Iresa Closes Door to New Customers

fredandwilma

An article in another reputable newspaper yesterday, gives the first indication of how many customers Iresa has actually amassed?

70,000 according to its founder?

I love this comment - "He said the problem had been caused by “things that you don’t expect in a corporate environment”, but declined to elaborate. He pledged not to sign up customers until he was confident that the issues had been resolved".

Energy company shuts its doors to new customers.

Iresa has been listed as the cheapest in the market on price comparison websites

A cut-price energy supplier has stopped taking new customers after being warned over poor customer service by the regulator.

Iresa, which launched a year ago, has been listed as the cheapest in the market on price comparison websites and had amassed about 70,000 customers, its founder, said.

Customers have complained that they cannot contact the company, with some reporting spending more than an hour waiting on the phone. Iresa has withdrawn its tariffs from sale, posting a note on its website saying that it is “not taking on new customers at the moment”.

The decision followed a warning by Ofgem. A spokesman said: “We told Iresa they needed to resolve this problem and have asked them to explain to us how they will ensure that it is easy for their customers to contact them and provide them with a level of customer service they are entitled to.”

The founder said that his customers had good reason to complain. “We take our customers’ issues seriously. We are already fixing it and . . . hopefully by the end of April we will get back to how we should be.”


He said the problem had been caused by “things that you don’t expect in a corporate environment”, but declined to elaborate. He pledged not to sign up customers until he was confident that the issues had been resolved.

Consumer groups have raised concerns about the ease with which some companies can be set up, particularly after the collapse of GB Energy Supply last year.

poppellerant

Hopefully Iresa can turn this around. All we ask is for a timely response - even 30 minutes in a queue is acceptable for me, it's a lot better than over an hour.

Norman_Castle

fredandwilma wrote: »

I love this comment - "He said the problem had been caused by “things that you don’t expect in a corporate environment”, but declined to elaborate.

Is it possible they budgeted £X for customer services without realising how much reassurance so many customers would need?
Its likely they've stopped taking new customers to catch up with the back log.

molerat

Norman_Castle wrote: »

Is it possible they budgeted £X for customer services without realising how much reassurance so many customers would need?
Its likely they've stopped taking new customers to catch up with the back log.

More like budgeted £x not realising that when your poorly set up billing system severely screws up CS requirements would spiral out of control.

Kitchen_Sink

PaschalFun wrote: »

Oh well, bang goes any chance of a cheap tariff when they start taking on new customers, if they are now taking on a raft of phone jockeys to answer the phone.

They started out as a cheap supplier - cheap beacuse they did not offer phone support (instead expecting you to use their online account function to ask questions), but the moaners want expensive phone jockeys sat there twiddling their thumbs, just in case someone calls.

Well done everyone!

Maybe when they re-open their doors, they will have 2 tariffs?
A cheap one for those who are happy to operate their account entirely online.
And another much more expensive tariff for those who insist on having someone to talk to on the phone.

I think Ovo were forced to do this soon after launching, but since then they have dumped their cheap online only tariffs

It may have been Ofgem rules introduced that restricted the number and type of tariffs suppliers were allowed to offer (bowing to consumer pressure) that resulted in Ovo's decision, but I understand Ofgem have now removed those restrictions they previously introduced.

MCGONIS

Kitchen_Sink wrote: »

Maybe when they re-open their doors, they will have 2 tariffs?
A cheap one for those who are happy to operate their account entirely online.
And another much more expensive tariff for those who insist on having someone to talk to on the phone.

See I don't want to telephone offices these days as you get bugged after by text messages asking you to score how the call went. I signed up to this lot last year. I sent a message through the self service area on my account in February asking them to up my DD by £8 per month as by that point I realised £22 per month was too low and causing me to have £40 of a debit balance. The request is still open and they have done nothing about what I asked.

I think these days, doing things online is the norm. But when they don't deal with a simple request like mines, despite waiting two months, then you naturally lift up the phone to see what is going on.

So I think most people couldn't care less if Iresa had a telephone centre or not. If they would answer you in a timely manner through the website, the situation we see today would probs not be there.

phillw

brewerdave wrote: »

Off topic but - NO-ONE I've talked to, who voted Leave ,has used that as a reason - they all have either believed that the NHS was going to get a big cash injection after Brexit or that all the immigrants were going to be sent home!!

You didn't talk to the business owners who wanted to get rid of all the "EU red tape" then, because when questioned it was only the working time directive that they could bring up as an example.

PaschalFun

MCGONIS wrote: »

See I don't want to telephone offices these days as you get bugged after by text messages asking you to score how the call went. I signed up to this lot last year. I sent a message through the self service area on my account in February asking them to up my DD by £8 per month as by that point I realised £22 per month was too low and causing me to have £40 of a debit balance. The request is still open and they have done nothing about what I asked.

....

I don't think Iresa allow you to set your own direct debit payment level. Most suppliers don't . Yes, there is the odd exception who will be willing to take your money off you, but Iresa pay 4% interest on all credit balances, and don't want to be used as a savings bank.

Rather than give the supplier an interest free loan, I suggest the best MSE approach would be to put the money in an easy deposit or savings account of your own and earn interest on it that way

See this MSE article for best ways to earn interest on your money
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/which-saving-account

MCGONIS

PaschalFun wrote: »

I don't think Iresa allow you to set your own direct debit payment level. Most suppliers don't . Yes, there is the odd exception who will be willing to take your money off you, but Iresa pay 4% interest on all credit balances, and don't want to be used as a savings bank.

Rather than give the supplier an interest free loan, I suggest the best MSE approach would be to put the money in an easy deposit or savings account of your own and earn interest on it that way

See this MSE article for best ways to earn interest on your money
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/which-saving-account

Many thanks for the reply PLANET JANET :-)

Patrick_Mac

It is a shame when a company closes but after my experience with the company I do not feel they have operated at all. I have had months of difficulty with them. You telephone and find you are something like 45 in the queue. Emails go unanswered but interestingly removed from your support page or listed as 'resolved'.

I did find a way to get their attention, after 5 threats that I will sue I did. I issued a money claim in the County Court for my refund, now they won't shut up!

My account with them ended, finally, in March. Up until then they refused to release the account to our preferred supplier. Threats of complaints went unanswered and the 'support' page shows all my issues as 'resolved'. I threatened to complaint, no response. Finally I complained and nothing happened so I now have the Ombudsman on board.

The refund is in the County Court and their refusal to deal with my request and subsequently the complaint, are with the Ombudsman.

This is a potted version of events but have been going on for 4 months.