Add your feedback on energy supplier Flow

Former_Flow_Energy

Hello,


We are sorry to hear you are still having problems regarding your meter readings. We have managed to locate your account based on the information you have provided.


I have emailed you and hope to resolve your query as quickly as possible.


Warm regards,


The Flow team.

ebc wrote: »

Yesterday (03-nov) you stated that the Nexus issues were now fixed and (presumably) bills should now use the readings we submit.
My statement for November (04-nov) is STILL WRONG for the Gas readings - you are using estimates rather than the reading I submitted. (The Electric reading I submitted has been used).
Why is it still wrong ?
My account number is 2130 0031.
I'd be grateful if you could be bothered to investigate and explain why my bill is still wrong. (Not all of us have Twitter/Facebook).

frankie

Yet another missive from Flow:

'I can see that one of my colleagues responded to your social media but I would like address the issues raised and the reasons why the gas reads are not validating.
When an energy company receives a customer's meter read they are sent to that particular company's third party Data Collector for validation. Flow use Morrison's Data Services. Sometimes the Data Collectors can refuse to validate a read as it may not run in line with previous consumption,or it may be a lot higher or lower than expected.
I have looked at your account and can see on the gas that since May when we received the gas read: 36559 none of your gas reads have been accepted by the Data Collector and have been rejected. Due to Industry Regulations, made by OFGEM, we are not allowed to use a customer reading on a statement if it has not been validated first.
One of the main reasons for the non validation of the reads was due to a nationwide update that took place in May 2017 of the national gas database which affected every single energy company in the UK. Once this update was completed, a company called Utilisoft also updated their systems - this affected smaller companies such as Flow who use their services and as such we are now having to manually validate gas reads that have been supplied by May.
I have escalated your account to my Team Leader today as it doesn't appear that our Back Office Teams have completed the previously requested validation and I will keep you up to date with the resolution.
Could I also ask you to take a picture of the latest gas reads to assist us with the validation.
I can see that when your statements are prepared we are using your electric reads@

What a shambles, I don't see this situation getting sorted anytime soon.

bubieyehyeh

frankie wrote: »

Latest excuse(underlined)/response from Flow:

However, we are only able to use one customer gas read per statement. So, on your most recent statement, the read from the 13th October has validated and been used. This has caused the readings entered on the 22/10 and 29/10 to be rejected on our systems. Going forwards, I would advise to only submit one read per month around the 25th of each month.

I got told the same by email today. Apparently if I do one reading on 25th everything will work fine. What a broken system! However from the estimate on the latest bill, they can't have validated any readings last month.

Flow's validation process seems to have a very narrow window of acceptance, which I think is probably the real problem. I suspect even if I sent one reading on 25th of this month, there is a good chance it will be rejected, since I've just turned the heating on, so my usage will increase and expect my next bill will probably once again be estimated.

ebc

re account number 2130 0031
A ridiculous email reply from Flow to my email complaint...
"I can see that your read was submitted on the 31/10/17, which may be why it has not appeared on your statement. Gas reads can take up to 25 days to validate, although from my experience it does not usually take this long. We advise all customers to submit reads on the 25th of each month to ensure that the reads have time to validate. Please note we are unable to bill to unvalidated reads as per industry regulations. "

So if my submission on 31/10/17 was ignored as it was 'too late to validate' why didn't they base my latest bill on my 30-sep submitted reading. They have been ignoring ALL of my gas reads for the last 8 months.
What is the point of such a ridiculous system restraint which means you only process a reading submitted on the 25th of the month !

PLEASE AVOID FLOW AS THEY APPEAR TO BE UNABLE TO RUN A BILLING SYSTEM !!!!!

Former_Flow_Energy

Hello,


We are sorry to hear that you are unsatisfied with the service that you have received.


Please can I kindly request that you contact us via Facebook, Twitter, Email or by phone and provide us with your account number so we can look into this for you.


We endeavour to get this resolved as soon as possible.


Warm regards,


The Flow team

frankie wrote: »

Likewise, my gas readings are wrong, last reading on statement showed as mid month yet I submitted it the same time as my electric which was end of month.

This is really annoying and Flow should be investigated as to why these persistent errors are stlill ongoing.

Will be hitting them with further comments on fb tomorrow.

Former_Flow_Energy

Hello,


Thank you for your recent feedback.


I apologise for the delay in you receiving your final statement. Our refunds are processed automatically and are sent to customers accounts within 14 calendar days however, if this does appear to be delayed. Please contact us via Facebook, Twitter, Email or by phone and we will be more than happy to assist you.


Warm regards,


The Flow team

gsmlnx wrote: »

Left Flow in September and had still not received a final closing bill some 6 weeks after the event.
One complaint via Resolver, and within 9 hours Flow produced a closing bill.
Thankfully it was accurate and used the correct readings which is a minor miracle. (It is the first correct bill since April 2017 as they have consistently used higher estimates and not the last day of the month reading that I provided every month without fail)
Now just have to see if the refund is in my bank account within the 14 days that they have promised.
I would avoid Flow Energy unless you don't mind incorrect bills and incorrect direct debits.

