Add your feedback on energy supplier Iresa

molerat

Received an e-mail today with update to support ticket of 30th April. I went on supply 30th Jan.

Thank you for your mail. My apologies for the late response to your query.
I can assure you that we are working on setting up your meter point which will be available on your account in due course.
Your Electric meter readings submitted are logged and will appear on your account.
In the mean time, kindly send your meter readings via email until such a time the meter point becomes available.
I am sorry for the inconvenience this may have caused you.

If you have any queries or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us. We are happy to help you.

Kind regards,

youravinalarrrf

youravinalarrrf wrote: »

I've now also involved Zog (as the winning supplier with lead responsibility for all aspects of the switching process) to try and get issue this resolved. Unsurprisingly Zog too cannot get anyone at Iresa to answer the phone so have ended up sending them an email which will no doubt be ignored just like all the rest! Zog also confirmed that the National Database shows them as being the gas supplier at my address since 4th May and confirmed that they provided Iresa with my final gas meter reading on the 4th May.

With no resolution from Iresa likely in the next few days I now have no option but to immediately cancel my direct debit at the bank to prevent paying two suppliers for the same gas and/or facing a long winded battle to get the overpayment refunded. EDIT: In view of icharus's comments above I may have to allow the direct debit payment to be made so Iresa don't object to my electric switch to E.ON and stop it completing.

I received an email from Zog Energy yesterday telling me that they had finally managed to get someone at Iresa to answer the phone and that Iresa[FONT=&quot] have now closed the gas account and have asked their billing department to raise a final statement.

Shortly after that I received an update from Iresa full of the usual BS excuses for their lack of any response being due to "[/FONT]a huge increase in the number of new customers recently[FONT=&quot]" and telling me th[/FONT]at "we are handling your issue with the utmost haste" and confirming that "it does appear that the energy transfer has gone through" but then stating that because it was so recent they cannot cancel the DD payment due on 22nd May.

All credit goes to Zog Energy for their perseverance and for managing to get this issue moving forward when all other attempts at communicating with Iresa had failed.

It remains to be seen what Iresa's idea of "utmost haste" actually means but I will be cancelling my direct debit after the payment on 22nd has been made as my electric transfers to E.ON on 1st June and I will be in credit for both gas and electric after this payment is made.

macman

molerat: I went on supply same date as you and have exactly the same issue-still no leccy meter meter point 14 weeks in. I received an email 2 weeks ago with basically the same platitudes. Since then, still no meter point.
My outgoing supplier, E.On, say they are still unable to get a response in order to agree final readings.
I have a couple of weeks to go and then I will escalate my complaint to the Ombudsman.

System

macman wrote: »

molerat: I went on supply same date as you and have exactly the same issue-still no leccy meter meter point 14 weeks in. I received an email 2 weeks ago with basically the same platitudes. Since then, still no meter point.
My outgoing supplier, E.On, say they are still unable to get a response in order to agree final readings.
I have a couple of weeks to go and then I will escalate my complaint to the Ombudsman.

Two months on since my complaint against Iresa was passed to The EO. I contacted them earlier this week and the response was that they have nothing to update me on, and they cannot say when they will make their report.

Personally, I would e-mail consumeraffairs@ofgem.gov.uk pointing out what is going on, asserting that Iresa has breached its Supply Licence obligation to manage the transfer of supply.

icharus

Hengus wrote: »

Two months on since my complaint against Iresa was passed to The EO. I contacted them earlier this week and the response was that they have nothing to update me on, and they cannot say when they will make their report.

Personally, I would e-mail consumeraffairs@ofgem.gov.uk pointing out what is going on, asserting that Iresa has breached its Supply Licence obligation to manage the transfer of supply.[/QUOTE]

I contacted Ofgem and did exactly that yesterday. I also sent a complaint to Iresa marked urgent. As per their usual form I expect I will be waiting some time for a response.

With the negative comments on this site, Trustpilot, and from Energy Advisory Service UK, I wonder how much longer this company will be permitted to continue lke this!

It will probably take some media reporting before Ofgem will stir themselves!

System

It is worth noting that when GBEnergy became insolvent it had less than 20 employees who were dealing with over 150k customer accounts. The one thing, in my opinion, that GBEnergy couldn't be criticised for was its customer service and billing. The same cannot be said for Iresa.

Putting the CV issue to one side, my complaint - now 4 months old - was that Iresa had used an incorrect supply start date and meter reading for billing purposes. Any sensible manager would have taken the view that 5 minutes spent on a computer resolving the issue was an efficient use of time. Now they have the additional costs - time and £s - associated with having to deal with an Ombudsman.

It seems that little has changed in the 6 weeks on since they were been banned by Ofgem from taking on new customers. Indeed, I write and complain; they post it on my Support Page and then mark it as Resolved, so I write again, and so on.

icharus

The number of negative online reviews would suggest that Ofgem is going to receive a substantial number of complaints once the 8 week waiting period expires!

iresa seem incapable of resolving their communication etc problems. I don't know whether this is a deliberate strategy, or they don't have sufficient resources and/or capable staff.

fredandwilma

Despite a 'recruitment drive' when they were advertising for staff not so long ago, a post made a week ago, on a certain website already mentioned on this thread, suggests 15 members of staff were laid off overnight, and the owner isn't taking heed of advice?

If that truly is the case, customer service can only get worse and that could explain the lack of response to queries, etc?

punamulta

my switch away from IRESA to Npower is complete, cancelling my DD twice and switching away didn't prompt anything other than automatic responses, my IRESA electric meter point remains not set up, I think I've had a narrow escape and will watch developments with interest.

macman

Since they have now been banned from taking on new customers for more than a month, their cashflow is probably suffering now, given that sneaky habit of taking the first DD payment before switching is complete.
Unless they've fired them all, they should have been able to put the sales and new account admin team onto sorting out the existing customers. The usual excuse of being 'swamped by new customers' just doesn't wash after all this time.
I'm frankly not clear if Ofgem have actually imposed a ban, or whether they just leaned on Iresa to cease selling for now by threatening other sanctions. Either way, why have Ofgem never gone public on this? It's hardly a secret.