AVRO Energy false prices advertised

SiobhanT_2

I just got a new monthly DD Tariff from Avro Energy- from £24 pcm in November when I joined, to £117.00 - 5 times as much as they had originally estimated. Had I known it would go up this much over the winter months, I would have stuck with BG. What a joke. Can't get through to them due to high volume calling because of their "highly competitive pricing" - really?

cranford

Nobody can tell whether AVRO have made a mistake, are being harsh or are just incompetent without more information on your annual energy usage, your current balance and when you started with them.
Of course they may have a point and like many other energy companies don't like big debts being built up.

pshsc

Why do the price comparison sites tell you one set of new tariffs to encourage you to switch, but when you go to the actual site to check their actual tariffs are always much higher.

It's very misleading. I guess most people will just assume as it tells them they will save, but I have been basing my switch on Kwh per day and standing charges.

Come on Martin, help sort it out!

mbailey

Interesting thread.

I've been with Avro for 2+ years now and the prices are the lowest on the market. My current fixed deal is way lower than anything else on the market if I switched today.

The main thing you have to remember, is that the amount of money you pay by Direct Debit, is not the actual cost of the electricity/gas, but just going into a holding account with the suppler and they take money from here to pay for your usage when the bills come in each month (as it is with Avro.)

The reality of this, if the DD amount is higher, doesn't actually mean the bills are higher.

One thing I have seen with Avro, is that that seem to tend on the side of caution and request a higher direct debit. This has the result of building up a surplus with the supplier. This is still your money, but the only way to get this money is to request a refund (not easy) or to close the account, which you wouldn't want to do if they are cheap supplier!

Over the past 2 years I have had to fight with Avro to bring down my monthly DD amount, due to having lower usage and having a high surplus on my account. It's not easy to do, due to the varying cost of usage over the year. (For example my bill in August would be £50, but say £150 in December.) By having a monthly DD of say £90 it should average out over the year.

So if I look at my account in September, it will show a much higher surplus than it would if I looked in March.

As others have said, the important thing when looking at a new supplier is to look at the unit costs and standing charge costs. The value of the direct debit is not valid, as some suppliers will use different formula to calculate usage. (For the comparison website, they use the same formula for all suppliers, so that way you can see the difference of the unit charge/standing charges.)

As i mentioned above, my suspicion with Avro is that they assume higher usage, but this doesn't mean you are paying more, as the amount you pay is what you are billed and not what you pay by direct debit.

steviec2

This company do not look into previous bills at all I have persistently asked them to as I am overpaying but they reduced payment by far too little. I have been forced to switch because of this.
Seem to have no phone contact now so all communication is via email.
Asked for refund as 400 pounds in credit but was refused ( which I believe contravenes section 75 or something equivalent) and given £100.
Customer service is poor, they do not listen and look into the questions asked.
The only benefit is that I can leave contract immediately with no charges.
Any problems and this company is poor!
Received an email after switching away from Avro informing me that direct debit was set to zero and ‘no more payments would be taken’ but of course they then take 138 pounds out. I incurred a 25 pound bank charge because of this? I sent Another email asking for refund as I am way in credit and another response not looking into my situation and what happened but that I will get money back only after the switch is complete? I would imagine in three or four months time knowing this shambles.
Must be a lot of false reviews, delve deeper and you see the true reviews. Been with Avro for 2 and a half years.

PennineAcute

False advertising is this

Saying you will pay £x for using y kWh of elec and z kWh of gas, and actually paying more.

mbailey

steviec2 wrote: »

This company do not look into previous bills at all I have persistently asked them to as I am overpaying but they reduced payment by far too little. I have been forced to switch because of this.
Seem to have no phone contact now so all communication is via email.
Asked for refund as 400 pounds in credit but was refused ( which I believe contravenes section 75 or something equivalent) and given £100.
Customer service is poor, they do not listen and look into the questions asked.
The only benefit is that I can leave contract immediately with no charges.
Any problems and this company is poor!
Received an email after switching away from Avro informing me that direct debit was set to zero and ‘no more payments would be taken’ but of course they then take 138 pounds out. I incurred a 25 pound bank charge because of this? I sent Another email asking for refund as I am way in credit and another response not looking into my situation and what happened but that I will get money back only after the switch is complete? I would imagine in three or four months time knowing this shambles.
Must be a lot of false reviews, delve deeper and you see the true reviews. Been with Avro for 2 and a half years.

I have to say, I was very surprised Martin mentioned Avro as being one of the good companies with high customer service ratings!


They have good cheap price,but trying to get them to do anything when you contact customer service is a nightmare. Took me 6 months of constant emails to eventually get my monthly DD down and now my surplus balance is less than £100, and with another couple of cold months will be getting close to zero. I fear Avro will try and increase it again, but will be ready to battle it out.

mbailey

PennineAcute wrote: »

False advertising is this

Saying you will pay £x for using y kWh of elec and z kWh of gas, and actually paying more.

What you pay as a monthly direct debit, is NOT the actual cost of gas/electricity. The cost of gas/electricity is what you get on your monthly bill from Avro.


Certainly from my experience, the price on the Avro Bill for the y kWh of elec and z kWh of gas has always aligned to the prices I have signed up to.


Yes the monthly direct debit changes, but that is NOT the cost of the fuels you are using.

PennineAcute

I did not mention any Direct Debits.