Add your feedback on energy supplier Iresa

Raxiel

Well, September bill is up, they now show the Calorific value used to determine the volume>energy multiplier for working out the gas charge.

The CV is correct, although the total still isn't quite right. They truncate the CV (as they should) but they also truncate the multiplier (which they don't have to do) meaning the total on my bill is about 6p less than I calculated. Getting there.

Electric, spot on as usual.

On the phone to them now to tell them I'm going to cancel my DD. I've actually left Iresa now, having switched to E.ON 9 days after this latest bill was generated, and I'm just over £120 in credit, so I don't want them taking another £60. (And to be fair to Iresa, E.ON confirmed they still hadn't sent the closing readings over as of yesterday and just said it would be by 'the end of the week')

Things I've learned while on hold:
1. They have a robot answering the phone
2. The robot thinks it works for 'Eraser'
3. They do actually tell you how long the queue is (so far gone from 9 to 1 in the queue), so they're better than E.ON in that respect. If this call takes less than half an hour (11 minutes so far) they'll beat them on that too.

Edit: 13 minutes in total. I know some people have had issues with them (serious ones in some cases) but I have to be honest, they've done alright by me during my time as a customer. Will write a full post-mortem once the final refund is complete.

pj742

I could write a full A4 page of the problems we had after switching to Iresa.
Suffice to say After 3 months I switched away from them to Affect Energy who have been excellent. Like most things in life you get what you pay for and I can assure you if you decide to go with Iresa you will pay big time.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Raxiel wrote: »

3. They do actually tell you how long the queue is (so far gone from 9 to 1 in the queue), so they're better than E.ON in that respect. If this call takes less than half an hour (11 minutes so far) they'll beat them on that too.

Edit: 13 minutes in total. I know some people have had issues with them (serious ones in some cases) but I have to be honest, they've done alright by me during my time as a customer. Will write a full post-mortem once the final refund is complete.

I agree Raxiel. I think letting customers know where they are in the phone queue is a much better service. To that end, I've raised a formal internal request to put something similar in place here. Can't promise anything but it's being considered at the moment.

Not sure if you're aware but we've an online Live Chat service available through our website. Advisors are online from 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday and between 8am and 6pm Saturdays. Might save you waiting in a queue. Although, as I write, I've just been told our website has been turned off so our IT people can sort out some recent problems once and for all.

Alternatively, you can use our social media channels (private messaging is available for anything sensitive) at similar times to those the Live Chatters are in. Of course, there's also Helena and I if you're really desperate.

Malc

SnowMan

Hengus wrote: »

If Iresa goes into insolvency then your credit is protected by Ofgem's consumer levy. The problem with 27.17 is that Ofgem does little to enforce SLCs and, in the particular case of SLC 27.17, the supplier will hide behind the word 'reasonable'. In contract law, the use of the term 'reasonable' is something of a financial gravy train for lawyers.

As far as opening readings are concerned, this responsibility sits with EDF. When I had this issue, I got the gaining supplier to confirm in writing that verified meter readings had been passed to Iresa in accordance with industry procedures, and that no Readings Dispute had been raised. My recommendation is to go in hard.

I realise that the credit is protected by OFGEM's consumer levy if IRESA go into insolvency, but if I instigate court action following a letter before action then the application fee and hearing cost will be lost if I cannot enforce any judgement.

EDF have been super helpful here, and they've done their bit in getting the opening readings finalised, and I have a solid chronology of everything from their end :T

It is just that IRESA haven't provided a final bill or refunded credit and have denied the D86 flow went through to them, and not instigated a missing reads procedure with EDF.

I think IRESA will have some difficulty in showing 'all reasonable attempts' have been made :rotfl:

I think I am making progress and feeling reasonably chilled out about it all now :snow_laug

Raxiel

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc wrote: »

I agree Raxiel. I think letting customers know where they are in the phone queue is a much better service. To that end, I've raised a formal internal request to put something similar in place here. Can't promise anything but it's being considered at the moment.

