Budget energy

RTNI

Golden_Anemone wrote: »

Has anyone else had their DD changed by Budget? I paid £31 in November but they have taken £37 in December. They did notify my of the increased tariff but not of a rise in the DD amount - and before anyone says it, I know it makes sense that the DD would increase. I just thought they were obliged to notify customers before doing this.

Their admin side seems very poor.

Just went a bit farther back and see this happened to Robin too. lol

did you complain about that? I have not got round to that yet, I keep forgetting to get my customer number when I get home in the evenings. I'm not too fussed if it increases, but like you would like to know about it, and don't want it increasing too much so much so that I end up with a credit on the account at the end of the quarter. Ideally I would like to get a bill at the end of the quarter where I have to pay them about a few quid *or* my DD amounts add up to the amount that I have used (but this is very unrealistic!)

RTNI

I just called and apparently emails were sent out to advise about the price increase. Said that I didn't get and email and they (correctly) had my email address. The guy in finance is looking into it for me and is going to get back to me about it.

We will see what he says........

Hazel: Under the DD scheme, the payee is to give the payer notice if the amount, date or frequency changes of the amount. For me it's funny as my DD is supposed to come out on the 31st of the month, but it came out on the 1st Dec as no 31st in November. I'm happy enough with that - was just a bit unsure if they would take it on the 30th as it's the last day of the month but seems not.

hazelc56

RTNI wrote: »

I just called and apparently emails were sent out to advise about the price increase. Said that I didn't get and email and they (correctly) had my email address. The guy in finance is looking into it for me and is going to get back to me about it.

We will see what he says........

Hazel: Under the DD scheme, the payee is to give the payer notice if the amount, date or frequency changes of the amount. For me it's funny as my DD is supposed to come out on the 31st of the month, but it came out on the 1st Dec as no 31st in November. I'm happy enough with that - was just a bit unsure if they would take it on the 30th as it's the last day of the month but seems not.

Thanks for that RTNI.Your post will be of help to others on here.
Referring to your post about them sending an email...We didnt have much choice about how they will communicate with us in the future ..when we first signed up.We could only choose communication via,email OR post not and/or both.I wasnt keen on that idea when i switched.I know they are probably trying to save on postage charges and the environment or whatever but i foresee problems in the future as people may not be able to access their emails on time.I suppose its up to themselves though.
As they are a new company and we are new customers we will all get used to each other eventually.

Golden_Anemone

Thanks Robin, I didn't get an e-mail either. As I said their admin side appears to be quite poor. The letter advising of the new tariff arrived well after it took affect too.

I don't have my customer number with me at work so I'll ring to register my displeasure over this tomorrow more in the hope that they will improve things rather than to leave - it's still the cheapest option for electricity.

I agree completely about wanting to pay only what I am using and not overpaying them. This was my main gripe with NIE - I was 6 months into my annual billing period when I left to go to Airtricity and they already owed me £60 - they always overestimated the monthly DD so I was in credit with them and they earned interest on my money.

RTNI

hazelc56 wrote: »

Thanks for that RTNI.Your post will be of help to others on here.
Referring to your post about them sending an email...We didnt have much choice about how they will communicate with us in the future ..when we first signed up.We could only choose communication via,email OR post not and/or both.I wasnt keen on that idea when i switched.I know they are probably trying to save on postage charges and the environment or whatever but i foresee problems in the future as people may not be able to access their emails on time.I suppose its up to themselves though.
As they are a new company and we are new customers we will all get used to each other eventually.

HI Hazel,

Agree that the new company can't be expected to get everything right all the time, but I found this from an automated email to say that I had entered details on their website for switching:

Preferred Method of contact
Email: True
Phone: False
Text: False
[FONT=&quot]Post: True
[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]

So it appears from this that I can be contacted by email and post, although I take your point that email would be their preference as it's cheaper.

Now I did get an email on the 23rd November to advise me the unit rate was going up to 14p ex VAT but nothing more to say what my new DD would be.

[/FONT]

RTNI

Golden_Anemone wrote: »

Thanks Robin, I didn't get an e-mail either. As I said their admin side appears to be quite poor. The letter advising of the new tariff arrived well after it took affect too.

I don't have my customer number with me at work so I'll ring to register my displeasure over this tomorrow more in the hope that they will improve things rather than to leave - it's still the cheapest option for electricity.

I agree completely about wanting to pay only what I am using and not overpaying them. This was my main gripe with NIE - I was 6 months into my annual billing period when I left to go to Airtricity and they already owed me £60 - they always overestimated the monthly DD so I was in credit with them and they earned interest on my money.

I just actually rung them up, they seemed to find my details by my name without my customer number. did you get an email similar to this:

Budget Energy¹s new rate for Bill Pay customers, which will take effect from the 25th November 2011, is 14 pence per unit (excluding vat).
Budget Energy still remains 17% lower than Power NI & Airtricity¹s Standard Rate.
Should you require any more information please call our Customer Services on Freephone 0800 012 11 77 or visit our website at www.budgetenergy.co.uk.
Thank you for your custom and we assure you of our best attention at all times.
Yours sincerely

I got that on 23/11/11 at 10am but nothing after that. When you say

The letter advising of the new tariff arrived well after it took affect too.

is that what you mean by notification of the new unit rate?

Golden_Anemone

RTNI wrote: »

I just actually rung them up, they seemed to find my details by my name without my customer number.

did you get an email similar to this:

No, I got that information by letter.

RTNI wrote: »

I got that on 23/11/11 at 10am but nothing after that. When you say is that what you mean by notification of the new unit rate?

Yes, this was in a letter posted to my home address.

Strangely my auto confirm e-mail from [EMAIL="noreply@budgetenergy.co.uk"]noreply@budgetenergy.co.uk[/EMAIL] had the following preferences

Preferred Method of contact
Email: True
Phone: False
Text: False
Post: False

as I would prefer e-mail contact but they seem to have ignored it anyway! Will let you know what they say when I give them a ring.

RTNI

Thanks - that would be useful to know. I have not had a call back from them as yet, perhaps tomorrow.

hazelc56

RTNI wrote: »

HI Hazel,

Agree that the new company can't be expected to get everything right all the time, but I found this from an automated email to say that I had entered details on their website for switching:



[FONT=&quot]So it appears from this that I can be contacted by email and post, although I take your point that email would be their preference as it's cheaper.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Now I did get an email on the 23rd November to advise me the unit rate was going up to 14p ex VAT but nothing more to say what my new DD would be.[/FONT]

Strange as I was given the choice of either Post or Email.
I wasnt given the choice of both methods of communication.I chose post in case i didnt read my emails on time.Maybe its changed since i had my switch.

RTNI

well now for the actual bill there were 2 options - post or email (one one can be selected) it could be that or a difference between DD and PAYG customers perhaps?

I did miss a call from a 028 71 number (NW area) at 1700 but I was driving at the time and could not answer it, hopefully they will call back tomorrow.