Any positive experiences switching to EDF energy??

jalexa

victor2 wrote: »

I'm not prepared to hang on the phone. I'll just wait to see what happens

Well I've decided to change my DD account after 2 payments. Related to the Natwest/RBS basic account saga in another thread.

No functionality in MyAccount (though it is implied somewhere). No phone answer after 15 minutes so I abandoned and submitted the workflow outside MyAccount. Will see which of the various permutations arise. Interestingly all my other Direct Debit Orginators with either online access or Saturday opening are changed over without fuss (or undue phone delay).

Poor show Edf, but I get the "telephone message", you have scre*d up Customer Service. One thing I don't understand, why does a new Customer Service system need 700 additional staff? I would have thought better online functionality would require less staff.

babyfruitella

I think I must be one of the lucky ones. I'm currently switching from BG to EDF & have had no issues whatsoever. My welcome pack came out promptly, my 'My Account' is working properly, i've been able to switch paper billing off, i've submitted meter readings.... I called them last week to check something and got through to an advisor straight away. I called today regarding my payment scheme & I was on hold for around 25 minutes. No big deal when its a free phone tbh. When I finally got through to an advisor she was extremely helpful. I'd requested a 22nd DD date, but my first payment was being requested on the 8th September with future payments coming out on 22nd. I wanted to find out if it was possible to stop that 8th payment & she was more than happy to do that for me.

cooking-mama

Not sure whats happeneing here,last week British gas requested i send in online meter readings before 12 noon 19th,otherwise i would get estimated bills...I posted electricity and gas meter readings on 17th..still seriousley thinking i would be owed money by BG...anyhow today ive had Emails..First one stating electricity in credit by £3.17 ...it then goes on to say this is an estimated bill and i should submit a reading within 7days for an accurate bill(but i sent a reading just 3 days ago)
Next gas....and the worrying thing here is that theres no mention of this being an estimate..Gas im allegedly £96 in debit!!!,realy realy wasnt expecting that,especialy as i was supposedly £152 in credit,there is no way we've used £248's worth of gas since June...havent even had the heating on.
Cant check all the details as BG website is closed for maintenance until tomorrow morning,if it turns out that i am in debit to the tune of £96 to BG,will i have to pay this right away before i switch?,if i cant afford to pay it now and the switch doesnt go ahead then will i have to pay EDF exit fees?,cant believe this has happened,if id had any idea i would have an outstanding balance with BG i would never have initiated a switch in the 1st place...makes me think id be better off paying bills quarterly,at least that way id know i didnt owe anyone any money

jalexa

cooking-mama wrote: »

Not sure whats happeneing here,last week British gas requested i send in online meter readings before 12 noon 19th,otherwise i would get estimated bills...

Hang on, something is not right here. As far as the switch is concerned it is up to the gaining supplier to take (or request you take) readings on or around the notified transfer date. These readings are sent by the gaining supplier to the losing supplier. Hence the opening and closing bills will use *exactly* the same readings.

There is no (legal) chance of the switch being blocked because you are in "debit" not "debt", and anyway not sufficiently to be blocked.

I do not know why (indeed if it is procedurally correct) for British Gas to raise an "interim" bill. (This is not the "final bill"). If you complied with their readings date for an "accurate interim bill" but they neverthess raised an "estimated interim bill" I would turn the tables and raise a formal complaint strictly in accordance with the British Gas complaints procedure. Wobetide any licenced supplier that does not strictly comply with the transfer rules.

It seems unlikely that summer gas consumption can be so high, however the meter reading and (correct) billing is "proof positive". The question cannot be answered without scrutiny of the actual interim bill (and the previous bill). Post more details if stuck.

And BTW, an "email" stating a balance is not a "bill" unless it is a proper bill.

kempocab

I live in a rented house. After paying alot of money to British Gas over the years, I decided to see who was the cheapest. Turned out to be EDF. The switch over was a !!!! up. They lost the meter readings given. About 3 months later I moved house (but only next door) and went online and filled out the relevant details required. It actually says on their site "we will take the stress out of your move" Ha!!
They opened another account for the new address but continued to bill me for the old. After umpteen phone calls, letters emails and contacts through the website (they never reply to website messages) I eventually wrote a formal complaint. I received a letter apologising, with the charges amended / removed and a credit of £25.00 on my new account.
Relief at last, well I can just get forget it all now hey! I then get a bill for 5 months energy at my new property, annoying but I put the money by to cover it (i do not trust these plonkers with DD) and they advise that my new quatrely has been worked out using this bill (a 5 month bill, yes you can guess what they have done). Luckily I will continue to give monthly readings and can work out what I need to pay myself.
All very frustrating and I am now thinking I might dump them once I get past the 12 month period, unless there is some drastic improvement.
Wait for it - they want to another go at forcing me to leave, yesterday I receive another bill for the old property. Which shows the credited charges explained earlier AND they have astoundingly reinvoiced me for the same charges. Well I can't take this anymore, I phoned and after half an hour of holding, I spoke to a friendly woman, who has promised to sort the issue (I will not hold my breath). I also sent the following email. Do you think that they may take notice?

