Add your feedback on energy supplier Extra Energy

footyguy

2catsandcounting wrote: »

I fear I am just the beginning of my saga with them...

Switch completed to them on 24th February, DD was set up on our end at the same time but they opted not to take the first payment on 1st April. (DD is £57/month)

On 12th April they claim that someone came and took meter readings, but no actual bill was issued at this stage.

On 20th May I was worried that we had never got a bill from them, so phoned them up with meter readings, and i was told not to worry and they only do bills every six months.

Today (June 29th) they have sent me a bill for the period on 23rd Feb-12th April for £91, but because only 1 payment had been made at this point, there is an outstanding balance of £34 so have decided to put our DD up to £83, yet also according to our account we are £171 in credit!!

We phoned back this morning, and gave them updated meter readings and asked them to reduce the direct debit back down to £57, or a figure closer, but they refused because they can only review direct debits once 1 year?? If we continued to pay £83/month we'll be massively in credit by the end of it!

This is a joke of a company, my boyfriend asked to speak to a supervisor, who we could hear was drip feeding the guy on the phone, but this was not possible and he would have to call us back, which we are still waiting for! In the meantime, we have cancelled the direct debit and started the switching process to Sainsbury's Energy through Martin's Energy Club, we'll get £30 cashback and save £32 over the year so this covers the £50 exit fees. (plus we'll get nectar points)

I don't think this will be resolved a for a while, am prepared for a long battle!!

Lots of issues here.

I'll try to help you with at least some.

The bill they sent you today for the period 23rd Feb-12th April - what date was it actually produced?
The bill should include all credits up to that date.
The period 23rd Feb-12th April only relates to the usage. So unless you really have only made 1 payment since February, then complain.

How can they have put your DD up to £83 if they have only provided the bill today???

Anyway, this is how to complain about level of DD
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/lower-energy-direct-debits

If you have now cancelled the Direct Debit mandate as you state, then an email will be on it's way to you saying you should contact them immediately and that

If we don’t hear from you within 10 working days of the date of this correspondence, we’ll automatically switch you to non- Direct Debit prices. This means you’ll pay more for your energy.

There will also be another threat added

If we have to contact you again, there will be a £12 charge added to your account to cover the cost of us doing so.

Not sure if that last threat is enforcible. I don't remember seeing it in the agreement, but it might be. As far as I was concerned I never entered into an agreement, so owe them nothing. As you obviously did enter into an agreement, I suggest you check.

Edit: they are probably relying on standard term 2.3.a

If you fail to pay a direct debit, we will charge you a paymentfailure
fee. We also have the right to recover from you any
other bank charges we have to pay because of cancelled or
failed payments or rejected cheques. If you continue to miss
payments, we will try to contact you by email, letter or phone
before referring the matter to a debt collection agency, trace
company or solicitor.

2catsandcounting

footyguy wrote: »

Lots of issues here.

I'll try to help you with at least some.

The bill they sent you today for the period 23rd Feb-12th April - what date was it actually produced?
The bill should include all credits up to that date.
The period 23rd Feb-12th April only relates to the usage. So unless you really have only made 1 payment since February, then complain.

How can they have put your DD up to £83 if they have only provided the bill today???

Anyway, this is how to complain about level of DD
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/lower-energy-direct-debits

If you have now cancelled the Direct Debit mandate as you state, then an email will be on it's way to you saying you should contact them immediately and that

There will also be another threat added

Not sure if that last threat is enforcible. I don't remember seeing it in the agreement, but it might be. As far as I was concerned I never entered into an agreement, so owe them nothing. As you obviously did enter into an agreement, I suggest you check.

Edit: they are probably relying on standard term 2.3.a

The bill was issued today (29th June) for the period up until 12th April and only takes into account the 1 payment of £57 made on 1st April, but in reality we have paid £57 on the first of every month, so the account is £171 in credit.

