Powergen had me on the wrong tarif for 1 yr !!!

Middle_Earth

I was a little bemused this morning to receive a letter form Powergen (Age Concern) informing me that the transfer of my gas to them was going ahead smoothly and that I'd be contacted again in around 2-4 weeks.

About 1 year ago (March 2004) I had switched over from Powergen's standard tarif to the Powergen Age Concern tarif. At the time I was sent the Age Concern welcome pack - Carbon monoxide detectors, energy saving lightbulbs, magnetic thermometer chart, and had no doubt that the transfer had been made succesfully.

I phoned Powergen today to enquire as to what was going on, and after much discussion and being put on hold, it transpires that somebody at their end had botched my transfer and that for the last year I had been on their standard tarif.

I told them that I would want any over payment due to the discrepency in the tarifs to be backdated and refunded to me. Put on hold again. They agree to knock £10 off my bill and also inform me that I can keep the Tesco Club points that I have accumulated (Don't push the boat out too far !!!).

I enquire where they get this figure of £10 from and am told that this is the average saving made over one callander year when you transfer from the normal tarif to the Age Concern tarif. I request that they send me my energy usage figures for the last year, aswell as the relevant Age concern tarifs, informing them that if the discrepency is more than £10 then I will be claiming for the difference.

Whilst they were very appologetic over the phone, I find this level of customer service unacceptable. They were unable, there and then, to work out the difference in tarifs and the offer of a flat £10 claiming that this is the average only seemed to add insult to injury.

I have left it at that for the time being as I didn't want to get into a heated discussion over the phone. It may well be the case that the difference is less than £10 and that I have been "over compensated".

What would you have done differently ? Should I take any other action, and if so what would you suggest ?

Thanks.

Munki_2

I think you should definately calculate the difference between the different tarrifs yourself (can you get the rates from the PowerGen website?) then have moan if the difference is more!

As for them letting you keep the Tesco Clubcard points - don't they give clubcard points for all their tarrifs? (I may be wrong here... but you you used to be one the standard tarrif which gave you points, I'm on the Online tarrif which gives points... I'm guessing they may give points for all the tarrifs?)

Good luck!

Munki

Cardew

Age Concern Energy Services - The Age Concern tie up with Powergen - is, in my opinion, little short of a disgrace.

I am really disappointed that a respected charity like Age Concern have got themselves involved in such a scheme. The offer is couched in the most misleading terms and is far from being the best on offer – in fact it is one of the highest priced deals available.

I wrote to Age Concern and received a most disingenuous reply. I intend to start a separate thread on this, but the following quotes might be of interest

“At no time have we claimed that Age Concern Energy Services is the lowest price deal”

“for every customer who switches to the Age Concern Energy Services scheme, Powergen will make an annual contribution to Age Concern to support our charitable work”

Well it is nice that the some of the profit Powergen make from their excess charges for pensioners goes to a worthwhile cause!!

Middle_Earth

I think that I will shortly be parting company with Powergen.

bramleypippin

Having checked price comparison sites I rang up my supplier (Powergen, since they bought up Amerada), and they knocked off 16% immediately - good news, but why did I have to ring up in the first place?

Powergendisgruntled

I too was on wrong tariff but bill was reissued.
Also I have letter from Powergen AgeConcern reminding me to register for Tesco points, which I did but never received any. They say points not available on AgeConcern tariff! Working with trading standards on this issue.

:mad: