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In December 2014 I contacted Extra Energy about supplying me with gas and electric, however following a failure to transfer my supply from my existing supplier Scottish Power they said this wouldn't proceed.
Extra Energy called me last week (20 months later) asking for £151 for supplying me with gas from 26/12/14 to 5/08/15, I requested a statement and documentary evidence of the outstanding debt and the lady said she would get back to me if more information was required.
This week I receive a letter from a debt collection agency Credit Style requesting I pay £151 as their client Extra Energy has referred my debt to them.
Today I called Credit Style who informed me a note was put on my file yesterday, my account has been put on hold following a complaint from the Ombudsman.
I cannot understand how a company can refer me to a debt collection agency and not provide me with any documentary proof of the debt they claim I owe.
I have no idea what steps I should take to sort this out.Regarding what credit Style told me about the Ombudsman, I didn't request any detail, just repeating what they said on the phone.
I wrote an email of complaint Wednesday and today had two conversations with their complaints department, basically repeating everything in my complaint email which I posted above.
They will not discuss the matter with me any further because I failed DPA security as I couldn't confirm the email address they have on file (despite confirming my name, DOB and address).
The lady could not advise on how I can proceed and said she had no choice but to terminate the call despite me explaining all I want is for them to send me a bill and the contract I signed up to.
Very worrying as I do not know what to do next.
LOL. Not sure if serious.
If the switch did not occur, then you must have been paying another supplier for the period in question.
You are not expected to pay for the same energy twice.
But you can't have your cake and eat it. All you need to do is prove you paid someone else.
You can't go to the ombudsman unless you have first given the supplier the opprtunity to investigate & resolve.0 -
... my account has been put on hold following a complaint from the Ombudsman......
Very worrying as I do not know what to do next.
In the event you have raised this complaint with the ombudsman, and the ombudsman has agreed to take on the complaint at this time, then you really should be addressing all matters through the case handler of your complaint at the ombudsman service - you should have been provided a direct telephone number for them if someone at the ombudsman is working on your complaint.
The supplier is under no obligation to discuss a complaint directly with you once you have asked the ombudsman service to assist you (and they have advised the supplier they are doing so)0 -
I have full documentation from my energy suppliers covering the period Extra Energy claim they supplied me with gas.
For clarity, I have not contacted the Ombudsman and raised a complaint, I have only spoken with Extra Energy and the debt collection agency Credit Style. My account being on hold pending an investigation by the Ombudsman was what Credit Style told me was noted on my file.
I raised a complaint directly with Extra Energy a couple of days ago to try and get some clarity on what's going on, however as per my last post I failed a security check (confirming an email address they say they have on their system for me) hence they will not discuss the outstanding monies they say I owe.0 -
I have full documentation from my energy suppliers covering the period Extra Energy claim they supplied me with gas.
For clarity, I have not contacted the Ombudsman and raised a complaint, I have only spoken with Extra Energy and the debt collection agency Credit Style. My account being on hold pending an investigation by the Ombudsman was what Credit Style told me was noted on my file.
I raised a complaint directly with Extra Energy a couple of days ago to try and get some clarity on what's going on, however as per my last post I failed a security check (confirming an email address they say they have on their system for me) hence they will not discuss the outstanding monies they say I owe.
Unfortunately, with the logic of your posts having more holes in than a Swiss cheese, it is not surprising some people here are questioning the seriousness of your posts.
However, allow me to give you the benefit of the doubt.
So according to your latest post, you only raised your complaint a couple of days ago (I make that Thursday) ... so as you fisrt posted in this thread before then, then I am glad someone has assisted you in how to raise a complaint against a supplier i.e. by raising a complaint against a supplier :cool:
Other than that, I'm not sure what exactly you are wondering about how to proceed.
As presumably you are aware, a supplier has up to 8 weeks to investigate & resolve a copmplaint, so EE according to your latest account still have 7 weeks & 5 days to do that. And based on anecdotal evidence in this thread, I suggest they will take all of that time if they ever respond to the complaint at all.
But just to make things absolutely clear to you, here is their complaints procedure
http://www.extraenergy.com/home/faq/complaints
(pretty straightforward and almost identical to every other energy supplier)
You say you don't know your email address? Why not? :huh:
I suggest you put your thinking cap on! It might be the same email account you used to sign up here, so you could check that to see if it reminds you.
