Toto Energy reviews: add your feedback

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veryangrywithTOTO wrote: »

Have been trying for almost 12 months to get refund from TOTO - promised critical refund then changed their mind - they say they have gone to National Database (FEBRUARY , still waiting!!) - can't get thru on phone - get no call back - they refuse to supply hard copies of bills. Complained to Ombudsman -TOTO ignoring them so ombudsman asked me to deal with it!!!!!

Hi - welcome to the forum. If you are 100% sure that you have a credit repayment due - and you have the evidence to prove this to be the case - then my advice would be to issue a Letter Before Action. I am not sure what the National database has to do with any credit refund.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/law-and-courts/legal-system/taking-legal-action/small-claims/going-to-court/taking-court-action/step-one-write-a-letter-before-action/

If that doesn't elicit a response, then file a claim against the supplier in The Small Claims Court.

A further thought. Under the new GDPR, you are entitled to submit a Subject Access Request, and there is no longer a cost for this service to the person making the request. It might give you further evidence to add to your claim.

rmbastey

I think I posted on a different thread, but basically I clicked to join TOTO thinking it was a fixed rate tariff, found out it was variable and had a nightmare experience stopping the switch. Toto had zero customer service, spent ages on the phone trying to get through, they didnt answer emails, didnt do requested call backs and only bothered to contact me when I did a direct debit indemnity to get my money back off them when they raided my bank account. Heard lots of bad things about them and their customer service is shocking and their methods seem to be highly questionable.

Brigshaw

I've been with TOTO for 9 months and the customer service has always been bad but has recently got much worst to the point that they are no longer operating as a reasonable company and cannot be recommended.
The issue that I have experienced was: I am running a big credit as they have loaded the Direct Debits too much, against my advice and recommendations. I've asked for a refund but they will not pay out and say that they will keep waiting for the next bill / statement which now was due on July 23rd. However I've called 5 times in the last 2 weeks and they can't even give me a bill or a statement. I think they are stalling to avoid a repayment. I have a smart meter so getting a reading and issuing an immediate bill and statement should take no more than 5 minutes.
Your customer service is terrible, absolutely appalling. They are taking ages to answer the phone, then they say I am in the wrong department and someone will call me back but they never do. They are exhibiting all the conditions of a company in serious financial and managerial difficulties and I'm worried about my overpayment never being returned.
The prices they charge may well be competitive, but at what price and what risk? I'll certainly be swapping supplier in October when my deal expires !!!

ProConsumer

I've been a customer of TOTO for around 12 months. They honoured the price I was quoted, which was low, so I was happy with that. However, there were some things I was not happy with:
- Around December last year they inexplicably decided they were going to put everyone's DD payments up by 50%. This was due to a "seasonal" change they were making which meant you would pay 50% more in winter, then 50% less in summer, unless you opted out. Opt out clause was buried in the middle of a long paragraph of text and not on the first page of the letter!! I opted out, but a friend of mine who also happened to be with TOTO didn't opt out. The price hike landed (if you can believe it!!) right around Christmas day! What a lovely gift! Not only that, when the "Summer" version of the tariff came, the amount they were taking didnt drop down to the claimed 50% but instead dropped only to around 125%!!
- As someone with accountancy experience I can tell you these actions would result in a lot of customers being in massive credit (suggests HUGE cashflow issues in the company and they are trying to get cash in they are not entitled to) and as can be seen from TrustPilot and on MSE forums most customers struggle to get timely refunds. I switched away in August and am still waiting on mine, though I am assured it will be processed in "28 days" - we'll see how that goes.
- Took a DD payment AFTER we had switched - though again, reading TrustPilot and other sites this appears to be very common.
- TOTO recently announced they would be taking an extra 50% of all customers DD payments for one month - not sure why they are doing this (unless they are again very strapped for cash?) but there is no option to opt out and if you leave you have to pay an exit fee!!
- TrustPilot reviews for the company fall into 2 categories - customer that have had experiance with TOTO and those that have just been sold to and therefore have no experience with the actual service. You'll notice the ones that have experience with the company - calling customer services, getting refunds etc, are all 1 or 2 stars.
- Getting through to Customer services is a nightmare - queue times are terrible. Though when you do (finally) get through the staff are actually quite helpful and I think want to provide a good service. I suspect there are just far too few of them - again pointing at big cash problems.

All in all, prices were low but the way they hike DD payments with little warning, buried clauses, exit fees, difficulties in refunds, and some of the worst wait times on call centre contact I have ever seen, I would not recommend TOTO. Better to go with Affect (who I went with, though they are now owned by Octopus) or anyone else with a good TrustPilot rating and get great service.

j_a_k

I so wish I'd found this thread before I switched to Toto in April this year (2018). I'm on a fixed tariff until April 2019 and my annual energy usage hasn't changed much in the past 5 years. I pay monthly by direct debit which, on a fixed tariff, should remain the same until the end of the fix.

In October I received an email off Toto which stated "we will be taking £100 out of your account over and above your monthly direct debit. Due to the beast from the east this year you may have used more fuel than normal, plus you'll obviously use more fuel during the winter and this is to cover the deficit". I was £280 in credit for heaven's sake!

I immediately made a formal complaint. Number one: I'm on a fixed tariff. Number two: I have not missed a payment. Number three: my contract is for a set amount each month which is legally binding. Number four: I am in credit to cover me for the next 3 months. Number five: we may have had a cold spring but we've had the hottest summer since 1976. And Number six: unless Toto have psychic powers they have no clue what my future energy usage will be - we could have the hottest winter on record.

I told them they were skating on very thin legal ice and if any extra money was taken out of my account there would be legal consequences. And I meant it. In the last 3 years I've taken 3 companies to either court or the Ombudsman over their shoddy practices and won every single case. I'm sick of being ripped off.

They replied they'd try and stop the extra payment, but as it was so close they couldn't guarantee it. I replied that the due date was a full week away, we no longer use carrier pigeons or even royal mail, and if the payment went out of my account they'd be hell to pay. It has not gone off.

They also moaned I had not provided any meter readings since I joined. I can't have a smart meter as I live in the countryside and my mobile signal isn't strong enough. According to the timeline on my Toto account three requests have been made to me for a meter reading - but I have received none of them! Plus, having taken a meter reading there is no way of submitting it!! Nothing on the website to let me input a reading - maybe I'm supposed to use thought waves?

I will be leaving as soon as my contract is up, making sure I request any credit on my account well before my leaving date. This company shouldn't be included on switching websites.

BisKyt

I had problems joining Toto and I had problems leaving them. It took nearly 3 months for them to complete my switch in. For the switch out, the electricity was changed over in a reasonable time, but it took a couple of months for them to release the gas to the new company!

The service is shocking and their website is useless

wavelets

BisKyt wrote: »

I had problems joining Toto and I had problems leaving them. It took nearly 3 months for them to complete my switch in. For the switch out, the electricity was changed over in a reasonable time, but it took a couple of months for them to release the gas to the new company!

The service is shocking and their website is useless

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=74780609&postcount=279 :cool:

At least we all still have MSE. I'll leave it up to you to decide if MSE is shocking and useless too...

rolleston_reviewer

Still providing really poor customer service with a completely unhelpful next to useless website.

rossk26

Still waiting for my £200 credit refund after I left them in August. Everytime I ask for it, I get a different excuse.



Avoid this company if you can. I spend 30 minutes everytime on hold trying to get through. Everytime told I'll have my money on X date, and it never does.

MarkYork

Left this shambles of a company over 3 months ago. Still waiting for my £300+ credit to be refunded. Opened a complaint using Resolver. Much time wasted, no progress made. Ombudsman next!