edf Fed up with them. Help!

romanina

Can I leave them or do i need to stay with them for a year? They have !!!!!!ed up the direct debit and seem to know very little about waht is happening in my account! And they are now more expensive!

dogshome

Hi romanina - Most of the Utility suppliers have announced price rises, but EDF have yet to announce theirs

When you are personally notified of price increases by EDF, (By Email, letter or Bill), you will have a short window of *"X" days to advise them you reject the new contract and are arranging to Switch, when you do this they have keep your old prices till the switch takes effect and they cannot charge Early Exit fee's

*X The number of days can vary between 7 & 20 - Read your Terms & Conditions to see what yours is

speedy_gonzalez

I've been having a nightmare with them as well. Have a look at this thread as there's some useful info there as well.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3303986

jalexa

romanina wrote: »

Can I leave them or do i need to stay with them for a year? They have !!!!!!ed up the direct debit and seem to know very little about waht is happening in my account! And they are now more expensive!

Now more expensive than who?

That is strange considering that Edf has yet to announce increases. Perhaps you have misunderstood something? I take it you realise that the monthly direct debit amount is not an accurate way of comparing prices?

Regarding whether you can "leave" or need to "stay for a year", you can switch at any time, however some tariffs (except in special circumstances) may levy an early termination charge. For more help on that point you need to post your exact tariff name.

I suspect that your tariff is not "now more expensive" at all but that an account review has increased your direct debit. That may (or may not) be right. Post more details if you *really* want help.

romanina

Thank you Jalexa, I think you may be right.

What is driving me mad though about Edf is the fact that I set up a direct debit with them when i opened the account in December. This is a Online S@ver v7 Electricity Online S@ver v7 Gas .They confirmed the direct debit by post and I checked my online edf account every month,to make sure that the right payments were being debited. In June i received a letter thanking me for letting them know I had stopped the direct debit. I phoned them (1 hour on hold!) to say that I had not cancelled the direct debit at all, they made a note of that. In July I received an overdue bill of £209, basicallly a red bill saying that if I did not settle the bill immediately there would be consequences. I checked my account online, supposedly still in credit because of previous monthly direct debits. No explanation whatsoever on my edf account online or on red bill of what the £209 was for. I phoned them (40 minutes on hold) and woman on the phone did not have a clue either. After holding, manager came on to explain that the £209 was to cover the money I had claimed back from EDF with an indemnity claim. I explained I never made an indemnity claim. Oh, yes, you did, she said, contact your bank. I contacted bank and surprise surpise not only no indemnity claim, no direct debit was ever set up. So ok, I have not paid since December (we did notice we had extra cash infact in our account, luckily we put it away to save). So EDF do not seem to know that our direct debit was never set up, they must have debited somebody else's account and this person has rightly claimed the money back. So, now I should phone them to explain, but they seem a bunch of useless gits, and don't particularly trust them to be able to manage my account properly. Any suggestions?

jalexa

romanina wrote: »

Thank you Jalexa, I think you may be right.

surprise surpise not only no indemnity claim, no direct debit was ever set up. So ok, I have not paid since December (we did notice we had extra cash infact in our account, luckily we put it away to save). So EDF do not seem to know that our direct debit was never set up, they must have debited somebody else's account and this person has rightly claimed the money back. So, now I should phone them to explain, but they seem a bunch of useless gits, and don't particularly trust them to be able to manage my account properly. Any suggestions?

First of all an apology. Possibly I wasn't "totally" right. Edf OS7 has been done to death in this Forum recently. It appears that OS7 was excluded from a previous "winter" price rise but has been the subject of a recent "summer" price rise. So may now be "more expensive" as you claimed in your OP.

Refer to this thread...

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3392982

Did you receive the *required* notice of a price rise?


If you have been putting money aside my advice is to make a reasonable and *agreed* payment on account. That will clear the decks and put you on the "moral high ground" for the "next step". If you make a "debit card" payment make sure it is clear, and checked back as understood, that it is a one-off payment only.

OK, next step. Edf customer service is being reported in this Forum as variously dysfunctional or in "meltdown". There are reports it has been like that for some time. So I cannot offer practical advice which will guarantee to quickly solve the problem.

However, every regulated business is required to have a written complaint's procedure which includes provision for "independent" referral. Raise a formal complaint strictly in accordance with the Edf complaint's procedure, preferably not by telephone. If you remain dissatisfied on "deadlock" or after 8 weeks, whichever occurs first you are then entitled to ask the Energy Ombudsman to investigate the complaint. Edf will hate that.

OK, back to practical options. You are entitled to switch to another supplier but be aware you may (or may not) be subject to an early termination charge. There is a recent thread about this. The debit balance (or "debt") may be raised as an obstacle, but that is not insurmountable (and may not even be a valid obstacle).

Read about "debt blocking" here...

http://www.consumerfocus.org.uk/files/2010/01/Debt-blocking1.pdf

Your choices are not easy. Use a Consumer Focus accredited comparison website using annual consumption to get a whole of market comparison. Unfortunately you may see that Edf is currently cheapest, and I cannot say you will find alternative suppliers any better.

Unfortunately on what to do next, only you can decide.