Add your feedback on energy supplier iSupply

Stumead

Transfer to iSupply 12 months ago was as straightforward as most have been.

They offered me a new deal a month before mine ended, then withdrew it a week ahead of the end of my tie-in. ROTTERS!

They asked for a meter reading in early May, then repeated the request in late May claiming they had no reading although my update still shows clearly on their website.

Communications with them are tricky as their preferred method is by messages on their website. They do not respond quickly and do not seem to comprehend English well.

As my tarriff was ending they sent me an update to tell me the Direct Debit was to be increased by 40% - usual for an energy company I understand. However, they only gave me four days notice not the five they promised, so I looked into it more carefully and found that an increase had been requested from the bank before they had even communicated it to me... I sent messages enquiring about this and have not receive a straight answer at all. The replies were evasive and I cannot be bothered to chase this any longer, I'm just going elsewhere.

Bubblebath

Stumead wrote: »

Transfer to iSupply 12 months ago was as straightforward as most have been.

They offered me a new deal a month before mine ended, then withdrew it a week ahead of the end of my tie-in. ROTTERS!

What a dirty, rotten trick.
So they withdrew the original tariff they originally offered you and replaced it with an even cheaper one :cool:
They have done this usually every month for the past few months now.

Stumead wrote: »

Communications with them are tricky as their preferred method is by messages on their website.

Why do you find that tricky??? :huh:

Stumead wrote: »

They do not respond quickly and do not seem to comprehend English well.

They've always responded within 1 working day to my enquiries (similar experience to the previous poster). I believe they are based in Dorset.

Stumead wrote: »

As my tarriff was ending they sent me an update to tell me the Direct Debit was to be increased by 40% - usual for an energy company I understand.

I'm don't think that is usual ... unless you habitually tell new suppliers artificially low anticipated annual consumption figures forcing them to later hike your monthly payments.

Stumead wrote: »

However, they only gave me four days notice not the five they promised, so I looked into it more carefully and found that an increase had been requested from the bank before they had even communicated it to me... I sent messages enquiring about this and have not receive a straight answer at all. The replies were evasive and I cannot be bothered to chase this any longer, I'm just going elsewhere.

As you say, they are obliged to provide you with 5 days notice of any revision to your payments as agreed. Failure to do so does leavbe them open to a claim under the Direct Debit Guarantee which you would make direct to your bank ... but you will still probably owe the money they demanded.

They can inform the bank anytime that suits them. I see no reason for them to explain when they informed the bank (how do you know when they informed the bank?:huh:) or why they did so when they did. They are only obliged to give you 5 days notice as agreed. The notice is not intended to allow you a 'cooling off period', or negotiation period, it is simply to provide you with suitable notice of an intended withdrawal and allow you time to ensure you have sufficient cleared funds available to meet that withdrawal.

Stumead

This forum is for people to report their experience of dealing with an energy firm. The above is my experience of dealing with this firm which i tried to report as objectively as i could to allow readers to make their own judgement.

The revocation of their offer was not accompanied by the offer of another tariff and subsequently felt like a "cold" approach from a customer relations perspective.

My experience of their online communications was not as positive as yours. I knew them to be based in Dorset as I researched the company before taking my business there - I like to know I'm able to speak to someone who stands a good chance of understanding the nuances of English without my having to explain myself repeatedly. I have experienced good and bad service from both on and off-shore approaches to customer realtions.
In this case replies took several days and did not address the questions I raised, which I found disappointing.

Energy companies routinely increase direct debits above projected usage and in the past EDF was the worst offender in my experience, causing me to spend hours on the phone over several months to address. My gas account remains with EDF as they have improved on this more recently. The internet is littered with people reporting that it continues and MSEwebsite itself has a page including the subject as well as reports across its forums.
Despite a marginal increase in the tariff, my DD was increased 40% on a projected nil usage increase. People can judge that themselves.

I Felt four working days notice of a DD increase over a bank holiday weekend was too little and it turned out to be less than they had promised. My enquiries revealed they had requested the funds to arrive inside the notice period which I feel demonstrates poor practice. The notice period is there as a check for the customer to be able to discuss the increase with the service provider and have it changed before it happens if it is not appropriate, particularly useful in a sector prone to uneccesary increases (see above). I used this to good effect with EDF in the past. I have chosen not to pursue the matter any further as the formal process is lengthy and achieves nothing to help anyone.

Lets not hijack this thread...

Tyro123_2

Just wanted to quickly drop an update re my experience with iSupplyEnergy and whilst they have been good in terms of their pricing; the move away from them has had it's issues.

We moved home last month and it was a constant struggle trying to get a final bill out of them. They put in reading which had to be validated. They got the readings wrong so then readings had to be amended and validated again which took a total of 2/3 weeks for the final bill to come through after having provided them with final readings. I was quite patient with them through all this and didn't raise any complains because one can solve many issues through diplomacy and kindness rather than complaining and that is certainly my approach in life.

I also do take responsibility that I cancelled the direct debit in the last month and in retrospect I shouldn't have because their contract states that a direct debit needs to be in place all the time otherwise they charge £10 for cancellation of direct debit. Once the final bill came through, I paid for an early exit fee which is fine as I was leaving the contract early because of house move; however the £10 charge was on there too; which I requested to be removed because I had never delayed a payment to them ever previously and only cancelled the direct debit in the last month as I was moving. I know I shouldn't have cancelled that direct debit and I was hoping they would be a bit more understanding as I had been with regards to delay their end in generation of the final bill.

