EDF Online Saver 7 - Switching Timescale and Set Up.

snowcat53

backfoot wrote: »

I obviously don't know exactly how you have constructed your complaint. I assume you have made a specific complaint regarding your circumstances and used the evidence from here to make a general link that the problem/s are systemic rather than isolated to yourself.

I believe that is perfectly valid.

It is not appropriate for EDf to give a blanket reply under the pretence of the Data Protection Act.

I have come across this in other arena and it doesn't hold water.In fact,if they sustain this defence rather than addressing the issue properly,then I suggest you immediately request a deadlock situation and escalate the matter to the Energy Ombudsman and copy in Ofgem and Consumer Focus.

It makes my blood boil when valid complaints are shunned by some !!!!!! quoting legislation which has no credence or validity to the question at hand.

Nationwide did this to me on one occasion and suffered significant penalties for so doing.

I know EDF are watching this situation and this Forum and suggest that someone gets hold of your complaint and gives it the proper attention it deserves.

Hi Backfoot, I agree. It's not clear to me if they are going to repsond further. My own experience was used to make a general complaint re their policy. This is text

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"I write to complain formally about your treatment and policy in relation to billing for customers who sign up to the online saver 7 tariff, specifically on placing them on the standard tariff and then failing to automatically backdate bills to the online saver 7 tariff once your registration process is complete

My own experience was as follows

1. I received letters from you confirming new electricity supply on 14 December 2010 (supply date 21 December) and for gas on 30 December (supply date 7 Jan 2011)

2, However my first electricity bill dated 14 Feb2011 was on the standard tariff.
I phoned and the assistant apologised for the error and told me this had been corrected manually on the system to online saver 7 and I would get a new bill.
However i did not until i submitted new meter readings on 1 April.

3. The second bill dated 1 April still billed me on the standard tariff from 21 Dec to 7 Jan and on online saver 7 thereafter.
When I phoned again I was told that placing me on standard tariff was 'part of the legal script' and was included in my terms and conditions (although having signed up through energyhelpline I was completely unaware of this) . However the assistant agreed to re-bill me based on the online 7 tariff from 21 Dec, so I am happy that my personal position appears to be sorted out. My complaint is about your policy and that customers have to take the initiative to do so.

4.. The relevant paragraph you refer to appears to be
"If you are a new customer you may be placed on our standard tariff until the transfer to your requested tariff is processed and a written confirmation has been provided by us."

However I did, as noted above, receive confirmation from you before the supply date. Why therefore was I placed on the standard tariff at all?

5. Furthermore In my view this paragraph does not seem to me to give you authority, once your internal process is complete, to keep any excess charges made earlier on the standard tariff, and to fail to notify customers of them.
.
I understand the EDF legal department has already ruled on this matter and have advised that while there may be a short period of time where billing is made on this Standard Tariff, EDF accepts that this is not a fair position for customers and that they will give refunds for such amounts. However this requires customers to alert them to the problem.


I view this as inadequate. The customer has signed up intending to be on the online saver 7 tariff and whatever internal process you have for set up on to this tariff should in no way adversely affect their switch to the contracted tariff.

These are systematic (not individual) errors and should be systematically corrected. A policy of requiring customer to contact you is not good enough as this discriminates against the elderly and vulnerable, as well as those who are not diligent about their bills, as an Equality Impact Assessment on your policy would indicate.

I am therefore asking for a clear statement from you that for new customers who transfer to online saver7 1) you will automatically backdate all records and bills to the rate signed up to, when your registration process is completed, and 2) you will now automatically correct the bills of all those who have been affected to date including those who have not contacted you.

I hope this can be resolved by you promptly but if I do not receive adequate assurances I shall be taking this further."

backfoot

Snowcat,

Your complaint and concerns could not have been expressed any better or more clearly. :T

By no stretch of anyone's imagination does the Data Protection Act have any relevance to your correspondence.

We need to see the substantive reply from EDF. I hope the Senior Customer Services Rep gets hold of this very quickly, before someone digs a very big hole for themselves.

zogster

Hi. I had both gas and electricity bills arrive in the post today and the electricity in particular looked way out...Rang edf who are sorting it all out for me - although, he did quote the "it is in the t&c's" line but said he would do it as a goodwill gesture as they had credited my account with the bonus.

Dates for anyone interested:

Gas - switched 17 Jan 2011 - put on Online Saver 7 tariff 26 March
Elec - switched 7 Dec 2010 - still hadn't gone onto Online Saver today!

Another point (although I'm sure we all check for estimated readings) was that their estimates for our electricity was way out - especially the night usage which was 6 times more than my actual reading!!!

ETA: the edf guy said he had only seen problems like this when switches are done through comparison or cashback websites...

backfoot

zogster wrote: »

ETA: the edf guy said he had only seen problems like this when switches are done through comparison or cashback websites...

:rotfl:Another one for retraining.

snowcat53

More correspondence today:
Me to edf
Thank you for your response. It is unclear if I will be receiving a full response from the relevant department - please can you confirm yes or no.
Can i also point out that data protection legislation in no way prevents you from answering this complaint properly.

edf to me:
"Thank you for your e-mail dated 15 April 2011.

Please allow me to apologise for the confusion caused by my colleague's response to your original complaint.

