Iresa energy complaints - warning!

Aurora_Blue

MoneySavingExpert.com Insert 27 July 2018:

Iresa has ceased trading. Read our news story for what to do if you're affected:

Energy firm Iresa ceases trading - here's what it means for customers

Back to the original post...

---

If you are considering switching to Iresa Energy be extreamly careful and read other posts about them. Complaints concerning them rose so quickly that the regulator Ofcom instructed them to stop taking customers on in the Spring of 2017. See other MSE threads to confirm this point and also IRESAs website.

In my personal experience I can understand why. I joined them in February and call waiting times just to get through exceeded 60 minutes in the months of February, March, April, May and June.

You can send messages online but the response time was between two to three weeks in those months and in my case I needed to change a direct debit amount as our energy usage had reduced by 75% as we were not living at the property. Normally this would be just a matter of a simple phone call or making the change online yourself, but you can't do that with Iresa

You would think this would be a simple case of calling your energy supplier and arranging it over the phone, that might take about 10 to 20 minutes typically and I've done it in less than 10 minutes with one energy firm and it showed 48hrs later on my bank account. Not so with Iresa. Their system is so tightly controlled that after waiting more that an hour to just get through, customer services then tell you they can't amend direct debits as its not in their control. They advised me that (i) direct debits are only reviewed every six months, (ii) they cannot make changes to direct debits and only the 'finance team can' and (iii) that department doesn't take calls and only customer services takes calls. You can see the futile 'circular argument' there and you can imagine how you'd be feeling after being on hold for over an hour. So I tried to make an over the phone payment for the four months of energy used which was £30. "Sorry we don't take over the phone payments" was the reply. I asked were there any other ways to make the payment and the person I spoke to put me on hold to go and check. They came back and replied that Iresa only took direct debit payments. You would think that if they only have one method of payment the staff answering the phone would know this as part of their training before they are answering the phone.

Anyway, I requested a direct debit amendment and three weeks later to the day, after three priority messages were sent to 'the finance team", I got a reply back saying they had amended my direct debit but did I know I owed them money? ...at this point I gave up and switched supplier as I realised it was futile and that the level of service is so inept and slow, that I was just wasting my time. Even after the money left my account 25 days later after the original phone call, it still isn't showing as paid on my account and it still has a negative balance. I am sure there are thousands of other customers out there who have similar stories, hence the complaint levels being so high and the regulator forcing them to stop taking on customers.

Is it cheap? Yes. Should you move to them? You will save some money initially but eventually prices will rise. More importantly, should the tiniest thing go wrong or you need to use customer services, you're in for a major shock, a large phone bill and a massive headache. Think of it like this... Remember that time when you called the most polite yet incompetant over seas customer services call center who "will be happy to help you with your problem today" but two hours later are you stil oncourse to accomplishing 'nothing', you've wasted 120 minutes out of your call plan and they just keep repeating... "I would like to help you but I can't"... "Do you realise you owe us money Sir?".... it's like that.

It would be marginally smarter and less painful to run full speed at a brick wall... head first.


.

footyguy

Aurora_Blue wrote: »

If you are considering switching to Iresa Energy be extreamly careful and read other posts about them. Complaints concerning them rose so quickly that the regulator Ofcom instructed them to stop taking customers on in the Spring of 2017. See other MSE threads to confirm this point and also IRESAs website.

In my personal experience I can understand why. I joined them in February and call waiting times just to get through exceeded 60 minutes in the months of February, March, April, May and June.

