Add your feedback on energy supplier Sainsbury’s Energy

Juncus

I chose to switch and was puzzled when I received and email from British Gas. This was the first problem as this company threatened to break my door down years ago on a Bank Holiday weekend. I stayed in all weekend only to find they had got the wrong customer and the wrong date.

I was asked to register online. I can't as I don't have an account number. That comes with the welcome pack which I have not been sent. I sent them an email letting them know. They did not reply. A week later I was sent another email and they have not replied nor have I received a welcome pack. I have received another request to register online though.

So in my experience Sainsbury's is a pile of crap with no customer service and are using British Gas to send emails. If I had wanted to deal with BG I could have chosen them but saino's is crap anyway I guess my experience is that they do not want us to swap ever.

The whole thing has been a complete waste of time and I think the offer is now closed so I'm probably going to leave the energy club as it does seem a little pointless.

chtechie

Nada666 wrote: »

You answered your own question - users with an average consumption. You shouldn't complain - with double the typical consumption you will receive great prices from many tariffs.

Your high electricity usage also means you are not affected by leaving penalties - you are free to switch and grab a bargain almost whenever you like and can easily make up a £30 charge.

Thankyou for your response, please don't misunderstand my post I'm not complaining, your point about leaving penalties is the one that convinced me when I went for the MSE Collective offer rather than ScottishPower March 2016 or the General Sainsbury's offer, already with SP I couldn't find any cashbacks to stay with them to negate their slightly higher costs & the £42 you can get from topcashback for the General Sainsbury's offer would only benefit me if my energy consumption increased futher which I do not plan. I appreciate that an average user in my region will benefit with the MSE offer, by about £17 per annum, & they are of course also free to switch, cost to them £13, cost to myself £30, my hope was that some of the forum members would reply as average or lower electricity users as I think achieving 3200KwH consumption for myself is a dream. I look forward to reading more of your posts.

[Deleted User]

toosey wrote: »

Looking on the Sainsbury web site they quote an OFGEM registration number
Its the same as British Gas.
As far as I can see one of the same

Yes, they are one and the same.
It even says at the bottom of their letters:
"Sainsbury's Energy is a trading name user under licence by British Gas Trading Limited".

Juncus

Hi I switched to the Co-op 18 months ago through the energy club and when they told me I could save money on a new deal with them by paying £300 more each year I figured lying to me was not a good sign.

I chose to switch to Sainsbury's but wish I knew it was really British Gas as they treated me appallingly. I was going to delete their email as spam until I realised they had put in a mention of Sainsbury's in it. The email was from them though.

I was asked to set up an account online and the cooling off period I believe had ended. I found I could not as I had not received a welcome pack with the account number. I sent an email pointing this out. A week later I sent another. A week later I posted my experience on the forum and 10 mins later coincidentally I was called by Sainsbury's and given account information.

I registered and gave my first meter reading and was given a confirmation. That was 2 days ago and now the same customer services person has sent me another email this time from British Gas saying their website was not working and could I give them another reading in 24 hours.

So they do not know if they are British Gas or Sainsbury's although I would have only trusted Sainbury's, they cannot respond to emails nor sent post and cant work websites.

They seem to be in complete turmoil with an inability to carry out the simplest of tasks. I seriously doubt if they know who I have an agreement with. It seems they are under the misconception that British Gas know what they are doing and together they seem to be crap basically.

I'm left not knowing if I should even given them a meter reading as I do not know when they are to take over the supply. I still have the figures for two days ago but buy the time they are actually able to take a reading I will have paid more money to the now expensive Co-op.

It's not a good experience and is it any wonder that people don't switch when the mantra 'it's easy' is clearly not the experience of all of us.

Sainbury's Leading Us Up The Garden Path

davethorp

Juncus wrote: »

I registered and gave my first meter reading and was given a confirmation. That was 2 days ago and now the same customer services person has sent me another email this time from British Gas saying their website was not working and could I give them another reading in 24 hours.

Exactly same thing has just happened to me

dogstupid

Just switched as part of the Energy club offer and I've just submitted my third set of meter readings after getting the same "We're having some technical problems with our website" emails a couple of days afterwards. If I get it again I'll contact them and tell them they can come read it for themselves.

I truly hope this isn't indicative of how BG are going to run my account.

admiral_traveller

I have had a similar experience providing Sainsbury's Energy with my initial readings online. I too have received an email confirmation only to then receive another email a couple of days later saying there has been a problem with the readings.

I have just telephoned them and, after a while spent in a queue, did manage to speak to someone who advised me that initial meter readings should always be given over the phone!

Today was the deadline day for submitting my readings (according to the letter they sent to me) otherwise they will agree an estimated reading - so I am hoping that my real readings are now in place!

Incidentally, I did also provide an online reading to my old supplier on the same day that I had my first online try with Sainsbury's - so if it does go to estimation, I would hope that the reading would be more or less correct ....

Just waiting for final bill from old supplier ... fingers crossed!

SuperDad1

I am in the process of switching dual fuel for the first time, from SSE to Sainsbury's Energy. Apart from the price, a major reason for choosing the latter was their allegedly good customer service. Unfortunately my experience does not reflect that. They appear to have screwed up in that I have been notified of the gas switch, but not the electricity switch. My main gripe is their customer service number, 0800 107 4985. I have rung it 4 times in the last 3 days, each time I have hung on for over 15 minutes without reply! I presume they are overwhelmed with new orders, but they should set up their front office to match. Has anyone experienced similar? Is there a phone number that they will answer? I really think the MSE website should amend their comments about Sainsbury's Energy customer service

zaphodbeeb

Lost faith in this site. Earlier this month, it advised that Sainsburys were dropping their prices by 10%. It hasnt happened, in fact prices appear to have gone up. Also the comparison makes no mention of the fact that you may be required to pay a "deposit" with Sainsburys and also undergoe a supposed "credit check". It also only make scant mention of the fact that Sainsburys energy are actually British Gas. To me, instead of adding clarify, this site has just continued what the energy market started, i.e. the continued provision of misinformation and inaccurate information. It has not helped one bit. Its still as clear as mud. I'll be going elsewhere to find the best energy deals I think. Thanks for wasting my time.

davethorp

Just given my initial reads over the phone. Had a pretty lengthy wait on hold for about 35-40 minutes however they immediately apologised for my wait on answering which was a positive.

They were also friendly and helpful in taking my reads and answering a couple of other queries I had so other than my hold time the customer service experience was good