worst company that i have ever encountered. i would say dealt with but they refuse to provide a way for their customers to contact the departments needed to resolve any issues. they completely and blatantly overcharged me last month, i wasn't even home for 20 days, shut off my AC and still the bill was the same as the previous month. read more

If you are 2 weeks late on a bill you will get a shutoff notice. I have never missed a payment in 7 years at my home. Something happened and I never received a Sept. Bill. My October bill came, due Nov 16. I figured I would just pay both months together. On Nov 10th, I received a letter saying service would be shut off ON THE 9TH if I didn't pay. A shutoff notice saying power will be shut off BEFORE THE LETTER EVEN REACHED ME. Calling them is nearly useless, they just flat out don't answer. I've never spent less than 45 minutes on hold to even get someone on the line, when you do, they are complete jerks who interrupt everything you say and demand payment over the phone before anything else will be discussed. Scumbags of the highest order, avoid at all costs if you even have a choice. read more

The absolute worst customer phone service. While opening a new business account I was on hold 3 times through the process of an hour each time. Duquesne wants to send you to the online system which would not recognize an attempt at new business service as it did not recognize the physical address, although there is service currently at the address. Once the new account was established, I was transferred to the payment center, the required deposit was paid and I was sent back through the queue to report the deposit - again would not recognize the new account number and was on hold yet another hour - Duquesne does offer a call back service - it would not recognize my call back number indicating there was a "problem with the call back request" because the phone number does not match the new account number issued an hour ago. There is no option to speak to a representative although at the time of establishing the account, I was assured the payment center would connect me directly to new accounts to report the deposit immediately. I considered not holding to report the deposit payment in hopes that it would just show on their end and my new service would be fine , but yet another issue - the payment center did not email the confirmation as indicated they would, so I needed to confirm it was applied. I'll back up further - I actually requested a call back an earlier day which I never received. With that said, the employee that I did finally speak to in establishing the account was professional but could only do her part and not bypass the awful system. Duquesne, you need to do better! read more

DUQUESNE LIGHT IS THE WORST. They're service is single-handedly the worst customer service experience I have ever in my entire life. I sent the request to start a service 4 times, which they failed to process properly or notify me. Then, without notice, they shut off my electricity because they hadn't processed my form. After multiple calls, waiting 15 mins - 1 hour every time, they still couldn't approve my form due to their lack of efficiency even after I told them how urgent it was. They expect me to go Thursday to the following Monday without electricity just because they can't process a simple form. Why do I have to wait everytime when I have an issue? Why can't you give me one single representative or extension to call for an issue? It is absolutely ridiculous how much trouble I have to go through to do something so simple. Just take my money and give me electricity. read more

I set up my first ever electric service through Duquesne Light. The website is not very helpful, at least to a first-timer. It's easiest to just do everything through calling customer service. I ended up having to call a couple of times, and most the representatives were patient and helpful, but some were especially rude and even hung up on me! A little bit of understanding for a rookie apartment owner would have been nice. This may all be because of a lack of understanding of how it all works but some patience while I learn should be expected of a customer service rep. read more

Electricity goes out a lot sometimes for no apparent reason then it takes forever to resolve the issue. Two years ago a technician said they were upgrading the service in Penn Hills and we're still waiting. read more

They dont pay their Bill's. Try not paying you electric, what happens, they shut you off. But when they owe you money they are in no hurry to pay. read more

I ordered an LED conservation kit on May 8, 2019 which was to be received in 6-8 weeks. It is not July 30, and I have not received the kit. I called the number on the letter I originally received and was on hold for over 35 minutes with no one speaking to me at all. I hung up and called every other phone number reported online and received the same response - canned music without anyone every answering...extremely poor customer service Duquesne Light Company. read more

