Trying to get in contact with energy companies!

[AhhBisto]

Anyone else having the same issues? I've moved 2 weeks ago and all I want to do is pay the current provider what's owed, switch and provide my meter readings. So far in 2 weeks after calling, emailing, using social media and submitting complaints to the head offices of SSE and Scottish power I've received no response. Literally nothing other than automated responses.

It seems energy companies have used the pandemic to completely disregard any level of service they used to offer.

 

[Angilion]

The best way I've found to switch is to have the provider you're moving to handle it. Either do it online using a form on their website or talk to the sales people at the provider you want to move to.

Most companies don't give a rat's arse about customer support nowadays, but they do care about sales. So you can almost always get in touch with sales staff. If you switch energy providers, the company you're switching to will contact the company you're switching from and you won't have to.

They very strongly prefer you to do it online so they can employ as few people as possible because that's the goal of a business, apparently. Cut costs, regardless of the cost. Profit is of at best secondary consideration.

 

[jsmoke]

Did SSE not shut down their retail sector the start of last year or so, I'm pretty sure they sold off their residential customers.

 

[LOAM]

We got caught up in the demise and subsequent customer transfer to British gas, from Robin Hood energy and it's taken 4 months to get anywhere.

Around August last year RH just randomly increased our bills by £100 pcm before starting to transfer customers to British Gas. They claim to have written to customers telling them of this transfer, giving them the opportunity to choose a different provider but I and several others got no such correspondence. Anyway by the time we learned of this transfer it was too late to prevent it and despite RH saying they would correct the over charging and refund us before BG took over our account, they didn't and transferred all the account credit and all the payment details. This resulted in BG overcharging us and us being locked out of transferring to a new supplier (octopus) for 28 days after the completion of the original transfer.

Anyway the long and the short of it was that we managed to complete the transfer on 5th January but the credit (nearly £600 ) from the RH and BG overcharge took another month and has only just recently been completed. Octopus have been really good, easy to get hold of, RH were surprisingly easy to get hold of despite being completely useless when you did but BG was a complete and utter nightmare. Getting through to a human was almost impossible unless you had a major gas leak and their webchat support must rank as one of the worst on the planet, honestly if it hadn't have been such a lot of money I would have just sacked it off

 

[montymint]

If you simply switch your debt should xfer over automatically and you’ll be able to contact and pay the new supplier

 

[firstborn]

I switched from British Gas last week as their support is shockingly bad, takes an age to get through to anyone who is generally a clueless call centre type. Filled in the Octopus form to get a quote, clicked a button on the email they sent and let them deal with the rest - most I need to do now is read the meters on switch over day. Simples

I've since had two 'please don't go' phone calls and five letters from British Gas

 

[Em3bbs]

I moved to Octopus and although I'm pretty happy with the actual tariff the customer service is a bit hit and miss, sometimes they reply immediately, sometimes they take ages, sometimes they don't reply at all. I've given up trying to get my in home display working for gas now, as they usually reply once, ask for the serial number then never reply again. Reading the Facebook Agile and Go groups I'm not the only one to have issues, and in fact some people have ended up lumped on awful 12M tariffs because Octopus haven't replied to them to install smart meters or get them set up properly (something I didn't have an issue with incidentally).

So, yeah, this isn't just an issue with legacy providers.

 

[AhhBisto]

If you simply switch your debt should xfer over automatically and you’ll be able to contact and pay the new supplier

Unfortunately, the current property is being supplied by SSE so the every whilst switching needs to be paid. Atm they don't seem to want to be paid and having existing energy debt can hold back a successful transfer apparently.

 

[montymint]

Unfortunately, the current property is being supplied by SSE so the every whilst switching needs to be paid. Atm they don't seem to want to be paid and having existing energy debt can hold back a successful transfer apparently.

only if the new supplier doesn't want it (the debt), I guess it'll depend on the outstanding amount.

