlier and told I had to pay 170 now 600 later. This women... I honestly have no polite words to use. She was the most rude person I have ever come across. Told me I HAD to pay 800$ today, I asked how this "security" deposit works, how they come up with how much I owe and so on. No answer. Just said it's how the system works. (Mind you she was chatting with her buddies while I was on the line. Obviously didn't care at all about my not having power. I know it's not her fault but it's her job to try and get me the right department.)

I asked her several times if I could speak to her boss. She flat out told me no. I was crying. And begging to speak to someone else since I was told one thing and now it's completely different. She told me there was nothing she could do. Fed up and feeling defeated my husband decided to call. He got ahold of someone who was polite and actually willing to look into the account further. After talking to the big boss... Him being on hold for a total of an hr the big boss finally told him "well looks like the security deposit is actually wrong and you only owe your past due" (106.19 plus 20$ reconnect fee). Which is what it should have been all along.

What I hope others do is if you feel like they are charging you wrong... Treating you unfairly speak up. There are laws in Michigan about security deposits for DTE. Read up on the laws. If it weren't for my husband and his smarts I would have been up a creek. Unfortunately we only have DTE for power around here. If there was any other company I would be running their way. Watch your bill and make sure you don't take any of their rude employee's crap.

I called again 10 days later and was told that they had been out and it was being processed. When I asked if we were still on autopay I was told she couldn't answer that right now and that the department I needed to speak closed at 4pm. Ummm... Their hours are until 5pm (at least according to their bills). I then decided to try and set up an online account to no avail - I still can't do it. I need to verify my e-mail address and their system never sends a verification.

Several days ago I received my bill (finally). It was actually multiple bills and all stated they were overdue but the due date was at the end of the month. After checking the outrageous bill, I noticed that there were charges that looked like they were same amounts added twice. I called and was told that "no" they were not. The amounts were from the overdue bills that we had not paid. The bill doesn't say that and oh yeah - you haven't sent us a actual bill since April. Oh no, I was told that couldn't be correct. Really??? So, I requested all the "overdue" bills. Which means she had to put in a support ticket and that it would take a while to receive them. I then went on their website and filed a complaint with the company. They have yet to respond and I seriously doubt they will. I am watching my bank account closely because I worry that the way they sent the bills (both with the same due date) that they will withdraw double what is owed.

I am also taking pictures of my meter to track their reading from here on out. It is outrageous the way they are handling this. They could have at least sent out information that there was a problem and they were working on it. I also didn't appreciate being spoken to rudely and being treated as if I was incapable of understanding what was being said.

I called DTE today and was told that it was not paid and that they don't report anything. I told them it was in fact paid, that I have proof DTE reported it as paid to the credit bureaus, and it needs to be taken care of as I am moving to a new home in September that has DTE for gas service and I need to be able to start service there. Was finally told to email the proof that it was reported paid, which I did. Currently waiting for someone to get back to me about it.

Every amount due is completely different even though it has the same due date! Some have stated that I am a whole payment behind ($226 x 2 due); yet when I make my 1 monthly payment of $226 on the due date, via the DTE app... the next screen states that I am current, up to date, nothing more due until the usual monthly due date! I have been taking screenshots the entire time and printing every email/text/statement sent and still choose to receive my monthly statement via USPS for a hard copy.

As I said earlier, there is absolutely zero information available on their app/website or even by internet search engines, for their consumers to correspond with them in writing!!! How convenient for them that we, their own paying clients, "just have to settle for our 1 choice and call"... and risk being cut-off or unable to prove anything they say and/or refer to it later, even if you can record the conversation! And here I am! At least I found this site and was shocked when I started reading the other complaints about DTE and exactly the same as my own issues! I am relieved in a way (sorry) to know it's not just my account being so messed up and at this point... Getting close to being illegally subjected to intimidating and completely incorrect late notices & payment overdue dollar amounts owed harassment.