You can send messages online but the response time was between two to three weeks in those months and in my case I needed to change a direct debit amount as our energy usage had reduced by 75% as we were not living at the property. Normally this would be just a matter of a simple phone call or making the change online yourself, but you can't do that with Iresa

You would think this would be a simple case of calling your energy supplier and arranging it over the phone, that might take about 10 to 20 minutes typically and I've done it in less than 10 minutes with one energy firm and it showed 48hrs later on my bank account. Not so with Iresa. Their system is so tightly controlled that after waiting more that an hour to just get through, customer services then tell you they can't amend direct debits as its not in their control. They advised me that (i) direct debits are only reviewed every six months, (ii) they cannot make changes to direct debits and only the 'finance team can' and (iii) that department doesn't take calls and only customer services takes calls. You can see the futile 'circular argument' there and you can imagine how you'd be feeling after being on hold for over an hour. So I tried to make an over the phone payment for the four months of energy used which was £30. "Sorry we don't take over the phone payments" was the reply. I asked were there any other ways to make the payment and the person I spoke to put me on hold to go and check. They came back and replied that Iresa only took direct debit payments. You would think that if they only have one method of payment the staff answering the phone would know this as part of their training before they are answering the phone.

Anyway, I requested a direct debit amendment and three weeks later to the day, after three priority messages were sent to 'the finance team", I got a reply back saying they had amended my direct debit but did I know I owed them money? ...at this point I gave up and switched supplier as I realised it was futile and that the level of service is so inept and slow, that I was just wasting my time. Even after the money left my account 25 days later after the original phone call, it still isn't showing as paid on my account and it still has a negative balance. I am sure there are thousands of other customers out there who have similar stories, hence the complaint levels being so high and the regulator forcing them to stop taking on customers.

Is it cheap? Yes. Should you move to them? You will save some money initially but eventually prices will rise. More importantly, should the tiniest thing go wrong or you need to use customer services, you're in for a major shock, a large phone bill and a massive headache. Think of it like this... Remember that time when you called the most polite yet incompetant over seas customer services call center who "will be happy to help you with your problem today" but two hours later are you stil oncourse to accomplishing 'nothing', you've wasted 120 minutes out of your call plan and they just keep repeating... "I would like to help you but I can't"... "Do you realise you owe us money Sir?".... it's like that.

It would be marginally smarter and less painful to run full speed at a brick wall... head first.


.

I've looked at the Iresa Website, and have read the other threads in full, even posting in post of them, but see no evidence to support the allegations you make.

But don't let that stop you creating as many MSE user accounts as you like and repeating this nonseence.

:cool:

Good luck!

poppellerant

footyguy wrote: »

I've looked at the Iresa Website, and have read the other threads in full, even posting in post of them, but see no evidence to support the allegations you make.

But don't let that stop you creating as many MSE user accounts as you like and repeating this nonseence.

:cool:

Good luck!

I suspect this is what the OP is referring to:
UK's cheapest energy supplier closes doors to new customers - The Telegraph
Iresa Closes Door to New Customers - MoneySavingExpert.com Forums
Not taking new orders - Iresa Limited

The independent energy company behind the retail market’s cheapest deal has shut its doors to new consumers amid concern over its mounting complaints.

Iresa Energy is one of almost fifty challenger brands to the big six legacy suppliers but it has set itself apart by offering a rock bottom dual fuel supply tariff at an average price of £834 a year.

However, the company has slammed the brakes on its rising popularity after the regulator warned the company to get a handle on an increasing number of complaints from its customers.

A spokesman for Ofgem said it became aware that Iresa’s customers were struggling to get hold of customer service representatives raise queries and complaints.

“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,” he said.

Iresa was not available to comment on its customer service or its decision to close the supplier to new customers.

footyguy

poppellerant wrote: »

I suspect this is what the OP is referring to:
UK's cheapest energy supplier closes doors to new customers - The Telegraph
Iresa Closes Door to New Customers - MoneySavingExpert.com Forums
Not taking new orders - Iresa Limited

Indeed, it was an unsubtantiated rumour started on this site when Iresa opted to close their doors themselves temporarily to new customers because of unprecidented demand due to their low prices.

That rumour was then picked up by the press on presumably a slow news day, and the usual posters here have pickjed up that and regurgitated it at frequent intervals.

If you read all the threads as I am sure you have, you will already know this.

There is no evidence on the Ofgem site that confirms the allegation that they were involved in the decision to suspend acceptance of new customers, and similarly nothing on the regulators site when the supplier re-opened applications from new customers.

Similarly there was nop mention on the Iresa site at the time (nor now) that Ofgem were ever involved in the decision to suspend new applications.

Iresa are not the only small supplier who have had to clsoe their doors to new applicants on a temporary vasis due to overwhelaming demand .. and presumably the big boys don't like the great valuse such small suppliers offer.

Btw, Iresa still offer the same great value tariff as they did when they originally suspended new applicants - grab it whilst it is still available.
Check out a comparison site first, to see just how it compares (it's best usually for electricity only)

LewisHamilton

I would be very surprised if Iresa will have a licence by April 2018. If they had as many customers as Scottish Power they would not last. Scottish Power should not have licence either by the way but Ofgem has no teeth,

ndavis25

Aurora_Blue wrote: »

If you are considering switching to Iresa Energy be extreamly careful and read other posts about them. Complaints concerning them rose so quickly that the regulator Ofcom instructed them to stop taking customers on in the Spring of 2017. See other MSE threads to confirm this point and also IRESAs website.

In my personal experience I can understand why. I joined them in February and call waiting times just to get through exceeded 60 minutes in the months of February, March, April, May and June.

You can send messages online but the response time was between two to three weeks in those months and in my case I needed to change a direct debit amount as our energy usage had reduced by 75% as we were not living at the property. Normally this would be just a matter of a simple phone call or making the change online yourself, but you can't do that with Iresa

You would think this would be a simple case of calling your energy supplier and arranging it over the phone, that might take about 10 to 20 minutes typically and I've done it in less than 10 minutes with one energy firm and it showed 48hrs later on my bank account. Not so with Iresa. Their system is so tightly controlled that after waiting more that an hour to just get through, customer services then tell you they can't amend direct debits as its not in their control. They advised me that (i) direct debits are only reviewed every six months, (ii) they cannot make changes to direct debits and only the 'finance team can' and (iii) that department doesn't take calls and only customer services takes calls. You can see the futile 'circular argument' there and you can imagine how you'd be feeling after being on hold for over an hour. So I tried to make an over the phone payment for the four months of energy used which was £30. "Sorry we don't take over the phone payments" was the reply. I asked were there any other ways to make the payment and the person I spoke to put me on hold to go and check. They came back and replied that Iresa only took direct debit payments. You would think that if they only have one method of payment the staff answering the phone would know this as part of their training before they are answering the phone.

Anyway, I requested a direct debit amendment and three weeks later to the day, after three priority messages were sent to 'the finance team", I got a reply back saying they had amended my direct debit but did I know I owed them money? ...at this point I gave up and switched supplier as I realised it was futile and that the level of service is so inept and slow, that I was just wasting my time. Even after the money left my account 25 days later after the original phone call, it still isn't showing as paid on my account and it still has a negative balance. I am sure there are thousands of other customers out there who have similar stories, hence the complaint levels being so high and the regulator forcing them to stop taking on customers.

Is it cheap? Yes. Should you move to them? You will save some money initially but eventually prices will rise. More importantly, should the tiniest thing go wrong or you need to use customer services, you're in for a major shock, a large phone bill and a massive headache. Think of it like this... Remember that time when you called the most polite yet incompetant over seas customer services call center who "will be happy to help you with your problem today" but two hours later are you stil oncourse to accomplishing 'nothing', you've wasted 120 minutes out of your call plan and they just keep repeating... "I would like to help you but I can't"... "Do you realise you owe us money Sir?".... it's like that.

It would be marginally smarter and less painful to run full speed at a brick wall... head first.


.

Snap!

I've had the same experience as you. They took my first payment the day after I switched to them. My only slight difference is that they set my direct debit far too high. I asked them to change it and they refused until I'd been with them for 6 months. Six month came and went my account was heavily in credit. I tried to contact them again, spent over an hour on the phone on hold when my cordless phone gave up the will to live and the battery died.

