Add your feedback on energy supplier Sainsbury’s Energy

Korberon

stay way clear of Sainsbury Energy if you think of obtaning loan in near future.
We have completed on house purchase on 6 March 2017, Sainsbury was the current supplier and we didn't have a choice but to sign up with them until the swich to provider of our choice took place. I've notified them of change of ownership and informed that I've allready arranged for a change of supplier which will take approximately one month.
i was planning on taking a personal loan for refurbishment of the new house so went ahead and signed up with experian to check If all of my financial products and electoral roll details showing new address.
Shock number one: the Hard credit check was conducted by "Centrica" on the very same day that I have notified them of moving in...allarm Bell started ringing...Quick Google check and bingo, Sainsbury energy, British gas
I was so careful not to apply for any financial products in the last year knowing that shortly after obtaining mortgage the application for a personal loan was going to be submited.
I should have been warned that they were going to perform a hard credit check which is only done when you apply for a loan for example.
Their response was: it's our standard procedure
To which I replied that I did not give them my consent to perform such search and never applied for any financial products of credit nature with them and that I was forced to sign up with them against my will.
They said that technically since I was going to pay for my usage over the next month "after use" they are in fact crediting me.
I just couldn't believe it, If they would have asked me if I was OK with it I would have offered to pay them upfront for the next month usage (the house is unoccupied anyway) and there would be no credit check whatsoever.
I HAVE BEEN CHANGING SUPPLIERS AT LEAST 15 TIMES over the last decade and never been credit checked, not even by soft credit check not to mention the one that have a negative impact on your credit score.
And as if that wasn't bad enough, all of my details have been enetered incorrectly which raised the flag of Potential fraudulent activity (because details don't match) My mame was misspelled twice, and an extra initial added, they made me 89 years old (I'm 38) and apparently I have lived at the current address (the one that I have just moved into) for 17 years???????
I have made an official complaint with them and desputed the entry wiyh experian and asked them to have this search removed completely. Currently awaiting the outcome. Is this even legal? it took their irresponsible employee lest than 5 minutes to screw up my credit score, and it will probably tak me weeks if not months to rectify it I'M LOST FOR WORDS :mad:

Shazra56

I joined Sainsburys for GAS and ELECTRIC some months ago. I signed up for email alerts to provide meter readings. First bill was estimated and showed my monthly direct debit was going up. I contacted them to provide an actual reading and ask why I hadn't received an email to provide my readings, apparently I was not 'opted in', therefore I was in debit. My direct debit was increased.

Yesterday I came home to find a message on my answer machine, asking me to provide my meter reading for ELECTRIC within seven days. After 45 minutes trying to log into my account, I was able to do so.

Today I received an email informing me I had provided my readings either too early or too late (what's all that about?). I have just been in touch with them to discuss this issue and they have no idea why I got a phone call and not an email.

Yet again I am in debit, despite my direct debit increasing!!!!

I am waiting now to be able to view my bill on line (a couple of days) to try and find out why I am paying more with Sainsburys than I was with my previous supplier.

Needless to say when my contract runs out I will be switching again.:mad:

System

Yet again I am in debit, despite my direct debit increasing!!!!

This happened to me a few months ago. Whilst in credit they wanted to increase my direct debit by a significant amount.

After i complained, i was told it was a computer generated letter and that i could keep my direct debit as it was.

I am still in credit.

By all means if you can find a cheaper supplier then change but dont go just because they want to increase your direct debit.

Mandalorian

The advice from everyone is to switch supplier and save money, so apprehensively I did.
Choosing Sainsburys Energy would appear to have been a big mistake!

In brief I switched on 10th October, got my contract details, signed up for an online account and submitted my first meter reads and everything looked good.

On 27th October I received another email requesting my opening meter reads, which was weird as I'd already done this. However, upon logging in I noticed that my address was now wrong and that I only had a gas account?

This is where the fun begins!

I emailed them (via the online help page) on 30th October to tell them about the errors, received an automated reply but to date have had no official reply.

I phoned them on 2nd November during the day and was told that it appears that they'd mistakenly taken over a neighbours supply and that I was now paying for it!!! It was going to take some time to sort out, which I didn't have, so I agreed to call back later.

I called back and eventually spoke to Chelsea, who was very pleasant and assured me that she had rectified the problem.

Sadly it appears that Chelsea tells lies as I checked my account yesterday, the 9th November, and it was still incorrect. I phoned their customer services number at 7:45pm and was warned that they close at 8pm. I decided to hold on just in case and surprisingly my call was answered by one of their advisors at 7:50. He told me he would sort it out and put me on hold. At 8:01 I was cut off!!

Today I shall be calling their complaints team.

Based purely on my experience I would suggest that unless the savings are great you AVOID SAINSBURYS ENERGY

[Deleted User]

SSE are owned by a German based company who are now merging with NPower. The big six will become the big five. The question is whose computer system will be running the new provider? Both NPower and SSE have computer systems that are degraded so its likely that a new computer system will manage the new company's energy clients. The creation of a new company means that any legal liability under either company will no longer apply to the new company. If you are owed money then the new supplier will be under no obligation to pay you what you are owed.

Cardew

[Deleted User] wrote:

If you are owed money then the new supplier will be under no obligation to pay you what you are owed.

If that ever happened Ofgem would revoke their licence!

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/licences-codes-and-standards/licences/licence-conditions

Even companies trading outside the regulated industries cannot escape their financial responsibilities by merging unless they file for bankruptcy.

[Deleted User]

Cardew wrote: »

If that ever happened Ofgem would revoke their licence!

Even if the parent company was post brexit registered in Germany?

Max2000

I "WAS" with Sainsbury's Energy until they decided to up my monthly payment from £68 to £96. Despite the fact that in 2016 I had two sizable refunds. Cancelled DD at the Bank and Jumped Ship faster than a Cat about to get Wet. Much nuisance when debt collectors started to chase. Ah well we live and learn. British Gas are known for Overcharging in all aspects of their chosen Business. Stuff em.

Cotmas

Have been with Sainsbury Energy for a while. Love their web site and have had excellent service. However their prices(British Gas) are high so I am looking to switch but need a good web site.
I too had to watch the price increase and stopped a jump in payments but the staff were helpful.

Browntoa

Be aware that even if supply accurate monthly readings they don't review your direct debit until after 12 months even if it's wildly wrong .

You need to ring customer services and get them to review and change it manually to avoid huge leaps in your DD after 12 months .

Now my fixed rate had finished I'm looking to jump ship