Treating Customer Fairly

mgarl10024

Hi,

I was recently offered an incentive to stay with my current energy provider in the form of a retail voucher if I signed up to a new tariff they were offering.

A family member who is with the same company on the same old tariff as me tried to apply and was unable.

I contacted the company and asked what was going on. They explained that the new exclusive tariff was a trial and so (like names out of a hat) they were randomly selecting customers to offer it to. I was selected, the family member wasn't.

I asked how this squared with "treating the customer fairly" as my family member is in a disadvantaged position through no fault of their own, and was told that because this is a trial they are able to offer it to whoever they wanted. They advised the family member to review the currently available tariffs.

This doesn't feel right to me. I guess as customers were *randomly* selected that it could be argued that all customers were being "treated fairly". Either you were lucky or you weren't, but everyone had a fair chance to be lucky. I also guess that as they are not discriminating on any basis (e.g. age, race, etc.) that this is legal?

Still feels wrong though. I will phone the Energy Ombudsman tomorrow to get their steer, but I suspect they'll tell me it is legal.

Any information that anyone has in this regard would be well received.

Thanks,

System

mgarl10024 wrote: »

Hi,

I was recently offered an incentive to stay with my current energy provider in the form of a retail voucher if I signed up to a new tariff they were offering.

A family member who is with the same company on the same old tariff as me tried to apply and was unable.

I contacted the company and asked what was going on. They explained that the new exclusive tariff was a trial and so (like names out of a hat) they were randomly selecting customers to offer it to. I was selected, the family member wasn't.

I asked how this squared with "treating the customer fairly" as my family member is in a disadvantaged position through no fault of their own, and was told that because this is a trial they are able to offer it to whoever they wanted. They advised the family member to review the currently available tariffs.

This doesn't feel right to me. I guess as customers were *randomly* selected that it could be argued that all customers were being "treated fairly". Either you were lucky or you weren't, but everyone had a fair chance to be lucky. I also guess that as they are not discriminating on any basis (e.g. age, race, etc.) that this is legal?

Still feels wrong though. I will phone the Energy Ombudsman tomorrow to get their steer, but I suspect they'll tell me it is legal.

Any information that anyone has in this regard would be well received.

Thanks,

I wouldn't waste your time. The recent relaxation of the energy market allows suppliers to act in this way. It may not be fair but that is life. It's called competition.

Cardew

I can't even see that it unfair, it is part of their Market research to see if an incentive works.

e.g. 50% of customers are offered an incentive to stay with their present company and, say, 22% renew their contract.

From the other 50% they can compare the percentage of customers who stay with their present company without being offered an incentive and decide if an incentive is worthwhile.

mgarl10024

Many thanks for the replies.

Having spoke to the regulator's representative (Ofgem delegate this out) they were confident that nothing had occurred here that appeared to be a regulatory breach.

They saw the fact that I was offered a different tariff that was better and unavailable to the family member as being a form of "goodwill" to me, and so it is up to the company to who they wish to offer this goodwill.

I asked whether them saying, for example, "all customers whose names begin with a D" could have free electric, and was again told that this would not constitute a regulatory issue.

I finally asked whether they could offer goodwill to certain groups of customers, e.g. "All male customers get free electric" and was told whilst this may be a discriminatory issue this also would not be a regulatory one, and is handled by a separate Equalities group. To be clear, this isn't relevant to this case.

Still feels wrong to me, but I've dropped the issue and have just posted this here for information for others.

FOREVER21

mgarl10024 wrote: »

Many thanks for the replies.

Having spoke to the regulator's representative (Ofgem delegate this out) they were confident that nothing had occurred here that appeared to be a regulatory breach.

They saw the fact that I was offered a different tariff that was better and unavailable to the family member as being a form of "goodwill" to me, and so it is up to the company to who they wish to offer this goodwill.

I asked whether them saying, for example, "all customers whose names begin with a D" could have free electric, and was again told that this would not constitute a regulatory issue.

I finally asked whether they could offer goodwill to certain groups of customers, e.g. "All male customers get free electric" and was told whilst this may be a discriminatory issue this also would not be a regulatory one, and is handled by a separate Equalities group. To be clear, this isn't relevant to this case.

Still feels wrong to me, but I've dropped the issue and have just posted this here for information for others.

