Add your feedback on energy supplier Tonik

Mabel2012

Ginger123456789 said:

I have a thread highlighting my experience of Tonik as it is not reflected by the experiences of the majority of people on this thread. The billing system did go down in January. Which was nerve racking a bit. I got a bill last month all up to date. I had a slight issue today: I called customer services they were really helpful and everything was sorted out without a problem. 🤞 luck maybe. I have to say as I have found them. 

I don't think it's acceptable for any company to not be able to bill customers from January until June. This stopped a lot of people changing supplier in that period and most did not know the status of their account.

Vulcans

Terrible admin. Left Tonik to go to Avro because they were taking too long to send me my statement. Couldn't get a reply to emails until 4 days later or not at all. Made switch and didnt get my final statement until much later than expected.

swandolf

I would never use this company again. I switched from Tonik to another energy company in Feb 2020 and had been paying by direct debit to the new supplier since then. In May 2020 I checked my bank account and discovered that Tonik had taken a direct debit payment from my account. I checked my Tonik account and discovered that they had not closed my account and it was showing over £200 in credit. I contacted Tonik via email about this and received a reply that my account had now been closed and their system would be updated. I checked again some weeks later and this had not been done so I contacted them again. I received no response to this and nothing has been done to close my account and settle the outstanding balance so I have had to open a case with the Energy Ombudsman to take this forward.

Please do not trust this company as I believe I am not the only person who has had problems with Tonik.

plc99

Was reasonably happy with Tonik up until the beginning of this year, when it all fell apart. No bills from Jan to May (and none since May), they've ignored my meter reading and based all my bills on their estimates. The final straw was changing my monthly direct debit from £113 to £173 even though I've been i credit all year (as high as £240 at one point). They took over 3months to change my email address and still haven't replied to an email about the direct debit increase that i sent 5 weeks ago. The person I spoke to at Tonik this week was very unhelpful and could only say 'billing was not part of her training, it was another department' but couldnt/wouldnt put me through to that dept. This is appalling support even in these unusual times and I will be moving to another supplier ASAP., before they extract another £173!.

walshuff

I assume Tonik is still in business, but I have been trying to contact them for 12 months since my mother, who was one of their customers, died. They have not replied to any of my emails except to give an automatic ticket and never follow it up, and signed-for letters to their head office can't be delivered. I have given up on phone calls after waiting over an hour in a queue (or maybe they never answer). Does anyone know how they can be contacted to give the final meter readings?

inspectorperez

walshuff said:

I assume Tonik is still in business, but I have been trying to contact them for 12 months since my mother, who was one of their customers, died. They have not replied to any of my emails except to give an automatic ticket and never follow it up, and signed-for letters to their head office can't be delivered. I have given up on phone calls after waiting over an hour in a queue (or maybe they never answer). Does anyone know how they can be contacted to give the final meter readings?

Recorded delivery letter insisting upon a personal appointment at Birmingham HQ. State that assuming no reply withing 7 working days, you will attend in person at x am on xth day July 2020 to resolve matters with an authorised third party.

Be prepared to record what happens when you attend in person (indicate in your letter that you will do this).

This may waste your time and have a cost associated with it, but this company is a disgrace and official protocol with OFGEM/Ombudsman is like the UK judicial system (not fit for purpose) IMO.

Ensure you have proof of your legal status as executor of your deceased mum's estate.

You might also copy your letter to the directors' (there are only two) home addresses if you can establish these.

And, one last thought, the failure to accept letters at the company's registered office address, should be reported to the Registrar of Companies by means of a complaint.

These comments are not intended to be text book advice, and are my views on what I would do in the same situation!!

Telegraph_Sam

I don't know how easy or convenient it would be for Walshuff to make a visit to their HQ (and perhaps be denied entry) but at the risk of repetition I repeat the suggestions I made earlier on in this thread
 "...For reporting purposes Citizens Advice Burea Extra Help Unit = complaints@ehu.org.uk 0800 4548 2245, and Birmingham Trading Standards Office on 0345 404 0506"
I pass this on as an ex-Tonik customer who escaped relatively unscathed !    It would be of interest to all who read this thread to know what degree of success either or both of these approaches leads to.

groverwhite

Now I'm having Customer Service issues too.
When I switched to Tonik following Which recommendation a few years ago, everything was fine and I was a happy customer.
I was patient whilst they upgraded their billing system and continued to give them monthly meter readings even though they weren't asking for them. Eventually the updated invoice arrived and there were no shocks.
BUT....
When I tried to contact them, over a month ago now, to query the discrepancy on the invoice regarding the quoted alternative cheapest tariff and what they were quoting me via the website, I had no joy. As others have said, no one answers the phone and emailing/following up emails has been fruitless. To be fair their quote isn't a million miles from your best picks and they do pay interest on credit but I do wonder if they're going out of business. I now have less than a week to switch and am wondering if I do, will I ever get the refund I'll be due (I'm £300 in credit).

groverwhite

groverwhite said:

Now I'm having Customer Service issues too.

I called them today, got straight through to Customer Service (via a series of keypad choices) and within a few minutes, not only was my query resolved, I got a good deal for the next 12 months, on a par with the 'best available' recommendations on the MSE site.
Shortly after the call, I received an email with all my (previously unanswered) emails attached, along with an apology.
They are under a lot of pressure as they're still working remotely and have been inundated with calls and emails. This won't have been helped by their new invoicing system going in just as lockdown was starting. 
We'll see what happens next year!

Rainy1420

Unfortunately I’ve had a pretty shocking experience with Tonik. Started back in January when I was going to switch to them but decided during the cooling off
period that I’d changed my mind. Let them know in good time but they didn’t action my request correctly (they fully acknowledged their mistake) and took over the electricity account whilst the gas was returned to my previous supplier. Long story short I’ve chased and chased to get the electricity raised as an erroneous transfer request, promised it’d be actioned but it hasn’t been to date. Complained formally and got a generic response and nothing since. I’ve now escalated to the Energy Ombudsman who are looking into it. I’ve not paid for any electricity in five months, I’ve tried to engage with Tonik but they just won’t action it. A very stressful experience that’s taken hours of phone calls now and chase emails. I would not encourage anyone to go with them, what a shambles!