MSE News: First Utility faces customer backlash as complaints double

Swipe

Yes, they are useless. I'm electricity only and they started charging me for gas because someone in customer services made an assumption without checking things.

alwynp_2

trynsave wrote: »

I moved away from them at the start of April this year as my fix had ended. (Moved to OVO...oh dear!)

I hadn't had a bill since Nov. 13 and a year later still haven't! No final statement, nothing. I have no idea if I owe them money, or they owe me. Am putting it down to them changing my meter last winter. They decided that we all had to move to smart meters, but when they fitted it they got no line connection so had to take it away and install a new, but standard meter.

The only think that makes me slightly more relaxed is that with d/d the idea is to overpay during the warmer months to spread winter fuel bills, so I'm hoping that I got my money's worth, but guessing I'll never know for sure.

I have been happy with Ovo over the last 2 years but, having accepted their offer of a smart meter, I met the installer and asked him what would happen if I changed supplier. He told me it would then become a dumb meter. I called off the installation!

danconst

I moved into my property in September 2013 and switched from First Utility who were already supplying the property to another supplier. The switch went through on 7th October 2013 and I heard nothing from FU until today where I've recieved a bill for £100.41. This is apparently for the electric/gas I used between 13th sept to 7th Oct although I struggle to see how it can be that expensive. I rang FU and was told there was an issue creating the bill hence why it's taken so long. Utter Shambles and they won't be receiving a penny.

Llankay09

I admit that we have a rather unique situation, however no doubt many people have experienced the following...

I rang customer services (I had to hold but relatively little time) and explain my situation only to have them redirect me to the credit department - I had to wait for 97 minutes...NINETY SEVEN! Only to be told that actually customer services should have dealt with it and they couldn't...

Well they said they would do something once I asked to be put through the complaints department (and given they said they would do something they didn't put me through to the complaints department so I complained online)

We wanted to PAY the bill... gee they don't make things easy!

Mark333032

I signed up to FU in December 2013 to a iSave V15 Tariff on monthly direct debit. It all went very well. But then in April 2014 and without notification, they switched me to a much more expensive iSave Everyday V2 tariff. It is now December 2014 and having just reviewed all my invoices because I was thinking my bills were rather high, I have now only just realised this happened. Who can be bothered to go to the FU website to open up and check through their invoice each month?


There was no email to inform me this tariff change was about to happen. The guy at the call centre thought it was sufficient to notify customers of changes via the invoice but I think this is underhand and deceitful. I wonder how many others are using comparison websites thinking they are on a cheaper tariff than they really are.


I have written to FU to complain about this practice.

2010

Everything I`ve read about FU and not just on this board (look at Twtter) seems to indicate that this is an absolute crap company with no customer service to speak of and should be avoided.
Amazingly MSE Cheap Energy Club seems to be pushing them to the limit, making them the best buy and top of the table allbeit with a warning of crap service.
I think the £60 a year I`m projected to save is not worth all the hassle and it will cost £60 if I decided to move before the fix is up.

matelodave

Mark333032 wrote: »

I signed up to FU in December 2013 to a iSave V15 Tariff on monthly direct debit. It all went very well. But then in April 2014 and without notification, they switched me to a much more expensive iSave Everyday V2 tariff. It is now December 2014 and having just reviewed all my invoices because I was thinking my bills were rather high, I have now only just realised this happened. Who can be bothered to go to the FU website to open up and check through their invoice each month?


If you can't be bothered to check your bills and make sure they correctly reflect the tariff, meter readings and any direct debit payments then I'm afraid you've only got yourself to blame if you find that you've been paying the wrong amount for eight months.

There was no email to inform me this tariff change was about to happen. The guy at the call centre thought it was sufficient to notify customers of changes via the invoice but I think this is underhand and deceitful. I wonder how many others are using comparison websites thinking they are on a cheaper tariff than they really are.


It's nothing to do with comparison websites - it's up to you to check that you are on the correct tariff and that the bills reflect your consumption & payments. It's not hard to read your bills to make sure they are correct.
If you are too lazy to check it on line then pay the extra to get paper bills.

I have written to FU to complain about this practice.

Why is it always someone else's fault when you couldn't be bothered to check your own bills - do you let the garage guess how much fuel you've put in your car or do you check the price, quantity and cost before you pay - leccy & gas aren't really all that different

Mark333032

Hold on one minute Matelodave


1. I joined FU a V15 tariff. I checked the initial invoice and all was well. I continued to provide monthly readings and they sent me a link to open up subsequent invoices. I am on DD so did not bother to open them until now.
2. Just three months into the plan, FU switched me to something much more expensive without informing me. Had I been opening my invoices I might have spotted the switch to a new tariff, but if you have ever been an FU customer you will realise the tariff name is far from obvious. But in any case before making any changes, FU should have properly informed me
3. I continued to use comparison websites on the basis I was on the V15 tariff (which I was not) just to be sure I was still getting the best deal


I am all for taking responsibility for my own actions or inactions but you must accept that FU's practice of secretly switching tariffs in this way is sharp practice. I am really quite angry about it.


2 weeks after submitting my complaint, I have just received a meaningless, ill-considered response from FU to which I have already replied.

matelodave

As it happens I am also a FU customer and carefully check my bills/statements as soon as they are produced to ensure that they fully reflect my consumption, tariff and that there haven't been any crafty changes. This is because it took them the best part of six months to get any sort of statement onto my account.

I've always carefully checked my bills & bank statements every month since being caught out many years ago when my bank was taking money out of my account but putting my salary into someone else's with a similar name. Likewise excessive estimates on utility bills (including water) have made me very wary about their accuracy.

It's all going quite well with FU at the moment, my readings are the ones they are using and the tariff & dds are being correctly recorded on my statements and my bank account is being debited. I also download each statement and keep it in a separated folder as evidence should the need arise.

However I'm am anticipating a bit of a struggle when the contract ends in April 2015 and they will owe me about £200 due to my over estimate of consumption because of this years mild weather.

Just watching some of the threads on this forum astonishes me with the problems that some people have, mainly because they don't check or correct their bills or statements and don't keep them either so they've no record of what has been going on.
Come the day of reckoning they are at the mercy of the suppliers because they don't have any evidence of payments, tariffs or meter readings.

Swipe

Just seen this tweet from First Utility CS:

"We are back tomorrow 9am-1pm. Have a great evening "

A two week backlog of emails, 90 minute telephone waits and they are all knocking off at lunchtime tomorrow. Unbelievable!!