Just for interest which supplier was it?

mgarl10024

FOREVER21 wrote: »

Just for interest which supplier was it?

E-On. .

FOREVER21

I suspected this would be E-On they seem to be experimenting with a number of new schemes , including tariffs for new customers only and now this for "the chosen few"
Whilst it might be a useful marketing process for E-On I think they are certainly annoying many of their existing customers.

Rubidium

FOREVER21 wrote: »

I suspected this would be E-On they seem to be experimenting with a number of new schemes , including tariffs for new customers only and now this for "the chosen few"
Whilst it might be a useful marketing process for E-On I think they are certainly annoying many of their existing customers.

They are only annoying a very small percentage of their customer base, the vast majority of their customers are stick in the muds who have never switched, never will and are still on eon's most expensive standard variable rate tariff. That is where they make their profit, not from money savers!

mgarl10024

Rubidium wrote: »

They are only annoying a very small percentage of their customer base, the vast majority of their customers are stick in the muds who have never switched, never will and are still on eon's most expensive standard variable rate tariff. That is where they make their profit, not from money savers!

Sadly very true.

Eric_Disley

If it's annoyed you, then both you and your family member should switch. See what the market researchers make of that!

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

mgarl10024 wrote: »

Hi,

I was recently offered an incentive to stay with my current energy provider in the form of a retail voucher if I signed up to a new tariff they were offering.

A family member who is with the same company on the same old tariff as me tried to apply and was unable.

I contacted the company and asked what was going on. They explained that the new exclusive tariff was a trial and so (like names out of a hat) they were randomly selecting customers to offer it to. I was selected, the family member wasn't.

I asked how this squared with "treating the customer fairly" as my family member is in a disadvantaged position through no fault of their own, and was told that because this is a trial they are able to offer it to whoever they wanted. They advised the family member to review the currently available tariffs.

This doesn't feel right to me. I guess as customers were *randomly* selected that it could be argued that all customers were being "treated fairly". Either you were lucky or you weren't, but everyone had a fair chance to be lucky. I also guess that as they are not discriminating on any basis (e.g. age, race, etc.) that this is legal?

Still feels wrong though. I will phone the Energy Ombudsman tomorrow to get their steer, but I suspect they'll tell me it is legal.

Any information that anyone has in this regard would be well received.

Thanks,

mgarl10024 wrote: »

Many thanks for the replies.

Having spoke to the regulator's representative (Ofgem delegate this out) they were confident that nothing had occurred here that appeared to be a regulatory breach.

They saw the fact that I was offered a different tariff that was better and unavailable to the family member as being a form of "goodwill" to me, and so it is up to the company to who they wish to offer this goodwill.

I asked whether them saying, for example, "all customers whose names begin with a D" could have free electric, and was again told that this would not constitute a regulatory issue.

I finally asked whether they could offer goodwill to certain groups of customers, e.g. "All male customers get free electric" and was told whilst this may be a discriminatory issue this also would not be a regulatory one, and is handled by a separate Equalities group. To be clear, this isn't relevant to this case.

Still feels wrong to me, but I've dropped the issue and have just posted this here for information for others.

mgarl10024 wrote: »

E-On. .

Guessing mgarl10024 but this sounds like the Fixed 1 Year £75 and £100 Reward tariffs recently offered to customers coming to the end of Fixed 1 Year versions 18 and 19.

The offer is exclusively by email to dual fuel customers only. The £75 Reward version is to customers who have been with us for 13 months to 2 years and the £100 version is for those who’ve been with us for up to 12 months. Sounds like you fell into these categories but the family member didn’t.

As our advisor mentioned, this tariff is part of a trial as we aim to freshen up our approach to tariffs and the way we offer them. Customers who decide to sign up will start on the tariff the day after their version 18/19 ends. Within 14 days, we’ll email an e-code that can be exchanged for e-vouchers such as Amazon or Argos (there are other outlets). These need to be exchanged within 3 months. Dual Fuel and paperless billing discounts will continue but ongoing rewards and price alerts will stop. There’s a £35 exit fee per fuel for the £75 Reward and a £50 exit fee per fuel for the £100 Reward for customers changing supplier outside of their renewal period.

Hope this explains why you were offered the tariff but the family member wasn’t.

Malc