I just moved to Pittsburgh into an apartment complex. I have tried to just get the power bill transferred into my name (the power is on in the apartment, just need to start getting the bills for the power). The website was a bit unclear about this kind of thing, since it is not new power, or transferring an existing account. After submitting a comment on the site, 6 days later I get an email saying that I need to go through the Start Service portion of the website. Fine, it's a good thing that's what I went ahead and did 6 days ago. At this point, I figure that I should call and see how my request is being handled. Luckily I called at 8:30 am so I didn't have to be put on hold (which I was when I tried to ask these questions over the phone during the previous week). The agent said they had no record of me, and would go through the application process with me. The same process I went through 6 days ago on the website. I shouldn't have to redo the same thing which includes sensitive information. Also, I can't leave feedback on their website unless I am already an existing customer so I will include the entire comment I typed out here in case anyone decides to see it. "The activation process that is currently being used provides no feedback to a new customer. As I am writing this, I have waited 6 days for my apartment's power bill to get put into my name, with no responses whatsoever. Admittedly, I filled out the form on a Friday, so that 6 days includes a weekend. Then, when I called customer service to check and see if there was any hold up (or if I needed to provide additional information), the agent said that they could re-enter my data in the same form that I submitted 6 days ago. On a side note, the agent was a bit rude about it, which can be understandable if this type of thing is common. If this is the only recourse customer service has to a stale request, that is unfortunate. Overall, it would be good if the company provided people a more transparent process to knowing if they are even being heard, or if these requests are just sitting on a computer rack somewhere where no human being will ever see it. I don't know how feasible this is, but just an acknowledgement from a person via any contact method would put people at ease knowing that something is being done. An automated response is just not sufficient for this kind of thing in my opinion." read more

Trash infrastructure, trash service, sub-competent phone reps, constant power outages: multiple per day (six today. SIX.) I hope you don't like your computers because they're getting raked over the coals all day long. Piss poor. Avoid. read more

This is the worst ever! All I want to do is pay my bill and it won't even let me do that because of the high call volume. Shouldn't there be an automated system just for that!? I don't get it. I need to pay my bill asap and this is becoming very frustrating. Some other electric company needs to take over because this is not being managed well at all right about now.:- ( read more

This is the most frustrating company I have ever dealt with. I just moved here from CA and cannot seem to get my name transferred for the electricity in my apartment. I've waited a whole week playing phone tag. What they do is first give you the most confusing telephone menu........ Then put you on hold for 10 minutes. Then they tell you that they'll call you back when you're next in line (mine were on average 2+ hours). Once they call you back after the 2 hours then they keep you on hold again (averaging 20+mins). I've tried calling them for 5 days now..... after the first 4 times of being "disconnected" (while on hold after getting the call back after 2 hours), I got hung up on because the other person that was getting their name on the bill was in the restroom and needed to be present. He told me he couldn't wait one minute and just hung up. WOW. I've wasted so much time...... so much effort. I agree with the other people that they should be ASHAMED OF THIS OPERATION. I want to report them to the better business bureau... I'm actually going to make a trip over there to their headquarters because I'm just so frustrated and fed up. If we're giving you money, you better give us customer service. PUT MORE MONEY INTO CUSTOMER SERVICE IF YOU'RE SO OVERLOADED!! read more

Worst Company EVER. I sent an application twice, and called to the staff three times. But yet my account is not set up correctly and they sent me a SHUT-OFF NOTICE. I repeat again. Worst Company EVER. read more

This is the worst user experience ever! Their lines are always busy. We tried to called them at different time in 5 days and finally got through after remaining on the line for 32 minutes. And then they transferred us to other department that still have to wait for a super long time. We moved to a new place but have no electricity for 2 weeks because it was toooooooo hard to get through to them, and their weak execution. read more

Their online payment portal was down for over three days over a long holiday and I almost got a late charge! I couldn't mail anything b/c the post office was closed and I couldn't get a hold of a service rep on the phone after waiting an entire HOUR and when I went to their HQ downtown, they said they don't handle customer service their and it's only by phone. Really horrible, shady, unaccountable business and if there was another service I could switch to, I would. read more