But the email address EE will want is the one you gave them; the one you would have used when you applied to join EE, the one they would therefore have used to send you any correspondence, and the one you will need to use to access your online account (I'll come back to that point)
It'll presumably be the same email address they used to advise you later that they would not be taking over the supply (unless you have changed it since)
But you won't have to try and remember all the way back to December 2014 to remember the email address used, as it will be the one you gave to EE when they called you only last week. As you have discovered,it is part of EE security to ask you for your email address before they will discuss your account with you, and they obviously did discuss your account with you wjhen they called you, so you must have provided them with your email address then.
And so onto the online account. You will have one as it is created upon application, whether or not they then go onto supply you. You can use it to check on the progress of the application. It also will have all your bills loaded to it, so you will be able to see what exactly they believe you owe them and why. And yes, it remains accessible to you even if you leave EE (or in your case never actually get supplied by them according to you).
You almost certainly would have set this up at the time, but if not, presumably you still can do so from their website. But you will need to remember your email address (hard I know!) and you will also need your account number which would have been provided right at the start, before they then advised you the switch was not going ahead.
I'm really surprised that you don't know all this if you ever applied to EE, but there you go.
If you really are having trouble with EE in the manner you suggest (and given the abecdotal evidence here, you'll be lucky to get much of a resolution if any anyway), why don't you complain to the energy provider you say did supply you at that time??? They are equally liable to sort out any complaint if another authorised supplier tells you that other supplier didn't supply you at that time, but rather that they did.
After all, it sounds like EE would have been cheaper for you than the other supplier, as thet is presumably why you applied to switch in the first place, so it may be finaccially beneficial to you to accept EE did supply you at that time compared to the other supplier.
(But the complaint will be resolved based on the facts, not what you may now prefer)
As you have already been advised, no one will expect you to pay for the same energy twice.0 -
This has taken an unexpected turn from my original intention to get some assistance.
I'll sign off now and wish other EE users a better experience.0 -
So it would appear, now that the autorities (Ofgem, etc) are breathing down their necks, Extra Energy are having a massive endeavour to close down the thousands of complaints they have received, particularly the ones that have not gone to the ombudsman yet.
But their customer service still stinks, in my opinion.
I raised my complaint against EE back end opf April 2016. (You'll see I said that if you search back in this thread)
They've not really done anything since, but did try to call me on end of June (pure coincidence that was almost 8 weeks to the day since raising the complaint, I'm sure)
Anyway they wouldn't talk to me that day as I wouldn't give them personal info they said was to pass their DPA checks, despite them actually calling me back!
I actually read out word for word an email I sent them, giving them the date & time it was sent, and despite them having it in front of them, they said that wasn't good enough to pass their DPA criteria.
They opted to terminate the call and said they would email their final response instead.
Of course, I heard nothing .... until today when they called me again.
This time I called them, and again refused to provide that all important personal info they claim they require (I'm sure some of the details I have never given them ever, but hey!)
But in their desperation to close down the complaint, and they saidd it won't take long, they agreed to speak to me as once again I read out an email they had sent me word fgor word, so they were convinced it was me (that, and lots of other evidence I provided like all the dates & times I tried to contact them without ever getting a reply ... and some similar details of emails they sent me totally disregarding what I had previously told them)
Started off saying an ET had occurred and I'm not being supplied by them, so is it now ok to close the complaint. (The ET actually switched back my supply beginning of June, but no thanks to EE - I got my old supplier to do all the work instead as I knew I'd be still be with EE otherwise)
After more discussion, they asked if £25 goodwill gesture would allow them to clsoe the complaint.
I suggested probably not. They then said well £30 is the most we can offer anyone, and that they are sure the ombudsman service will not award any more. They claim the ombudsman has never told them to offer anyone more than £30.
I still politely refused, saying for £25 or £30, I'd prefer to take my chances with the ombudsman. Worst case is I get nothing, best case(according to EE) is I'd still get the £30 ... but it will cost EE £100's (they then said it was £300 per complaint for their fee to the ombudsman)
I then got passed to the "manager" - actually the phone jockey's supervisor , but hey!
Started off saying the resolution was the best he could ever offer anyone.