Former_Flow_Energy

Hello,


We are sorry to hear that you are unhappy with the service you received while you were on supply and that you have not yet received your refund.


Please can I kindly request that you contact us and provide us with you account number via Facebook, Twitter, Email or by phone so we can look into this and ensure that any credit on your account is refunded back to you.


If you have any questions, you can call us on: 0800 092 02 02

Or email: help@flowenergy.uk.com

We are open Monday to Friday 8:00am until 20:00pm

Warm regards,


The Flow team

Fred56 wrote: »

I have recently switched from Flow to another supplier. Flow increased their rates to the extent that my bills would have gone up 60%. The deal I had was OK but I was always concerned about the strange statements with totally fictitious meter readings on the statement. On the whole the amount being metered worked out but there was no logic or connection between the real meter readings and the stuff in the statements. My real issue with Flow was that the monthly direct debit was far too high relative to the amount of energy we consume. We are all electric with E7 so in ought to have been easy. When we switched away Flow owed me about £300 and they still do. The online statement says that has not been a meter reading for over 2 months which is just a lie. They got real readings from me monthly and they had the final meter reading too. I have been in contact but got nothing but standard palm-offs.
Please people, don't trust this outfit and do not switch to or remain with them. If you are planning to leave make sure you run the account into debit first. They just won't hand over the money when you leave in credit. They are a typical example of a screw-you business. It's odd isn't it that when a regular person takes something that is not theirs they are a criminal but it's OK for businesses, it's "just business" or "industry standard" or a technical error or admin error. It's nothing of the sort, it's basic dishonesty.
I don't give up easily so will keep on trying but don't expect a result without going through the stupidly lengthy procedure with Ombudsman etc.

My main fear is that, being a tuppence ha'penny outfit, they go bust and disappear in puff of limited liability with my money.

Don't go with the Flow folks.

Former_Flow_Energy

Hello,


We are sorry to hear that you are unsatisfied with the service you have received.


Please can I request that at you earliest convenience that contact us via email or by calling our Customer Services team so we can investigate your complaint and look to resolving it as soon as possible.


If you have any questions, you can call us on: 0800 092 02 02

Or email: help@flowenergy.uk.com

We are open Monday to Friday 8:00am until 20:00pm

Warm regards,


The Flow team

bubieyehyeh wrote: »

Another month, another gas statement with estimated readings which clearly have taken no account of the meter readings I provided. Not even the readings they promised they would add manually!

So Flow are wrong when they say the problem is fixed, it isn't for me!

I've emailed flow with a update to my complaint, not hopeful of a positive conclusion, but in 10 days, 8 weeks is up and then perhaps the ombudmen will have better luck getting Flow to generate non-estimated bills.

p.s. FlowEnergy, I don't/won't use twitter or facebook.

Former_Flow_Energy

Hello,


Thank you for your recent feedback.


In the month of May we had an industry update for our Gas database that effected customers readings being validated. When we receive readings we have to send them away to a third party agency to make sure they run inline with your previous readings and to be validated. The issue with the reading went on for longer than we expected however, this has now been resolved and we are currently working through the back log. Readings entered after 05/10/2017 will go through the validating process as normal.


I apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused you.


If you have any questions, you can call us on: 0800 092 02 02

Or email: help@flowenergy.uk.com

We are open Monday to Friday 8:00am until 20:00pm

Warm regards,


The Flow team

ColinB wrote: »

Dear Flow rep

Thank you for your response to me in this forum dated 3 Nov. Unfortunately you have not answered my question so I have to ask you to reconsider.

My question was "Can you please explain why, several months after the completion of the Nexus project, customer gas meter readings are still being ignored and estimated bills are still being produced ?".
Your response was "I can confirm that the issues that we have experienced following the Nexus update have now been resolved." That answer clearly does not explain anything.

I could forgive you for omitting the requested explanation if the problems really have been resolved, but they haven't. Just like the others on this forum, my gas readings are still being being ignored: my November statement dated just yesterday continues to use estimates. So clearly it is incorrect and misleading of you to state that "... the issues that we have experienced ... have now been resolved." You can't blame Nexus any more, so there must be an internal problem within Flow. What is it, and when do you expect to have it fixed ?

Please respond, in public in this forum, with an explanation of what is going on.

frankie

This validation system that Flow are using seems to be the culprit of all the problems that people are having?

Now, it begs the question, are other small energy suppliers' customers experiencing this sub standard service?

I have had a quick look at some of the other posts for different companies and I cannot see many/any complaints abour customer readings not being accepted. Perhaps someone else could verify this too.

If other companies' customers seem to have no issues then it must be down to Flow?