I understand your points re cancelling the direct debit, we threatened to cancel the direct debit as we didn't want to pay £83 a month, when we only need to pay less than £60. we had hoped that doing this would spur them to reissue a bill, based on today's meter readings, and also taking into account the payments we have been making to them, but they refused to budge on their stance of 'we only review direct debits once a year'

We've started the switching process now anyways so there's not an a lot that they can do!

footyguy

2catsandcounting wrote: »

The bill was issued today (29th June) for the period up until 12th April and only takes into account the 1 payment of £57 made on 1st April, but in reality we have paid £57 on the first of every month, so the account is £171 in credit.

I understand your points re cancelling the direct debit, we threatened to cancel the direct debit as we didn't want to pay £83 a month, when we only need to pay less than £60. we had hoped that doing this would spur them to reissue a bill, based on today's meter readings, and also taking into account the payments we have been making to them, but they refused to budge on their stance of 'we only review direct debits once a year'

We've started the switching process now anyways so there's not an a lot that they can do!

But you are not asking for another review of your DD payment, you are simply objecting to the review and revision they have just advised you of.

That's why there is an advance notice given - to allow you to object if you disagree.

If you object, and there is no agreed resolution, and yet they pull the revised amount, then you recover that under the terms of the Direct Debit Guarantee. i.e. your bank refunds you
(and it's a strike against the supplier who is mis-using the DD scheme)

Actually there is quite a lot EE can do if you get it wrong. They can bill you various extra charges (as I said check out the terms you agreed to) they can trash your credit file, and they can object to you switching (although they should only do this if you are in debt to them)

2catsandcounting

footyguy wrote: »

But you are not asking for another review of your DD payment, you are simply objecting to the review and revision they have just advised you of.

That's why there is an advance notice given - to allow you to object if you disagree.

If you object, and there is no agreed resolution, and yet they pull the revised amount, then you recover that under the terms of the Direct Debit Guarantee. i.e. your bank refunds you
(and it's a strike against the supplier who is mis-using the DD scheme)

Actually there is quite a lot EE can do if you get it wrong. They can bill you various extra charges (as I said check out the terms you agreed to) they can trash your credit file, and they can object to you switching (although they should only do this if you are in debt to them)

We weren't given the option to disagree with the revise amount, and told they would take £83 a month every month until they reviewed it again in 12 months time, hence why we cancel the direct debit and starting the switching process. We know we owe them money, we just want an accurate bill before we pay.

my credit file is already trashed, it wont make much difference.

csbulmer

pass on to ombudsman now.
it will still take forever.
you will only get told by ee to wait 21days.
at witch time when you call back in 21 days.
you will be told to call back in 21 days.
this has happened to me many times now.
good luck.
colin.

footyguy

csbulmer wrote: »

pass on to ombudsman now.
it will still take forever.
you will only get told by ee to wait 21days.
at witch time when you call back in 21 days.
you will be told to call back in 21 days.
this has happened to me many times now.
good luck.
colin.

The ombudsman service will only entertain any complaint if you have already complained to the service provider and allowed at least 8 weeks for them to investigate & resolve it (or issue you with a deadlock letter)

Going straight to the ombudsman without this will be fruitless, and whats more will be a waste of time for the complainant and furthermore a waste of valuable time for the overstretched ombudsman service who are busy working trying to resolve issues from genuine complainants that have followed the correct process.

2catsandcounting

Well, despite cancelling the direct debit, extraengery took £57 out my bank account this morning but have managed to issue us a new bill, so now were £30 in credit, but they still want to up the direct debit from next month to £83!
In other news, our contract for Sainsbury's energy came through tonight, switching on the 19th July, so less than 3 weeks to put up with this incompetent company

ianG

Fine in theory, but with EE they do not follow their own complaints process so you have to resort to unconventional means to get them to respond.

csbulmer

finaly resolved ee.
got my refund after invoving ombudsman
after months of worry.
ee don't doit.
colin.

degreesofsep

I complained 8 weeks ago today, I did receive an acknowledgement of my complaint 4 weeks later, but since then nothing.

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to the Ombudsman I go!!