Have you tried to reclaim old bill credit?

normaw

CO-OP again!!!

I have recently switched from Co-op to another supplier and the final meter readings were sent to the Co-op on 10 March. I have just spoken to someone on Co-op's helpline to query when I will receive my final bill. The adviser was adamant that they have 30-35 working days (ie 6-7 weeks!) to process the final bill from the date of account closure and then a further 14 days to issue any refund owing. He claimed this is to ensure that the national gas network database is up to date and everything is in order with my new supplier. Utter rubbish! My account with my new supplier was effective from 9 March and is ticking along nicely. Has anyone else been quoted these spurious timescales by Co-op and is it legal?

[Deleted User]

@normaw

OFGEM do allow the old supplier 6 weeks to generate a final bill starting from the date that the old account is closed (switch over day). And then the credit/debit balance will be processed. So 8 weeks is a viable and legal target.

peter.collins443

I have now raised a complaint with ofgem re no sign of my credit refund from co op energy. This is my second complaint to ofgem within 6 months re Co op energy.

My final co op energy bill stated the following

We will refund any amount owed 14 days after the date of this final bill or statement.
If you have any questions, please contact us as soon as possible.

Norman

CO-OP again!!!

I have recently switched from Co-op to another supplier and the final meter readings were sent to the Co-op on 10 March. I have just spoken to someone on Co-op's helpline to query when I will receive my final bill. The adviser was adamant that they have 30-35 working days (ie 6-7 weeks!) to process the final bill from the date of account closure and then a further 14 days to issue any refund owing. He claimed this is to ensure that the national gas network database is up to date and everything is in order with my new supplier. Utter rubbish! My account with my new supplier was effective from 9 March and is ticking along nicely. Has anyone else been quoted these spurious timescales by Co-op and is it legal?

When I left co op energy on the 12th February my Gas meter reading was accepted on the 12th February.

My electric reading was not accepted till the 24th February and I got my final bill on the 25th February.

My new supplier couldn't activate my online electric account till the 25th February BUT co op used my final readings for my bill...

Try and find out if co op have got both readings and accepted them. They wont issue a bill until they have both sets of readings.

Send co op an email registering a complaint about poor service keep a copy and state all the problems you have. once you get a response normally within 72 hours you can complain to ofgem

Peter.collins443

footyguy

PhilHornby wrote: »

But does this do any good?

OFGEM say:" Ofgem doesn’t have a direct role in dealing with individual disputes between customers and energy companies"

They just seem to direct you to Ombudsman Services - who I found to be as much use as a Chocolate Teapot. (They responded to my first complaint with "It's too soon" ... and my second complaint with: "It's too late!")

You normally have to wait 8 weeks (unless they give you a deadlock letter sooner) from submission of a complaint to the supplier to allow them chance to address your complaint yourself.

You then have 6 months from the suppliers final response (or 9 months from initial complaint if the supplier fails to provide any response) to ask the ombudsman to assist.

fjclondon

My mother moved 30-11-15. Despite accurate meter readings (and staying with Extra energy at her new address) her final bill from the previous account wasn't generated for 4 months despite phone calls (1 hour usual time on hold) and emails from their website link. On 30-03-16 it was finally generated and showed a credit of £696. 1 month later her account has still not been credited despite more phone calls and 2 further emails both with response of allow 10 days for account o be credited. The bottom line is that Extra Energy by increasing her direct debit accumulated a credit of £696 which they have hung onto for 5 months and a week to date.

I will also add that my mother is 84 and has Alzheimers. Extra energy was very happy for me to open an account for her and arrange direct debit payment, but when I wished to speak to someone about the problem I was told that they could not talk to me and I would have to send a copy of my POA to them before they would.

Smegreg

sparky421 wrote: »

It strikes me that it would be in Money Saving Expert's interest (as well as all consumers) if they were to lobby to change the immoral practice that Power companies adopt, namely: to hold onto any money they owe us when we switch suppliers until (or unless) we ask for it.


If this practice were to change it would make us all more likely to continue to switch between suppliers. How many people are put off because of the trouble it causes?


I switched from Green Star Energy recently and even though they have my bank account details because I paid by Direct Debit, I had to chase them to repay me. This is what they said:


"With regard to refunding the credit remaining in your account, unfortunately the customer must request the refund on receipt of the final bill. This is the procedure at the moment with regard to processing any refunds and I apologise if there was any confusion about this."


I'd laugh, except it isn't funny...

I'm with you on this Sparky,

It has been such a hassle to get any money back from Green Star (left in Feb, still outstanding circa £300). I called again today and they claim that I've never asked for the money back before now and it is my job to contact them. (I have asked them numerous times to ask for it back, so I can't understand why there is no record of this...) Anywhoo, I have requested it back AGAIN, and was told 10 working days for a refund, which will take this to the middle of June.

