MSE News: Co-op faces customer backlash following bungled system upgrade

Yorkshire_Pud

Co op Energy said that no one switching supplier away from them has been adversely affected:cool:

That's why two and a half months after switching Co op have not produced a final bill, which they promised after prompting would be sent by 15th April.

Today I spent over an hour waiting in several phone queues being cut off etc until finally I got through whereupon I was told that my new supplier had not sent them the final meter reading so they could not produce a final bill.

Of course my new supplier has told me they sent the reading mid March and I believe them because Co op told me four weeks ago that the reading had been received but with the IT changeover had not been passed on to the department that deals with final bills.

No contact from Co op to say there was a problem, no routine 3 monthly bill at end of March IF they didn't know I had switched away, no query as to why I had stopped my Direct Debit in April.

Last bill on their web site which I can access finally is from end of December.

What a complete and utter shambles, etc. contin. P94.

They are not really fessing up to the trauma and inconvenience they have caused to so many customers are they? Poor, very poor.

System

Last week, they promised that my final bill would be emailed to me by 24 April. It wasn't. Today, 30 minutes in call queue, and then the "overflow line" answered, and offered a call back, but said "these are taking 7 days".
I reversed enough direct debits to make sure I owe them about £50. I'm not bothering to chase them any more.
They didn't know I was chasing a final bill. How come they can't answer the phone? This mess must be affecting lots of customers. Isn't there some procedure for EnergyWatch to make a supercomplaint to Ofgem, or something?

Yorkshire_Pud

I got npower to resend my final meter reading and phoned Co op this morning, 25 minutes and cut off, then another 24 minutes wait and customer service guy came on, clearly new to the job but trying his best.

Tried to organise final bill but couldn't get through to that dept. sent them an email request. Did they get the final reading from npower? Operator didn't know.

Asked for him to be the case worker instead of just passing it on the theoretical conveyor belt that ends in nothing being done.

End of the day I've done what I can and I will wait a few months to contact them if again nothing is resolved.

Next scenario? Co-op Energy reporting 'defaulters' to credit reference agencies because customers owe them money, I mean can't settle up even though they try and try to:o

fat-pudding

I started a switch 16 weeks ago, I still have no access to online billing and no DD is setup. EDF seem to know nothing about the switch that Co-op has said is completed.

I have outstanding complaints with co-op that are being ignored, when I asked to leave them early with no penalty because they have breached the contract they said no.

They are the worst energy company I have ever dealt with.

All I can say is avoid co-op energy!

luckwudaveit

I didn't realise things were as bad as they are. I've not been able to see any bills or account status since re-registering, but have been able to enter meter readings.

Tonight I've just logged in and there is inconsistent information showing with my balance. On the account page I'm just in credit, but when I click to view my bill I'm significantly in debt. I keep my own meter records each month and they broadly show my usage is the same as last year, so I'm not too concerned. I've tried to call coop but have given up waiting repeatedly. I think I need to get bill copies sent to me.

whatiwanttosayis

Tried registering for the new site today to pay my bill, but complete failure. It did not recognise my account number or the password I set up. What's worse, on the enrolment screen they do not blank out the password details as you type them in so it's not secure.
As I have a quarterly paper bill I looked through its seven (!) pages to try and find an alternative way of paying. Nowhere do they give any information about how to pay. And unlike most companies these days they do not allow you to pay by internet banking, so the only way seems to be through the website, or on their automated phone line which under the circumstances I do not trust. Needless to say I do not want to set up a Direct Debit with them.
I really want to use the Co-op as an alternative to the Big 6 rip-off corporates, but they do seem to be stuck in a pre-internet past.

fat-pudding

I've just checked with EDF again, co-op say my supply for electricity and gas went over on the 4th April (switch applied for on 10th January), EDF say they have checked the national database and no requests have been made to switch my supply and they are my supplier.

I've now sent a further email to co-op telling them to tell me what is going on and that they are not to switch anything. I'm going to still chase them for compensation as I could have changed to a cheaper tariff months ago so I've lost out *and* wasted many hours of my time chasing a switch that they have failed to process.

boobbby

I just had a look at the ofgem site which lists the number of complaints about the energy companies and surprise surprise as I noticed the Co op came aout with the one of the lowest number of complaints. OK the data was only up until the end of 2014 so as I only joined in February then maybe things have got a lot worse recently. I would advise anybody with a complaint should go to the ofgem site and register their complaint. This is the link.. https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/about-us/how-we-work/working-consumers/supplier-performance-consumer-complaints

System

boobbby wrote: »

I would advise anybody with a complaint should go to the ofgem site and register their complaint. This is the link.. https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/about-us/how-we-work/working-consumers/supplier-performance-consumer-complaints

Alas, I don't think individual customers can register a complaint with Ofgem. It's a struggle to complain to Co-op energy, and I have no confidence that Co-op energy is capable of recording the number of complaints, let alone responding to them.

Johno100

Also on quarterly billing and they are at least three weeks late in billing me, no email from them and no balance outstanding on my online account, seems the wheels have totally fallen off.

Does anyone know why they changed their system in the first place? The old one seemed perfectly OK for me as a customer.