When a customer joins EDF Energy, their account is always set up on our Standard pricing as this is necessary to open your account. We then automatically change the account to the requested tariff, which is usually completed within a matter of days. Our system then automatically reviews these accounts and a credit is applied to compensate for the difference in charges between the Standard prices and the requested tariff.

Unfortunately, the Online S@ver v7 tariff was not automatically applied which caused a delay in our system adding the credit to compensate for the difference in cost. I am very sorry for this delay and thank you for bringing it to our attention. I can assure you that this is a rare occurrence as our automated processes are usually very prompt.

I can see that we have now amended your accounts and credits have been applied. I hope that you now consider this matter to be resolved and I apologise that my colleague did not provide an adequate response to your complaint. Please do not hesitate to contact us again if you require any further information."

Any comments? - if the backdated correction really is now automated this looks like a result. But is it and are these incidents really now rare?

bertie200

I am still awaiting my 1st Gas bill, so far all my payments have gone on elec only, was told it should be sorted mid this month?

I was told it was due to a problem with the system for people who were in mid-switch over xmas and the new year?

kathie1101

Just a bit of info for others that still don't have access to their account online. I have been speaking with a lady from the chief exec's office re a whole load of problems including my electricity still not being switched (now 5 months since request!).

Anyway I mentioned about the lack of online access. I have been told that we will have access by August at the latest - I know it is still a while off, but apparently the old system was lousy and about as much use as a chocolate teapot but she tells me the new system is the bees knees.

I haven't had a gas bill as yet (switched December) and neither have I been asked to give a reading.

backfoot

snowcat53 wrote: »

More correspondence today:
Me to edf
Thank you for your response. It is unclear if I will be receiving a full response from the relevant department - please can you confirm yes or no.
Can i also point out that data protection legislation in no way prevents you from answering this complaint properly.

edf to me:
"Thank you for your e-mail dated 15 April 2011.

Please allow me to apologise for the confusion caused by my colleague's response to your original complaint.

When a customer joins EDF Energy, their account is always set up on our Standard pricing as this is necessary to open your account. We then automatically change the account to the requested tariff, which is usually completed within a matter of days. Our system then automatically reviews these accounts and a credit is applied to compensate for the difference in charges between the Standard prices and the requested tariff.

Unfortunately, the Online S@ver v7 tariff was not automatically applied which caused a delay in our system adding the credit to compensate for the difference in cost. I am very sorry for this delay and thank you for bringing it to our attention. I can assure you that this is a rare occurrence as our automated processes are usually very prompt.

I can see that we have now amended your accounts and credits have been applied. I hope that you now consider this matter to be resolved and I apologise that my colleague did not provide an adequate response to your complaint. Please do not hesitate to contact us again if you require any further information."

Any comments? - if the backdated correction really is now automated this looks like a result. But is it and are these incidents really now rare?

EDF as part of their system upgrade were developing the ability to put customer's directly onto their online tariiffs instead of going through the painful old procedure. I was told that the functionality for that part was close to implementation.(unfortunately, I can't find the relevant memo ).

It may be, and I hope so, that this aspect is now up and running.

I don't think that was exactly your question. I think you asked about those OS7 customers,who went through the old procedure and didn't contact the company after being billed on their standard tariff.

Is there now an automated procedure which picks up and rectifies the situation?

My original bill for electricity was completely wrong and EDF corrected it. My first gas bill, received recently, was correct.

I had assumed that given my involvement with EDF someone had made doubly sure it was produced correctly, but perhaps they now have a system fix for this.

In fairness,I don't think they would go on record here and say that this was now an automated process when it wasn't.

I will leave it to you whether you are satisfied with the response.I am glad they have apologised for the DP faux pas.It does look like someone has got a grip of your complaint and on the face of it, have provided a substantive response.

No doubt other members will update us on whether their bills are now coming through correctly.

backfoot

kathie1101 wrote: »

Just a bit of info for others that still don't have access to their account online. I have been speaking with a lady from the chief exec's office re a whole load of problems including my electricity still not being switched (now 5 months since request!).

Anyway I mentioned about the lack of online access. I have been told that we will have access by August at the latest - I know it is still a while off, but apparently the old system was lousy and about as much use as a chocolate teapot but she tells me the new system is the bees knees.

I haven't had a gas bill as yet (switched December) and neither have I been asked to give a reading.

Thanks Kathie,

There was always going to be a roll out of the online system with it effectively moving up the country. August/september was the date I was given as well.

Without online access, they will estimate your first gas bill. You could always phone in a reading if you want greater accuracy.My estimated gas bill was pretty accurate.

Well done getting that high up the company.:T I thought I had done well but you have trumped me.:)

gemmalouanna

Good news for me.

I rang up on Tue to enquire about when I would receive bills as my credit was several hundred pounds (I can access online) - she said something about me being set to receive everything online (the way I wanted) so she would alter to receive paper bills and one would be sent. I received that today and everything on correct OS7 tariff. Good stuff

However, they are altering my gas DD to £13 a month ha ha think that is a bit on the low side!

Also got my £100 welcome bonus shown on bill and quidco paid after raising query.

Worth the few months of waiting let's hope other people start having things go right