Add your feedback on energy supplier Tonik

Catslovelycats

The ombudsman are in the middle of my case trying to get £200+ off them that they took back in March. Guess I won’t see that back now. 😡

LiGhTfasT

Just realised my direct debit was due to go out on the 9th, I've cancelled it but it says it can take upto 2 days. Hopefully 25 hours is good enough.

I saw quite a lot of complaints about credit not being returned when trying to leave earlier this year so I decided to renew with a hope that they would sort out the issues. I guess that worked it's self out for me atleast, hopefully any owed money has been correctly recorded for excustomers.

Whoever takes on the mess of these accounts will have fun.

Telegraph_Sam

If it does go out you should be able to reclaim it (the DD) under the banks' guarantee scheme.  But I would contact your bank anyway to stop it going out in the first place.
" joined Tonik in May 2018 & have been very happy with them ever since - always had a great deal - fab service".  Moot point if being actively encouraged to build up excessive credit balances (in order to keep the company afloat) constituted fab service. I voiced my concerns in this thread long before the ship hit the rocks, and got out in time luckily.

soground

I cancelled my direct debit yesterday.
I've just this minute had a threatening email from Tonik energy about it, so their computers are still switched on.

soground

Telegraph_Sam said:

If it does go out you should be able to reclaim it (the DD) under the banks' guarantee scheme.  But I would contact your bank anyway to stop it going out in the first place.
" joined Tonik in May 2018 & have been very happy with them ever since - always had a great deal - fab service".  Moot point if being actively encouraged to build up excessive credit balances (in order to keep the company afloat) constituted fab service. I voiced my concerns in this thread long before the ship hit the rocks, and got out in time luckily.

What is an excessive credit balance though?  The whole point of direct debit is to spread the cost through the year.

Parking_Trouble

Cancelled my direct debit yesterday.
Got an (automated) email from Tonik last night pointing out DD cancelled and they'll move me to standard variable rate if I don't reinstate it.
Interesting that the also include your account balance in the email. A useful reference for when new supplier takes over. It matches what I knew the balance was.
I do have an excessive credit balance - £517 with new bill due tomorrow of around £60. They paid interest on the credit, better than bank savings account so I left it there - another prop for their flakey situation I guess.
I found Tonik good until their IT system went haywire and unbelievably took them months to fix. Even after that I changed to a cheaper tariff with them and was happy. 

tux900

soground said:

Telegraph_Sam said:

If it does go out you should be able to reclaim it (the DD) under the banks' guarantee scheme.  But I would contact your bank anyway to stop it going out in the first place.
" joined Tonik in May 2018 & have been very happy with them ever since - always had a great deal - fab service".  Moot point if being actively encouraged to build up excessive credit balances (in order to keep the company afloat) constituted fab service. I voiced my concerns in this thread long before the ship hit the rocks, and got out in time luckily.

What is an excessive credit balance though?  The whole point of direct debit is to spread the cost through the year.

No, the whole point of direct debit is to automate regular payments. There's absolutely nothing preventing these payments being variable to avoid excessive overshoot. Many may find regular fixed payments easier to fund but there comes a point where this benefit for the customer turns into profiteering for the supplier.

soground

tux900 said:

soground said:

Telegraph_Sam said:

If it does go out you should be able to reclaim it (the DD) under the banks' guarantee scheme.  But I would contact your bank anyway to stop it going out in the first place.
" joined Tonik in May 2018 & have been very happy with them ever since - always had a great deal - fab service".  Moot point if being actively encouraged to build up excessive credit balances (in order to keep the company afloat) constituted fab service. I voiced my concerns in this thread long before the ship hit the rocks, and got out in time luckily.

What is an excessive credit balance though?  The whole point of direct debit is to spread the cost through the year.

No, the whole point of direct debit is to automate regular payments. There's absolutely nothing preventing these payments being variable to avoid excessive overshoot. Many may find regular fixed payments easier to fund but there comes a point where this benefit for the customer turns into profiteering for the supplier

Until the billing debacle I was perfectly happy with Tonik.  Even afterwards they continued to alter the direct debit from time to time and I never felt I had more than was needed to keep my bills paid as a credit balance.  

You seem to want people just to be billed monthly which would be more labour intensive and need more people to run a system, which isn't ever going to happen in this day and age.

I didn't move after the billing was rectified because they were still cheaper than everyone I looked at, and I didn't see the point of getting into a hassle over a move that wasn't a financial advantage.

Whatever happens now I've had two and a half years of cheap energy.

Telegraph_Sam

The manual payment top up facility is (or was) designed to add flexibility when the fixed D/D's run "behind" the level of debt. I found that Tonik were always keen to increase the credit balance as if this did not exist. I took the view that overall the account balance should pan out at approx + / - £0, and that occasional undershoots were no better / worse than occasional overshoots. I don't believe there is a contractual obligation to maintain a credit balance in all circumstances but running a small surplus is reasonable. When I asked for a refund of the excess credit this never happened (which is why I cancelled the D/D temporarily). It is all very well T offering 3% on credit balances but if this disappears down the hole then someone is kidding someone.

Gerry1

soground said:

tux900 said:

soground said:

Telegraph_Sam said:

If it does go out you should be able to reclaim it (the DD) under the banks' guarantee scheme.  But I would contact your bank anyway to stop it going out in the first place.
" joined Tonik in May 2018 & have been very happy with them ever since - always had a great deal - fab service".  Moot point if being actively encouraged to build up excessive credit balances (in order to keep the company afloat) constituted fab service. I voiced my concerns in this thread long before the ship hit the rocks, and got out in time luckily.

What is an excessive credit balance though?  The whole point of direct debit is to spread the cost through the year.

No, the whole point of direct debit is to automate regular payments. There's absolutely nothing preventing these payments being variable to avoid excessive overshoot. Many may find regular fixed payments easier to fund but there comes a point where this benefit for the customer turns into profiteering for the supplier

You seem to want people just to be billed monthly which would be more labour intensive and need more people to run a system, which isn't ever going to happen in this day and age.

Most energy companies bill monthly, but with fixed direct debit.  It's all automated, you don't really think they have hundreds of staff in a pool doing the calculations and typing out bills, do you?  The only difference is whether the software triggers a DD corresponding to the energy used in the last month (Variable Monthly Direct Debit) or just collects a fixed amount (Fixed Monthly Direct Debit).