Avro Energy reviews: Give your feedback

Consumerist

cbrpaul said:

Terrible service i received.

An interesting situation if you want to pursue it.

Ofgem requires suppliers to complete a switch within 15 working days of a switch application. If they fail to complete the switch within that time then they become liable to automatically pay £30 compensation.

Since you have evidence of the date you applied, if the switch wasn't completed within 15 working days it is possible Avro is trying to wriggle out of their obligation to pay the compensation.

It might be interesting to ask your current supplier if they were notified of your intention to switch to Avro.

You could start Avro's complaints procedure and if they don't offer compensation you can refer the complaint to the energy ombudsman to sort out.

If you do pursue it, perhaps you'll let us know how you get on. Good luck.

w0z

The cooling-off period for switching to Avro is 14 days yet the first payment is taken 12 days after instigating the switch. i.e. still within the cooling-off period.
Does anyone know, do Ofgem sanction this?

Consumerist

If you change your mind within the cooling-off period, any payments should be refunded. How long this might take, of course, is another matter.

w0z

Thanks, I assumed that to be the case but in any event you could reverse the dd with your bank. My point was that it seems strange that they take the money while you're still in the cooling off period and before your switch has taken place. If nothing else it's presumptive but I wondered what Ofgem might think about this sort of practice.

MWT

w0z said:

... but I wondered what Ofgem might think about this sort of practice.

I don't think it is unreasonable and I doubt that Ofgem would either.

Ofgem already require the suppliers to complete a switch within 15 working days so there really isn't time to wait for the cooling off period to end before getting everything ready.

The part that Ofgem would care about is how quickly any payment was refunded if you exercise your rights to cancel the switch within the cooling off period.

Smodlet

I switched to Avro last month and, so far, all seems OK but for the fact it takes ages between the DD going out of my bank for it to show up on my Avro account.  Has anyone else experienced this, please?

brewerdave

Smodlet said:

I switched to Avro last month and, so far, all seems OK but for the fact it takes ages between the DD going out of my bank for it to show up on my Avro account.  Has anyone else experienced this, please?

Not with DDs; but I made my final payment via BACS and it took ~ 2 weeks to be credited to my account.

BernerMom

All fine until I moved and requested to close my account. I sent them my final meter readings and received an online statement within a few days which was including and upto the last (closing) reading given, this showed me to be over £100 in credit. Tried emailing twice 8 days apart after receiving an automated response saying they would respond within 3-5 working days and they didn't, tried phoning to be cut off saying no one was available. Funny how you contact them for anything else and the response is pretty much instantaneous, yet try to leave and its a different matter. Absolutely disgusted! Switched to them as a member of the Energy Club, will be very wary of advised switches in the future.

Consumerist

BernerMom said:

All fine until I moved and requested to close my account. I sent them my final meter readings and received an online statement within a few days which was including and upto the last (closing) reading given, this showed me to be over £100 in credit. Tried emailing twice 8 days apart after receiving an automated response saying they would respond within 3-5 working days and they didn't, tried phoning to be cut off saying no one was available. Funny how you contact them for anything else and the response is pretty much instantaneous, yet try to leave and its a different matter. Absolutely disgusted! Switched to them as a member of the Energy Club, will be very wary of advised switches in the future.

Hi BernerMom and welcome to the forum.

The supplier has 6 weeks to prepare your final bill and another 10 working days to send you any refund you are due. Your account will be closed after the account has been settled.

If you are in credit, beware of any further direct debits taken from your bank account. Your bank should get this refunded to you if that happens. As a precaution you could cancel the direct debit at your bank but this may delay any refund due which might be sent by cheque in those circumstances.

Telegraph_Sam

"All fine until I moved and requested to close my account.". There is a separate whole thread load of correspondence on this very topic in connection with Tonik Energy and possibly for some other suppliers also. Such account management issues can easily outweigh any marginal cost savings or referral credits and really should be taken account of in the MSE ratings and recommendations.