Bulb Energy Reviews: Give your feedback on the energy supplier

Raxiel

beardiedog wrote: »

OK until November then it'll be time to do another comparison.

There are several companies cheaper for me at the moment if compared to the new rates but, like you, Bulb is cheaper for now.

What I'm saying is, the price for new customers now, is the rise existing customers will be getting in November (60 days later). It was a no brainier before, now it's not as clear cut (Still cheaper than staying with E.ON though).

clareallan

I joined Bulb in April 2018, giving them my direct debit details when I set up the account. They did not take a DD payment for some time, presumably because I had credit on the account from their £50 joining offer.

In August I suddenly received a pretty intimidating email from them, saying that I "still" had not provided my DD details, and asking me to do so immediately, as my account was in arrears. (It was, for the first time, as I had just submitted a reading, which showed that I was now £26 in arrears). I immediately went online, entered my DD details again, set up a monthly payment and also asked them to take the outstanding £26 straightaway. (I received a message saying that this payment would be taken in the next few days. Apparently, it was not). I also emailed customer services to tell them what had happened, and that I found the tone of their email pretty unnecessary and intimidating, given that it was the first time they had contacted me about the issue.

A couple of weeks later, I received another email saying that I had closed my account (I hadn't), and asking me to pay off the £26 (which I already had done).

I emailed them again. And communicated with three different people who did not appear to be in communication with each other. This was extremely frustrating. They told me my account had not been closed and that the email had been sent in error. I said that I wanted to make a complaint because of the repeated problems I had had with them, and then received an email apologising for the email saying my account was closing and that while "There were previously payment related issues on your account, however, we have discussed these with you and found a solution." This is just absolute nonsense. There were never any issues re paying. They had my DD details, but for some reason they didn't take a payment. I don't know why. There are, in fact now two DDs for Bulb on my account. It is really very poor customer service to respond to a complaint without bothering to check the facts of what has happened.

While administrative problems are bound to occur from time to time with any account, what really concerns me about Bulb is that they have repeatedly failed to pay proper attention to the issue and investigate it thoroughly. Apart from anything else, I find this highly discourteous, when it has caused me a huge amount of stress and taken up a great deal of my time.

I came to Bulb because I thought they were a different sort of energy company, whose ideals I respected. My experience with them has actually been the worst (by some margin) that I have had with any utility company.

The best thing about Bulb, in my view, is that you are not under contract and therefore able to leave.

(I would add re the reams of positive reviews on Trustpilot, while I don't doubt that they are sincere, it is the only review the large majority of people have posted, and everyone includes their referral code, in the hope of earning fifty pounds when somebody uses it to sign up. This is a very clever marketing ploy, which has resulted in huge word-of-mouth sign ups for Bulb, but sadly their customer service does not appear able to deliver.)

beardiedog

Raxiel wrote: »

What I'm saying is, the price for new customers now, is the rise existing customers will be getting in November (60 days later). It was a no brainier before, now it's not as clear cut (Still cheaper than staying with E.ON though).

Yes, I agree for new customers.

I was talking about my particular situation, and yes, for me, still cheaper than staying with Octopus for the next 2 months.

Allanr

claireallen



You seem to have encountered a totally different experience to mine. I actually switched in early May 2018 have provided monthly meter reading prior to bill preparation and received the monthly bills based on my readings.


Out of interest if you go into your Payments and Statements on your account dashboard does it show details of your direct debit?

tgon

Like others here, I'm mid-switch to Bulb and just received the predicted email with price rises in November. I can stop the switch as I'm still in the cooling off period but I've found out from a previous bad experience that it can all get terribly confusing and stressful (if it ain't stressful enough!) to try and start again, especially when trying to compare future prices past my existing end of supplier date.

I agree with a poster above that a benefit of Bulb is I can reassess this in a few months and use MSE Energy Club to find a better deal elsewhere if I need to.

S0litaire

Same here.

Projected price rise over the year for myself (according to their figures) will be £50 (...oddly enough the same as the Refer bonus I got)

But I'm sticking with them for a few months to build up bit of history as I'm coming off "pre-payment" meters AND moving house soon.

So one things have settled down a bit I'll be looking at my options.

martinlewisjunior

Gas
Unit Rate

3.938p per kWh

Standing Charge

24.558p per day

Electricity
Unit Rate

13.640p per kWh

Standing Charge

24.558p per day.

---

These rates are awful.

Bulb, not sure you know what you're doing

Allanr

martinlewis


The actual rates vary depending on where you live.

beardiedog

Allanr wrote: »

martinlewis


The actual rates vary depending on where you live.

Yes, mine are slightly lower Gas 3.812, Electric 13.43, standing charge is the same.

Allanr

It's only the unit rates which vary, the standing charge is standard regardless of your location.