Ebico prices to rise on 2 October

Premier_2

Gavioli_UK wrote:

Over several days, calls to Ebico's number went straight to an answer machine, and I left many messages for them to ring me back. No call was ever received. It took several e-mails to get confrmation that Ebico had contacted SSE and established my original supplier, and my rebate would be paid.

What telephone number were you using? The only telephone number they advertise now is that of Customer Service & new sales - both of which are SSE telephone numbers since they use SSE for their customer service.

You cannot contact ebico by phone, since as a customer, you you require customer service, a service provided by SSE.

Gavioli_UK wrote:

Others have also reported that it is hard to contact Ebico by telephone when trying to find out the status of their transfer. I do feel that a company that promotes its ethical values should be contactable by its customers on telephone numbers quoted on its website to a reasonable standard. Contacting Ebico by telephone proved impossible.

I don't know who else you have heard from, but my experience with contacting customer service has been faultless. I did need to contact them a few times regarding my transfer as it was complicated by the inclusion of an IGT. However, as you would expect from SSE who are renowned for offering one of the best customer service responses in the industry, the service they provided on behalf of ebico was equally as good. It should be noted the SSE customer service is not available 24/7 but is available 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 2pm Saturday.

It is true that this is not ebico themselves, but as explained, ebico have outsourced their customer service roles to SSE.

Having said that, ebico does employ at least one person themselves who is responsible for customer service - this has been a recent appointment and so she was not available back when you had your issue. It appears that more than one person has had little difficulty in contacting the famous Kirsty by email since her appointment
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1137179

KimYeovil

Premier wrote: »

Why do you think it's fair that everyone pays the same standing charge?

Surely it is fairer that everyone pays the same unit price, no matter how much they use. I think standing charges are one of the most unfair systems ever. How is it fair that a customer is lumped with perhaps a standing charge of £30-£40 per quarter even though they may have used no power at all? What is the incentive for them to save energy? How can they save money?

Standing charges used to be the norm for all energy supply contracts, but it is interesting to note that I think all the supply companies now offer no standing charge tariffs. Why would customers choose option of non-standing charge if it was unfair?

I would certainly prefer a flat rate. But I do not see that as fairer. If it costs £5 a month to bill and maintain and pump 10,000 units per month down a pipe it still costs £5 a month to pump 1,000 units. It does not cost ten times less (it costs a bit less, as I first mentioned, wrt lowering peak demands and storage needs but that is not a linear pro rata saving.)

Only Ebico offers (and even then only almost) a no standing charge tariff. The NSC tariffs you refer to in your last paragraph are only labelled as having no standing charge (with some flexibility that does allow/encourage the very low users to save some money).

And since when did money saving experts not do something that was unfair? This whole site is based on exploiting others' laziness and violating loopholes that are intended for genuine mistakes or fraud and pocketing money from others' larger bills.

Again, I am not against flat rates. I think it would be great to abolish land-line rental and energy standing charges. But in a competitive market it is not going to happen. Companies want efficient, high users. It may be reasonable for them to pay a fraction more per call minute or a fraction more per kWh. But something that is reasonable and acceptable is not, in absolute terms, fair.

Premier_2

KimYeovil wrote:

Only Ebico offers (and even then only almost) a no standing charge tariff. The NSC tariffs you refer to in your last paragraph are only labelled as having no standing charge.

Which companies charge a standing charge on their tarrifs that marked as no standing charge? What is that standing charge they make to a customer that uses no units?

A standing charge is a charge made irrespective of consumption. That means you would be charged that amount even though you have not used any units.

And since when did money saving experts not do something that was unfair? This whole site is based on exploiting others' laziness and violating loopholes that are intended for genuine mistakes or fraud and pocketing money from others' larger bills.

So you agree that standing charges are unfair.

Ebico gets it's name from the Equitable Billing Company. That means fairness by charging every customer the same based on what they use. If it saves customers money, so much the better, but they have never promised to be cheaper for everyone and obviosly they can't be (look at their business model - it clearly states how other companies target higher and hence more profitable users at the epense of lower and so less profitable users), just fair, which your earlier post suggested they were not.

KimYeovil

I did add a sentence to suggest that the NSC (sic) tariffs still offered some reduction for low use (and a hundred per cent reduction for zero use) whilst you were replying. My clarification crossed before you posted.

A customer who is out at work all day and out gallivanting all evening and only knows how to use a microwave should have the cost of providing their little used supply subsidised by a housebound disabled customer? Equal price per unit is not the same as fair.

Again, I do not think the Ebico tariff is unreasonable. I* certainly think a flat rate is preferable. But, semantically, it is not absolutely fair. Fairer, maybe.

And surely a company that successfully targets more profitable customers is more able to cross-subsidise and offer a cheaper service for the less profitable customers?

* and I mean in general for everyone, not because it is better for me.

Gavioli_UK

Premier wrote: »

What telephone number were you using? The only telephone number they advertise now is that of Customer Service & new sales - both of which are SSE telephone numbers since they use SSE for their customer service.

I was asked to contact Ebico, so used the telephone number on their website at the time. I got a message clearly identifying the call was to Ebico, asking me to leave my name and number, and they would get back. I tried several times over a few days

You cannot contact ebico by phone, since as a customer, you you require customer service, a service provided by SSE.

Thaks for pointing this out. I definately will be leaving Ebico if they will not give a telephone number, and I would point this out to others as I feel it is a very bad attitude to customers. I accept SSE may provide good day to day service, but there are times I may wish to speake to the organisation I originally transfered to.

I don't know who else you have heard from, but my experience with contacting customer service has been faultless. I did need to contact them a few times regarding my transfer as it was complicated by the inclusion of an IGT. However, as you would expect from SSE who are renowned for offering one of the best customer service responses in the industry, the service they provided on behalf of ebico was equally as good. It should be noted the SSE customer service is not available 24/7 but is available 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 2pm Saturday.

It is true that this is not ebico themselves, but as explained, ebico have outsourced their customer service roles to SSE.

Having said that, ebico does employ at least one person themselves who is responsible for customer service - this has been a recent appointment and so she was not available back when you had your issue. It appears that more than one person has had little difficulty in contacting the famous Kirsty by email since her appointment
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1137179

I think you are wrong to say Ebico have only recently appointed someone to deal with customer service. In resolving my problem, I got an e-mail reply from a K.S. (I was once flamed on this site for quoting the name of a contact at a supplier) on the 29/11/2007. This was in reply to my e-mail of the 21/11/08, and several "chasers" in between.

A question Premier - do you work for SSE, or Ebico or both?

AS_TSC

Hi, just wanted to know - has EBico outsourced its billing and customer care to SSE

1carminestocky

AFAIK it has never been in-house - always dealt with by SSE.

Farway

AS_TSC wrote: »

Hi, just wanted to know - has EBico outsourced its billing and customer care to SSE

That is three times on threee threads you have asked this, please desist as I get fed up reading the same thing over & over

1carminestocky

AS_TSC wrote: »

Hi, just wanted to know - has EBico outsourced its billing and customer care to SSE

That is three times on threee threads you have asked this, please desist as I get fed up reading the same thing over & over




Sorry, I'll get my coat...