Co-operative Energy reviews: Give your feedback

Consumerist

I really do hope you feel better now you have got that off your chest.

I don't know what I may have said to upset you but you really need to grow up and get get over it. Better, get over yourself.

Sosumi

As a matter of interest, is anyone yet able to print out (directly) the pages of their account that Co-op Energy displays (visibly and readably) online but in some weird format?

If so, how?

After Co-op Energy introduced its new "improved" :rotfl: system in March 2015, I had to resort to taking screen-dumps and printing out those. :wall:

It still defeats Mac OS X and all my Canon laser and inkjet printer drivers (including Postscript drivers).

No problems at all with E.ON.

kingstreet

I've been with Co-op Energy since August 2011 and have changed tariff several times during that period.

I've reported my issues when they took place (once attempted to charge me £60 for switching) but have been otherwise unscathed by the issues affecting many others.

Understandably, I am in a minority as many who have come later have experienced many problems and there are far too many of them for them all to be wrong.

I would not expect members to accept my view as being representative and to suggest any other member's are somehow more or less valid or should be relied on in any way is obviously flawed. An opinion is exactly that, after all.

Therefore an attack on an individual member who may have suggested leaving a particular supplier is a complete waste of time.

Sosumi - I have pdfs of my 19 invoices and all of them reflect the meter readings I have taken every month on 21st of that month. As you're "rich and retired" I guess your money saving objectives are somewhat different to the rest of us.

Sosumi

kingstreet wrote: »

Sosumi - I have pdfs of my 19 invoices and all of them reflect the meter readings I have taken every month on 21st of that month. As you're "rich and retired" I guess your money saving objectives are somewhat different to the rest of us.

Thanks for your reply to me, kingstreet.

In the event, I wasn’t too greatly inconvenienced, personally. Jumping ship promptly from the People’s Republic of Incompetence to the safety of Efficient.ON was accomplished in a mere three weeks after Ben Reid, OBE managed to detonate the magazine of his company’s boat.

So, all I really needed was a final invoice.

That arrived by email a lightning six months later and a cheque (for too much money :rotfl: ) duly followed in the post.

My posting comment to which you refer wasn’t intended to be any sort of a boast or gloat. I just wanted to put a patronising Consumerist firmly back in his box. (It was/is true, though.)

Actually, I think all our money saving objectives are pretty much the same, here. Electricity and gas are just bare, unembellished products; there is no luxury, Super nor High Octane version of them. What each of us wants is the cheapest tariff possible for our needs, from the most reliable and efficient provider possible. And, if you follow the market and use collective fixes, the latter is achievable at very little cost greater than saddling yourself with a rogue supplier from whom you will get an exasperating and expensive amount of grief that costs you more in the long run anyway.

The people for whom I have the greatest sympathy in the wole long-running Co-op Energy disaster saga are the lovely, friendly, helpful Customer Services staff who were told, when the accounting system disintegrated through no fault of their own, to start lying to customers (led, from the front, by Ben Reid, OBE) if they wanted to keep a roof over their head and food on the table for their children. They were the type of people whom you knew, from past experience, must have hated having to do that and I fear for what the whole experience did for their personal senses of honesty, integrity and morality.

Thank you again for replying to me: I appreciate it. :money:

Consumerist

Sosumi wrote: »

. . . My posting comment to which you refer wasn’t intended to be any sort of a boast or gloat. I just wanted to put a patronising Consumerist firmly back in his box. (It was/is true, though.). . .

But if you want lessons on patronisation then look through posts by Sosumi - some are a masterclass in the subject.

Sosumi

Consumerist wrote: »

But if you want lessons on patronisation then look through posts by Sosumi - some are a masterclass in the subject.

I blush. Praise from a natural (if not quite a master) of the genre. :money:

Toniswadling

I moved into my 3 bed bungalow in January 2015, the energy supplier was already Co-operative Energy after ready an article on MSE recommending them I decided I would stay with them, I rang but they couldn't find me on their system, at the time of joining they were moving over to a new computer system and apparently I was on the old system and they had problems migrating me to the new one. I rang every other week for 6 months, after waiting to connect between 20 & 40 minutes only to be told every time that they couldn't find the property or any record of me, they said they couldn't even take meter readings as I didn't exist on the system, I was promised I'd be called back - it didn't happen, it took me 6 months to get a bill from them which was £1100 at that point, when I called again using the account number on the invoice, they still could not find me as the account number was on the old system which they couldn't access. I could not arrange any tariff, make any payments or give any readings. Through the Ombudsman I managed to get a deal to leave them as long as I had a payment plan in place, this was arranged and I have moved over to Ovo and have had no problems, I received my final bill from Co-op in June (6 months after leaving them!) It turns out my electricity charges for a period of 1 year is £2800, I spoke to them and argued that as they could not locate me on their system and I made every attempt to try and get my account in order it was unfair that they have billed me on their highest tariff & that they should re-calculate my usage at their best tariff. They said no as I did not have a direct debit in place. !!!!!!! How could I arrange a direct debit when I couldn't even pass on my readings. Absolutely disgusting! This has caused me so much stress! I have in effect been forced to pay a extortionate tariff by the Co-operative Energy due to their incompetence, this surely cannot be allowed!

Consumerist

Toniswadling wrote: »

. . . This has caused me so much stress! I have in effect been forced to pay a extortionate tariff by the Co-operative Energy due to their incompetence, this surely cannot be allowed!

Unfortunately, speaking to anyone over the phone at Co-op, these days, is a waste of time.

I suggest you put your case in a written complaint and send it by Recorded Delivery post. Head you letter with the word Complaint in bold so therre is no question of it being merely an enquiry.

An alternative approach, is to send the complaint by email via <Resolver> who will send it to the appropriate department, log your email correspodence and will also forward the file to the Ombudsman at your request.

sensibleshoes

I decided to stick with Co Op in May when my tariff ended. I opted for a fix till September 2017 as I wanted to avoid the hassle of moving & the rate was ok. However the price increase email received at the end of August highlighted Co Op hadn't put me on the fix tariff but i was on their more expensive standard tariff.

I emailed them pointing this out & they were quick to sort it out (within 1 day). However the bill I received the next week for the period June to September was very confusing & included from March which I had already paid.

I had to send a flurry of emails asking them to correct it as I thought I had been charged twice. In fact after considerable time studying bills with a notepad & calculator I have now worked out how they have charged me with a credit for previous bill.

Totally unnecessary & time consuming for all concerned all because they altered the charge period of the bill.

It doesn't help that the website to access my account is playing up too.

I would not recommend Co Op energy.

boobbby

Seems normal for the Co op energy but at least their September tariffs is the cheapist around