Robin Hood Energy Taken almost £2K!!! from Bank A/C

boliston

Perhaps Robin Hood Energy consider you a "rich" customer (presumably all customers are credit checked) worthy of being robbed so they can then offer super deals to their "poor" customers

MaCl14

I wish! (Unlike the Robin Hood they steal from the poor!)

lstar337

boliston wrote: »

Perhaps Robin Hood Energy consider you a "rich" customer (presumably all customers are credit checked) worthy of being robbed so they can then offer super deals to their "poor" customers

I can't believe it took 12 posts to get to this. :rotfl:

macman

The payee can't cancel the DD, only you can, since it's your account. All they can do is cease drawing on it. Just ask the bank to refund under the DD guarantee as advised in post 2, and let them argue it out with the men in Lincoln green...

MaCl14

Thank you all for the advice.
I phoned theBank who were great and are cancelling the DD and returning the money Robin Hood Energy took! (The person I spoke to was shocked RHE took this huge amount!)
I also have a £6 charge for going over my overdraft (Which I'm going to take up with RHE).
I still can't believe they took such a huge amount for a monthly direct debit! With no accountability! Telling me it's my fault!!! for not checking the Welcome Pack they sent me -where they typed this huge amount!
Useless Company! And dire Customer Service! The idiot I spoke to also liked her dramatic pauses! - Every time she completed a sentence would say "Ok" followed by a dramatic pause! Every single bl**dy thing she said.
I would warn anyone not to switch to Robin Hood Energy!!!
(Bank have also cancelled DD in future with them, what's the betting RHE set-up another and steal a huge amount from my bank account next month!)

BlueEyedGirl

First off keep calm.

Ring bank get money back from DD under DD Guarantee. (Done!)

Check paperwork sent by energy company, it probably clearly states in that how much they were planning to take. If the figure is right, who is in the wrong? The energy company for taking such a bizarre amount or you the OP for not reading the paperwork?

Remain calm (if not already calmed down!)

Cancel DD online with your bank.

Check paperwork to see if there is a penalty charge for leaving energy company early!

Gather evidence from bank about £6 O/D charge and make official complaint to RHE.

Allow them sufficient time to respond, if they don't make a complaint to OFGEM!

macman

A! already explained, the !upplier can't '!et up another'. Only you can authori!e a DD to be !et up on your account. The only i!!ue you may have now i! that you have cancelled the DD and !o are technically in breach of contract, !o your final bill may revert you to the more expen!ive !tandard tariff. However for the few week! you will have been on !upply, that i! not going to make much difference.
If the welcome pack did state the (erroneous) amount that they actually took, then in theory they are not in breach of their agreement and your bank did not have to refund the payment. But they have seen sense. However next time it would be a good idea to read the paperwork.

naedanger

BlueEyedGirl wrote: »

If the figure is right, who is in the wrong? The energy company for taking such a bizarre amount or you the OP for not reading the paperwork?

The energy company are in the wrong for taking over £1,700 regardless of whether or not they said they would do so in the welcome pack. (While the OP may, possibly, have missed a chance to prevent RHE making this mistake that does not excuse it, and it certainly does not excuse them from making more effort to fix the problem when told about it and the problems it would cause the OP.)

Allow them sufficient time to respond, if they don't make a complaint to OFGEM!

The OP needs to give RHE 8 weeks to respond before he can take his complaint to the Energy Ombudsman. (Though he can take his case there sooner if RHE agree it has reached deadlock.)

To the OP be sure and keep evidence of your complaint, e.g. send an email confirming the conclusions of any calls you have with RHE. It could make escalating your complaint to the Energy Ombudsman a bit easier if this proves to be necessary.

MaCl14

Painful. Anna the apparent customer service manager called me today, completely clueless and spoke in riddles!

Stating the obvious: "There was a problem" and how it's my fault because the welcome pack stated they would take £1700+ from my bank account every month! and I should have told them about their mistake! (I'm not their proof reader!).

She wanted to set-up my direct debit despite me saying I've already gone through the process of switching suppliers and don't want to stay with Robin Hood Energy.

Then said she could only help me if I went through the online form again, this would apparently help me, otherwise was closing the case! I asked why she couldn't look at the form I originally submitted and work out the error from that. She kept asking me "for evidence of the form"!!! I explained I don't have access to RHE's systems to show her the form I submitted online! Surreal. She then told me I need the form -I said if it's not on their system as I don't have access to their servers either! she could request a back-up data tape and view the form that I submitted to their system! She just kept repeating I should have the form -that I submitted online! Bizarre and expects me to do her job for her!

I went through this laborious process with her as demanded. She kept saying "Err" and putting me on hold! Also kept asking me my usage per year, which I don't know and neither knew when I initially completed the form (Instead used monthly DD amount). She initially said she couldn't help unless I told her my usage per year! (Who can answer this on demand! when randomly called!).

She then told me they can save me £70 a year and projected annual forecast £200+ but wouldn't say what the DD monthly would be. This apparently proves I initially completed the form incorrectly!!! and it's my fault and she's closing the case!!!

When I completed the form it gave an annual forecast of £400! Yet £1723.23 direct debit a month!!! and she thinks this is my fault! Not their system!!! Ridiculous that such a huge monthly amount would be taken!!!

Her figures don't add up either! I was paying £23.50 a month with my old supplier, annually £240+ for her to save me £70 a year the forecast would have to be under £200 a year.

I then said she'd have to hold as someone was knocking at my door and she put the phone down on me!!!

So if anyone's got this far! RHE have told me it's my fault they took this huge amount of money from my bank account and they're closing my complaint!

I phoned back, she wouldn't speak to me but her Manager is apparently going to call me this afternoon. I still want the bank charge I have to pay refunded to me!

naedanger

MaCl14 wrote: »

So if anyone's got this far! RHE have told me it's my fault they took this huge amount of money from my bank account and they're closing my complaint!

Yes, very bad customer service.

I would send them a written complaint and demand compensation (£25) for failure to resolve the matter efficiently. Ask for a copy of their complaint process and follow it (keeping everything in writing).