Dodgy Billing Phone call

Vande

Hi,
For a while, I have been updating my electricity and gas readings through EDF Energy online. My balance has been in credit for a long time now, and today it had reached £728.16. I had been advised by older family members that I could ring up and claim this overpayment back. So today I did this. After waiting on the line for half an hour, a guy answered. I asked if I could claim some money back, and he said before I could do so he would need today's readings. I went off and read both of my meters and got back to him. He then said that he was unable to get into my account properly, so would have to call me back.
When he called back, he said he had had to completely wipe all the information on my account, and re-input, and now it was showing £373.56 credit. When I asked him where the rest of my money had gone, he waffled on with a load of nonsensical jargon. I said I would have to get further advice, as this did not seem right to me. He asked me what further advice he could give me, and I said I would have to get it independently from MoneySavingExpert. He replied that he thought that that was unwise personally as Martin Lewis is the bane of most utility companies' lives. He said that the current total was not worth reclaiming as we were just about to enter the cold winter months.
When I tried to go back to my online account, it kept saying "invalid link" until I eventually had to reload the website. It then made me log back in, and all of my bills had completely vanished, and the new total was now showing instead. All I managed to get was a screencap of the original total before this happened.
Could somebody please advise, as this all seems decidedly dodgy to me?
Thank you

Derek

Terrylw1

You are entitled per Ofgem's Standard Licence Conditions (SLC) to request any credit back. The supplier has to given reasonable grounds to retain it, as in calculate the fact it will be used up in Winter months.

Even then, you could raise your DD if you want to gain interest instead of EDF!

See the supplier .PDF's in this link to Ofgem's site. See SLC27.16.

http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Licensing/Work/Pages/licence-conditions-consolidated.aspx

Wywth

Vande wrote: »

Hi,
For a while, I have been updating my electricity and gas readings through EDF Energy online. My balance has been in credit for a long time now, and today it had reached £728.16. I had been advised by older family members that I could ring up and claim this overpayment back. So today I did this. After waiting on the line for half an hour, a guy answered. I asked if I could claim some money back, and he said before I could do so he would need today's readings. I went off and read both of my meters and got back to him. He then said that he was unable to get into my account properly, so would have to call me back.
When he called back, he said he had had to completely wipe all the information on my account, and re-input, and now it was showing £373.56 credit. When I asked him where the rest of my money had gone, he waffled on with a load of nonsensical jargon. I said I would have to get further advice, as this did not seem right to me. He asked me what further advice he could give me, and I said I would have to get it independently from MoneySavingExpert. He replied that he thought that that was unwise personally as Martin Lewis is the bane of most utility companies' lives. He said that the current total was not worth reclaiming as we were just about to enter the cold winter months.
When I tried to go back to my online account, it kept saying "invalid link" until I eventually had to reload the website. It then made me log back in, and all of my bills had completely vanished, and the new total was now showing instead. All I managed to get was a screencap of the original total before this happened.
Could somebody please advise, as this all seems decidedly dodgy to me?
Thank you

Derek

If EDF have wiped all of your account history because of their dodgy online system, ask them to send you copies of all your previous bills.

(It's worthwhile in future as standard practice, to download any bill to your own computer incase something similar happens again - I always do )

You can compare that to the latest bill/statement showing an account credit of £373.56 and all should be explained.

If it isn't, make a complaint

Vande

Thank you both for your reply! I will telephone them to ask for up to date bills for both electricity and gas first of all, then I will ask for my money back again, but be a little firmer next time using their own terms which you supplied.

I had only read both of my meters and submitted the readings online a couple of weeks ago, so I cannot see how the balance could have been hundreds of pounds out.

I also found an ombudsman online yesterday. It would be a shame if I had to use that, not least because it will be a lot more effort for me!

An interesting sidenote to this, is that they claimed I had won £500 on that rewards thing mentioned in another thread yesterday. Maybe others who have won such money should watch their bills very carefully?

Wywth

Vande wrote: »

Thank you both for your reply! I will telephone them to ask for up to date bills for both electricity and gas first of all, then I will ask for my money back again, but be a little firmer next time using their own terms which you supplied.

I had only read both of my meters and submitted the readings online a couple of weeks ago, so I cannot see how the balance could have been hundreds of pounds out.

I also found an ombudsman online yesterday. It would be a shame if I had to use that, not least because it will be a lot more effort for me!

An interesting sidenote to this, is that they claimed I had won £500 on that rewards thing mentioned in another thread yesterday. Maybe others who have won such money should watch their bills very carefully?

Could that be it? That £500 reward?

As I understand it, it is applied as a credit and no cash rebate is available.

Also interesting that at least 2 MSE'ers have already won this reward. I understood there were only going to be 10 over the entire promotional period.

Vande

Wywth wrote: »

Could that be it? That £500 reward?

As I understand it, it is applied as a credit and no cash rebate is available.

Also interesting that at least 2 MSE'ers have already won this reward. I understood there were only going to be 10 over the entire promotional period.

No, I have today received a letter dated yesterday which I just opened saying the credit will be applied in 4 instalments over the next 12 months, with the first payment in the next 90 days. They are rewarding me with 4 payments of £119.05 (before VAT), but have already taken almost exactly the equivalent of 3 of these back from the previously existing balance of my account . . .

Terrylw1

You can go to the energy ombudsman but only after 8 weeks of having a complaint in place with your supplier or if you hit deadlock in that complaint, which ever comes first.