Not sure if you're aware but we've an online Live Chat service available through our website. Advisors are online from 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday and between 8am and 6pm Saturdays. Might save you waiting in a queue. Although, as I write, I've just been told our website has been turned off so our IT people can sort out some recent problems once and for all.

Alternatively, you can use our social media channels (private messaging is available for anything sensitive) at similar times to those the Live Chatters are in. Of course, there's also Helena and I if you're really desperate.

Malc

Hi Malc

Most of my recent time on hold with E.ON has been with the Smart team, who are only available via the phone as far as I know (I don't know if Helena filled you in on how that tale ended).
That said, I did try the live-chat a few times, unfortunately all but once I was told that there were no advisors available. The one time I did get one, they still had to refer me to another department (which thankfully did pick up relatively quickly).

Glad to hear you've suggested adding more feedback to the on-hold recordings. Perhaps E.ON could also consider a call-back service when the queue is particularly long?

footyguy

pj742 wrote: »

I could write a full A4 page of the problems we had after switching to Iresa.
Suffice to say After 3 months I switched away from them to Affect Energy who have been excellent. Like most things in life you get what you pay for and I can assure you if you decide to go with Iresa you will pay big time.

IIrc, one of the 'problems' you mentioned about about 6 months ago was they took DD payments in line with the terms and conditions you agreed to... :cool:

Still, glad you are happy now, even if you are paying more for the same energy.

footyguy

Norman_Castle wrote: »

Just looked at my account transactions and noticed a monthly charge of 83p for a paper bill. These charges started in December 2016. I didn't ask for a paper bill. Does everyone get these charges?
...

No, I agreed to online account management.

Doesn't surprise me they charge extra for paper billing. They are cheap, and they can be cheap by cutting out unneccessary costs, like paper billing.

Edit: from the terrms you agreed to

2.7 We are an online only supplier and therefore in order to enter a contract with us, manage your account, and communicate with us you must be able to access your account online and ensure that we have an up to date email address that we can contact you on at all times.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Raxiel wrote: »

Hi Malc

Most of my recent time on hold with E.ON has been with the Smart team, who are only available via the phone as far as I know (I don't know if Helena filled you in on how that tale ended).
That said, I did try the live-chat a few times, unfortunately all but once I was told that there were no advisors available. The one time I did get one, they still had to refer me to another department (which thankfully did pick up relatively quickly).

Glad to hear you've suggested adding more feedback to the on-hold recordings. Perhaps E.ON could also consider a call-back service when the queue is particularly long?

Hello Raxiel and, yes, Helena told me what happened with the Smart team. It's a pity they're not able to sort this at the moment.

I'm sorry you had difficulties using our Live Chat service. This did prove very popular when it was first launched. To such an extent that we've recently trained more advisors to use the service and put more resources towards it. We've also taken on more staff in our Call Centres as well as opening a new one in Glasgow. We're aware our phone waiting times haven't been up to scratch for a time now and are actively doing something about it.

A call back service is another thing we've been looking at although I can't take any credit for suggesting it. This was another advisor's idea altogether.

As I say, we know our call waiting times haven't been good enough and are currently going through a thorough overall to make things better for all our customers.

Many thanks for your patience Raxiel.

Malc

Norman_Castle

footyguy wrote: »

No, I agreed to online account management.

Doesn't surprise me they charge extra for paper billing. They are cheap, and they can be cheap by cutting out unneccessary costs, like paper billing.

Edit: from the terrms you agreed to

I agreed to online management and manage my account wholly online. I was never asked if I wanted paper bills. Six months after being with Iresa the paper bills started to arrive. I didn't ask for them and was never asked if I wanted them.

footyguy

Norman_Castle wrote: »

I agreed to online management and manage my account wholly online. I was never asked if I wanted paper bills. Six months after being with Iresa the paper bills started to arrive. I didn't ask for them and was never asked if I wanted them.

So you are saying you joined Iresa in June/July 2016, and you suddenly started getting this applied 6 months later, i.e December 2016, and now in October 2017 you don't think you should be being charged it???
How many paper bills have you received since December 2016?

If you request the paper bills stop, they will probably stop charging you the extra for them. :cool:

Good luck!