I am once again writing to your company with a complaint. It now appears to me that EDF must in fact be trying to deliver a shocking level of service to me and must be deliberately trying to annoy me. I must congratulate EDF on reaching a level of service that could not possibly get any worse. You must of reached your target by now, I am now thoroughly !!!!ed off. You must have the worst level of customer service I have ever experienced. Please give up your quest, there cannot possibly be a company with worse service than EDF, you have done it.

Now that you have achieved what you set out to achieve, can I kindly ask that you pat yourselves on the back and try a revolutionary idea. Listen to your customers, handle their requests, resolve complaints and make them glad that they have selected EDF to supply their energy.

Today I received a bill, for energy used at a property that I used to live at. The bill is for energy used after I vacated the house (and informed you).

The fact that I am billed for energy used when I was not living there is annoying enough. But what is absolutely astounding, is that I spent countless hours trying to get EDF to listen to me to resolve my complaint, finally resulting in the charges being removed, an apology and a credit of £25 on my account, you then re invoice me for the same charges.

I telephoned earlier and after an eternity spent holding, I was put through to S*** ****, who has promised to look at my complaint.

Here is what I want from you -
Another apology.
Charges removed.
Compensation for my time and stress that your company insists on causing me.
A letter from Director level acknowledging my complaint, with a full explanation as to why EDF are so crap.

I will ignore anymore bills for my old address, and I am more than happy to go to court. It would be quite entertaining to watch EDF try to justify the bills, and then have to pay for my time in court.

I hope that EDF can resolve this issue, but I will not hold by breath.

For your information, I am with EDF at my new address, but only until my contract has finished. I cannot possibly continue after the 12 month period. I just do not have the time to deal with your incompetence.

jalexa

kempocab wrote: »

I also sent the following email. Do you think that they may take notice?

FWIW, my advice is to cut the irony, Keep It Simple (S) and focus on the facts.

Regarding the previous complaint outcome being "undone", my advice on that is to go straight to the Energy Ombudsman as you are entitled to do.

cooking-mama

Thanks jalexa panic over,BG website up and running again,turns out i only owe the £3.odds for electricity and im £96 in credit for gas,
The Email stated electricity balance £3.17.........Gas balance -£96.64..I assumed the presence of the - implied a minus,therefore a debt of £96.
This wasnt a "switch over" reading,i had changed from BG standard to BG online 4 energysmart,to try and save on the tariff whilst waiting to switch to EDF,theres no exit fee with this one,but it involves monthly customer meter readings,and thats what was due,
oddly tho,They are classing my gas statement as Your monthly gas statement-Actual..this is based on my customer reading with no estimates involved at all,but electricity is Your monthly electricity statement-Estimated..This is based on..
9th Aug-estimated 73720,and again 9th Aug estimated 73729 10th Aug estimated(still)73729 16th Aug."you gave us your meter reading" 73794,..this is repeated for 17Aug,followed by 17th Aug.estimated,73803 18th Aug73813.Dunno what those daily estimates are all about.With the gas,there are daily estimates from 8th,9th,10th Aug,but they have accepted my actual reading on 16th to produce an accurate statetment,dunno why they didnt do this with electricity too.....im just gonna go out now to see what my electricity meter is reading today.
Electricity right now is reading 73843

kempocab

jalexa wrote: »

FWIW, my advice is to cut the irony, Keep It Simple (S) and focus on the facts.



Rergarding the previous complaint outcome being "undone", my advice on that is to go straight to the Energy Ombudsman as you are entitled to do.

I would usually agree with you. But I am so angry, I will treat them with the same professionalism that they treat me with. I may contact the Ombudsman, but I do not want to use any more energy on EDF, I will let them resolve it or try to take action for non-payment. In the end I will get what I want.

jalexa

While I don't excuse the Edf "woefully untested" billing system, I called this morning to change my bank details and the call was answered after 3 - 4 minutes by a very personable adviser. (confirming my experience of weekdays a.m. as a "good" time)

Of course, the proof is in the eating. I will find out in a few weeks.

alderfield

I've found nothing positive about EDF to date. Applied to transfer in January but it was April before it was sorted after receiving several letters each one contradicting what the previous had said. Although I'd agreed to pay by DD they didn't take it in April, and I was informed by post that it would be taken in May, it wasn't. Contacting them by phone took forever, in the meantime they wrote to tell me I'd cancelled the DD and how did I now intend to pay bills and then a second letter said the DD would be taken on 28th June. Finally got through by phone and was told they'd probably cancelled the DD during routine IT maintenance by accident and it was now re-instated and would be taken on June 28th or thereabout when I pointed out that I would then be a couple of months in arrears I got agreement that I would be but nothing they could do and if I wanted to be up-to-date I should go on-line and make up the missing payments. On 6th June I was on-line checking my bank account and found EDF had taken a DD payment, when I contacted them I was told that was May 28th payment (the one they said was cancelled) and it took at least a week or more between them taking it and it being credited to my account, I gave up at that point but as soon as I can I will be going elsewhere. EDF Customer Service isn't just bad, its non existent.