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

Thehud

Okaay

Shall not bore you with the story so far. I decided to post on the FB coop page and a nice lady called Michelle has been in constant touch ever since.

We now have both houses provided with elec and gas. DDs are set up and both accounts are linked online. Things are moving.

As a goodwill gesture, one months dd £ was placed into the account that got messed up.

So go to FB 'The Co-operative energy' and message Michelle (she has a stand in who is also very helpful) and see if she can sort things out for you.

Thank goodness for Michelle and FB :cool:

fat-pudding

It's now over 8 weeks so I'm going to be working on my complaint to the ombudsman today.

Today in this ongoing saga with the co-op a letter has arrived telling me they want an opening meter reading after agreeing to return the supply as an erroneous transfer. They are utterly incompetent clowns and I honestly hope that they go bankrupt.

bellandbottle

Thehud wrote: »

Okaay

Shall not bore you with the story so far. I decided to post on the FB coop page and a nice lady called Michelle has been in constant touch ever since.

We now have both houses provided with elec and gas. DDs are set up and both accounts are linked online. Things are moving.

As a goodwill gesture, one months dd £ was placed into the account that got messed up.

So go to FB 'The Co-operative energy' and message Michelle (she has a stand in who is also very helpful) and see if she can sort things out for you.

Thank goodness for Michelle and FB :cool:

I would appreciate knowing what FB stands for - thanks

Waryme

I've been a lifelong member of the Co-op, since late 50s. I grew up with the movement, but I have had enough now. I'm moving to Ecotricity, when I can untangle the current Co-op mess.

I asked for my current bill on June 5th. I gave them my readings & was promised a response within 72 working hours. I finally got a response this morning, (23rd) on my mobile. Signal was weak so I suggested she call me on my land-line. When she finally calls my land-line I can hear her, but not vice versa. (Problem was their end, my phone worked perfectly calling their 'Customer Services' number a couple of minutes later.)

So I 1471 the number, & call the number she called me from & waited for 45mins before a human voice answered. ("We are are currently experiencing very high call volumes", over & over & over. I'm not surprised, must be many like me waiting & waiting.) Only to be told all they could was email the lady who called me.... I expect another month or so wait before anything happens...

My advice is: 'Do not even consider using this incompetent, shambolic organisation for your energy needs'. They make BG & NPower look super efficient.

I'm also using the Co-op Broadband/Phone service.... But not for much longer.

This sad 'service' has frittered away all the goodwill I ever had for the Co-op.

Their problems stem from expanding too rapidly. They could not cope with the demand. Clearly the management are way out of their depth. They deserve to go bankrupt, but not, I hope with my money.

I change over to Ecotricity on 25th June, & I can't wait.

Waryme

bellandbottle wrote: »

I would appreciate knowing what FB stands for - thanks

Me no expert but I think it means Facebook: )

Waryme

[QUOTE=
Members of Mid-counties Co-operative, which owns Un-co-operative Energy, can complain to Mid-counties Co-operative that managers at Un-co-operative Energy appear to have bought a duff new IT system and introduced it without any proper testing or phased switch-over. Midcounties Co-operative is (or was) profitable, and (oddly) is not part of the ailing Co-operative Group, which used to own the wrecked Co-operative Bank.[/QUOTE]


I've been a member of Mid Counties for 10 years or so, & my experience is that a complaint to them is a total waste of time. I've been to AGMs, talked to individual managers, you name it. A total, utter waste of time.

I used to have an account with the Co-op Bank until the Chairman got caught buying drugs & chasing rent boys. I wonder what this Co-op Energy management is up to behind the scenes? They are clearly not doing a proper job.

Malcolm1948

Thehud wrote: »

Okaay

Shall not bore you with the story so far. I decided to post on the FB coop page and a nice lady called Michelle has been in constant touch ever since.

We now have both houses provided with elec and gas. DDs are set up and both accounts are linked online. Things are moving.

As a goodwill gesture, one months dd £ was placed into the account that got messed up.

So go to FB 'The Co-operative energy' and message Michelle (she has a stand in who is also very helpful) and see if she can sort things out for you.

Thank goodness for Michelle and FB :cool:

Unfortunately 'Michelle' and her very helpful stand-in seem to be somewhat selective about which problems they can or will sort out - just check out the FB (sorry, Facebook) pages to see the number of complaints about 'Michelle' requesting PM's (sorry, Personal Messages) and then just ignoring them.

Poppycat

Leaving coop once again charging me more for service chargers when dates between bills they send overlap in dates. Some how they have also removed from my online account £130 warmfront scheme when it was on there before and I fitted there criteria. I simple can't be bothered being messed about by them and lost any confidence in there billing

Malcolm1948

Waryme wrote: »

I've been a member of Mid Counties for 10 years or so, & my experience is that a complaint to them is a total waste of time. I've been to AGMs, talked to individual managers, you name it. A total, utter waste of time.

I used to have an account with the Co-op Bank until the Chairman got caught buying drugs & chasing rent boys. I wonder what this Co-op Energy management is up to behind the scenes? They are clearly not doing a proper job.

Sadly Mid-Counties do seem still to be living in Co-op never-never land - indeed Ben Reid seems to have been in the forefront of resistance to necessary changes to the national Cooperative Group to make it more business-like.

If you look on Co-operative members sites, these people really are more interested in 'fair trade bananas' than in the nuts and bolts of actually running a business, to them the whole thing is about the good causes that keep popping up on the FB site, rather than the products and service they and other customers are getting (or not getting). They don't seem to realise that you need a viable and properly managed business to support and pay for all these good causes, and think that if you just trot out a few good slogans everything else will just fall into place.

Unlike the 'big six' which are multinational companies with major financial backers, I suspect Co-op Energy might be in serious difficulty in the event of the regulatory intervention which their current behaviour might deserve. Which would be a pity, not least for all the good causes.

teabelly

Does anyone have the CEO or equivalent email address? These clowns are sending me bill demands when I switched months ago and paid up in full before leaving. All the old billing data is obviously in the old portal which isn't accessible.

Anyone else had this problem?