Ebico

Farway

tightbarsteward wrote: »

Im with Ebico for gas & electric & they or Southern Electric who administer the accounts have just changed my billing period from quarterly to six monthly! Anyone else had them do this? I'm going to dump all the money I put aside to pay the bills in my ISA

Yes they did this to me but never told me, I phoned up after a while without a 3 monthly bill, the rep seemed suprised and seemed to think it was an error, I should be 3 monthly billing, but did offer immediate bill if I wanted, but as I always pay when bill arrives and have the money saved away I just let it run on

The 6 monthly bill arrived last week, not sure if I revert to 3 months or not, but it is money in my bank not theirs so "I am not bovvered"

Wsb5tails

I just had my first bill from them and was confused. I signe up to the rate of 3.77p but my Southern Electric bill says they charge me 4.440 p for some and 3.37 for the rest.

Any advice?

elektra

so02see wrote: »

I just had my first bill from them and was confused. I signe up to the rate of 3.77p but my Southern Electric bill says they charge me 4.440 p for some and 3.37 for the rest.

Any advice?

Maybe they have put you on a Southern Elec tariff. Your bill should say what tariff you on. Mine says 'Your tariff is Equigas General' just below the bold writing ' YOUR GAS BILL' .

Wsb5tails

Thanks I'll take it up with them because it says nothing about ebico

Gytha_Ogg

I switched to Ebico at the end of October (I'm on a prepayment meter, and I heard they had good customer service, and I liked the idea of paying one flat rate). I've had nothing but problems with them - they are still charging me the wrong price after nearly 3 months, despite 2 visits from 2 engineers (one of which told me he couldn't do anything and he shouldn't have been sent out), a new meter fitted, and about 8 phone conversations. They also sent me 2 faulty smart cards which borked my old meter.

Everyone I spoke to was sadly incompetent, dismissive and didn't seem to care at all, and just fobbed me off every time with excuses or passed me round different departments. I'm now looking for a new supplier - especially as I've discovered that ebico aren't the cheapest for my usage anyway!

It's a shame as I heard their customer service was excellent, and I'm probably just unlucky. Just my experience.

Premier_2

Gytha_Ogg wrote: »

I switched to Ebico at the end of October (I'm on a prepayment meter, and I heard they had good customer service, and I liked the idea of paying one flat rate). I've had nothing but problems with them - they are still charging me the wrong price after nearly 3 months, despite 2 visits from 2 engineers (one of which told me he couldn't do anything and he shouldn't have been sent out), a new meter fitted, and about 8 phone conversations. They also sent me 2 faulty smart cards which borked my old meter.

Everyone I spoke to was sadly incompetent, dismissive and didn't seem to care at all, and just fobbed me off every time with excuses or passed me round different departments. I'm now looking for a new supplier - especially as I've discovered that ebico aren't the cheapest for my usage anyway!

It's a shame as I heard their customer service was excellent, and I'm probably just unlucky. Just my experience.

Why are you being charged the wrong rate? Why couldn't the engineer adjust the rate?

Does this possible explanation apply to you as to why you are being apparently charged the wrong rate?
http://www.ebico.co.uk/html/c_ppmeters.php#p4
If so, you'll probably have the same experience no matter who you choose.

Customer Service is supplied by SSE, who do score extremely highly in customer service ratings. I'm surprised you found them to be "incompetent, dismissive and didn't seem to care at all" as that certainly doesn't seem to be the majorities experience with SSE.
If you want to avoid them, then you've restricted your choice quite significantly already. Please let us know who you ultimately choose.

In what way were the cards faulty? Ebico don't manufacture the cards. Wouldn't this apply whoever supplied you. It's strange you actually got one faulty card let alone two, but don't rule out this possibility with any other supplier.

As for cost, well the last change they made was October 2nd. (details of which were published 22 September), which I think was one of the latest of all the suppliers. Unless there was undue delay in switching, you should have been aware of this before you opted to switch to them.

