Add your feedback on energy supplier Flow

Former_Flow_Energy

Hello,


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


There are industry processes that all energy providers have to follow. This means everyone must send customer readings to a third party agency to be validated.


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

frankie wrote: »

Reading between the lines it would appear that all energy suppliers use a third party validation company?


Begs the question, why are there so few complaints from other energy suppliers users in this regard.


Or perhaps they mean it is only budget suppliers who use this system?


Can't get an answer from them regarding this.


Ah well soon be March!

frankie

Just love these useless cut and paste responses

ebc

Acct 2130 0031 :

For October I submitted a GAS reading on 31 Oct - apparently ignored because it was too late to validate.
For November I submitted a GAS reading on 21-Nov as that is when Flow asked me to submit it - that was ignored.
Now Flow explain that the second reading was ignored because it was within 25 days of the previous reading.

Am I supposed to keep a calendar of when I submit each reading to make sure that it is not within 25 days of the previous one ?
Why did Flow email me on 21-Nov asking me to submit a reading when you knew that I was still within 25 days of my last one and that any reading I submitted would be ignored ?
Why didn't I get a warning when I tried to submit the reading saying that I needed to wait a few more days ?
Surely your computer system could be amended to take care of this rather than asking each of your customers to keep track of it !!!

Former_Flow_Energy

Hello,


Thank you for your recent feedback.


We advise our customer to submit reading 4-5 days before the end of each month as this ensure that the readings are validated and used on your statement.


The meter read request email that is sent out to our customer is an automated email and we send this out earlier on in the month to give our customer plenty of notice.


Unfortunately our system isn't able to alert you when you are entering readings within the 25 day timescale however, hopefully this is something we will look into in the future.


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

ebc wrote: »

Acct 2130 0031 :

For October I submitted a GAS reading on 31 Oct - apparently ignored because it was too late to validate.
For November I submitted a GAS reading on 21-Nov as that is when Flow asked me to submit it - that was ignored.
Now Flow explain that the second reading was ignored because it was within 25 days of the previous reading.

Am I supposed to keep a calendar of when I submit each reading to make sure that it is not within 25 days of the previous one ?
Why did Flow email me on 21-Nov asking me to submit a reading when you knew that I was still within 25 days of my last one and that any reading I submitted would be ignored ?
Why didn't I get a warning when I tried to submit the reading saying that I needed to wait a few more days ?
Surely your computer system could be amended to take care of this rather than asking each of your customers to keep track of it !!!

Prof_Yaffle

Okay, I've just found this thread, so here are my thoughts after a year+ with Flow.

Initial switch was painless.

Gas and electricity comes out of the (metaphorical) taps. No problems there.

Having to read my meters every month is a pain, bordering on a killer for me as my electricity meter is tricky to read. They appear to want to behave like a smart meter company, but not actually invest in having anything to do with smart meters.

Statements are slow to produce. You can submit a meter reading and it takes many, many days before anyone does anything at all with it.

Direct Debits aren't revised often enough - my account is well over a month's payment in credit now, at the coldest time of the year, yet they're still happily taking the full whack from my account every month. That must help with the cashflow.

Meter reading submission has limited feedback - as others have said, you submit them but they're not recorded immediately, so you have no idea if they've been eaten, lost, recorded, ignored, or used. See my comment above about what this then means for monthly statements, annual usage, DD revisions, or anything else.

They're okay, and they gave me a decent deal on the MSE special tariff, but I wouldn't recommend them overall - too clunky, too much effort on the customer's part, too little benefit in return.

EDIT

Well, I've today seen that this month's statement has appeared - with estimated readings - despite giving them the readings the better part of a week or so ago. I would guess that "give us a meter reading at the end of the month" means "we have an exceptionally small window to use anything you send us, so be nice or we'll ignore you". Not really useful - again, a smart meter approach while relying on the customer to be the smart meter!

System

I struggle to understand how it is that energy suppliers can make something which is so simple, appear so difficult. My gas is supplied by one of the smaller suppliers. Its website states that customers can provide as many meter readings as they like. I give them a reading once a week and receipt is confirmed immediately. My billing date is the last day of each month, so I make sure that I provide a meter reading on that date. My statement appears about 7 working days later and it shows all the readings that I have provided and I am billed on the last meter reading. It follows that the supplier is billing in accordance with its Standard Licence Conditions (SLC) which state:

Quote: Condition 21B. Billing based on meter readings

21B.1 If a Customer provides a meter reading to the licensee that the licensee considers reasonably accurate, or if the Gas Meter is read by the licensee, the licensee must take all reasonable steps to reflect the meter reading in the next Bill or statement of account sent to the Customer.