 

[Surveyor]

If you simply switch your debt should xfer over automatically and you’ll be able to contact and pay the new supplier

Unfortunately, the current property is being supplied by SSE so the every whilst switching needs to be paid. Atm they don't seem to want to be paid and having existing energy debt can hold back a successful transfer apparently.

only if the new supplier doesn't want it (the debt), I guess it'll depend on the outstanding amount.

According to Ofgem:

Repaying a debt and switching

If you've been in debt to your supplier for less than 28 days you can still switch. Any owed amounts will be added to your final bill from your old supplier.

If you've been in debt to your supplier for over 28 days, you'll need to repay the debt first.

If it's your supplier's fault you're in debt, they can't stop you from switching.

If you're in debt and have a prepayment meter

As long as you owe less than £500 for gas and £500 for electricity, you can switch to a new supplier if you are paying off an energy debt through a prepayment meter.

You are entitled to do so through the 'Debt Assignment Protocol'. This would mean your new supplier takes on the debt and you repay them instead, based on the new terms of your agreement with them.

Prepayment tariffs are usually more expensive, so you may want to ask about the different options available to you, including if you can change to a standard meter. Most suppliers offer this for free, though some may charge. Find out more at Understand your energy meter.

 

[AhhBisto]

According to Ofgem:

Ah I should be in the clear I just managed to get through to SSE out of sheer luck. Their system went down in the morning and asked people to call back tomorrow I called just as it went back on .

I've only been here 2 weeks but switch over may take some time.

 

[Deleted User 298457]

Why is it worrying you so much?

Never understood getting into a tizz about something so meaningless.

 

[Semple]

We got caught up in the demise and subsequent customer transfer to British gas, from Robin Hood energy and it's taken 4 months to get anywhere.

Around August last year RH just randomly increased our bills by £100 pcm before starting to transfer customers to British Gas. They claim to have written to customers telling them of this transfer, giving them the opportunity to choose a different provider but I and several others got no such correspondence. Anyway by the time we learned of this transfer it was too late to prevent it and despite RH saying they would correct the over charging and refund us before BG took over our account, they didn't and transferred all the account credit and all the payment details. This resulted in BG overcharging us and us being locked out of transferring to a new supplier (octopus) for 28 days after the completion of the original transfer.

Anyway the long and the short of it was that we managed to complete the transfer on 5th January but the credit (nearly £600 ) from the RH and BG overcharge took another month and has only just recently been completed. Octopus have been really good, easy to get hold of, RH were surprisingly easy to get hold of despite being completely useless when you did but BG was a complete and utter nightmare. Getting through to a human was almost impossible unless you had a major gas leak and their webchat support must rank as one of the worst on the planet, honestly if it hadn't have been such a lot of money I would have just sacked it off

I think this is the prime reason to not have so much credit in your account. I know some companies work on the premise of charging you more than you'd use in the summer months so that your winter months bills aren't as steep. But as long as your sensible and make provisions during the summer months if you'd struggle with the extra over winter, then it shouldn't be needed.

They show time and time again that it's very easy for them to take extra from you, but as soon as you want it back, you've gotta jump through hoops to get it.

 

[AhhBisto]

Why is it worrying you so much?

Never understood getting into a tizz about something so meaningless.

Because when **** does go wrong such as a faulty meter or inaccurate readings from previous owners, you don't get surprised with £2000 bill after the first couple of months. Which unfortunately happened to me 3 years back and took several months to resolve.

Perhaps you don't have to worry about paying the bills?

This is how quickly things can go wrong with bad suppliers and equipment. emails are only 4 days apart.

 

[LOAM]

I think this is the prime reason to not have so much credit in your account. I know some companies work on the premise of charging you more than you'd use in the summer months so that your winter months bills aren't as steep. But as long as your sensible and make provisions during the summer months if you'd struggle with the extra over winter, then it shouldn't be needed.

They show time and time again that it's very easy for them to take extra from you, but as soon as you want it back, you've gotta jump through hoops to get it.

