Avro Energy reviews: Give your feedback

youravinalarrrf

I would suggest that you look at 9.3.3 in their Terms & Conditions https://avroenergy.co.uk/terms-and-conditions

They are clearly not adhering to their own Terms & Conditions as no account review and/or Direct Debit amendment automatically takes place when your account goes into debit. No doubt they will try to argue that they do this annually but the fact is it never takes place at all unless you specifically request it. The onus to carry out this review should be on them to do it automatically not the customer to have to request it.

wakeupalarm

Ignore anything that Avro say, take your complaint to the ombudsman.  Say, Avro have refused to issue you with a deadlock letter even though you are clearly is deadlock.  Sometimes the Ombudsman can take complaints on early.  Otherwise you may have to wait until the 8 weeks have passed and then take your complaint forward. 

Avro are clearly in the wrong here, so the ombudsman should rule in your favour.  Just don't bank on any large compensation from the ombudsman as in reality they in in cahoots with the energy companies.

Nocturn68

Nocturn68 said:

Nocturn68 said:

Avro Energy blocked my transfer as I had a debit balance of £78.92 on 19/05, due to the seasonal nature of the monthly payments scheme. My monthly DD is £82.86 and will be paid on 25/05.
It is unlawful for an energy supplier to bock a transfer if the debt is less than 28 days old, but they did anyway. Search Citizens Advice for transferring to a new energy supplier (I can't post links) 
They have not contacted me, they do not respond to email and the phone and webchat service is closed.
They did, however advise me via twitter that the objection has now been cleared, after I paid the amount by debit card. They also advised that I now have to restart the transfer and if it is not done before the next bill, the transfer may be blocked again as there will be a debt. Avro Energy - The Hotel California of Energy suppliers

Update:
I have managed to transfer to another supplier and raised a formal complaint, based on the fact that they illegally blocked the initial transfer. I received a response from 'Jasmine' in the complaints department stating that the debt was over 28 days old as it was in the red in February. Despite being in credit in March, April and May, they are using the February debit balance to argue that it is over 28 days old. I have asked for a deadlock letter but this has been refused.

.....

I shall be escalating this matter to the energy ombudsman on 16/07/2021 (8 weeks from raising the complaint with Avro Energy ON 21/05/2021), with or without the deadlock letter that you are refusing to issue (despite the matter clearly being in deadlock)

Deadlock letter never received. Complaint has now been escalated to the ombudsman (I have also notified Avro). I will provide copy of ruling, win or lose, when I get it.

ABullWithYogurts

I get the distinct impression Avro are in real trouble. They've blocked my switch out, are not responding to my attempts to communicate with them and are also ignoring any attempts made by my new supplier to contact them. This stinks...

gwapenut

Have you always had a surplus balance, or have you owed them any money in recent months at any point in the billing cycle

ABullWithYogurts

gwapenut said:

Have you always had a surplus balance, or have you owed them any money in recent months at any point in the billing cycle

Debit balance which was cleared before switch was started.

Alpha_5

Maybe they base their decision solely on the most recent statement - did yours show a debit or credit?

My switch away went through fine last Friday. Can't say I had any reason to try to contact them therefore.

They also continue to take direct debits during the switch period. As of my last statement I'm £170 in credit with them, yet they still took payment the day before my switch. This is despite their policy that customers pay monthly in advance. It all seems very one sided, but I guess that's the flip side of their good value prices. Ultimately I'll get all of the credit back in 8 weeks, so I look at it as an inconvenience. But its definitely something Ofgem should look into IMO, as I've paid both Avro and my new supplier this month - Avro's payment being totally unnecessary. It's a disincentive for some people to switch away. 

ABullWithYogurts

The rules on switching are very, very simple.

If you've owed money to your supplier for 28 days or less, they cannot block your switch and must add the debt to your final bill.

If you've owed money to your supplier for more than 28 days, you have 30 days to pay off the debt before they can block your switch.

I had been in debt for more than 28 days but cleared the debt before submitting the switch request.

But something smells very wrong at Avro. They've shut down all lines of correspondance to the point where they are featuring on R4 consumer programmes.

Consumerist

Having a debit balance is not the same as being in debt.

It is the very nature of the paying for energy by DD that your balance, at any given time, could go negative.

Avro's financial antics are their way of staying competitive. In this respect Avro have been quite successful.

They are likely to be in real trouble next summer when the regulator intends to penalise suppliers holding 'excessive' credit balances and requiring them refund all credit balances on the anniversary of account.

Traditionally, Avro has disagreed with Ofgem's interpretation of their licence conditions so I have no doubt they will find a way to 'disagree' again.

It has to be said that Avro have got away with kind of behaviour because we, their customers, have not formally complained.

Bendo

Like Avros price. Their customer service / backend systems are rubbish though.

My SMETS 1 meter has been adopted by the DCC and I know this as I can get readings from the en3rgy website.

 Based on that I asked Avro to start taking automated reads and set the tarriff correctly in my IHD. They replied claiming its not been adopted to which I again pointed out that it clearly has since en3rgy can read it.

I've pointed out that the Ofgem standard licence conditions oblige them to take automated readings and provide proper tarriff information on IHDs where an adopted SMETS 1 meter or SMETS 2 meter is installed.

Now awaiting deadlock letter and looking into how to complain to Ofgem about the breach of SLC

If they are fobbing anyone else off with not being able to take automated reads because their backend systems don't support it, quote the SLC at them.