Add your feedback on energy supplier Extra Energy

krissyjo

My advice is don't even think about joining Extra Energy. You will never receive a bill, they ignore all correspondence and you won't get a refund on any overpayment.

lisa110rry

Well, I did have to send a second email to the CEO and customer services, but without any communication, £99 appeared in my bank account from EE. Quite a pleasant surprise since they only owed me £60 and some pence.

I'd like to say a particular thank you to member youreavinalaugh for pointing me in the right direction with regard to email addresses.

Victor_Delta

Ditto - thanks to youreavinalaugh, it worked for me too. And they seem to add an extra £25 as nominal compensation for customers who complain to the MD Ben Jones.

Of course, £25 is totally inadequate for the grief they've caused everyone over the last year or two but I'm just glad now to be shot of them.

Just very disappointed that, so far, the regulator appears to have taken so little interest in their dreadful performance and service.

lisa110rry

I really, really wish I could find out what's really (too many reallys) going on with this firm and why they can't sort themselves out. We need an investigative reporting team, does anyone spring to mind?:A

Hern

lisa110rry wrote: »

I really, really wish I could find out what's really (too many reallys) going on with this firm and why they can't sort themselves out. We need an investigative reporting team, does anyone spring to mind?:A

Short answer: nope.

Long answer: The UK doesn't have the kind of investigative journalism that's so much a feature of the USA. National newspaper investigation teams have long gone on the grounds of expense; Harold Evans and The Sunday Times and the Thalidomide scandal are but a distant memory, as is Granada TV's outstanding World In Action.

As for the BBC, the national taxpayer-funded broadcaster has for as long as I can remember been in the managerial hands of people who aren't recognizably skilled nor even recognizable journalists and who would have a hard time of it, reporting on a minor traffic accident for a local free sheet.

As a result, the original Esther Rantzen "consumer programme" was run by the BBC's Light Entertainment department and the same mind-set has obtained ever since: that it's all show business which fortuitously happens to be as cheap-as-chips to make.

There's the gimmick of bringing together former BBC TV female presenters in some kind of breakfast show -- breakfast, mind you -- and a Fake Britain which is actually well-researched, well-made and decently presented but is likewise dumped in a morning slot because as far as the BBC is concerned, that's all that TV investigative journalism is worth: best save the evening schedule for nationally important material like, er, The Apprentice and Strictly Come Dancing, oh yes.

Trusting to tabloid newspapers like The Mirror and The Sun is to trust in outfits with the same moral compass -- or lack thereof -- of the very companies and individuals deserving of journalistic investigation.

Bottom line: don't succumb to the delusion -- so often voiced on MSE over the years -- of "time to get Esther Rantzen / Anne Robinson / Uncle Tom Cobleigh and all involved" because it meant nothing then and means nothing now.

Consumers in the UK are on their own. . . and yet collectively amount to the single biggest investigative resource there could ever be.

Hern

Inflatable_Armadillo wrote: »

Great posts @Hern!

To answer you questions in relation to civil action in CC, in my case I will contest that they are unlawfully and unreasonably withholding monies owed without any cause or justification to do so. In my case, because I do have a final account that THEY have prepared, and I agree with, there is no dispute about the sum! As such, they agree by definition that they owe me this money, I totally agree and are not disputing the sum owed, so what on gods green earth, if they did turn up to contest, what are they going to say to the judge?

So, it will be interesting to see, firstly, whether they pay up on time on the 23rd December, if not, will they pay up when a letter before action lands, papers filled etc, or will they let it go all the way to CC, will they contest & what will they actually contest non-payment on!

I will let you all know!

MANY many thanks for this info, IA. It's exactly this kind of specific information which is needed, data to be shared with other energy company customers now so thoroughly fed up with what is done to them by an out-of-control energy supply sector that their only real option is not the Ombudsman Service or the Regulator (which consumers are not allowed to even talk to anyway) but the civil court.

regis598

Judge Judy would sort this out.

tomthered

Well with the help of 'youreavinalaugh' I used the template supplied to ask for my refund. Got an email reply saying they would be in touch that day, to be fair they did ring but my mobile has to be off during the day because of the work I do, so they sent an email. This stated they had missed me and asked me to contact them letting them know when I was available. So I did- I asked for a call on Saturday morning 19 December, but no call. I then sent another email asking them to just refund my money as a way of resolving the complaint. No joy no response. Have had no reply, so have sent another email this morning, but I suspect I won't get a reply!!


EDIT Hurrah - the refund was put in my account today. Got an email from the Debt Manager but no warning it was to be put in. Apparently they organised it last week on the 17th December to go in on 21 December. That's 78 days or 11 weeks since E-ON took over and 29 days since they first told me it would go in.


The statement Caveat Emptor stands for these guys, Buyers Beware!!!

hra_2

Hern wrote: »

it would be interesting to know what specific legal grounds -- grounds acceptable to a County Court for its consideration -- are under consideration here.

To add to the other responses, firstly there is general contract law. By withholding credit they are in possession of a consideration to which they are not entitled. If they allowed significant sums of credit to build up in the first place (e.g. after customer readings and after being contacted) then there is the wording in their Ts&Cs

We will review your Direct Debit payment regularly to ensure your fixed payments are accurate.

(my bold).

Secondly there is specific legislation. In respect of EE' billling and customer service, s13 Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 states:

In a contract for the supply of a service where the supplier is acting in the course of a business, there is an implied term that the supplier will carry out the service with reasonable care and skill.

This has been replaced by s49 Consumer Rights Act 2015 but only for contracts after 1 Oct 2015:

Every contract to supply a service is to be treated as including a term that the trader must perform the service with reasonable care and skill.

The new legislation has some very useful explanatory notes clarifying what is "reasonable":

It is generally accepted that relevant to whether a person has met the standard of reasonable care and skill are industry standards or codes of practice.

That brings into question all the breaches of licence conditions and other codes of practice (e.g. for accurate billing) throughout supply including but not just failing to bill within 6 weeks of leaving supply. Quite a long list in some cases...

Moneyer

hra wrote: »

That brings into question all the breaches of licence conditions and other codes of practice (e.g. for accurate billing) throughout supply including but not just failing to bill within 6 weeks of leaving supply. Quite a long list in some cases...

One to add which I'm not sure if it has been mentioned yet: failure to give the required notice (42 days, I believe, according to OFGEM) that a fixed price contract is coming to an end. At least, they didn't give me any notice. I'm guessing this means anyone who has rolled on their standard tariff without such notice can demand they be billed at the old fixed rate up until 42 days after they eventually do receive
notice….