I've opened endless contact tickets on their website, and sent emails they completely ignore, absolutely futile. I told them on several occasions that if they didn't resolve my complaints I'd cancel my direct debit. So, that exactly what I did. Thinking they would contact me. If Iresa energy is consistent in anything, it's in not contacting their customers.

So, for 6 months I've not paid them a penny, they've not chased me once.

My 12 month contract has come to an end and as they are still the cheapest supplier by far. Maybe foolishly I've signed up for another year (there no exit fees remember). Feeling a little guilty, I set up a new direct debit for the original amount, knowing that over the next few months my account would go from deficit to credit and all would even out.

However, I receive an email from Iresa energy a week later saying they are going to put my direct debit up by 50%. So, I've cancelled the new direct debit. The dialogue has got to start some how. If the mountain won't come to Mohammed, they've have to contact me one day.

Watch this space!

Peteronthesouthcoast

Ok so I am in the property business and run accounts with them.

I opened accounts with them In June 2016 and renewed contracts June 2017. No problems until recently.

Problem was a large one off payment that is unwarranted. They ignored an email sent 10 days ago. I decided to phone them yesterday. Had 4 attempts and the queue was a minimum of 109 people ahead of me and a max of 125.

I have read other threads which are really hammering Iresa with the same complaint as myself. They also mentioned that the website kept crashing and this is what kept happening to me this morning

selfservice.iresa.co.uk took too long to respond.
Try:

Checking the connection
Checking the proxy and the firewall
Running Windows Network Diagnostics
ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT

Exercise caution everyone

Peter

footyguy

Peteronthesouthcoast wrote: »

Ok so I am in the property business and run accounts with them.

I opened accounts with them In June 2016 and renewed contracts June 2017. No problems until recently.

Problem was a large one off payment that is unwarranted. They ignored an email sent 10 days ago. I decided to phone them yesterday. Had 4 attempts and the queue was a minimum of 109 people ahead of me and a max of 125.

I have read other threads which are really hammering Iresa with the same complaint as myself. They also mentioned that the website kept crashing and this is what kept happening to me this morning

selfservice.iresa.co.uk took too long to respond.
Try:

Checking the connection
Checking the proxy and the firewall
Running Windows Network Diagnostics
ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT

Exercise caution everyone

Peter

So you've read the other threads, threads where this matter has been discussed (and advice given as to how to resolve), yet you still bump this thread?

Thanks, and good luck!

webbit

same here coming to the end of my contract i used 5200 units the estimate next year i will use 6900!!!!..up goes my direct debit by 33%, cant alter for 3 months. i tried to leave but because of a £3 debit they blocked my move illegally as debt was only run up in last 7 days...so ive cancelled direct debit...i rand ofgem today who have a secret number to them, they put them on the line, i was just telling the iresa agent what i wanted and they cut me off..and did not call me back

Roger-Jolly

Having read some of the concerns expressed by others about Iresa, I have to say, I have not had the same issues as some.
I can agree that trying to contact them via phone can be a long-winded job. This was back in mid 2017, but other than this, my direct debit was set at an acceptable level. We have gained credit to our account through the Spring and Summer, but it is now reducing as we use more energy through the Winter, so I anticipate having neither a large credit or a large debit come the end of the tariff.
They sent me an email and a letter through the post advising of the end of our agreement in March 2018 with the option of choosing another tariff.
As it happens, I have already seen that I can save a little by switching and this is what I intend.
Also, to ensure they don't suddenly increase our direct debit, once the February payment has cleared, I will cancel it and they will have to send me an invoice for any difference owed.

BarryN

I switched from Iresa when my cheap fix ran out on the beginning of December. Iresa still took my usual direct debit in mid December. Despite calling them to refund my money, i still haven't had anything sent back. They currently owe me over £300 and from Sunday it will be 3 months since I switched to a new supplier. They repeatedly ignored my emails & the queue for calling them is over an hour long.