Energy Supplier's customer service

Nowhere has decent customer service these days.

As far as I'm concerned if I have to talk to a machine before I talk to a person the company is dead to me. Especially if mashing *#*#*#*#* to be put through to an operator doesn't work.
 
Im with british gas, had no real issues here ive got the new automatic meters fitted and I adjust my account myself online so I keep on top of it without relying on an idiot on the phone.
 
darael said:
I was with Scottish Power until recently. Things took a rather steep nose dive from about last year - I could phone them up and be on hold for the best part of an hour before I spoke to anybody. Sometimes, just when I thought I'd got through to someone, they would could me off before either of us said anything - meaning I had to phone and wait again.

My best advice with Scottish Power is don't take no for an answer. If you ask to raise a complaint, they'll tell you somebody will get back to you soon, but what they don't tell you is that their definition of "soon" is about a week! Demand they put you through to somebody straight away in the complaints team - they tried to fob me off with the old "we'll try for 5-10 minutes" knowing full well the complaints queue was much higher than that. But persist and they'll sometimes wait until somebody in the complaints team finishes their tea break.

I found that once you'd raised a complaint, Scottish Powers phone system actually put me through to the complaints team without even telling me - sometimes I wasn't sure if I was through to customer services or complaints until I'd asked. Just like any company, hit them where it hurts - demand to be compensated for your stress and time.
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useful info and sounds exactly like what we are experiencing! As you can see from my post earlier, I got cut off earlier by someone too, most frustrating!
 
Yes, they can be pretty bad. Although I've found e.on to be almost human. But they pale into insignificance compared to the spawn of Satan that is BT. After the cut off my phone a week early (about to move) I spent at least four hours on the phone, spread over five days, spoke to thirteen different people as I was shuttled around, and repeatedly promised that I would get the service back within forty-eight hours. That doesn't count all the time I spent selecting different inappropriate options on their selection systems because none of then covered my particular situation - it turns out that most paths end in: "type in your number", followed by disconnection when the number typed in is the one they cut off and caused me to call in the first place. Utter, utter, ****s. At the end of that time I got me the first honest person. Who admitted that I was ****ed, and sorry. ish.
 
UPDATE to OP !

Nothing excited - but I got an email today saying that the complaints team from SP would get back to me within ten days. Twice the length of time I was told on the phone. Sighs,
 
EDF Energy gave me six months free electricity due to a broken meter.

My argument was that they were unable to provide an accurate meter reading (basically the electronic reader has died). Six months later they came back to install an analogue one and set the reader to the last reading i'd given (ie, six months ago).

They initially said they would estimate our usage, but my argument was that that was rubbish and i should pay for what i'd used.

The CEO agreed with me :-) (his email address is lurking on the internet somewhere)

Emailing the CEO seems to work. BT was the same. Had a nightmare with BT blaming Openreach, and Openreach blaming BT. One email to BTs CEO and my problem was fixed within 24 hours, multiple phone calls from the CEOs PA and a few follow up visits from various engineers lol
 
Ulti-Resis said:
First Utility FTW, excellent in every way. Variable direct debit so you only pay what you have actually used instead of paying fixed amounts each month which is usually more than you need to pay and they can cash in on millions of pounds held in their accounts gaining interest. With First Utility you get an email once a month asking you to submit a meter reading online and no paper bills, no hassle, online account etc. They also guarantee to always be cheaper than the big six energy companies.

Best move I ever made.

Edit - Some areas they now supply smart meters that auto send your readings.
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I'm looking forward to moving to them, annoying how the switchover takes over 4 weeks! Four more weeks of paying Npower their ridiculous standing charges
 
londonbairn said:
I'm looking forward to moving to them, annoying how the switchover takes over 4 weeks! Four more weeks of paying Npower their ridiculous standing charges
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Electric can be moved over in 7 days if you know how :)

Just a heads up too folks.

Scottish power had a system migration a fair few months ago and in the process vasts swaths of their meter details and readings vanished from their systems with no backup! To anyone moving to Scottish Power... you may get a delayed first bill. To Anyone moving from Scottish Power you may get a delayed final bill. Expect a bit of hassle with them!

