Add your feedback on energy supplier Shell Energy (formerly First Utility)

wellies97

What a bunch of crooks, left 2 months ago as their slight increase in gas prices meant a 30% increase over a year, not what I call slight.

Now 2 months on & despite complaining am still waiting for my final bill & refund as I am way in credit, getting no-where phoning them.

arthur2

Further to my original post arthur2 29-04-2015, 3:48 PM

Using MSE Resolver has resulted in an offer from F:U, correcting the £65.14 of overcharged energy, which was caused by errors in transfer readings from Scottish Power, plus £50 compensation. We have received the money today and have therefore closed the file on Resolver.

:T

Although the problem started due to incompetence at Scottish Power, it still took F:U over a year to sort everything out.

F:U remains the best deal for me.

:beer:

catwoman73

FU were fine while we were with them and they even dropped the DD a little after a few months, but the deal has ended and EON were cheaper so I've moved on, but despite me supplying meter readings, they've used estimates on the final bill so it's wrong. Searching this thread, it appears this is a common problem.

I think they owe me about £5 (so DD and usage were actually a good match for once) so it's not the end of the world and I'm certainly not going to put a huge amount of effort to get it back but it would be nice for the final bill to be accurate and settled up either way. I wonder if I owed them instead they would have been more accurate??

Jenkatz

First Utility is the worst supplier ever! They have completely messed my account up, tried to take £7000 out of my bank account and can not do a simple maths calculation. This has been going on since August 2014 and its now July 2015! I have been passed from pillar to post, to this person, to another person and still no-one has sorted it out. It seems I am also on a tariff I knew nothing about! I have involved Citizens Advice Special Help Unit and even sort legal advice. I am under depression due to them and have had no real apology, despite the numerous times that I have contacted them. I am paying them what they now say I owe then switching to another supplier. I am also sending all correspondence to the Ombudsman who says i may have a good case to claim compensation! Stay away from First Utility, they just want your money!!!! Even if it isnt theirs to have!!!!

jlc108

Left First Utility at end of April, mainly because I did not like the fact I was very much in credit but they just reduced the payments slightly but always kept my money. They told me not to cancel the direct debit because they use those details to refund you - instead they took another payment at the end of May and I was also then paying my new supplier. Sent two online requests for a refund and got no reply. Finally phoned them and a very nice man did confirm they owe me £640 but they wont pay it till around mid August - over 3 months since I left them. I did ask if that would be with interest but unfortunately not. Do not recommend.

wimbledonian

Received a phone call from FU customer services lady who at least did a good impersonation of giving a damn and offered me £25 compensation for the delay in refunding my credit.

She said that earlier this year FU have started giving re-payments automatically when customers close their accounts. These are issued within 28 working days. Prior to that, it seems, customers had to ring to request refunds (which is, of course, completely unacceptable).

I said it would have been helpful if the final bill showing the credit would have explained that repayment would happen automatically. She thanked me for this very useful feedback and said she would put forward the suggestion. It seems incredible that the company would not have though of this for themselves. Although 28 days is unacceptably slow, I would probably have accepted it.

She also told me that FU offer 'variable direct debits' where you only pay each month for the energy you have actually used without building up credit over the summer. She suggested that if I returned to FU (as if!) I might consider this option. Had I known about it I certainly would have and would recommend it to any remaining FU customers.

I should say I was overall pleased with FU's final response (though it will be interesting to see how long it takes to get the £25). I pursued my complaint using the Resolver site (Google it) supported by :money: and I wonder if this helped me get a positive outcome. I shall certainly try using it for future complaints.

brianpals

If you have an electrical supply system that is out of the ordinary, think very carefully about using this company.
Since moving to my new address in January 2015 I have had countless frustrating communications with them due to the different metering here.
The system here was installed using SSE Hydro's THTC metering. This system is similar to, but not the same as, Economy 7 as it uses two meters instead of one.
So First Utility (FU) was not to blame for the initial problem that arose when I came here. However, I would not have had so much hassle over the last 6 months if they had held their hands up and admitted that they couldn't supply me with an Economy 7 deal.
Instead they have been happy to take my money and charge me the same standard rate on both the heating and the standard meters and doubled the daily standing charge as I have 2 meters.
Why has it taken 6 months? Because of the time taken to complete the switching and then being put onto an even higher rate than I have now.
I could only find out about this after a bill came in at the end of a month. This was despite the fact that I had an online account with FU but they had cancelled it after I left my last address. Getting online to the new account took a lot longer than I would have expected, but that's when I realised what I was being charged.
Also, due to some reason or other, I was (and still am) prevented from changing my tariff or entering my readings online.
At my previous address they delivered both gas and electricity at good, cheap prices. I was happy to deal with them and could not understand why other customers had problems. Now I understand.
Fortunately, their contact number starts with 01, so ringing them is quite easy. However, their advisers can only go on what's given to them on their screens, and that doesn't seem to be much.
For instance, yesterday's adviser told me that I must have a gas meter as I have two meter readings. I had to put him right about the fact that there is no gas supply to anywhere in this 48 apartment building.
So please don't believe the hype about FU's customer service getting better. If that's true, I really do feel sorry for customers who fell foul of it a few years ago.

Cazhughes1990

People wouldn't believe me if I told them all the !!!! I've dealt with having first utility as an energy provider.. multiple incorrect bills sent, wrong account details, I left them in April they told us we'd overpaid and sent us the £211 our account was in credit by then a week later received a letter to say we owed it back so the account was in dispute.. now received a letter saying we owe £173 but when I called they said the account is in credit by £280 and over £400 was paid on the account yesterday.. ERRRRRM WHAT!!!???? The people that work for them don't even have a clue what's going on. Dont even know how to describe everything we've gone through with this company.. all correspondence including my mass of complaints emails have been sent to the energy ombudsmen.. #givemestrength!! If u want to save money and be stress free DO NOT USE FIRST UTILITY

alphonso24

first utility don't seem to do bills until you leave.
If I had to rate this company out of 10 it would be a fat zero.
I left after 3 years of no bills at late 2 phone calls every month asking for a bill and told we guarantee after 28 days you will be on the system it never happened. Before I left I checked that my account was in credit and it was calculated to be £300 up waited for the money to appear in my account not a chance and they still took direct debits for 4 MONTHS late. The reason for this it was based on someone else meter and readings still waiting for them to sort it out.

arthur2

Update to my post on 24-06-2015

FU has got the records fully up to date now, and the bill to 31/07/2015 is correct! The Cheap Energy Club comparison today confirms that I am still on the best tariff.

:-)