21B.2 If the licensee considers that a meter reading provided by a Customer is not reasonably accurate, the licensee must take all reasonable steps to contact the Customer to obtain a new meter reading from him. Unquote

In my book, the SLC reads that there should be no need for billing based on estimated meter readings if the customer provides a reading as requested. I should also add that I was with a supplier last year that played the validation delay game - despite being given an actual meter reading on the billing date. I was never contacted by customer services asking for a new meter reading as required by SLC 21B.2. Bills were always based on estimates. Some battles are worth fighting, some are not: I just 'ditched and switched'.

bubieyehyeh

I wouldn't recommend Flow and I think I'll be switching once the fixed term is up. I've had two issues.

1) There inability to handle more than 1 gas reading a month, and if you give more than one they don't use any of them and estimate.

2) Someone is trying to switch my gas, but I didn't request a switch, flow notified me by a "Sorry you leaving Email". I immediately rang them and told them it was erroreous switch that I hadn't requested, they said they would reject it and I assume that would be it. I thought that was good service, maybe they aren't so bad. Since then I've had two phone calls about a week apart from Flow, the person saying I understand your leaving flow, and I've had to explain I'm not all over again. So don't seem to keep records or talk to each other.

frankie

I'm one year in and will not be renewing with Flow. I would not recommend them either, for the reasons already stated above regarding readings issues. I too am in significant credit.

Its put me right off using smaller companies and may revert to using one of the big 6 at the end of March when my mse fix ends.

Former_Flow_Energy

Hello,


We are sorry to hear that you are unhappy with the service you have received and we would like to resolve your queries with you at your earliest convenience.


Would you be kind enough to provide us with your Flow energy account number (Via Faceebook direct message: https://www.facebook.com/FlowEnergyUK, Twitter: https://twitter.com/FlowEnergy_Help or by contacting our Customer Services team via email or phone as we do not have a private message function on here) so we can look into this for you?


We will endeavour to contact you back 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

Prof_Yaffle wrote: »

Okay, I've just found this thread, so here are my thoughts after a year+ with Flow.

Initial switch was painless.

Gas and electricity comes out of the (metaphorical) taps. No problems there.

Having to read my meters every month is a pain, bordering on a killer for me as my electricity meter is tricky to read. They appear to want to behave like a smart meter company, but not actually invest in having anything to do with smart meters.

Statements are slow to produce. You can submit a meter reading and it takes many, many days before anyone does anything at all with it.

Direct Debits aren't revised often enough - my account is well over a month's payment in credit now, at the coldest time of the year, yet they're still happily taking the full whack from my account every month. That must help with the cashflow.

Meter reading submission has limited feedback - as others have said, you submit them but they're not recorded immediately, so you have no idea if they've been eaten, lost, recorded, ignored, or used. See my comment above about what this then means for monthly statements, annual usage, DD revisions, or anything else.

They're okay, and they gave me a decent deal on the MSE special tariff, but I wouldn't recommend them overall - too clunky, too much effort on the customer's part, too little benefit in return.

EDIT

Well, I've today seen that this month's statement has appeared - with estimated readings - despite giving them the readings the better part of a week or so ago. I would guess that "give us a meter reading at the end of the month" means "we have an exceptionally small window to use anything you send us, so be nice or we'll ignore you". Not really useful - again, a smart meter approach while relying on the customer to be the smart meter!

Former_Flow_Energy

Hello,


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


Please can I kindly request that you provide us with your Flow energy account number so we can look into this for you. As we do not have a direct message function on here please can I request that you contact us via Facebook https://www.facebook.com/FlowEnergyUK, Twitter https://twitter.com/FlowEnergy_Help or by calling or emailing our Customer Services team.


We will look to resolve any issues 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

Hengus wrote: »

I struggle to understand how it is that energy suppliers can make something which is so simple, appear so difficult. My gas is supplied by one of the smaller suppliers. Its website states that customers can provide as many meter readings as they like. I give them a reading once a week and receipt is confirmed immediately. My billing date is the last day of each month, so I make sure that I provide a meter reading on that date. My statement appears about 7 working days later and it shows all the readings that I have provided and I am billed on the last meter reading. It follows that the supplier is billing in accordance with its Standard Licence Conditions (SLC) which state:

Quote: Condition 21B. Billing based on meter readings

21B.1 If a Customer provides a meter reading to the licensee that the licensee considers reasonably accurate, or if the Gas Meter is read by the licensee, the licensee must take all reasonable steps to reflect the meter reading in the next Bill or statement of account sent to the Customer.

21B.2 If the licensee considers that a meter reading provided by a Customer is not reasonably accurate, the licensee must take all reasonable steps to contact the Customer to obtain a new meter reading from him. Unquote

In my book, the SLC reads that there should be no need for billing based on estimated meter readings if the customer provides a reading as requested. I should also add that I was with a supplier last year that played the validation delay game - despite being given an actual meter reading on the billing date. I was never contacted by customer services asking for a new meter reading as required by SLC 21B.2. Bills were always based on estimates. Some battles are worth fighting, some are not: I just 'ditched and switched'.