sheer incompetence by EDF

magpiesnest

in august last year i moved into a new build house. i signed up to edf dual fuel (using u switch - nice champagne) switch seemed to go very well, got letters to say i was an edf customer for both services. i have given my meter readings TWICE, last week recieved a gas bill but elec bill said i had nothing to pay(alarm bells ring) contacted edf but told no problems. then on wednesday the house developer called to say he has recieved a elec bill from BG which relates to my house. i have rang edf again, this time i am told that BG have not released the account yet. but they will re-submitt a transfer letter to bg. my question (for those of you who i have not put to sleep) is where do i stand. edf have over £300 of mine but dont have my account. and developer wants me to pay the bill he has. is it not upto him to close his account with BG in order for me to take over? any advice would be appreciated.

wills34

Any money on a direct debit you have paid will reference an account number on your statement call them ask them to check amount request if necessary to speak to a manager who will check mpas to verify who supplies they should than transfer the money back to you freeing you up to set up with BG. Or if you would like to check personally call the energywatch helpline and request the number for the mpas for electricity in your area. You need to confirm supplier and dates of transfer if any?

cornbuddy

I think all these companies are the same. I moved from BG to EDF in Jan 06, received a final bill from BG this month stating I was over £200 in credit. Apparently when I switched over to EDF the money was still going to BG even though the account had been closed in the March 06. Anyway phoned BG and asked for a refund, told couldnt have it as the money belonged to EDF. Then phoned EDF to tell them that BG had over £200 of their money and that they needed to claim it back from BG, they told me I didn't owe them any money!!!!!!! Spoke to BG once again and explained what I had been told by EDF but once again told that the money could not be refunded to me. So had to phone EDF again, explain that from March - Aug 06 I had been paying BG but the money belonged to EDF as I was now with them and that they had to claim it back. Hopefully they have managed to sort this out because I will not be paying a big bill because of all this negligence on both their parts. BG then asked if I would like to switch back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

tripled

It takes 4-8 weeks for a change of supplier to go through, so you should have regsitered with BG when you moved in as there will be a period you need to pay them for. If there is an outstanding balance at that address and you hadn't notified BG you are a new occupier, then BG will object to the transfer.

The developer is only responsible for closing their account, and frequently they won't notify the utility until all properties on the development have been sold when they will send in a file with all the details together. It is your responsibility to set up your accounts not the developers.

You should not pay any bills in the developer's name - he could then claim your payment back from BG. Instead you need to register with BG, give them the readings from when you moved in. Once the accounts have been set up, they will be prepared to release supply. EDF should refund your payments, if not claim them back from the bank under the DD guarantee.

tripled

cornbuddy wrote: »

Anyway phoned BG and asked for a refund, told couldnt have it as the money belonged to EDF.

What a load of rubbish they have told you. The utilities will, when pushed, sometimes transfer misdirected electricity prepayment money between each other, but that is it.

Check with your MPAS service/Xoserve what date your changeover went through, make sure your final bill(s) from BG are to that date, and demand the credit gets refunded. If they refuse, claim back any payments they took after the changeover went through via the dd guarantee scheme, if they still owe you money after that or you have any credit from before the changeover, write in to request it and if that doesn't work then complain to energywatch.

cornbuddy

Tripled - could you explain a bit more. What exactly should I be doing to get a refund. I was going to check with EDF to see if they have claimed the money back, but judging by when I spoke to someone last week I don't hold out much hope of them having done anything.

magpiesnest

thanks for info TRIPLED but have been down that raod too. rang BG and they have no record of my property or the developer (EVEN WHEN I GAVE THEM THE DEVELOPERS ACC NO) granted that was back when i was moving in. this is what made me move away from BG, i thought they were completely incompetent but it seems they all are. thing that sticks in my throat is that EDF told me i was their customer and at no time told me the transfer did not complete. but when you speak to them they insinuate that this mess is your fault.:mad: