Co-operative Energy reviews: Give your feedback

Icelady

Left Co-op Energy, June 14. Fine until, March 15, when due to their updated IT system, a Direct Debit was re-set up and a deduction of £94.23 was made. Rang Lloyds bank and got refund, rang Co-op to ask why it had happened. Was told everything definitely cancelled and it won't happen again. Well on 27 April 15 they again deducted £94.23 by DD. Have rung Lloyds for refund but no one working at Co-op due to Bank Holiday, so will have to wait til tomorrow to again complain. How can this happen when I've not submitted any meter readings since last May, what do they think they are taking the money for? Advise anyone who has left them during the past 12 months or so to check bank statements in case they are also being targeted. Daughter left them and they are refusing to refund her money, and not giving her a reason why either. Ombudsman here she comes.

footyguy

It would appear that MSE are now warning against this supplier.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=68337081&postcount=4

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=68337102&postcount=5

Perhaps this thread has more info
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5205736

This is the warning currently included by the Cheap Energy Club

Co-op Energy normally does very well for customer service but after a recent system change, we've had reports that switches are taking much longer than usual. See the Co-op Energy faces customer backlash following bungled system upgrade MSE news story for full details.

Edit: Mind you, the CEC also has warnings about many other suppliers including:
First Utility
nPower
Sainsburys Energy (although interestingly not British Gas)
Scottish Power

(And in the case of many small suppliers give a warning that they don't have enough feedback to decide about that supplier)

oliver_mead

I switched from Scottish Power on 1st May ....well nearly. I started the switch on 7th March. Chased them for welcome pack that was eventually emailed to me. I checked my status with old company today and the electricity was switched, although no readings were done as I was away for a few days. But the gas was not switched! I phoned the Co-op and after 47mins got through and asked why no gas switch? you guessed it, they didn't know.
Now the big problem..... I thought I would help my old Mum and Mother-in-law switch, as they had not done this before. Both had no idea that they should have switched over today, so I tried to phone though to the Co-op. Ist time 59mins... no joy.....2nd time 42 mins. Luckily they accepted their meter readings from me, otherwise my Mum and Mother-in-law would have been in a right state.
The motto can only be SWITCH to anyone, BUT NOT THE CO-OP !!!!!!!

goldenwonder1970

I've given up with the Coop - they obviously are ignoring their customers and are unable to get their shambles of a system working.

They haven't answered any of my emails or complaints and phoning them results in long waits so I have finally arranged to switch to another supplier.

I'm fully expecting coop to !!!! up the final bill as well. I hope they've lost a huge amount of customers over their attitude.

HJandR

I am also experiencing the nightmare of the coop energy switch. I started to switch in late Feb via the MSE Energy Club and quickly received the standard welcome pack confirming supply from 27 March. I then heard nothing - no direct debit set up, and no request for meter readings. I contacted them on 1 April and they took readings at that point over the phone. My previous supplier then contacted me to change my direct debit as they were supplying gas only...??. I emailed co op and eventually they confirmed that they had been supplying electricity since 4 April and Gas would switch on 6 May.. no explanation and direct debit still not set up... I have had no requests for readings for gas on 6 May and still no direct debit set up with my bank ... I attempted to phone last night and was in the hold queue for 1 hour and 15 minutes with no sign of a human at all.

I have no idea who is supplying what, who I might owe what to, and as soon as this is established I will be moving - I am past caring as the saving is not worth this level of incompetence !!!!

HJandR

Hi, I am among what appear to be the thousands stuck in the coop energy switch. I arranged to switch in February, and received a welcome pack with a switch date of 27 March and a new account number. Since then there has been nothing really... no communication about providing meter readings, no details of progress. I contacted coop on 1 April to see if they were supplying me, and provided meter readings over the phone. I then received emails from Flow Energy my previous/existing supplier to reduce my direct debit amount as they were now only supplying me with Gas....???

I attempted to phone co op - no luck - so emailed them - and they confirmed that my electricity was switched on 6 April and my gas would move on 7 May... no explanation and no request/ process to provide meter readings for gas switch, and also confirmed that the direct debit payment was not yet set up.

After 7 May - still nothing so I attempted to phone them again, as no direct debit in place still - and I had cancelled my flow energy DD - which was substantially in credit on the account and I believed would be switched imminently (perhaps not a good move in hindsight..) After 1 hour and 15 mins in the queue I gave up trying to phone co op, and emailed them to request an update and copy of complaints procedure... still no reply a week later.

I have now checked my account at Flow and notice that they have billed me for both gas and electricity up to 30 April. I have no idea who is supplying me with what - and who to complain to about what... anybody got any ideas ?? Given that Flow confirmed by email that my direct debit was reducing - they knew they were not supplying me with both utilities - but gave no dates - so no idea if coop have ever provided the final readings.

At the moment if I could escape the switch to coop I would gladly do so, but as I have no idea who is supplying what and from what date - I have no idea who to transfer from or how to go about it ?? Any thoughts about how I might begin resolving this ???

modsandmockers

I think that by now the entire energy industry, including OFGEM and the mysterious world of The Ombudsmen, is well aware of the meltdown in Co-op Energy’s customer services department which has been caused, apparently, by a bodged IT update. Co-op Energy seem to be claiming that the situation will be resolved by the end of May, but I am not holding my breath.

If you are in credit with your previous supplier, then it is hard to see how they can object to the cancellation of any further DD payments. Equally, it is hard to see how Co-op Energy can claim to be entitled to take any of your money.

I would suggest making no payments at all to either company until they have sorted out their act to your satisfaction. I would continue to send them regular emails and regular meter readings. Do your own calculations, and check your bills carefully - my daughter has recently been billed twice by Co-op Energy for a 7-day period in December because of their IT cockup.

It is extremely complicated for energy suppliers to cut off a supply, and it rarely happens. The only weapon they have is to clobber your credit rating. If you can afford that risk, then I suggest that you put your monthly energy payments into a ring-fenced savings account and wait for the energy industry to sort itself out. There is no justification at all for the energy industry’s failure to bring their 20th century procedures into the modern world.

footyguy

HJandR wrote: »

Hi, I am among what appear to be the thousands stuck in the coop energy switch. I arranged to switch in February, and received a welcome pack with a switch date of 27 March and a new account number. Since then there has been nothing really... no communication about providing meter readings, no details of progress. I contacted coop on 1 April to see if they were supplying me, and provided meter readings over the phone. I then received emails from Flow Energy my previous/existing supplier to reduce my direct debit amount as they were now only supplying me with Gas....???

I attempted to phone co op - no luck - so emailed them - and they confirmed that my electricity was switched on 6 April and my gas would move on 7 May... no explanation and no request/ process to provide meter readings for gas switch, and also confirmed that the direct debit payment was not yet set up.

After 7 May - still nothing so I attempted to phone them again, as no direct debit in place still - and I had cancelled my flow energy DD - which was substantially in credit on the account and I believed would be switched imminently (perhaps not a good move in hindsight..) After 1 hour and 15 mins in the queue I gave up trying to phone co op, and emailed them to request an update and copy of complaints procedure... still no reply a week later.

I have now checked my account at Flow and notice that they have billed me for both gas and electricity up to 30 April. I have no idea who is supplying me with what - and who to complain to about what... anybody got any ideas ?? Given that Flow confirmed by email that my direct debit was reducing - they knew they were not supplying me with both utilities - but gave no dates - so no idea if coop have ever provided the final readings.

At the moment if I could escape the switch to coop I would gladly do so, but as I have no idea who is supplying what and from what date - I have no idea who to transfer from or how to go about it ?? Any thoughts about how I might begin resolving this ???

Have you tried contacting Flow? They should be able to advise you if they still supply you, and if so, if they are aware of any date that is planned to cease that supply to you by them.

If they no longer supply you, they could definitely advise you on what date they ceased that supply.

markpack

I really wanted to like Cooperative Energy, but they've turned out to be by far the worst utility company I've ever used (and as I fairly frequently change suppliers to save money, that's been quite a few over the years).

In spring 2015 they had a complete disaster with a new system resulting in lots of errors and huge backlogs handling complaints, but my problems both predated that and continued after, with a long list of promised actions that didn't happen, complaints that were lost, compensation that was promised but then not paid and so on.

Or to boil it all down to one word: avoid!

trumpeter_2

I switched from Coop Energy in February. They owed me around £250.
After about 6 weeks and a telephone complaint, they paid me £86. It took a threat of small claims court to get an apology for the miscalculation and promise to refund.
What was a big help, though, was publicly shaming the company on Twitter. Their account @CoopEnergy seems to be run by the very helpful Charlotte. There's also a hashtag #coopenbadservice.
I received the rest of my refund today. I hope this helps someone else.