I agree but we weren't short for winter,I just think RH, who were on the brink of going into administration decided they needed some funds. Our usage was known to them as we'd been with them for 2 years. The sole reason we ended up in credit was because they increased the SO to £240pcm without telling us and then passed that amount over the BG as the amount we pay / use and it was grossly inaccurate.

 

[Deleted User 298457]

Because when **** does go wrong such as a faulty meter or inaccurate readings from previous owners, you don't get surprised with £2000 bill after the first couple of months. Which unfortunately happened to me 3 years back and took several months to resolve.

Perhaps you don't have to worry about paying the bills?

This is how quickly things can go wrong with bad suppliers and equipment. emails are only 4 days apart.

Whether it is a week or 3 months, a surprise due to any of those things you have mentioned will be a surprise regardless. Not sure what the pictures are or who "Powershop Crew" are but that sounds like a nightmare.

Anyway, my point is, probably time better spent than trying to hunt down an energy provider for a problem that hasn't happened yet. If you have the time, more power to you. I'd have got on with life and waited for them to solve it/call me.

 

[Timber]

Had a very poor experience with British Gas today, so if they are a reasonable example of the energy companies and how they are currently coping, then yes, it seems difficult to contact or rely on them. Although slightly different to the tariff switching examples above.

We have Homecare and have used that for years for the annual boiler service and any one-off incidents. Last night unfortunately our boiler started leaking water which meant having to shut the water and the electric to the boiler off. After 6 or 7 calls fighting BG's automated telephone system we managed to speak to someone (the first person cut us off after saying they couldn't 'handle' the call) and schedule an engineer visit for today (8 to 6). Then at 2.30pm we get a call from British Gas saying they can't do anything today and and won't schedule a visit until 25th Feb. As we have no 'priority' people in the house they don't class it as an emergency.

Have managed to get a recommended, local gas safe engineer to do the repair and annual service (might as well do both) but the lateness of BG contacting us now means a chance of not being able to get parts before the weekend.

Homecare has been really good over the years and offered peace of mind. But if they can't do emergency call outs it makes it redundant. And BG also moved the annual Boiler Service last year from November to February so it feels like the service going downhill isn't new. Their Twitter mentions Covid and Industrial action from their staff although I feel the latter (and staffing cutbacks) are the more likely reason.

 

[Quartz]

So far in 2 weeks after calling, emailing, using social media and submitting complaints to the head offices of SSE and Scottish power I've received no response. Literally nothing other than automated responses.

Two weeks is a bit of a short time. But then I guess you think you're in danger of being cut off, right? Especially in the depths of winter, right? So write a letter - not an email - to one of the directors of the relevant company (look them up on the Companies House website) and explain the situation and express how disappointed you are that your attempts to do the right thing have been ignored, you don't want to be cut off, and do they actually want to be paid? Be sure to include all your attempts at contact. And be prepared for an early phone call from someone modestly senior.

 

[MatsyLR]

I work for one of the big six (not SSE or Scotish Power)
I fail to see why you can't just pay it online or over the automated system, then do the switch to whatever provider you want (through Uswitch or using referral link directly through the other providers website). Unless you havn't bothering giving your start readings so everything is estimated, which is entirely on you if thats the case.

Also you cant/wont be cut of unless you have PAYG/Prepay.
You wont get anywhere sending letters/emails to "headoffice" whatever you think that means, you really think they are going to bother? they are not customer facing.
Also dont pay by budget direct debit if you can get away with it, pay by direct debit whole amount monthly so you are not giving your energy company more money that what is necessary to pay your bills.

 

[Em3bbs]

You wont get anywhere sending letters/emails to "headoffice" whatever you think that means, you really think they are going to bother? they are not customer facing.

That's very unusual for a big company. In fact before she retired, my mum used to manage the are for head office/director escalated complaints for a division of British Gas, before going on to do a similar job at Bupa. Same for one of the 'big 4' telcos I used to work at, they had a whole team for it.