Then blamed the comparison site I switched via, and that they were entirely to blame, and my complaint really should go to them. When I asked what they had possibly done wrong, he eventually conceeded nothing (remember EE had switched me)
So then he tried blaming me, Again I asked what I had done wrong, and he eventually also conceeded I had done nothing wrong.
Then in regards to my complaint raised end of April, he claimed it wasn't until end of May. I failed to agree, and he eventually conceeded that they had actually sent an email middle of May that referenced the Complaint although didn't actually answer it, so EE must have got it end of April.
So he then asks if I was using the correct email address for them :cool:
I think he didn't realise there are also auto-acknowledgements sent whenever you send an email to EE, and I have all of them too.
Finally he obviously decided, despite the months that have passed, that I am so anal that I keep records of everything - obviously as that will help any claim to the ombudsman.
So he finally agrees, EE has messed up, that they really don't have enough staff to provide proper customer service, and this from a "manager" that's only actually worked there since last September. Hew accepts that Ofgem are now breathing down their necks, and even would probably agree that EE should stop taking on any new customers until they can man up properly to support all the customers they've already taken on. (But that is not within his powers - that need's a manager at EE to make that call)
So aftyer lots more arguments (yes I would describe them as such, which again reflects on their customer service skill level) he then says what if they were to offer me £50. He can't offer that, but if he went to his manager and explained everything, would I accept it if they were to offer it.
I countered it, and suggested he review my complaint again in detail, ensuring he has all the necessary paperwork, because I already do!, and then discuss with them the attrocious way they have treated me, and in those circumstances, come back to me with the best possible resolution EE are prepared to offer.
He kept going on abouy I need a deadlock letter to go to the ombudsman, but I corrected him and said I didn't as it's way past the 8 weeks permitted for them to resolve my complaint already.
But I would give them 10 more days to come uip with a proper, reasonable resolution which I would want in writing from them before I go to the ombudsman. I will then decide based on the contents of that response, if it arrives within 10 days, to decide whether to accept or go to the ombudsman anyway.
So what is the best offer anyone has got from EE so far following a complaint?
They promise if I accept a monetry offer, it will be in my bank account within 7-10 days ... but I know many people have already said it usually doesn't arrive in that time.
So that quick resolution by EE took at least another hour of my life which I'll never get back again, and still I don't have an acceptable resolution.0 -
If it were me, I wouldn't waste any time messing about with Extra Energy, just for the sake of a few extra quid which they probably won't pay anyway.
If you haven't had a reasonable response to your complaint after 8 weeks, refer it to the Ombudsman. Leave it to them to chase Extra Energy up and try and get a half-sensible response. That's their job.
Trying to deal with energy company customer services really isn't worth the hassle. It's like banging your head against a wall, achieves nothing but high phone bills and blood pressure.0 -
Eric_Disley wrote: »If it were me, I wouldn't waste any time messing about with Extra Energy, just for the sake of a few extra quid which they probably won't pay anyway.
If you haven't had a reasonable response to your complaint after 8 weeks, refer it to the Ombudsman. Leave it to them to chase Extra Energy up and try and get a half-sensible response. That's their job.
Trying to deal with energy company customer services really isn't worth the hassle. It's like banging your head against a wall, achieves nothing but high phone bills and blood pressure.
The ombudsman service is only essentially a mediator/adjudicator. The fisrt thing they do is contact you to get full details of your side of the story.
And then they ask what, in an ideal world, you hope to achieve from the complaint.
Extra Energy use freefone numbers, so there is no affect on your phone bill; they pay for the call!
Sadly, the same cannot be said for the ombudsman service.
Always worth trying to get a result yourself direct from the supplier. It may well be a better result than the ombudsman service would award anyway.
(Remember, it's going to cost the supplier £300 as a fee to the ombudsman to investigate a complaint)
Once you go to the ombudsman, the supplier is under no obligation to discuss the complaint directly with you any more.0 -
Just had invoices for several accounts 3 out of 4 are wrong due to them totally ignoring my monthly submitted online readings. Also once their incorrect "estimate" is above your actual reading you cannot submit the correct reading because its lower and it wont let you.
I would suspect that they most likely have an error rate of about 50% of all customer accounts and that's why their customer relations is in melt down.0 -
Just as I finished my post above I received a phone call from a number that I did not know 01384884240. Lady on the other end claims she was from Extra Energy I assume attempting to find out why we had cancelled all 4 contracts! Told her not to bother!!0
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