MSE News: First Utility faces customer backlash as complaints double

2010

marmitemayhem wrote: »

Oh - and a working 0800 for FU customer services you promised....?

If you ranted and raved at FU the same as you`re doing on here, it`s no wonder they gave you the run around.
I never promised a number, what I said was there is a freefone number.
Look the number up yourself.:)

marmitemayhem

2010 wrote: »

If you ranted and raved at FU the same as you`re doing on here, it`s no wonder they gave you the run around.
I never promised a number, what I said was there is a freefone number.
Look the number up yourself.:)

Hahaha, I've not ranted over the phone. Far from it, the call center guys have been great, appear to sort everything out, I've ended calls with "thank you very much for your help". (edit: see below) Couldn't be happier when I hang up, Sadly, the promises of their actions are broken and the loop restarts. Only after I had it in writing it was all over, and THEN to receive subsequent demands have I gone vocal as clearly niceness didn't work. And there is little point sitting on the phone to be told everything is sorted when the systems keep doing other things the next month


But then, you know everything and have an opinion, yet don't deliver. Please take me up on my bet. Please provide your expert knowledge of an 0800 number that works (oh - not the ones on SayNoTo0870 as, as mentioned, they do not go to customer services)


And if anyone from FU is reading please get in touch










edit: Oh - my "rant" transcript lol!


8 Jan:
45mins of going through everything, no ranting/raised voices/normal chat.


FU: ...agreed everthing sorted, we'll do send cheque for overpayment, £20 sorry payment, letter confirming nothing outstanding etc.
Me: Thank you XXX, lets hope (with no offence) its the last time I speak to you (laugh)
Me: You've been very good and I know its the systems, and I appreciate your patience (as had been on phone for 45mins going through everything)
FU: No no, thank you mr XXX, thanks for calling, you shouldn't have to, we'll get it sorted.
Me: Thanks
FU: Thanks, bye
Me: Cheers, bye




Perfect. Cheques and letter arrive within a few days. Perfect. Peace then descends on my household


Then 6 weeks later, a new demand for payment that I was promised wouldn't come (and do not owe; and have confirmation that it does not apply and I don't owe) arrives and the cycle starts again....

marmitemayhem

Update:


Pre 9am this morning, First Utility called me
The guy on the phone had prepped the case, knew what had gone on, confirmed all was okay, confirmed the last charges were incorrect and he'd spoken to finance an they had just been cancelled. All done, nothing to pay, closed. All down to an automated system.....


100% perfect response in a 5 min call - very happy - what it should've been at the start.


Fingers crossed I don't get any more bills or letters otherwise I'll report back!




(Oh - phone call response was from an email I sent on Saturday to every FU email I could find and a few other parties. Shame it took that - but hopefully done and dusted)


I really hope they sort their systems out, as mentioned, everyone I've spoken to has been really good - just the systems don't honour what they said.


So thanks FU - top response this morning

2010

marmitemayhem wrote: »

Update:


Pre 9am this morning, First Utility called me
The guy on the phone had prepped the case, knew what had gone on, confirmed all was okay, confirmed the last charges were incorrect and he'd spoken to finance an they had just been cancelled. All done, nothing to pay, closed. All down to an automated system.....


100% perfect response in a 5 min call - very happy - what it should've been at the start.


Fingers crossed I don't get any more bills or letters otherwise I'll report back!




(Oh - phone call response was from an email I sent on Saturday to every FU email I could find and a few other parties. Shame it took that - but hopefully done and dusted)


I really hope they sort their systems out, as mentioned, everyone I've spoken to has been really good - just the systems don't honour what they said.


So thanks FU - top response this morning

I`m glad you got it sorted.
ALL of them have bad reviews from customers that have had a bad time.
I was with Scottish Power and they were horrendous but you can`t let one bad experience stop you from getting the cheapest deal from your energy suppliers.
A lot of the problem is the regulator who doesn`t seem to have much authority and the energy companies know this and take advantage.
They also know you can`t go to the omsbusman for at least eight weeks.
Did you 1471 this morning and get FU`s number?
What company have you changed to?

marmitemayhem

They called me from the public number to my mobile, so CLID.


Actually, they just this second called me again to confirm its all sorted and its noted on their system and am I happy its all okay.


Which I am - as 2 calls to confirm its all sorted means it actually should be.


I was with Sainsburys which is actually British gas but cheaper. But more expensive than FU which is why I tried to change in the first place. Now I'll settle paying more for a couple of years!


So top marks still to FU for sorting this so quickly from my email - could so easily have been done without all the grief and hours on phone had the systems correctly actioned what was agreed. When you can get them to call you - its simple!


Clearly emailing special people gets it done

ciscosurplus

I had no problems at all with First Utility until I switched to E.ON...

Initially they disagreed with final readings trying to add about £200 to the final readings, in the end I sent them phone screenshots of the Meter. This was in November, I still don't have a final bill or a refund. I did get an email from them mid January which says

"I can confirm your account is in credit of £334.81 at the present. Your final bill is in the process of being calculated.

I apologise for the delay in receiving your bill we are aware of the issue, as we have had a back log of bills over the winter period, which is now in the process of being resolved".

8 Phone calls, 12 emails and 3 letters and still no sign of my £334.81 just more excuses about delays. Sadly Small claims seems to be the only option left. Personally I will never switch back to first utility even if they are by far the cheapest.

alphonso24

Six months ago first utility fitted a new smart meter not had a bill since, if you pay by monthly direct debit you will not get a bill had a new boiler fitted no idea how much energy I am using helpline
useless customer service useless .:mad:

Swipe

alphonso24 wrote: »

Six months ago first utility fitted a new smart meter not had a bill since, if you pay by monthly direct debit you will not get a bill had a new boiler fitted no idea how much energy I am using helpline
useless customer service useless .:mad:

You don't need a bill to know how much energy you are using. Isn't that what smart meters do anyway? If you know your energy tariff name, daily standing charge and unit rate you can easily work it out yourself manually.

runlululurun

I can only describe my experience with FU as a complete farce. Even if they were giving away energy for free you couldn't persuade me to go back to them.

Apologies for the length of the post...


1. Joined in Nov 12, didn't receive first bill for 11 months.

2. Left property in sept 2013, submitted meter readings, terminated contract and advised new address. Didn't receive any indication that there were any charges outstanding until 10 months later when they tried to take a DD to the value of the (previously unseen) final bill of £684.

3. Although payment plan was agreed and payments were all made on time, they did not 'update correctly' on FU system therefore according to their records no payments were made.

4. FU failed to update our address details when given therefore received no written communications. No attempts to contact by email (method by which we received bills)


5. Repeatedly called by CRS (ignored at first as assumed it was PPI calls) turned out to be debt collectors for FU who had been incorrectly instructed to chase us for the money (that we were already paying.)

6. Contacted FU to find out the problem. Incorrectly advised by their representative that payments had been returned to us when in fact they hadn't.

7. Called FU again to confirm that yes all payments had been made correctly. FU advised we actually owed them £1100. As bill was going up instead of down inspite of payments made and they hadn't supplied us for over a year asked for copies of all bills they had sent us.

8. On examining the bills became clear that the final bill
had been calculated incorrectly. We were billed in Sept 2013 based on estimated readings. When we submitted Final readings on leaving the property they issued a final bill.

An adjustment was made to the gas bill correctly as we had used more than estimated. However the electricity used was less. The estimated electric was approx £450 but actual bill was approx £250. Instead of crediting £200, they added an additional £250 thus billing us twice for electricity for the same period.

9. Due to issues with their computer systems, our account was migrated to a new (associated) account number. For reasons only known to FU, they then generated another bill for the entire period we were with them (10 months) based on estimated readings and added to the existing outstanding amount.

10. FU have agreed to recalculate the bill based on the meter readings given at the start and end of our contract ignoring the billing debacle so far. I receive an email from them about my bill today - hooray I think, lets see if they agree with my calculation that they infact owe us £173.

No, it's a new bill for a period when we did not even live at the property. I believe the property was unoccupied for 2 weeks after we moved out before the next tenants moved in and FU have decided that we should be billed for this.

Well done if you've made it to the end...

Statetrooper99

I have an ongoing dispute with first Utility and the Ombudsman has been involved with the case for over 6 months. Got a letter from the Ombudsman today stating that they are not getting any response from FU but will continue to try. If the Ombudsman has this problem then what hope do the rest of us have!