Sirbendy

I've been with them 12 months - no issues..:) One mis-set rate when I started, sorted by a phonecall and a card update when I took it for a top-up - they put a global request into the system and it takes a few topups to find your card, then it loads on that. Stick it in the meter and it updates then.

Works fairly well! The only time I had an engineer out was when I called EBico to say "I've got a battery warning", and it was the meter giving out, which got replaced very speedily.

The new place I'm moving to is supplied by Southern for power and gas..not sure how that'll work out cost-wise..but I'd happily switch back to EBico.

Southern send the cards out...bad luck if you've had faulty ones..even our original BG one worked (and that's a ruddy miracle).

Gytha_Ogg

Premier wrote: »

Why are you being charged the wrong rate? Why couldn't the engineer adjust the rate?

Does this possible explanation apply to you as to why you are being apparently charged the wrong rate?
http://www.ebico.co.uk/html/c_ppmeters.php#p4
If so, you'll probably have the same experience no matter who you choose.

I have no idea why I am being charged the wrong rate. I did read that info on the website and mentioned this when I contacted them, but they said the figures I had on the meter were definitely wrong and would need to be changed, so they would send an engineer out. However, the engineer who turned up said he was not able to alter the prices on the meter, and he didn't know why he had been sent!

Customer Service is supplied by SSE, who do score extremely highly in customer service ratings. I'm surprised you found them to be "incompetent, dismissive and didn't seem to care at all" as that certainly doesn't seem to be the majorities experience with SSE.
If you want to avoid them, then you've restricted your choice quite significantly already. Please let us know who you ultimately choose.

I realise that - one of the reasons I switched to ebico is because of their good service reputation. However, I can only describe my own experience. I realise this may have been a rare case and I think I'm just unlucky! When comparing prices, Sainsburys (through EDF) seem cheapest for me, so I'll try that - or is that out of the frying pan and into the fire?

In what way were the cards faulty? Ebico don't manufacture the cards. Wouldn't this apply whoever supplied you. It's strange you actually got one faulty card let alone two, but don't rule out this possibility with any other supplier.

Both cards were void when I put them in the meter - I did follow the instructions on the letter exactly, put the card in before putting money on it etc. Again, just bad luck I think! I know the cards aren't from ebico directly - in fact I don't know who they are from, as the letters have no letterhead or address on, so when querying them I had no choice but to ring ebico/southern.

As for cost, well the last change they made was October 2nd. (details of which were published 22 September), which I think was one of the latest of all the suppliers. Unless there was undue delay in switching, you should have been aware of this before you opted to switch to them.

I did know the price before I switched, I just didn't compare many suppliers (just wanted to leave B Gas!) Just didn't do my research I guess. Although their advertised price isn't a problem, I would have been happy to pay it!

Thanks for your responses, and sorry to derail the thread!

Sirbendy wrote:

I've been with them 12 months - no issues.. One mis-set rate when I started, sorted by a phonecall and a card update when I took it for a top-up - they put a global request into the system and it takes a few topups to find your card, then it loads on that. Stick it in the meter and it updates then.

Really? This is what I mean - no one seemed to know to do that, the only solutions they had were to send me a new card or send someone round, neither of which worked.

Premier_2

Gytha_Ogg wrote: »

I have no idea why I am being charged the wrong rate. I did read that info on the website and mentioned this when I contacted them, but they said the figures I had on the meter were definitely wrong and would need to be changed, so they would send an engineer out. However, the engineer who turned up said he was not able to alter the prices on the meter, and he didn't know why he had been sent!....

Well if the meter can't be changed remotely via the top up method, hence why I presume they sent out an engineer, and 2 engineers couldn't change the tariff, I guess it's because it's not capable of being changed. The link provided earlier explains why and what ebico do to overcome this. You don't get charged the wrong amount even if the meter suggests you do.

I think you'll have the same problem with whatever supplier you choose, unless they simply charge you the higher rate the meter is charging and don't make a credit adjustment.