Ebico

EachPenny

FullForce wrote: »

It's not rocket science. If you struggle with this simple principle, do not attempt to switch energy supplier as it will simply baffle you completely.

It is bubieyehyeh who thought the email was from Ebico but wasn't sure.

There are also many people commenting in other threads who are clearly a bit confused - especially by the infamous 'your energy prices are increasing' letter from SSE.

bubieyehyeh

FullForce wrote: »

Surely the email you claim to have received states who it is from??? :huh:

The email was signed Ebico Customer Service Team
however as eacy penny says it might have been RHE.

Also it was quite annoying that the email were not signed with any name so I couldn't be sure if I was communicating with the same person each time.

jrio

EachPenny wrote: »

Hi jrio,

Have you just switched to Ebico from a different company, or are you part of the 'internal' switch from Ebico/SSE to Ebico/RHE?

If the former, then can I ask why you chose Ebico? Was it because of the lower energy prices?



Did you do your research before switching - and see that Ebico are a very small company (which partly explains their low costs) and are in the middle of transferring thousands of customers from one supplier to another in a bureaucratic process imposed on them because 'their' customers are not really considered to be their customers by the system our energy supply operates under.

If longer hours of availability from call centres, or calls being answered within 5 seconds, or emails being replied to same day are important considerations, then there are plenty of other suppliers out there, but customers may have to pay more for those benefits.

That said, the Ebico call centre opening hours on the website don't seem to be correct when you try to call them. That is poor customer service. However, it is an 0800 number and there is a recorded message which does give the correct hours so you won't be left wondering why your call isn't being answered, and know when to call back - free of charge.

As per Dave's issue - presumably your lights are still working, your kettle still boils, you haven't been wrongly debited large amounts of money, you have a confirmed switching date... it might be a bit inconvenient not to be able to log on to your account, but what is the immediate problem?

A bit of inconvenience is nothing compared to saving a considerable amount of money on your energy bill - if that is why you switched to Ebico in the first place.

As a low user, the cheap tariff due to no standing charge was the major attraction. I knew they were a small company but I was only partially aware of this issue with SSE due to reading posts on here 2 Fridays ago.

I don't demand the level of response you suggest, but I do demand some level of response, and they initially provided zero response. I was finally able to speak to someone by phoning up first thing last Monday, so that at least I was then able to set up the online account. Ebico's key failing for me has been not updating the contact hours on their website and still having a phone message that claims they will call you back the next day if you leave your details.

EachPenny

jrio wrote: »

I was finally able to speak to someone by phoning up first thing last Monday, so that at least I was then able to set up the online account.

So you phoned on a Saturday and were told the office was closed, it reopens on Monday. You phoned again (for free) first thing Monday and got the problem resolved straight away.

Sounds like excellent customer service to me - with many companies you'd be making several calls and may still not have a functioning online account a week later.

jrio wrote: »

Ebico's key failing for me has been not updating the contact hours on their website and still having a phone message that claims they will call you back the next day if you leave your details.

No excuses for that.

jrio

EachPenny wrote: »

So you phoned on a Saturday and were told the office was closed, it reopens on Monday. You phoned again (for free) first thing Monday and got the problem resolved straight away.

Sounds like excellent customer service to me - with many companies you'd be making several calls and may still not have a functioning online account a week later.

That was actually the 4th phone call, one of which lasted 15 minutes without getting through.

bubieyehyeh

After getting quick but bizarre replies to emails back in April. I've had no acknowledgement at all for my complaint sent on April 22 or when I resent the email early last week asking them to acknowledge receipt.

Are they really this bad, or is there a massive backlog?

jrio

bubieyehyeh wrote: »

After getting quick but bizarre replies to emails back in April. I've had no acknowledgement at all for my complaint sent on April 22 or when I resent the email early last week asking them to acknowledge receipt.

Are they really this bad, or is there a massive backlog?

The latter I think. My email of April 19 has just received a reply so you should get a reply next Monday!

Richmc

Easy answer to all this is to switch to Green Energy, I did after getting frustrated with Ebico, the switch went smoothly and they are cheaper. They also offer a zero standing charge option. They always answer the phone and emails and there's no press this for that queues.

EachPenny

Richmc wrote: »

Easy answer to all this is to switch to Green Energy, I did after getting frustrated with Ebico, the switch went smoothly and they are cheaper. They also offer a zero standing charge option.

Unless I'm missing something the Green Energy 'Tap' tariff has the same unit rates for both day and night for E7 and E10 supplies - so it isn't really Economy 7, it is just the same as single-rate with day and night consumption added together.

In my area that would mean paying 2.824p less per day kWh, but an eye watering 10.175p more per night kWh.

It seems a bit confusing to offer an Economy 7 tariff which isn't any cheaper at night than it is in the day. Unless their website isn't working correctly and is displaying the wrong figures.