I had Duquesne Light as my electric supplier for 3 years. I didn't have many problems with them until recently. I had to cancel my service because I was moving. I tried to cancel the autopay I had going and I thought I had but the site changed abruptly. There was no explanation. I tried to call for 5 days and every time I got a message that says "We're not available. Goodbye." Sketchy. And when I finally got a hold of them (online chat) they refused to simply put the money they took from my account back into it. Instead I have to wait 6-8 weeks for a check in the mail. I hope the BBB does something about this. read more

Literally the worst company in history... power went out at 6 pm and came back on at 8. Remind you that there was no severe weather or any wind. Went out at 11 pm again, for no reason. I remember it went out in June of 2017 when the Penguins won the Stanley cup so I couldn't witness that on TV live. I have never had my power go out as much as Duquesne Light. Wish there were other options in the area. read more

If I could give this company negative 600 stars I would. They are the most idiotic company of all time. I moved and because of their stupidity, they have been charging me for the incorrect address for the past 2 months. All because they can't do their jobs correctly. read more

I have NEVER reviewed anything in my life. I also have carpel tunnel and should not be using a keyboard. But Duquesne light was so horrible that I had to. I'm even creating an account on yelp just so I can do my part in this company going out of business or getting their act together. 1. It is always incredibly difficult to reach a representative. 2. Their hours are normal business hours and their wait times on calls are longer than my hour long lunch break. 3. Multiple numbers listed on their website return "busy" tones. 4. Representatives are rude and impatient. A. One representative forwarded me to another department in the middle of my sentence. B. I work in a customer service position and have never cut a customer off in the middle of a sentence, much less forwarded them to someone else. Where I work, that woman would get fired within the week. 5. Once I set up my account, I never got a bill. Now I can't reach them to tell them. 6. To be fair, when i was setting up my account, on the fifth day in a row of calling and being on hold for my entire lunch break, I was able to speak with a representative immediately after calling. She set up my account very quickly and was pleasant enough to speak to. Only, as I mentioned, I never received a bill, which leads me to believe that the call was unsuccessful. This company is dirt. They are the scum between my toes. Anyone who gave them a good rating hasn't had more than brief contact with them. Curse you Duquesne light. I hope you tank. read more

Because of a phone answer wait time of an estimated 1 1/2 to 2 hours I chose the return call option. When they eventually did call back they hung up the moment I picked up to answer. I suppose they consider this a successful call back. They didn't try a second time. read more

I'm not a big fan of large companies who extort their customers to begin with but when the guy came out to change my meter and couldn't even return everything to the way it was before he got there well.. I shouldn't really be surprised I guess. All around this really is just such a shitty large company who could honestly care less about anything besides making their dollar. read more

In the past two weeks my power has gone out about five times. It seems anytime there is more than a light drizzle the power goes out. I moved here a few months ago and I can say in comparison to about five other places that I have lived in the US, this is by far far far far the worst experience I've ever had with the availability of electricity. Pittsburgh is on par with only 3rd world nations. There is no chance I could consider a long term stay in Pittsburgh because of how unreliable the power is here. This is the USA how am I going without electricity this often? Why don't the people of Pittsburgh see this as an issue that needs to be changed? The government needs to lift the grubby hands of Duquesne Light out of the city of Pittsburgh. However, I'm sure never in a million years will any progress be made in the electricity infrastructure. By the way, WERE TALKING ABOUT ELECTRICITY. WERE NOT TALKING ABOUT HOW MANY COFFEE SHOPS THERE ARE OR THE AVAILABILITY OF TENNIS COURTS WERE TALKING ABOUT.... ELECTRICITY! MOVING TO PITTSBURGH APPEARS AS THOUGH IT WAS AN ABSOLUTELY UNFORTUNATE MISTAKE!! read more

I would've given no stars! This company is WORST I've ever dealt with! Have called multiple times within the last 3 months and have been lied to and have been told by multiple people that they can't help me, associates and supervisors included. I will definitely be switching providers because Duquesne Light is GARBAGE! read more