They weren't understanding at all. I paid the extra £10 charge and did say to the lady when making the payment politely that what goes around, comes around and a bit more flexibility on their part would be good particularly when I had been patient with their delay in generation of a final bill.

I thought I'd leave this feed back here. Logistically they seem to have issues however I guess their cheap price makes up for that. Be careful and do not cancel your direct debit at all; only cancel it after you have paid your final bill otherwise expect there to be a £10 charge to be added to the final bill. Expect delays in final bills and correspondence via their website.

jrio

They frequently email for a reading halfway through a month in the last quarter and then do not produce a bill. Twice this year I have had to email them repeatedly and have not received the bill until several weeks after the reading was given.

This month I was again told that the statement is on my account. Once again it isn't. You can bet that if they were relying on the bill to receive payment that there wouldn't be any delay. They are the cheapest but only by about £10-£20.

A supplier that can't produce bills in good time, and that regularly informs you of a statement that doesn't exist, is one that is not worth using for a small saving.

Speed of email reply varies. The first one was answered at the end of the next day, the second one is still awaiting reply after 2 working days.

eurocentric

I applied to switch from my current supplier on 28th May, and all isupply have done is arrange a direct debit (done in mid June after the cooling off period), the first payment of which is due tomorrow. My current supplier knows nothing about the switch, no Termination request has been received from isupply, almost 7 weeks on.

Messages to their website go unreplied to, something I have subsequently read at various places online to be the norm with this 'company'.

I regret ever having applied to switch, and will be making a complaint to comparethemarket.com who shouldn't include a company as unreliable as this in their listings, and also allow them to suggest they are the cheapest - because when I enter the same usage details into isupply's own website, instead of saving £45 I will pay £56 extra.

If I want to leave they will charge me for breaking a 12-month contract, one they have not held up their end. There has to be a performance time limit following a switch, otherwise a customer might be kept waiting indefinitely, perhaps until the rogue company puts its fixed term prices up. I may be charged £30 cancellation, and because I have cancelled the DD as I will not, and cannot afford to pay two suppliers simultaneously, probably a £10 charge for doing so, if a previous post proves correct.

It's time for the government to regulate the energy industry. We're all desperate to keep our bills down because of the effects of privatisation, and the result is you get thrown to these wolves, who just want to take your money, increase the instalments, and operate like deposit banks making vast profits out of their customers' capital instead of their customers earning themselves interest.

Bubblebath

eurocentric wrote: »

I applied to switch from my current supplier on 28th May, and all isupply have done is arrange a direct debit (done in mid June after the cooling off period), the first payment of which is due tomorrow. My current supplier knows nothing about the switch, no Termination request has been received from isupply, almost 7 weeks on.

Messages to their website go unreplied to, something I have subsequently read at various places online to be the norm with this 'company'.

I regret ever having applied to switch, and will be making a complaint to comparethemarket.com who shouldn't include a company as unreliable as this in their listings, and also allow them to suggest they are the cheapest - because when I enter the same usage details into isupply's own website, instead of saving £45 I will pay £56 extra.

If I want to leave they will charge me for breaking a 12-month contract, one they have not held up their end. There has to be a performance time limit following a switch, otherwise a customer might be kept waiting indefinitely, perhaps until the rogue company puts its fixed term prices up. I may be charged £30 cancellation, and because I have cancelled the DD as I will not, and cannot afford to pay two suppliers simultaneously, probably a £10 charge for doing so, if a previous post proves correct.

It's time for the government to regulate the energy industry. We're all desperate to keep our bills down because of the effects of privatisation, and the result is you get thrown to these wolves, who just want to take your money, increase the instalments, and operate like deposit banks making vast profits out of their customers' capital instead of their customers earning themselves interest.

So why don't you just give them a call? :huh:

Customer Services: 01202 612161
(Open Monday-Friday, 09.00 - 17.00h, excl. bank holidays)

eurocentric

Bubblebath wrote: »

So why don't you just give them a call? :huh:

Customer Services: 01202 612161
(Open Monday-Friday, 09.00 - 17.00h, excl. bank holidays)

Because there's obviously no point. Read any review you like of isupply, here or elsewhere, and you'll see how a caller will not get to speak to anyone, only be held in a queue then asked to leave a recorded message which nobody replies to. Their phone line isn't free either, so why throw good money after bad?

What will be worthwhile is phoning my existing supplier to ask them if they know what time constraints are placed on a switch, and if it turns out to be 6 or 8 weeks, then I will use that to get out of this 'contract' without penalty, because isupply has not performed.

jrio

I've had more than enough of the idiocy and incompetence of iSupply. As a former customer of British Gas and NPower you can bet they've had to reach unparalleled lows in service.

eurocentric

As an update to my switch application, 7 weeks on, I finally got an online reply from isupply. I'm relieved they have cancelled the contract, and this is their claimed reason:

"Unfortunately we were unable to take over the supply to your property.

Our request was rejected as this was too soon after a recent change of supplier.

Unfortunately due to system limitations, we would be unable to supply your property in the future.

If you are unhappy with your current supplier, we would advise you to find an alternative supplier."

I've been with my current supplier 16 months, and they have not had any switch request. Good job I cancelled the DD to isupply which was due the other day or I'm sure I'd be chasing up a refund (for months on end if similar posts are anything to go by).