Economy Energy, who are they?

Ninjabreadgirl wrote: »

An interesting morning. I've noticed my energy, gas and electric has been shooting through the roof, and as a single working parent, I cannot afford £30 every 2 weeks on the electricity meter.

I have just been on the phone to my energy supplier (SSE) and have since discovered my account was closed in December last year. To my horror, I panicked and asked how, I've not received any information to say "Sorry you're leaving" etc, etc, he responded with, "We sent a letter... it's noted on our account as sent".

I had to look up this information on who "Economy Energy Trading Limited" were, and found an 0844 number. Of course it is...

After calling the complaints department, the lady informs me that they have had a LOT of complaints saying they didn't sign anything to switch over and are confused, and it's been passed on to the management and they will call me back in 24 hours.

Now I can't even get a quote from a new supplier like EDF because they're not listed on their long list of suppliers. It's incredibly infuriating and when I called again, the customer service lady informed me she was new to the company and couldn't help me either to just wait for the phone call back from the complaints.

So apparently... they make it so you can't even change company from them. Against the law, just a tad.

-Miffed.

Just thought I'd keep you all updated on the progress of my situation with Economy Energy. Seeing so many people coming onto the forum with similar issues is seriously worrying. And it seems to be everyone on key meters? They're clearly targeting.

Anywho. From my last post I mentioned I was promised a phone call from the management team because they'd had a few people who had complained about not switching to them. It's been over a week and I bet you guessed it, no phone call. ( I had called them again after two days and they said I had to wait for the call). I contacted Southern Electric, my previous supplier and they advised me to inform them that it was an erroneous transfer, that they will erase my debt on my gas meter accrued from Economy Energy, I just need to get back to them. Great, I thought. Wrong... Southern Electric can't take back a transfer, even an erroneous one, it has to be sent back by the current supplier.

Today, after an hour and 13 minutes on their premium number, I spoke to a man, his name was Mohammad, he says. I informed him that it was an erroneous transfer and demanded my supply to be sent back to Southern Electric. He asked me the name on the account, and I told him, he said, "Yep, that's the name on the account we have. It's a signed contract" I asked him how on earth. He asked if I had been approached by anyone, any sales reps, I said no, not at all. Which is even more scary. I've not been contacted by them that I know of, and I certainly don't sign anything. I then said it's not acceptable and I want him to change it back. He simply stuck his heels in and said, "You signed a contract, so it's not an erroneous transfer. You can't cancel your account" I informed him that I was taking it further because it's against the law. The smug little g!t simply said "Go on then. But you signed a contract. I can send you that out if you like" To which I said yes.

After the conversation, I was panicking. Who the hell signed my name? I contacted the Ombudsman and the lady was incredibly kind and helpful. She took my details and listened to my story. She did inform me they can't take my complaint until it's been 8 weeks. (that I first made the complaint to Economy Energy) - however, because I'm a single parent family with a child and only work 16 hours as week, I cannot afford £20 a week on my electricity, that I was put on the emergency helpline and someone would be in touch. That's a positive. She told me some details to e-mail to Economy energy, to be asked to be switched back. I thought I'd share. The exact words I was told to write were ask for Economy Energy's FULL and FINAL position, or a deadlock letter. If they give me that before the 8 weeks, then the ombudsman can take my case.

Also, I know it's a bit drastic, but hey... they're taking so much money from me, I'll give it a shot. I'm on the Watchdog website and am going to send my story to them. I would definitely encourage everyone here to do the same. We're all in the same boat -- being scammed by Economy Energy and something needs to be done. I'd send the link but as a new user, I can't seem to do so.

I need some sort of compensation for the amount of stress and money going into my meter to keep electric running.

I will keep you all updated with the progress of my e-mail to Economy Energy, and the ombudsman.

Hope to hear some good news from everyone else!

Take care

~Ninjabreadgirl x

[TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM] my wife was approach on the street by one of there reps,they said they'd send her a booklet showing how great they are,sign here for it,mrs was in a rush so did(grrr)..they swapped us without informing,only found out when we had a meter problem,what a nightmare,no gas from 5:30pm on a monday till the following wednesday,they have a premium rate contact number that they dont answer,30 mins on the monday night then the line just went dead because they close at 6,Tuesday 5,no not minutes,hours,waiting for someone to answer the phone...just [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM]...ave nothing to do with them.

UPDATE: i rang the energy ombudsman this morning as economy enery didnt reply to my letter i was told i have to wait 8 weeks since my first complaint in December. But was told in the mean time to email them again asking for a letter of deadlock which is a letter of them telling you no more will be done to help. If they send this the ombudsman will intervene straight away and sort it out. Was also told sending letters is not needed emails are same as you can prove they were sent. I recommend everyone to lodge complaints with energy budsman and do the same hope it helps .

i regret changing to these when i ring up im waiting 3 hours on the phone just waiting for someone to answer! does anyone know the number to put a complaint in, ive been with them 4 weeks and ive not had heating or hot water since i switched!! had enough now!!!

I totally beleive in giving people a chance but my nan had the misforture to switch over to economy energy and as other post have said she did not receive any information such as welcome letter, or the most important the top up card as she is on a prepayment meter. I called the call centre on behalf of my nan on two occasion. The first occassion I held on the line for 35 minutes before someone answered, the second time which was the following day I held for two hours before speaking to someone baring in mind that these calls are to 0844 number. When I explained to the call centre agent that my nan was running out of gas an had no card to purchase further credit, I was told "well it was sent out in December so if she wants gas she will have to pay £150.00" A gret way to treat your new customer. I was advised that this was to get her some gas that night. As she does not live in a palace how can they justify trying to charge a pensioner £150.00 to put gas in her meter. I did not mention that my nan is 98 years old and had no debt with the previous supplier and only had a token meter to ensure she only used what she could pay for. Based on their website pensioners are high on their agenda and are priorty, this was not my case for my nan. Service is key and this cowboy outfit do not have a clue about service , neither do they have any concern for the customer, their only concern is how they can trick the customer into switching over to line their pockets and to heck with anything else. I would warm anyone who is looking to transfer to Economy Energy to seriouly reconsider you will not gain any savings just stress and a higher phone bill. Beware