Horrible customer service . They recently changed their whole website and my password/username will not work to get in. In hitting the " forgot password," I've tried twice, the new ones they assigned and still didn't work . I have called four times and the automated system sends me in circles. I even pressed other numbers just to get a real person and the voice told me to hang up and call the number I had just called ??!! Then they disconnected me... I am so frustrated. I can not get into my account and there is no customer service to help me. All I want to do is pay my bill ON TIME. If I get a late charge, I will be so *&%$^%&^ !! Answer the phone Duquesne LIght!!! read more

Worst customer service I have ever experienced. Call center completely understaffed; it took me days to get hold of an agent. When I finally did, their system was down, so I was put on hold even longer. Once the agent could finally help me, I was told I needed to print out a form from their website and mail it to them. This would have been very easy to convey in an email. Instead, DLC sent an e-mail asking me to call them without telling me why or what for. If I could, I would choose a different provider. Unfortunately, they are the only one in my area. read more

If I could give Duquesne Light Company a fraction of a star, I would. From the very beginning, I ran into so many issues with this company. First of all, no matter what time of day I call them I run across their standard answering message informing me of a "high volume" of calls. They give you the option of receiving a call back, but the two times I chose to receive a call back (both times I called in the middle of the business day) NOBODY CALLED ME BACK. Therefore, now when I call them I choose to wait on the line to speak with a representative. To date, I have never waited less than 15 minutes to speak to someone. To give you an idea, I have called them around 8 times in the past two months. Once I am finally able to speak with a representative, things do not improve. Granted, the first time I called I found out that service cannot be requested until we're within one month of moving in. Sure, fine. Once that one month mark rolled around, I tried to apply online and save myself another phone call. I got a response saying that they cannot process my application online, and I'll need to call customer service. When I called back, they told me it has been processed but is missing a security deposit. So, I try to get online to pay it but guess what?! you can't get an account until your first bill is received. This simply does not make sense, but ok fine, let's figure out where to send a check to- JUST KIDDING THEY DON'T TAKE PERSONAL CHECKS! I found this out when I called in again to pay my deposit (another wait 15-20 min), at which time I spoke with some woman who was extremely scathing and rude. She was continually asking me if that's all today. When I asked a clarifying question, she responded "that's not what you heard me say," and then would not explain what she had ACTUALLY said but rather kept telling me "it's up to the company's discretion." To top it off, she sighed- AUDIBLY SIGHED- multiple times during our conversation when I was asking questions as though I am an inconvenience to her. These questions are simple, like "when can I get my deposit back?" Whoever trains these incompetent people needs a lesson in customer service or manners in general. At the end, what I found out is that "Duquesne Light's stance is to only accept certified payments because (with some sassy attitude) WE don't know if your check is going to bounce or not." So guess what? I (emphasis on I) get to PAY to put in a deposit for this unreasonable company that wouldn't even tell me when I could be eligible to get my $300 deposit back. Excuse me Duquesne Light, but you are not the king of the world. You are just an untransparent, unfriendly, and unreasonable energy company with the WORST customer service imaginable. You are not worth all of the time that you make people sit around and wait for you. You are not user friendly, you are not even people friendly. It's insane that you can get away with treating people with such disrespect. I will absolutely be bringing this to the attention of whatever manager I can. PLEASE LET ME BE CLEAR. IF YOU HAVE THE CHOICE, DO NOT (ABSOLUTELY DO NOT!!!!!) USE DUQUESNE LIGHT COMPANY! THIS IS NOT A ONE TIME ISSUE, ITS A COMPANY ISSUE. SAVE YOURSELF THE PHONE BILL, IF YOU WANT TO SPEAK TO SOMEONE WITH AN ATTITUDE, CALL YOUR TEENAGER. read more

No customer service st all - can I give less than 1 star? Refused to talk to me because I didn't authorize myself and can not log in or register online. Maybe if I stop payments they'll call me!? read more

If I could zero stars to Duquesne Light I would. I scheduled to have my account cancelled, because I was moving out of the area (INTO ANOTHER STATE). When I first signed up for Duquesne Light my mother put her name on the account because I was only 17. The day I turned 18 I called to have the account transferred into my name. They told me the account was in my name. For over a YEAR I was the one paying the bill on the account. Every check they cashed was in MY NAME. Not my mothers. So when I received the email for the final bill on the account I went to log-in on Duequense website, and it showed I didn't have an account opened! So I call and they tell me they migrated the account and the account number has changed. Well great, so do whatever you have to do to allow me to pay my bill. Well here I am 3 weeks after my initial phone call (and I've made over 10 calls since) to pay my bill! I am trying to pay my bill online but Duquense won't take it! They won't do anything on the account because I am not the account holder! HAHA. Hilarious. This company will only send the bill to the address that had service, not to where I live now. Well too bad that address is 5 hours away from where I live now! The customer service lady told me I should drive to the address then! What an idiot. So here I am trying to pay my $250 electric bill to Duquesne Light and they won't give me anyway to pay it online. Whatever, I guess they would rather not get paid for their service. read more

Customer service took a big hit when some executive moron thought that outsourcing is better! They have totally screwed up my one account by assigning it to a person who is in no way connected to the service address....it only took them a year to figure this out! read more

Duquesne Light is the most incompetent company I have ever dealt with. I recently moved to Pittsburgh after selling my home in GA. When I attempted to set up an account Duquesne 'could not verify' who I was. I have excellent credit and just sold a home so there is plenty of banking info on me. The gas company immediately connected my service but Duquesne has been a nightmare. I had to fax them my entire lease and driver's license to prove who I was and then I had to wait 3 days for someone to actually set up the service. I nearly missed the deadline at my apartment for providing an electric account number. I logged into their site and set up my online profile and have never since been able to log back in. I type in my login and password and I get an Error 500 message. This has been the case for over 2 weeks! There is an instruction to call Duquesne if you can't log in, but that's impossible since the wait time is literally 2 to 5 hours! I have a full-time job so I will never be able to call since they only work standard business hours. They have a system where you can have someone call you back when they are available, but that hasn't been working either! So there is no way to speak with these rejects. I am wondering if they are planning to mail me a bill eventually or if they just lost all my account info and maybe that's why I can't log in. I am hoping they don't decide to shut off my service. I would like to pay if there was a way to actually get a bill. This company needs to be investigated by the government and heavily fined. read more

The power company of a preeminent tech city like Pittsburgh makes customers wait several hours on the phone to activate their service...irony. read more

The sheer incompetance of duquesne light company astonishes me. I have called several times over weeks in order to start service at my new residence and somehow they haven't approved me yet. I have sent them the new residential service application over 4 times and they somehow still don't have record of it. I called them earlier today and they said that they would call me back once they found record of my application which they never did. Even better, when I called to follow up on this, all the employees that have to do with applications went home early. I need service started by tomorrow and considering I started this process weeks ago, it shouldn't be too much to ask. I have never had such a terrible experience in my life for such a simple request. read more

I hate duquesne light. They have the absolute WORST customer service. If you want to get anything done with them it will take longer than a day. When I first called to have the bill switched under my name, they asked for a security deposit of 245$ and then they realized they couldn't even process it because the system was down or something. The next time I called the lady asked for a 120$ deposit. Does that make ANY sense?! Yes it worked in my favor.. but what if i paid the initial one?!?! Next I am trying to set up online billing but that is also so hard. I called and they said it was an hour wait to get to a representative so i hung up and called again. And then they said it was only a 14 minute wait. EVERYTHING IS VERY DISORGANIZED AND DOESNT MAKE ANY SENSE. I DO NOT TRUST THESE PEOPLE DUE TO HOW UNPROFESSIONAL THEY ARE. TERRIBLE TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE. I WILL NEVER EVER RECOMMEND THIS COMPANY. I AM A TENANT SO I DONT HAVE A CHOICE.. BUT DO NOT EVER USE DUQUESNE LIGHT THEY ARE THE WORST COMPANY I HAVE EVER HAD TO DEAL WITH. WORSE THAN ANY CREDIT CARD COMPANY OR ANY OTHER COMPANY I HAD TO DEAL WITH. read more