The longer it goes on, the angrier I am becoming and I can imagine some people give up in the end and/or forget about it because so much time has passed and life gets in the way.

And so, to help my stress levels, I imagine I will be more hesitant to switch in the future, just because I know they can be so poor with customer service.

I can't imagine them being this slow if the shoe were on the other foot and I owed them money... Plus, they charge extra to pay for the costs incurred to recover outstanding bills. So I feel like I should be able to do the same. Approx 1 hour on the phone chasing them at £60 an hour is what I reckon I'm worth. Plus time researching my rights and finding contact numbers is another hour at least. :

Then there is the interest that I've missed out on. £300 interest in a top 6% account for 4 months - £6 ish.


I've put in a complaint and I am going to ask for an extra £126 for the above! :rotfl:

chiny

I'll add my pennyworth.

The corporate personification of evil otherwise known as nPower have been delaying making a refund to me since 8 Dec 14. I did get a muddled letter a month ago saying <random amount> would arrive within 10 working days but obviously nothing happened.

I've dealt with about 4 of the big 6 over the last few years and their customer service varies in response time but the effectiveness of them all appears much the same.

I guess they ignore us because they can; ultimately little happens. Although nPower were fined £x million, it is a small dent in their operating costs.

Alexw1_2

So, I'm new to the forum's but wanted to share my ..... experience / saga with extra energy ...
So 2 years ago I joined them as the cheapest supplier at the time & based on my previous usage, my D/D was £100 / month, which rose to £120 after winter readings.
By the end of the 12 months, after my bill was paid I was £850 in credit :beer:
Although the on-line service wasn't great, as it wouldn't let me decrease my D/D, I was happy with them (it can't be easy to mess up supplying a utility!) & the next fixed tariff was only a little more expensive per kWh, but cheaper on the standing charge, so worked out better in the long run for me based on my usage.
Anyway, after my new fixed period started, my D/D was changed to £23, but 2 months later I still hadn't seen my £850 land in my account, so I called up & asked & was told it would take 10 days, which I wasn't overly happy with, but 4 weeks later when I got back from New Zealand there was still no credit. I called up to follow up & raised a complaint in December '15 & advised them that I was cancelling my D/D to stop them collecting money from me, while holding onto such a vast credit. I waited 21 working days & still nothing, so complained again ... about 2 weeks later I got a phone call - "finally!" I thought - nope, they were asking for a meter reading, which I had also stopped submitting until they paid me my money ... As the year progressed & work got busier, I didn't chase them as vigorously as I should, but in July I got an e-mail entitled "Extra complaint" or something similar ... No, it wasn't regarding my complaint, it was for meter readings & felt like a complaint that I hadn't submitted any. I responded & also included a breakdown of my complaint, who I'd spoken to, when etc & again that was ignored until I got a letter around the beginning of September saying that they were investigating my complaint .... I followed up with the same e-mails I had forwarded on previously & called to make sure they had been received, as I couldn't be bothered reciting the whole saga all over again, especially if someone was actually dealing with it.
The short ending to this, is that yesterday (11/10/16), after another 4 phone calls since the 20/09/16, I have been given £100 credit to my account, which pushes my credit up to £250.
Ok, I accept that that isn't £850 in my bank account, but it's a mini-win, as I have used the utilities & haven't paid for them monthly, so I can't reasonably expect that £850 sum back - but the £100 credit (which I had to ask for) will mean that I don't have a utility bill or D/D to pay until my contract terminates in Dec '16 (when I will be moving to whatever MSE energy club suggest).

I guess the posting isn't really to share my story as a successful one, but to encourage people to badger any company that owes them money & complain early, but reasonably. Give them time to investigate & resolve the issue, but if they don't, be prepared to call continually until it's resolved.
I had to threaten going to the ombudsman, so I was confident that I'd get the £100, as there was no denying they have dealt with my complaint poorly & not treated me fairly (although it is now resolved). This meant that I knew it made more financial sense for them to give me £100 & probably make a loss on me as a customer this year, than to incur an ombudsman investigation & a heavier loss as a result of that investigation. If they'd just sent my money back to me as they were supposed to have done & collected a payment monthly, they'd have made some form of profit from me ...

surreyz

GB-Energy just went bust. I switched to E.On 3 months ago. But GB Energy still owe me £800 for over-paid bills. They have been incredibly evasive each time I have tried to get it paid back. Is all lost now, or can I invoke the Ofgem "Safetynet" and get the successor supplier to honour this debt?

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

[FONT=&quot]Hello surreyz and welcome to the Forums.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]Even though GB Energy are no longer trading, Co-op Energy have been appointed so usual industry processes will continue to apply.

As you switched to us 3 months ago, we'll have sent our opening readings to the old supplier. They'll use these readings to close their account and issue a final bill. Make sure the readings used on their final bill are the same as those used on our opening bill. This makes sure you're only charged once for the same energy.

Hope this helps [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]surreyz.

Malc
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