EDF -Account £2,242.83 in credit!

juliep123

Hi all
Fairly new to the forum so please be patient.
We're with EDF and over the past year our DD has increased massively to £487.00 monthly! I have called customer services approximately monthly to complain and have been told that this is correct.I know that our bills are higher as i have to have the heating on a lot due to my medical condition (RA) but this seemed astronomical.We have been sending them readings regularly.On Friday we had a statement informing us that we are £2,242.83 in credit.Obviously i called them and they said they would consider a refund! but i am really annoyed that despite my calling them they insisted that the DD was right.We've really had to stuggle to find the payments every month and the person i spoke to didn't seem to care - blamed IT systems etc. Now obviously we wish to change suppliers but should we wait till we get a refund? I also wish to put a complaint in about this - is it worth it and who would i complain to?
Any advice would be most welcome
Thanks
Jules

wakeupalarm

First thing on Monday, make a formal complaint and take it all the way to the Energy ombudsman. What EDF are doing is stealing from you big time.

By the end of the summer your £2000 will be £4000. It's a interest free loan for EDF which they are profiteering from.

They break into peoples houses and change their meters for being a few pounds overdue yet, take £2000 from you and don' t give it back when you ask for it.

Get on the phone to them and demand your money back.

juliep123

Thanks for your reply
I'm already drafting a letter to them as i don't trust the call centre at all .I will also have a look on the Ombusman website to make a formal complaint about them.

A.Penny.Saved

Look on the bright side, you have a great big refund coming your way!

Then tell them how much you will pay them each month! Work it out for yourself based upon energy used.

Info from another thread suggests....never give EDF readings because their IT system is screwed and will only force a recalculation which is almost always wrong.

I have been tempted by their current deal but everything I read makes me very doubtful whether it's worth all the hassle. My time is worth far more than the relatively small saving I would make by being with them.

juliep123

Yes the refund will be most welcome - however there is no way i will stay with them after this,as soon as i get my refund i'm changing.I'm seriously considering not having a DD just pay quarterly even though this is dearer.
Jules

victor2

In addition to sending a complaint in writing (recorded delivery), complain through Consumer Direct, which is now handled by CAB as adviceguide.org.uk.
The complaint page is at https://forms.adviceguide.org.uk/complaint_energy.aspx
I used it when it was Consumer Direct and got an almost immediate response by phone from someone more senior than the customer services people at EDF. He sounded understanding and helpful, but still failed to answer my question and I gave up as it wasn't worth the effort, but it sounds like it is well worth the effort in your case.

[Deleted User]

Looks like edf are your new savings bank! not keen on their zero interest rates though, I thought I was bad because I let them build mine up to £300 before begging for it back.They will just transfer all this surplus back surely,as you say, its not clever marketing by them because they ve lost a good customer,then they have to refund the lot anyway

diamonds

http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Pages/OfgemHome.aspx

I'd be complaining to the regulator above as you have raised this several times & been ignored & are thousands in credit. Ombusman I would not bother. RA-you are obviously a "at-risk"energy consumer & Ofgem will beat the !!! of EDF - PUBLICALLY

I'd copy your complaint to the Energy minister & your MP. Martin may be interested in your situation in raising awareness of fuel poverty, I'll send him a link to here.

Terrible behaviour EDF.

jalexa

juliep123 wrote: »

I'm already drafting a letter to them as i don't trust the call centre at all.

It is a difficult call sometimes to know how best to submit a complaint.

If you can be confident about receipt (but be aware that IME the confirmation of Recorded Delivery to box numbers is *very* unreliable) then letter is good. Don't exclude the email option. When I tried that recently to the Director's Office email address per the Complaints procedure I got an immediate auto-acknowledgement. They cannot then deny receipt.

lithopsian

That's nice that everyone is giving you people to complain to, but call EDF back anyway. Tell them you want the money back immediately, not that they'll "consider it". It is way beyond reasonable and it would take a long time to claw back even if they dropped your direct debit to zero. Follow up that with your complaint letter, and refer to the telephone agreement just so it is all in writing. Just switching and waiting for a cheque to arrive could mean a long wait.

I would also say to get your monthly payments reduced to a sensible amount, but if you're leaving soon then maybe that's one fight you don't want to be bothered with. You can estimate what the payment should be by taking your actual bills for the last 12 months, total it all up and divide by twelve.

zzzLazyDaisy

juliep123 wrote: »

Yes the refund will be most welcome - however there is no way i will stay with them after this,as soon as i get my refund i'm changing.I'm seriously considering not having a DD just pay quarterly even though this is dearer.
Jules

I had to do this with BG when they doubled my DD despite me being £200 in credit at the end of the winter period. Then I moved to Scottish Power and have had no problems since then (touch wood).