British Gas had a system migration about 1-2 months ago and since then if you leave BGAS they continue to bill you and claim ignorance to the fact that your left and will openly say the reason they are continuing to bill you is because the new supplier hasn't sent them the change of supply reading for the date it switched. This is complete tosh 9/10 cases and the information has been exchanged it's just that their systems are recognizing the final reading when it comes and they aren't recognizing the loss so they just continue to bill!

Npower sacked a tonne of people (I heard about 500) and shifted a call centre to India..... joy of joys.
 
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I like EDF. Have been with them for five years or so now. Sufficient customer service. They're a bit prone to over-billing (the estimates track steadily upwards), but good at refunding when actual meter readings happen.

I'd recommend them :)

BT on the other hand... I'd be happy to see the whole damned company eradicated. Useless, useless people.
 
We are with EON - Found a cheaper deal with Scottish Power but because we have an economy 7 meter they can't give us the advertised rate. Researching the problem it seems EON are one of the few who are willing to add the two meter readings together in order to give you a single fuel rate.

I called EON asking if they would match Scottish Power and I was bluntly told "NO" we don't mate competitors rates which is strange as they did 12 months ago when I called.

londonbairn said:
I am about to leave Npower to go to First Utility, mostly due to CS..
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I considered these but far too many complaints https://www.trustpilot.co.uk/review/www.first-utility.com just do a search for First Utility Reviews
 
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I found that when I had an issue with Scottish Power, that cancelling the direct debit got them to call me and sort the issue out pretty sharpish :-)
 
londonbairn said:
I'm looking forward to moving to them, annoying how the switchover takes over 4 weeks! Four more weeks of paying Npower their ridiculous standing charges
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Yes it does take 4 weeks unfortunately but you won't regret it :) I've now been with them for over 3 years, previously been with SSE for a long time and had no problems but First Utility was much cheaper. Moved into the house we're at now and it was EDF when we arrived. EDF prices were astronomical and I was left listening to annoying music on the phone for up to an hour or more just to try to speak to someone. Immediately told First Utility to change us over to them and now coming up for nearly 2 happy years here and over a year at the previous place.
 
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londonbairn said:
I am about to leave Npower to go to First Utility, mostly due to CS. I was in quite a lot of credit and they ignored requests to change my DD amount or refund me until I logged a complaint. They would also try and up my DD amount significantly despite being in a lot of credit and with up to date readings.

In saying that their complaints department were superb, shame they didn't work in their main CS area.
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Npower were OK for me, possibly because I only once looked for customer service. Maybe I just got lucky.

I moved to Scottish Power because it was considerably cheaper for a fixed rate at the time. All seemed well - when I looked online and saw that I was overpaying and had built up £350 in credit, I phoned and was answered in a couple of minutes by someone who I could understand clearly and who could understand me clearly. Already a big plus. I asked for £250 of it back. No problem, they'll start the transfer back to my account, which might take a couple of days to process. I checked and a couple of days later £250 was indeed transferred to my account from Scottish Power. Good customer service. I was pleased...until I looked at my Scottish Power account in detail a couple of months later and found that they'd taken £500 off the balance, i.e. they charged me £250 to return that £250 of my own money back to me. Scottish Power appears to have made their entire customer service department redundant, since nobody ever answers the phones or responds to customer service enquires sent from their website. The last time I phoned, their website gave an estimated hold time of 3 minutes. After 49 minutes on hold, I gave up.

Next time, I'm going to see if there's a "I'm thinking of leaving Scottish Power" option on their phone menus. Those calls tend to get answered and it's no lie - after this fiasco I certainly am thinking of leaving Scottish Power.
 
update to my OP....

So, complaint made, got a call this morning, and a voicemail left that said to contact SP again to discuss the complaint. No direct number to deal with the complaint or anything like that - so I've just sat on hold for a while, eventually got answered and was told "all our systems are down I can't help you". Ok... so what can be done? Can you get in touch with the complaints dept and get them to call me back? "no can't do that".

Useful.... :s
 
I moved to OVO recently from SSE, so much better service and prices that I feel are more acceptable.

I like the fact I enter my meter readings every month and can see exactly what's going on with my account at an easy glance.
 
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