First Utility - reclaim money

jdjones

Hi, I'm currently on hold on the phone waiting to be put through to the finance department - they've kept me waiting so long that I'm using the time to help other people.

I phoned First Utility as I was reaching the end of my tariff. I asked why I hadn't received an email about my consumption and was told that they don't notify you when you have a bill! You have to log in and look for it. It turns out that I am owed £177.62. I had no idea.

They were keeping back more than 3 times my monthly direct debit. They claim that they get in touch if your usage is a bit over/under - but they didn't do this. :mad:

I'm posting this as there may be other people out there in the same situation who could benefit by quite a few £'s.

I initially rang them to extend my 'deal'. I'm going elsewhere now.

The direct number for their finance department is 01926 320778.

I hope this helps someone else get their money back

Horace5

I've had several 'run-ins' with First Utility over their automatic increase of my direct debit. While I was overpaying for usage, they didn't drop it but when usage was greater than the direct debit (for a particular month) they increased the payment. I spoke to their finance department, explaining that my usage would drop, again, after two months - based on 20 years usage - when the winter weather ended. They said they'd sort it out, but they did nothing until I cancelled the DD (since I was still well into the 'black').

This sparkled them into phoning me and assuring they'd return payments to the original level and wouldn't be so stupid it again. Well, that didn't last long as they've just whacked the charge up by almost 30% and I'm still in the 'black'.

I've just emailed to tell them I shall be cancelling the DD again and, this time, I'm going to switch supplier.

alderpoint

First Utility email me every month on about the 3rd/4th to tell me my latest bill is available.

They also have the option of you selecting a variable Direct Debit, whereby they only debit the amount shown on the bill each month, thus you never get the situation where you are in credit with them. I fail to understand why more people don't select this.

Steve_the_Musketeer

I left First Utility in May and been chasing my owed credit ever since! They asked me not to cancel my DD so they could refund me straight into my account.

However they just nicked another DD payment in June rather than pay me what they owed. Therefore I cancelled my DD and requested a cheque instead, which they said they would send....but didn`t.

Multiple phonecalls to polite but useless customer services over the following months has resulted in the same old loop. They will send the cheque in 10 working days, which doesn`t come so I phone them yet again and they will send the cheque in the next 10 working days, which doesn`t come.....and so on.

I tried to complain and phoned the complaints number for their `Special Team` and was told....wait for it...they don`t handle complaints over the phone! So why is there a complaints phone number? "Dunno" was the reply of one of their `Special Team`.

Sometime in June I contacted the Ombudsman and there is an 8 week timer that has to run before they can start so I am still waiting for that to kick in.

So after yet more wasted time calling First Utility I decided to fire off an email threatening to take them to a small claims court for holding several hundred pounds of my money that they have no right to hold. It must be worth a go, got nowt to lose. I`ve also contacted BBC Watchdog to see what happens.

So, still waiting for my latest 10 day non-delivery of non-existant cheque and, as yet, not a great deal I can do about it it seems.

Although in the last few mins I`ve had yet another standard `Your complaint is important to us` auto email and I`ve even got a reference code for them to ignore. Its like they just don`t give a stuff because I`ve found a better deal elsewhere and I`m not a customer anymore....sucks doesn`t it?

wallop_2

I've been with First Utility for over eight months now and I am still waiting for them to generate a correct bill.

There have been so many excuses, but their system is just not creating a proper bill - only credit notes.

If they made the effort to keep on top of it, it would not seem quite so bad, but they leave it to me to keep monitoring it.

Every month they tell me to submit up-to-date readings on the very last day of the month and they promise that a correct bill will be produced 'sometime' over the course of the new month (they cannot even specify a date). But every month it fails and I have to call them and chase them up.

I am tied-in for a one year contract, but after that I will not renew.

Bit by bit these companies are forcing me to keep my own 'Black List' of useless businesses that I never want to deal with again. Sadly, it is becoming a long list.... Scottish Power and BT, for example, are right up there at joint top, First Utility will soon follow.

fairydust30

I had the same - small bills with a credit building up so I called (after taking ages to track down an actual number to call) the guy agreed and said he would just pop me through to the direct debit department to look at getting it refunded and amending DD. I was on hold for 45 minutes being 'tranferred'. The guy transferring me never even came back on the phone to say theyre busy or anything. I gave up in the end. My bills look really complicated and Im not even sure theyre right. I keep getting emailed by them to lock in another year or two of low tariffs but Im leaving it open to see whos cheapest in May 2016 as I hear on the grapevine energy prices will be going down anyway.

catwoman73

I left FU in April and received the final bill a couple of weeks ago. Account was in credit by £60 and when the date of the direct debit came and went and no sign of the credit appearing in my bank account, I emailed them through my online account and the credit appeared in my bank account in a couple of days!

The actual 'contact us' is hard to find (they make you look at loads of irrelevant FAQs first) but once I'd found it, it worked without any need to spend hours on hold before talking to a foreign call centre who only quotes random irrelevant statements from their script before repeatedly ignoring their request.

matelodave

I've been with FU for nearly two years - the first six months were a bit flakey as they had problems in getting the billing to work at all. Since then it's been fine, I send them a reading every month and they produce a statement every month based on my readings.

I miscalculated my consumption estimate last year due to the mild weather and with only one phone call got my £200 credit back and reduced my DD from £86 to £75, simples

ward_powell

I am a customer of First Utility. It’s been more than a year since I ditched my previous supplier and changed to first utility. Since then I haven’t faced any trouble regarding my payments. I get emailed by them in the beginning of every month with regard to my latest bill. You also have the option of getting a smart meter installed.

jbuchanangb

I've been a customer of F-U for just over a year, and every month I get an e-mail reminding me to submit readings. I do this, and a few days later I check the web site for a bill. I don't get an e-mail to tell me bill is ready. I have also installed the F-U app on my iPad. They have changed my DD amount 4 times, twice down and twice up. I haven't challenged these actions.
Until recently I also assisted my elderly father with his F-U account. For a long time he worked with them on paper bills and paid by cheque every month. Missed out on the DD discount. Eventually he changed to pay by DD in full monthly. That worked well for him.

Debran

May I politely suggest that you do not have smart meters installed until First Utility can give you a GUARANTEE that their smart meters can be utilised by other energy suppliers should you decide to change suppliers.

I had them fitted whist an FU customer. They were fine until I changed suppliers. The new supplier could not make use of the smart meters. Eventually I reverted back to FU when they were the cheapest supplier for me and, by then, even FU could not use the meters they had supplied.

They have since asked me on two occasions to have my smart meters replaced, They are unable to give me a guarantee that the meters can be used by other suppliers so I have declined.