Stream Energy claims on their website that “It’s OK to switch, really!®”

Well… I’m sorry I did.  In fact, I am sorry that I have involved myself with this company at all.  So dissatisfied, that I created a list on twitter for “Companies I Hate” and added Stream as the number one entry.  ***Edit: Stream Energy and I have come to a resolution for my particular concern. The resolution has been added later in this blog post.

Stream Energy's website - Jan. 2010 (click to see full-size)

Why?  Simple really – it all comes down to customer service.  But first, let’s look at their website again.  They claim, “With competitive rates and outstanding customer service, Stream Energy has quickly established itself as a leading power and gas utility company serving the needs of customers in Texas and Georgia.”

So they make a pretty bold claim here.  Not only will you get competitive rates, but you will get outstanding customer service.

First, the rates – they are in line with the others in my area.  Maybe a penny less per therm.  I have yet to get my bill, so I don’t know what surcharges are hidden in there and if in fact they will be less expensive.  The teaser rate is significantly less.  I’ll go along with the word “competitive” in this case.

Now, lets talk about customer service.  Or should I say dis-service.

I’m going to skip the whole PITA (pain in the ass) online application (which wastes a good 20 minutes [if you read everything] and  requires a follow up confirmation call) and skip right to the confirmation portion.  I was told I had a morning hook-up scheduled (hours between 8 AM and noon) and that I had to be on premises to pay a $25.00 connect fee.  Since my alternative residence is only 15 minutes away, I asked if they could call me en-route so that I could meet them.  I was told this was not possible.  OK, I can live with that so I made arrangements to not have appointments that morning so that I could sit in a house with no running water and no heat in order to wait for gas hook up.   Please note: The confirmation date was a good week and a half out and the premises in question is already equipped with a gas meter hook up.

Did they arrive on time?  If my watch was set for the Hawaiian Time Zone (UTC -10h), then yes.  A service tech did not arrive until 3:42 PM.  Yep, I waited almost twice as long as the window promised in a cold house, losing billable time.

Now I am hungry and have my afternoon appointments in jeopardy because the hook up has not occurred yet.  I call my clients and reschedule.  I call Stream to find out what the deal with my hook up is.   Did I call Stream Energy?  You bet I did. By the way – if you don’t know your account number, you will need to go through several menu choices to talk to a representative.

Here’s where I get mad.  I am now told that my hook up is an all day appointment.  I ask how long is a day – what are the working hours?  I am told it shows as all day.  Yes, you told me that.  When does the day end?  4 PM? 5PM? 7PM?  Worse, I felt as if I couldn’t ask my question because the CSR kept interrupting me before I finished asking my question.  How can you help me if you don’t listen to my question?  I am given the phone number for Atlanta Gas Light.  Great, another number to call because Stream can’t answer my question.  Inefficient and rude.

I call AGL.  They send a tech over who tells me that I didn’t need to be on premises and I don’t need to pay $25.00 on the spot.  Great – now Stream totally had me waiting there for no reason and I lost a complete day of billable time.   A whole day of billable time to save on 2 months of service.  Yeah – that’s a good deal!

***Resolution communication

So what to do?  Turn to social media.  They have FaceBook and Twitter plastered on their website.  Unfortunately, on FaceBook – its a FAN page.  At this point I am anything but a FAN.  So I tweet.  I decide I am going to Tweet at least once a day until I either receive a response from Stream OR get sick of bashing a company.

It took Stream Energy ONE WEEK to respond to me.  The initial contact did come from a Sr. Executive (name and position withheld without release permission).   I also recognize that every story has 3 sides:  both parties and the truth which lies somewhere in-between.   I’m also sure my view is still obscured by what I perceived to be lack of respect, rudeness, and a wasted day.  AND I appreciate them reaching out.  That act restores some credibility.

So after a few other e-mails, I receive a few phone calls (yes they were persistent since I did not return the calls at first) from a senior leader of their customer service team.   He informed me that he had personally looked into the matter and that they would be using this situation as a learning experience for their representatives.  Hopefully my experience will benefit other customers.  The key points for me as a learning experience are as follows:

1. Provide accurate appointment data such as time, presence required, and fees to the customer for hook-up day.
2. If Stream can’t provide #1, then provide flexibility to the customer such as a courtesy call before the tech arrives. If that’s another company’s responsibility – work it out.  Stream is who I buy gas from.
3. Don’t make me call a third party.  Stream is my contact – and should handle it.
4. Ensure Stream’s customer service representatives listen to the customer’s concerns or questions.  And ensure they don’t provide vague unhelpful information.

I wish that was the end of the story.  Unfortunately its not.  And the rest of the story becomes a great case study for what to do/not do in terms of using social media for business development.

About two hours after hanging up the phone with the Customer Service leader, the same Sr. Executive whom initiated contact sent a follow up e-mail.  He kindly suggested I consider deleting my tweets and any related posts.  I kindly declined.

Here are the lessons learned for utilizing Social Media as a business strategy.

1. If you are create a social media business presence, be prepared to respond via social media  For example:
   • Visitors to your FaceBook page may not want to be a “fan” or “like” everything about your company.  Provide contact information access to your company there OR allow people to post content.
   • If you have a Twitter account for your company, be prepared to respond to tweets and questions in a timely fashion.  If you are just squatting on the Twitter handle – disclose that.
2. Establish some sort of “brand reputation” or “monitoring” strategy.  This can be an expensive solution such as Radian 6 or a cheap roll your own solution with Google Alerts.  It’s not hard and it will allow you to catch issues before they become serious problems.
3. Treat every faux-pas as a learning opportunity.  In this case, Stream did that.  Unfortunately they dropped the ball when they requested it go away.  Embrace your mistakes.  Show the world your company cares and adapts to legitimate concerns of the customer.  This will only help your brand.

I welcome any posts from Stream Energy on this matter.  I also welcome any thoughts or comments regarding Stream Energy’s request to consider removing my tweets and posts.