Add your feedback on energy supplier Sainsbury’s Energy

freezspirit

All good saying to phone the automated number to give the meter readings but you can't do that until Sainsburys Energy send you 2 separate letters with your gas and electricity meter numbers. Still waiting for my electricity one.


Also for an automated phone service you can use on a Sunday only during working hours seems odd.

British_Gas

ShinyFSE wrote: »

We got suckered into switching to a dual fuel tarrif with Sainsbury's Energy. We are not at all impressed with the service thus far and regret taking Martin's advice to switch!!

Our switch over date of 4 March came and went - we did not receive correspondence until 10 March which requested an opening Gas reading by 11 March at the very latest (there was no mention of electric opening reading).

We have been unable to speak to anyone @ Sainsbury's Energy to date despite continued efforts. We just keep getting an automated response stating wait time of between 30 and 45 minutes to speak with an operator!! Unbelieveable.....

We therefore setup an online account and submitted opening readings via the internet on 11 March. An automated email response was returned stating "Thank you for sending us your Energy meter reading. We're updating your account right now - and we'll send you an email to let you know it's done."

We have today, 15 March received an email stating ''We're having some technical problems with our website, we would be grateful if you could try to resubmit your reading in 24 hours. When we receive your reading we'll send you an email to confirm receipt."

This switch is proving to be a complete farce and pain in the a**e!! You have been warned!!

Many apologies for the issues you have been experiencing. We are have had unprecedented numbers signing up for Sainsburys Energy and are doing everything we can to meet this demand. Please call 0800 107 4985 to give a meter reading using our automated service. Alternatively, if you are still having trouble please email [EMAIL="media@britishgas.co.uk"]media@britishgas.co.uk[/EMAIL]

British_Gas

Ochil99 wrote: »

I've managed to get through the problems of single fuel letter, initial meter readings fiasco, long waits on the phone..........
Got a letter today saying "... worked out what you will be paying over the year, and didvided it into equal (monthly) payments. Your monthly payment is £5.30."
Considering I've been paying well over £1000 per year for the past number of years this is REALLY CHEAP.
Or is it still SE messing things up?

Hi
That does sound very low compared to your usual usage. Please could you email your details to [EMAIL="media@britishgas.co.uk"]media@britishgas.co.uk[/EMAIL] so I can get someone to check.
Many apologies for the confusion

MazMand15

I am very confused! (Easily done) I changed to Sainsbury's Energy to save money. I have had 4 different monthly instalment figures given to me! The highest being £305.50 and the lowest £95.00 per month. I have phoned them today and they say I should hear from them within 48 hours however, if it is 48 hours I will be over the 14 day cooling off period, clever hey? So they get an early exit fee if you don't stay with them. Not happy

msMoneypenny

I, too, have not received a reply to my email, sent March 11th to the British Gas contact offered on this forum.
Rubbish.

seacaitch

I'm in the process of switching from EDF to Sainsbury's Energy, via MSE Cheap Energy Club, and my experience so far has been very disappointing, mainly due to poor communication within the letters I've received, a lack of clarity in how my account is presented on the website, and the difficulty of getting to speak to someone to answer questions and resolve issues.


1. The transfer of the gas account seems to have gone OK - I received a backdated(!) gas meter point number letter a week ago and a request for a gas meter reading, which I provided via the automated phone number.

2. Today, a week later, I received an electricity meter point number letter, which was also backdated(!), but surprisingly with no request to submit an electricity reading. This letter also included monthly DD payments for both gas and electricity that were tiny amounts (£11.90 in total vs. £60ish expected), and with a different payment date than expected.

3. I logged onto my account on their website in order to submit an initial electricity meter reading, and saw that I have an 'Energy' account (comprising both Gas & Electricity) and a separate 'Electricity' account. This was rather confusing and not what I expected! I naturally assumed something had gone wrong...

4. I eventually (v. long wait!) managed to speak with someone helpful, who said that these tiny DD amounts were just an initial payment, which would then be followed by the correct monthly amount on the expected DD date in the following month. That was all news to me, but sounded a reasonable explanation if it proves to be true...

5. They also said that the extra 'Electricity' account that I could see when logged into their website was because the electricity is still being transferred from EDF, and once that is completed the extra account will just disappear from the webpage. Without that explanation from someone in the call centre I would never have known this - it looked like an extra account had been erroneously created for me. This is very poor design. The website should be providing clarity, not generate additional confusion.


I was actually very reluctant to leave EDF because the customer service and website had always worked flawlessly for me. I only switched when the potential monetary saving became so significant. The jury is still out on whether this was worthwhile or not, but it's not looking great so far! I've already wasted a ton of my own time trying to sort out problems due to Sainsbury's Energy ropey communications (sending backdated letters is really unacceptable), poor website design and understaffed call centre that lead to waiting times of between 25-50 minutes.

Perhaps things will improve, so I'll see what happens over the next month or so, but my experience to date has been very poor...

zexpe

Received notification that my gas and electricity will be transferred on 3rd March via a letter that arrived on the 10th March(!) (you'd think if they can't afford to send letters by first class they'd at least send you a timely e-mail with this information!). Supplied my meter readings by phone on 10th March when I received that letter, but still no final bill from my old supplier and no confirmation online with Sainsbury's Energy that my meter readings have been supplied and that the switch did indeed occur on the 3rd March. Sainsbury's Energy are due to take payment from me tomorrow, as well as my old supplier! It's really important for me to know that the switch happened on the 3rd March so that I can cancel an unnecessary payment to my old supplier!

Switching is never easier: I don't recommend it... what you gain in monetary savings you lose in time spent stressing out over these matters. Plus I always find myself in the situation of paying double for two suppliers for the same month and then having to spends months waiting to get my money back (as well as the cashback perk from switching!).

Sam14

I really feel that MSE/CEC should be lobbying British Gas that they waiver exit fees for people duped and then trapped by opting for the totally mismanaged and incompetent Sainsbury's Energy dual fuel switch. C'mon, you are supposed to be the consumer's Champion!!

Londoner_1

I have just switched to them from Spark, really poor response times from CS (subcontracted to BG TRADING LTD), often spend 25+ mins waiting for them to pickup the phone.

I had no issues with Spark, just gave them the monthly meter readings, i'm what you would classify as a 'switch tart', i switch very often to get best deals.

davidsuffolk

Maybe (and it is just maybe) things are moving in the right direction. I got a reply to my email (OK it was 9 days after contact but at least it was a reply!) and it showed estimated readings which were close enough to reality to not be an issue. I also see that Scottish Power today show a closing bill that matches those readings.
I still have a credit on my SE account page and the meter readings is just the whirling waiting symbol but maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel now. Just hope it isn't a false dawn.