Powergen are a shambles !!

njm_2

I have also been having a nightmare with Powergen – see High Gas Usage – although things are looking a little more promising now. I wanted to send them an email to question all my estimated bills, since we had been visited frequently for readings, but in order to do so I had to register as a user on their website. (There phone number was permanently engaged and then went faulty yesterday) I had great difficulty finding a username – “powergenarecrap” was already taken!

mandi

This lot couldnt organise a booze up in brewery !!!! had more problems with the Indian call center than I dare think about!!! :mad:

TIP if you must speak to them, call in the early hours of the morning !! after several frustrating days of calling the call center recently, i stayed up very late, rang at 1.30 in the morning, spoke to an English speaking person and got my account sorted in less than five minutes,,,was worth staying up for, but im still changing supplier becuse they are damned expensive anyway!! :mad:

sparkymark_3

The Chief Exec. came on BBC this week and apologised for all the billing mistakes/ useless call centre staff and promised no more threats of court action !
We shall see............

sparkymark_3

............and how much coverage on ITV Anglia ? err none !
Perhaps its something to do with Powergen sponsoring the Weather forecasts !!!

Alechjo

Hi All,
I used to have Powergen for a year in Manchester for electricity only (no gas). Frankly, I did not check the bills manually, but they seemed all right. No four figure bills, call centre all right (better than United Utilities). Web site was a bit treaky, had to use IExplorer instead of Netscape. So, they are not ALWAYS terrible as described here.

sparkymark_3

Hi thought people might like to check out this webpage http://www.bbc.co.uk/norfolk/content/articles/2005/11/03/feature_powergen_20051103_feature.shtml

sparkymark_3

Thank goodness they are not taking over Scottish Power, here is another good story about how crap they treat customers :http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/columnists/article.html?in_article_id=403928&in_page_id=19&in_author_id=5

smartie1976

jennyjo wrote:

I,m trying to change from Powergen and they are bombarding me with calls and letters being nasty about the company I'm going to,

it's really annoying

Please note, this is classified as anti-competitive behaviour, and is illegal under the 1998 Competition Act, punishable by a 10% company turnover fine.
You MUST report such behaviour to Offgem or Energywatch, and if possible tape record such comments (if you have them in writing, then send it off NOW!)

(Currently studying Law....... it comes in very useful...)

quickstepqueen

Powergen are just the WORST. Since moving into this rented property 3 years ago we've had nothing but problems. The landlord had installed a card meter for the electric so it would mean we would pay as we go. Not a problem we thought, as we'd had a card meter in our old home, it meant we could budget better and not get into debt. How wrong was I?

Bill after bill arrived at our new home saying we owed x amount. Even when I rang the call centre and they admitted they were wrong and they would cancel out the debt, the next bill arrived saying I was in still debt!!

Eventually the account was so badly messed up because of all their faults that they closed it and opened a new one for us. However, they didn't tell us this. They just sent another welcome pack to us saying welcome to Powergen and your new home etc. When I rang to enquire I was told this was my new account.

One of the biggest problems has been when the prices have increased. In Nov 2004 I was sent a letter saying that the price would go up. 3 months later,Feb 2005, my bill arrived saying I owed x amount. I rang the call centre and they said it was their fault as they hadn't sent an engineer round to recalibrate the meter and that I wouldn't have to pay this debt.

August this year I was sent a letter re: price increase. 3 months later my bill arrives, I am in debt again but this time Powergen tell me I have to pay.

Now the letter stated that the price increase would mean the elec would go up by around 30p a week. Over a quarter I therefore estimated it would go up by about £4!

My last bill showed I was in CREDIT by £8.55. Now I am in DEBT by over £20. That, Powergen, is not an increase of around 30p a week. You therefore sent me a VERY misleading letter.

When I rang to complain, the chap at the call centre said that their engineers couldn't get around everyone within the 3 months to change the meter settings. Funny though, because when I pestered for the settings to be altered asap (i rang monday teatime) he managed to arrange for an enginner to call Wednesday morning that same week!!! That's an engineer to my house in less than 48 hours from making the call.

They have now set the meter with new settings though I see my emergency credit has gone from £10 to £5 (I wasn't informed of this change!) I have rung through the new meter readings and Powergen think this will change everything but it won't. They have said they will investigate but I doubt it. (BTW the second chap I spoke to said that as soon as I receive another price increase letter I can ring up and book an enginner to visit and change the meter settings. I don't have to wait for them to arrange it apparently!)

At one point my heart would flip everytime I saw a bill from them drop through the letterbox. I just knew it would be wrong.

I am tempted to change suppliers but I know that that in itself will be more grief. They won't even get that right.

Why oh why can't we have the local leccy shops where we could pop in and see the same dear lady behind the counter who would sort out any mess like this.

Rant over until the next bill arrives lol

qsq x

quickstepqueen

http://www.energywatch.org.uk/uploads/Complaints_to_date_July_September_20051.DOC

It will open in Word and shows the number of complaints against each company.