EDF Energy Customer Service Nightmare

wagi

Has anyone else experienced the extremely long waiting time it takes to get through to EDF customer services?

It must be the most annoying helpline ever - continuous Take on Me by A-Ha interrupted every 10 seconds or so by a womans voice saying "Sorry we haven't been able to answer your call" etc

I spent 20 minutes on the phone waiting in a queue, after which time the line went dead and I had to repeat the process for another 20 minutes until someone answered.
This isn't the first time this has happened with EDF energy.

The call was regards to a large credit which should have been paid to myself weeks ago.

victor2

They used to be dreadful, but in the past 6 months or so, have improved noticeably in the time it takes to answer, in my experience.
Maybe another EDF screw-up (which they do appear to be quite adept at) has caused lots of customers to get on the phone to them.
At least it's an 0800 number, so only costs you time to wait.
I'd say email them, but that really is a waste of time.

jalexa

wagi wrote: »

Has anyone else experienced the extremely long waiting time it takes to get through to EDF customer services?

Waiting times were once dire, then it improved to almost immediate. Not experienced 20 minutes on a weekday morning recently. My recent experience of weekday mornings is 10 minutes (or less:()

It's frustrating when you want to get your own money back. Make sure you have a bill to a very recent reading and/or phone with current readings to hand.

In my experience once the refund is agreed it is returned promptly. Keep calm, keep focused on the issue (which I assume is the refund not the annoying music).

thescouselander

Yes, I fell foul of this today - I was on hold for ages and then got put through but nobody way there - I could hear people in the background so presumably wherever I went through to was unmanned. After about 30 seconds a heard a bit of shuffling round and was then cut off. I had to ring back and start all over gain.

Also the reason I was calling was they had not billed me for electricity so a large balance was building on my account up due to my direct debit and I couldn't tell if the accrued charges would leave me in credit or debt.

All round pretty poor show.

victor2

thescouselander wrote: »

Also the reason I was calling was they had not billed me for electricity so a large balance was building on my account up due to my direct debit and I couldn't tell if the accrued charges would leave me in credit or debt.

It does seem that the only way to deal with EDF is to track your own usage and calculate what it will cost you. Then make sure your payments to EDF have covered it. Of course, you really want your monthly payments to be 1/12 of your annual cost, so you'll pay more than a month's usage in the summer and less in the winter.
It's a pain to have to do their job for them, but does seem to be the only way to deal with their basic inabilities.

thescouselander

victor2 wrote: »

It does seem that the only way to deal with EDF is to track your own usage and calculate what it will cost you. Then make sure your payments to EDF have covered it. Of course, you really want your monthly payments to be 1/12 of your annual cost, so you'll pay more than a month's usage in the summer and less in the winter.
It's a pain to have to do their job for them, but does seem to be the only way to deal with their basic inabilities.

Yes, they have sorted the problem now only to introduce a new one. All my previous bills have disappeared so I cant even see the readings I put in.