Cheap Energy Club - ripped off by EDF Energy

zlorf

Hi there. I am after some advice and wonder if anyone can help.

I moved into a one bedroom flat which already had a billed electric smart meter, and a prepayment (top-up card) gas meter.

I found a good deal for dual fuel, EDF Energy Simply Fixed May17, via this website's Cheap Energy Club. One of the reasons I chose EDF was they advertise a free removal of old prepayment meters & installation of new billed meters as part of their service.

I signed up on May 17th, and the next day got a confirmation e-mail from EDF. They said it would take 2 weeks for the account to go live. After that time, it said I should continue to use my prepayment gas meter until an appointment had been booked for an engineer to visit the property and install the new billed gas meter. It estimated this would take a further 2 weeks.

I have patiently waited for over a month, continuing to use the landlord's previously energy suppliers (at very high rates, I may add) so they may get an accurate estimation of my energy use. I've made contact with EDF customer service Live Chat on 4 occasions over the last 4+ weeks, to check the status , and every time I've been reassured and told to wait until my account goes live.

Now, I get a letter from them saying they cannot offer me the tariff I wanted (Fixed Until May 2017). I asked why, on Live Chat, and they said it's because I had a prepayment meter at the time of signing up. I explained they advertise a free meter installation service, they said "Sorry, you signed up via Moneysavingexpert.com. We can't help you. We can't give you that offer".

What should I do, in your opinion? This seems really unfair.

cifpower

To apply for a non-prepayment tariff you need to have a non-prepayment meter. Applying for a normal tariff doesn't mean you get a new meter. The process to change your meter for free with EDF is as follows:

-switch your prepayment tariff to EDF's prepayment tariff
-after being a customer for 28 days, ask for a meter exchange
-once meter is exchanged switch your tariff to whatever you want.

JJ_Egan

Go direct via EDF web site and see what the offers are .
Or try another supplier as it seems you have no contract with EDF .

We can't help you. We can't give you that offer".

footyguy

zlorf wrote: »

Hi there. I am after some advice and wonder if anyone can help.

I moved into a one bedroom flat which already had a billed electric smart meter, and a prepayment (top-up card) gas meter.

I found a good deal for dual fuel, EDF Energy Simply Fixed May17, via this website's Cheap Energy Club. One of the reasons I chose EDF was they advertise a free removal of old prepayment meters & installation of new billed meters as part of their service.

I signed up on May 17th, and the next day got a confirmation e-mail from EDF. They said it would take 2 weeks for the account to go live. After that time, it said I should continue to use my prepayment gas meter until an appointment had been booked for an engineer to visit the property and install the new billed gas meter. It estimated this would take a further 2 weeks.

I have patiently waited for over a month, continuing to use the landlord's previously energy suppliers (at very high rates, I may add) so they may get an accurate estimation of my energy use. I've made contact with EDF customer service Live Chat on 4 occasions over the last 4+ weeks, to check the status , and every time I've been reassured and told to wait until my account goes live.

Now, I get a letter from them saying they cannot offer me the tariff I wanted (Fixed Until May 2017). I asked why, on Live Chat, and they said it's because I had a prepayment meter at the time of signing up. I explained they advertise a free meter installation service, they said "Sorry, you signed up via Moneysavingexpert.com. We can't help you. We can't give you that offer".

What should I do, in your opinion? This seems really unfair.

You would not have been "ripped off" as you allege if you had been honest & truthful when you completed your CEC set up.

If you had used the correct info when setting up your CEC account, you would not have been offered a dual fuel tariff from any supplier (as you are not entitled to one with your current metering set up)

Also I'm somewhat surprised that EDF became aware that you used the MSE CEC, as the CEC actually uses the MSM comparison service, so I wouyld have expected EDF to have said you were referred to them from moneysupermarket.com.

Anyway, if you want (or need) to retain the current metering, then my opinion is that you should go back to your CEC account and correct the erroneous data you have input.

Otherwise if you want the deal you say you do, then follow the advice of cifpower above (and hopefully the tariff you want will still be available when you have the metering to support it)

Former_MSE_Roxanne

zlorf wrote: »

Hi there. I am after some advice and wonder if anyone can help.

I moved into a one bedroom flat which already had a billed electric smart meter, and a prepayment (top-up card) gas meter.

I found a good deal for dual fuel, EDF Energy Simply Fixed May17, via this website's Cheap Energy Club. One of the reasons I chose EDF was they advertise a free removal of old prepayment meters & installation of new billed meters as part of their service.

I signed up on May 17th, and the next day got a confirmation e-mail from EDF. They said it would take 2 weeks for the account to go live. After that time, it said I should continue to use my prepayment gas meter until an appointment had been booked for an engineer to visit the property and install the new billed gas meter. It estimated this would take a further 2 weeks.

I have patiently waited for over a month, continuing to use the landlord's previously energy suppliers (at very high rates, I may add) so they may get an accurate estimation of my energy use. I've made contact with EDF customer service Live Chat on 4 occasions over the last 4+ weeks, to check the status , and every time I've been reassured and told to wait until my account goes live.

Now, I get a letter from them saying they cannot offer me the tariff I wanted (Fixed Until May 2017). I asked why, on Live Chat, and they said it's because I had a prepayment meter at the time of signing up. I explained they advertise a free meter installation service, they said "Sorry, you signed up via Moneysavingexpert.com. We can't help you. We can't give you that offer".

What should I do, in your opinion? This seems really unfair.

Hi zlorf,

Just to confirm, as cifpower has said, you can't switch to a tariff for a credit meter unless you have credit meters. Before submitting a switch application for tariffs, you'd need to ensure that you have the right meters for the tariff.

Here's a link to our prepaid gas & elec guide, which has details on getting prepayment meters replaced:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/switch-prepaid-gas-electricity#freecreditmeter

I hope this info helps.

zlorf

Thanks for the clarification everyone. Whilst I wasn't being intentionally dishonest or trying to con anyone, as Footyguy so nicely put it, I was under the impression that I was applying for a new credit tariff type, not merely looking for a alternatively priced prepayment tariff.

The only reason I had EDF at the top of my energy shopping list to begin with, was their advertised offer of a free service to remove old meters/install new ones. Lots of other companies charge ~£100 for this alone.

I therefore assumed that, as it was a free service, I should select the tariff I actually want to start with as a new customer, rather than mess around with switching to EDF prepayment, then switching tariffs again. I assumed they would run a credit check, send an engineer out to install a credit meter and i'd be up and running with the tariff I wanted - and I assumed wrong.

Hope this is useful for any potential new EDF customers in a similar situation.

cifpower

zlorf wrote: »

Thanks for the clarification everyone. Whilst I wasn't being intentionally dishonest or trying to con anyone, as Footyguy so nicely put it, I was under the impression that I was applying for a new credit tariff type, not merely looking for a alternatively priced prepayment tariff.

The only reason I had EDF at the top of my energy shopping list to begin with, was their advertised offer of a free service to remove old meters/install new ones. Lots of other companies charge ~£100 for this alone.

I therefore assumed that, as it was a free service, I should select the tariff I actually want to start with as a new customer, rather than mess around with switching to EDF prepayment, then switching tariffs again. I assumed they would run a credit check, send an engineer out to install a credit meter and i'd be up and running with the tariff I wanted - and I assumed wrong.

Hope this is useful for any potential new EDF customers in a similar situation.

EDF don't do a credit check to switch meters

zlorf

Good to know, but I assume they do before supplying gas/elect to a new customer.

Keith_F

zlorf wrote: »

Good to know, but I assume they do before supplying gas/elect to a new customer.

They tell me they don’t credit check for switching.