First Utility - Any users or reviews

MONEYPENNY

Hi , Not So Naff.

I would agree entirely with your first paragraph, and find your solutions interesting.
What I find most annoying is that the people you are meant to get help from, are then shown to be just as bad as the errant energy supplier you are complaining about .

I would like to publish on this forum all the correspondence I have concerning the whole sorry episode.
Naturally names of the innocent would be protected .
I would not care about doing my dirty washing in public, as I have nothing to be concerned about coming out, so all can see what is really said.

Would this be acceptable ?, it would really show the guilty persons up for what they are
I would also add, I am thinking of presenting my case to my MP, But I will not be able to get anything done till after The New Year, and maybe this extra pressure would finally bring about a result.
Comment please, we must keep this thread alive .

Not_So_Naff

My suggestion incorporated a requirement for the ‘New’ Ombudsman to publish figures, part of that process would illustrate their effectiveness. A short brainstorming session would firmly close the loop, tie up lose ends and leave nil room for wriggling out of responsibility.

With respect to publishing individual stories here IMHO there would be too much information for everyone to assimilate, eyes will glaze over and short span of attention take command. Just like writing an eMail longer than one sentence causes many to slip into ‘auto’ reply mode. I.e. you don’t actually get the answer or help you need but just a pile of ready made blurb.
If you did spill all of your private beans here you still need to get it to the attention of somebody who CAN actually do something about it. The MP is a possible, except if he/she is anything like mine and you are deafened by the silence. If you can get such a persons ear direct them to this and other First-Utility threads as well as laying out your case in full gory detail.

This thread is far from ‘dead’, I switched at the start of October 2010 and they are still avoiding repaying me for the Increased Standing Charges which they had no right to take because I properly informed them of my intention to switch.
When I finally get resolution I have plenty more to say about them.

I have said it before and I will continue to say it to anyone, even just, thinking about joining PLEASE READ THE WHOLE OF THIS THREAD FIRST!

MONEYPENNY

Well hear is a taster of what I sent to the Ombudsman last night after being told from F.U on Friday the 17 Dec that they do not want to have any further contact, and everything now has to go through the Ombudsman.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I have now been told by First Utility on Friday 17 December that they do not wish to communicate with me directly and all communication has to be done through you, so I thought you need to be aware of what I have paid, and how my bills should be calculated, right up to my final bill .

You will note that they have agreed that all of my bill should be calculated at the pre price increase that they brought in earlier in the year, so any amounts further due should also be calculated on the old rate up to the final bill from them.

It should also be noted that I am entitled to a 12.5% discount off both my gas and electric after being with them for one year . This has not been mentioned in this email as this forms part of the tariff I am on being : i save Dual Fuel V2 to which I am entitled . On my payments so far, this would be (as shown in email up to the 31 Oct 2010) : Gas = £534.63 + Electric = £353.93 = £888.56 x 12.5% = £110.07 minimum, (as the figures for my final bills have yet to be calculated) . This is then added on top of the other figures mentioned in this email of £48.16 + £50 + £20 giving a total of £228.23, so lets be clear on who owes who, what amount.

I had thought that matters had been settled amicably after speaking with Stacey Roberts who I believe is the Customer Services Manager, or (Head of Consumer Affairs) as we had agreed on the amount outstanding from when I first joined them on the 2 November 2009 up to the the 31 October 2010, here is the email I received on the 15 November 2010 :

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I will leave out the calculations.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx





The above calculations are based on the registered and new rates. To date you have paid £415.50 this would leave a balance of £473.07 outstanding.

As discussed during our telephone conversation I have compared the difference between the new and registered rates which I will refund back to you (£48.16) as I am unable to back date any invoices issued.

You asked for your bank account details:

Sort code: xxxxxxxxx
Bank account: xxxxxxxx
Account number: first:utility

Please use your account number of the reference

Under the terms of our license you are entitled to £20 statutory compensation, for us failing to respond effectively to your complaint.

As we have provided you with a level of service below that which I would have wanted you to receive, I would like to offer you a £50 goodwill gesture to compensate you for some of the inconvenience we have caused.

Once again please accept my sincere apologies for the unnecessary distress caused and if I can be of any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me.

Warm regards,

Stacey Roberts : Head of Consumer Affairs
first:utility
Smarter Services for Life

Athena House : Athena Drive
Tachbrook Park : Warwick : CV34 6RL
Tel: +44 (0)1926 328 772
Mob: +44 (0)7979 031 182
Fax: +44 (0)845 215 3857
www.first-utility.com


I made a BACS payment the following day (16 Nov) for £473.07 which is bringing the account up to date as of the 31 October 2010 which has been acknowledged by them .

I understand that my electric has now been taken on by EDF as of the 26 November , as I gave EDF my electricity reading as requested on that date with a reading of 24374 so that should give a bill of 24374 - 24168 = 206 units at 8.45p = £17.41 +
From 1/11/2010 to 26/11/2010 = 26 days at 25p =£ 6.50 +
VAT at 5% =£ 1.19 + = £25.10, all calculated at old rates so as to aid simplification and avoid any clawback later.

This final figure however has been ignored by First Utility as can be seen from the bill I received on the 5 Dec 2010 which shows an estimated figure of 24404 on a date of 25 Nov 2010 for some bizarre reason, as you can see, the gas bill estimate shows a date of 30 Nov 2010. (pdf document 713D8735) in fact the whole bill is nonsense and incorrect .

The only part that should be left is the gas, which if calculated to Friday 17 December using a reading of 5159 cu/mtrs showing that day, would amount to £99.10 inc: VAT (again calculated at old rates) .

