iSupply Energy - good or bad?

Edelman

I am about to switch. Or renew.
I am with Ovo. At the time of using them, they were the cheapest for me. Apparently they had good customer service ratings too.

Today they are not the cheapest. But as we all know, the product is the same. After looking up reviews, I would say 40% are bad. Looking at the chart of reviews on MSE, only 58 votes, and while most are good, many are OK, or Poor.

Is good customer service important for a utility company like this, when you are only really likely to get in touch if a) your bill does something strange that u want to ask about, and b) when it's time to renew or get best pricing.

For me, Ovo is about £8 a month more than iSupply. roughly £60 a year. Would pay for a few things!

So is it worth ignoring the slightly lower CS performance figures, because it's rare you contact them. And has anyone used iSupply and can vouch or moan about them.

Interested in both sides before I switch, which I must do in the next few weeks.

footyguy

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4415853

If they are not the cheapest for you, and the product is the same, why are you even considering them? :huh:
Presumably not for their CS based on your post

Edelman

This is why I am questioning whether CS should be in the mix at all. iSupply is cheaper. But the CS is not apparently as good.
Martin does talk about how good CS is for many companies. Ovo has won awards for it.

Should that be in the mix, or should it be price first?

footyguy

Sorry, I thought you originally said iSupply were not the cheapest.
Reading your OP again, I see you were probably referring to OVO being not the cheapest.

I was with OVO many years ago, I think possibly when they first started.
Never had to contact OVO. But after first year, they were so expensive for me, they have never tempted me back.

This is our 3rd year with iSupply. I fear they are now taking on more customers than they can handle currently. You can only contact them via their own messaging service (or telephone which I've never done) - you'll see the issues described in the link above.

I think iSupply may be trying to moderate demand on them by changing their prices, often quite significantly (increasing them to reduce demand). So it depends when you happen to grab them.

This year, the issue was to get the deal we wanted, their computer would not accept us, so iSupply agreed to handle billing manually. We get a computer generated bill based on another tariff, and then once per quarter it includes a rebate. But as the rebate is manually calculated, it is not always correct, so we need to calculate it ourselves to double check it.
Last time they didn't even give us the rebate until we reminded them.

This means we have had reason to be in contact with iSupply quite a bit this year (together with the fact we relied on them getting us back from another supplier that tried to slam us)

When using their online messaging system, iSupply used to respond within 1-2 working days. (note they only work mon-fri - office hours) Then it was usually Friday afternoons they responded. However in this past year, we are lucky to receive a response within a week, hence why I fear they are over-stretched at present.

If you are lucky and have no reason to contact the supplier, then CS support is meaningless and go with the cheapest option.
But when you do need to contact someone for assistance, then paying a little more may be less important than the time & trouble you may experience resolving the matter with "a more streamlined organisation".

What I would say is that in our opinion, whilst their first line response is not the best (slow to respond & sometimes does not answer the question raided, probably in their haste to respond to all the qeries before they go home), if matters do escalate, their higher level support are quite good. Maybe it's beacuse they will do all they can to avoid you going to the ombudsman and them then suffering the hefty bill (for a small supplier) the ombudsman will impose on them?

For us, iSupply are not currently the cheapest - they haven't been since they dropped their 3 year fix in favour of a 33 month fix.
(But we renewed with a really good 1 year fix which does beat anything available today)

JJ_Egan

I must have swapped about ten times and am yet to need CS .

Edelman

What happens with meter reading? do they ask you to submit one every quarter via their website, which is about all the CS I tend to need form Ovo.

JJ_Egan

I always submit meter readings to any company every month . Keeps possible billing errors to a minimum .

Edelman

Sure, but I wondered if these email to request it, like Ovo does.

footyguy

Edelman wrote: »

What happens with meter reading? do they ask you to submit one every quarter via their website, which is about all the CS I tend to need form Ovo.

You can supply a meter reading whenever you like via your online account.
(I think it's actually limited to no more than once in 5 days)

They will send a meter reader to read the meter when they feel like it.

They will message you to request a meter reading if one has not been supplied recently (by you or them getting one) - I think it's about once every quarter.
(They've got a bit better recently - they used to request a meter reading even if you had supplied one recently ... and then they complained about receiving too many meter readings )

Mxhmxh

I tried to switch to iSupply 3 weeks ago but they gave the wrong tariff

Trying to get through on the phone is impossible as every option diverts you to the website or cuts you off. By pretending to be an existing customer I eventually got to talk to someone real who claimed their phone system never cuts people off but eventually admitted it did because they were swamped and it's all MSE's fault! Now I find I'M m at the back of the queue behind 50k others waiting for them to get to my "new" application. I told them I still want to go ahead but they won't let me I have to wait for the acquisition team to get round to it. So I am stuck in my more expensive tarrif with the existing provider until the end of a new cooling off period. May as well go somewhere else that actually wants my business :mad::mad::mad:

Stevekane

Joined isupply on the 1st Dec 16 after recommendation on ML site, all went okay until I wanted to check somthing with them,,my first real contact, the tel number given sends you round in an endless loop, no matter what options you select, then tried the contact email,,,it's given as "noreply@isupply .com" and predictably irecieved no reply! then one day I got through to a chap who said they were working on the phone issue but did not know about the no rely web contact details,,I got the feeling he was maybe working in an office alone. Anyway my switch has gone ahead, I've been sent requests to supply start meter readings but I cannot get onto the website,,sometimes I seem to get part way in but mostly it just "hangs"with the log in button shaded. After many attempts I believe I have managed to post the readings but this morning after receiving another meter read request I tried to check without success.
Like a previous poster I've gone along with the switch feeling that it's unlikely that I will need to contact them, but if there was say a billing issue I think it would prove to be a very frustrating job to sort out. If isupply read this, do yourselves a favour and get someone to check your tel lines and web access, for a new customer it's both worrying and frustrating.
Steve.