I would review Duquesne Light's service, but I haven't gotten far enough to set up service yet. I've called for 3 days now and every time I get stuck in the menu options. A. There are far too many options to choose from. B. I finally chose the options I thought were appropriate for a new customer trying to sign up for service. I chose residential customer - Contact department - Sales - and was then given a number to call back to speak with customer service. It was the same number I had dialed and was pushing menu options on. WHAT? So confusing. I am now on hold (it's been over 30 min) waiting for someone to process my info so I can get power in my apartment. Already dissatisfied and I'm not even a customer yet. Please tell me it gets better... read more

It seems that to get customer service, one has to travel downtown to speak to a person. They will not be happy when I show up in person after 6 tries on the phone, busy signals, intentionally being hung up on and countless responses to the same stupid robot for nothing. Duquesne Light, watch out. Here I come. read more

It's a joke that this company has such a monopoly. I moved from out of state three years ago and have experienced nothing but trouble with Duquesne Light. I've had the same electric provider since I've lived in Pennsylvania, and none of my personal banking information has changed. Somehow, Duquesne managed to misplace a payment (which I routinely submitted through their own app) stating they 'couldn't locate my account'... the same account that never changed. Additionally after returning the payment without communication, they slapped a late fee on top of it. After settling all outstanding invoices (so I thought) on a more than difficult conversation to obtain (no one seems to want to answer the phone and/or work for this company), I still can't manage to login online USING MY ACCOUNT NUMBER... all responses state 'Invalid Information'. I chose to lodge a complaint with the PUC to dispute the late fee due to their error, and little did I know a portion of my balance was 'placed on hold' - none of which was communicated to me. This was in June 2015. Nothing was ever done with the complaint. I received a call in DECEMBER (really? six months after the fact?) from the PUC to 'close the complaint'. There was nothing to close (so I thought), yet the portion of my bill held back in June (which was unannounced to me) reappeared on my January statement. Confused and thinking maybe a check was lost (because that would be typical of Duquesne), I called to learn all of this. Their communication is less than inadequate, and they do nothing to rectify their shortcomings and errors. If you complain to the PUC, they slap you with a bill as a consequence. I would not recommend Duquesne Light as a provider to my worst enemy. read more

Being new to Pittsburgh, I didn't expect much from a small, regional utility but Duquesne Light has been the most appalling experience I have ever had. They have had multiple problems with their online payment system, and I ended up having electricity shut off with no warning even though my payment was up to date online. Their website is a joke, it is not stable and hasn't functioned correctly in the 9 months I have been here. You cannot contact them. If you can thwart the phone tree you will have the option to hold for up to two hours or schedule a call back that never comes (not once in trying that option three times). It is even worse if you show up to their office. Billing is a mess and unless you actually bring in a copy of a bill they cannot take payment. I am in an area where I am forced to use them, but if you have the option, select another electricity provider. read more

I downloaded yelp to leave this review, duquesne is a terrible company and service provider. Track and keep all your bill records or they will overcharge you. Also if you plan to contact customer service be prepared to wait 50+ minutes on hold, I have multiple screen shots of my hold times but I can't post pictures...bottom line TERRIBLE read more

Worst customer service I have ever encountered. The customer representatives are rude, unhelpful and untrained. I tried to start a new service. Apparently their IT system is down so nothing can be done. This went on for 4 days, unbelievable. I don't know in which world are they living in where the system for a major service provider is down for that long. The customer service reps gives run around with a least helpful answer. I wish there was competition and we have choice to pick from multiple utility service providers. read more

1 star is only because that is the minimum requirement to be able to submit a review. This company has always had the worst customer service but hiring manager picked them a real knock out with Tamera! She definitely should NOT be answering to the public. I was honestly shocked at how ridiculous the actual conversation with her was. I ended up not even making a payment. She said that I was wasting her time, as a customer I am BEYOND offended. read more