So as was shown at the start of this email they already owe me £228.23 against my current liabilities of £25.10 + £99.10 , giving a credit of £104.03 .

I hope you are now fully aware of the current situation and you will ensure that I am billed correctly whenever my transfer finally takes place.
I am also concerned that I may lose the £100 welcome bonus that EDF were offering for new customers who transferred both gas and electric to them before the 30 Nov 2010 . I would of received this had my switch taken place without further hindrance, even after the first blockage from First Utility, and this would be grossly unfair if I lose this amount, under the circumstances I am faced with .

I would draw your attention to the paragraph highlighted in red . NO CORRECT INVOICE HAS YET BEEN ISSUED OR PROBABLY EVER WILL. so I have basically paid this amount by BACS transfer of £473.07 without them producing a proper bill .

I would also like to point out that I refuse to make any further payments to them , and First Utility giving some vague promise that they will refund any amounts they owe me, back in due course, so as to keep the books straight, nothing within this company will ever be straight , and it will be nigh on impossible to get this back.
I know for a fact from reading about other former customers on various internet forums (MONEYSUPERMARKET.COM and MONEYSAVINGEXPERT.COM) that they never credit back what they owe and it really is like trying to get blood out of a stone once they have moved on. I do not wish to then have to go to the small claims court to finally settle the matter, as I would out of principle, even if it is only a small amount .

I have asked EDF to apply once more to switch ( this is now the fourth time), and they have told me that they are requesting a date of 17 Jan 2011 so i should still not of used all of my £104.03 credit due back to me, as I consume around £60 -£65 per month in gas.
I hope I have made my position quite clear and would hope for a written response to all of the points I have raised in this letter.


I should add that the Ombudsman will not re-open the case as I have requested , nor will they appoint a new case officer. and just to add further insult , they will not put any response in writing since they made the first , and it would seem last and final adjudication back in August this year, and clearly First Utility have still not complied .

WHAT DOES IT TAKE.

Not_So_Naff

Be aware that if you owe your Energy Supplier for energy consumed they have a right not to release your account to a new Energy Supplier. Since the so-called ombudsman has walked away from your case you have no choice but to take this to a higher level, now is perhaps a good time to approach your MP? I can only hope that he or she is not like mine, when I last asked him for help I was deafened by the silence.

If you are asking ‘how to be rid of something that sticks like slime’:

MONEYPENNY wrote: »

WHAT DOES IT TAKE.

Answer scrub with bleach, or perhaps sulphuric acid to kill every last vestige of the filth, do this every half an hour until the slime is washed away?

katemw_2

I have had an ombudsman complaint with first:utility and the ombudsman was very helpful and awarded compensation of £150. I hope first:utility send the money soon...

The main reason I found for slow response from the ombudsman was that when I sent emails you had to ring up, tell them when you sent the email and then they found it and attached it to my case! Once I got this idea then the response took perhaps 3 months all together (first:utility were given time to respond with a case file, but, guess what? They did not respond!)

MONEYPENNY

Unfortunately it does not seem to matter what the ombudsman says, when it concerns F.U, as that is also there answer to anyone else.
I have read the whole thread on here and many others and it is always the same old story( ignore and maybe they will go away).
I am still waiting for what they owe me.

Granny_Bear

I know someone who went for an interview at First Utility in Leamington.

The impression he got was that the IT department is in a complete mess.

A lot of the original IT team were sacked / left. They are in the process of replacing the systems that the original team put in place. Some of the current development is being done in Vietnam?!

Sounds like a disaster zone.

MONEYPENNY

If you were to read the " Our Management Team" from there web site,
you would think these people all boasting technological expertise in this and that and Mark Daeche proclaiming " First Utility is first and foremost a technology business" something of a misnomer.

I wonder how much these jokers get paid for the fiasco they are responsible for.
As for sourcing IT systems/expertise from Vietnam, well that say's it all .

SirryD

I had to post something as have had horrible experience with First Utility. I thought it all sounded good, low prices etc. But from the start I got horrendous customer service. Basically it is an online service so all communications come via email. Except I never ever received anything from them which I thought was very weird. After a month of not hearing anything I decided to switch back to my old supplier (Npower) who gave me a good online deal to beat FU. Turns out First Utility had taken my email address down incorrectly from the start (how crap is that) so of course I wasn't going to ever hear from them.

But after telling them I no longer wanted anything to do with them what happens, 5 months later I get landed with a bill of £44.43 for ONE WEEK'S GAS SUPPLY in the period before I went back to NPower. I am not kidding. But because we are now in July there is nothing I can do to check if the reading given to them is correct. I was also told by their customer service that if I didn't pay I would get a visit from a debt collector or get a bad credit rating.

I feel quite sick about the whole thing really. PLEASE AVOID FIRST UTILITY LIKE THE PLAGUE.

gatita

If British Gas have been fined a million or two, how much should First Utility be fined!!!When they doubled their prices I decided to leave them.......... it took forever, I had a sneaky feeling there would be problems with the final readings, so I stopped the Direct debit, and asked them to send me bill. They did............... DOUBLE what it should have been. After sending several unanswered emails, I tried to telephone them, after hanging on for 23 minutes I gave up. In desperation I asked B.G. my current supplier, to contact F.U. with the correct final reading. This they did, and I eventually received the bill for the correct amount.
I sent the cheque off the same day Today, I received a threatening letter telling me to pay or else!
I am FURIOUS. Why aren't THEY fined for their disgusting customer service?