Outfox the Market reviews: add your feedback

Pete99

I wouldn't wait for them, get onto your bank and use the DD guarantee to get your money back ASAP.

wavelets

Pete99 wrote: »

I wouldn't wait for them, get onto your bank and use the DD guarantee to get your money back ASAP.

If only I had £25 for everytime I saw this poor advice, as OFTM will collect from anyone silly enough to follow it :cool:

Consumerist

wavelets wrote: »

If only I had £25 for everytime I saw this poor advice, as OFTM will collect from anyone silly enough to follow it

Sadly, you don't mention what your advice might be.

phillw

timkim wrote: »

They may be quick to take your money when you join them, but when you leave they work at snail's pace. I switched in mid-December, yet OTM have taken two further direct debits, the most recent on 28th Jan - in other words I am paying two suppliers now. I contacted them today: they advised it takes 6-8 weeks from final meter reading to issue the final bill, plus a further 5-14 days to issue a refund, so you could be waiting 2.5 months. Cash flow much more important than customers, especially ex-customers!

When I complained to OTM about taking a payment after I had left, they told me to phone the bank and tell them to reverse the DD. This has the effect of cancelling the DD, so I called OTM back and got them to confirm that the would still be able to refund the credit balance and they wouldn't charge me for cancelling the DD.

They calculated what my final bill was going to be based on the reading that I had given them and confirmed that my credit balance would more than cover it, so I would not be charged.

I left on the 20th December and I just checked and they have now produced a final bill, although it doesn't say when it was produced (all the dates on it say the 20th December). It's been six weeks since I left and I have a final bill, so it's time to phone them to check again.

update: They have now requested a refund, which needs to be calculated and signed off.... I guess they don't trust their final bill.

C.C.

Even after all the outcry, Outfox still seem incapable of providing correct / legal statements and invoices for remaining customers, let alone those who have left and need final ones.

My last one was late appearing on my hub account, and when I studied it in detail, it was full of errors and/or irregularities. One of these was that they had used an estimated usage figure on the date of a price rise, even though I provided an actual reading. Their estimate was lower than the actual reading, meaning that they then went on to charge me the higher rate for units which had been used before the rise.

On top of that, the figures shown dont actually add up to the 'total payable' figure on the first page, and VAT figures are out by a few pence.
I am fairly sure that I know why the so-called total doesn't tally with the figures next to it - a few days' worth of the new standing charge have probably been added on , even though there is no reference whatsoever to them anywhere.

Anyway, this was over two weeks ago, and I sent an email immediately asking them to both explain and to send me a correct statement/invoice.
Surprise surprise, there has been no reply!

Should I chase it up? I think not, because shortly after sending the email, I realized that they had failed to add on December's membership fee.
Unless they realize this for themselves, I will be letting this lie and looking on my £15 gain as a form of compensation towards all the stress and inconvenience that they have caused me over the last two and a half months!

Cornucopia

OFTM actually changed my January invoice, without telling me. (I have both versions downloaded).

They did this because the original invoice had no reference to standing charges, although they did charge them.

markharding557

Consumerist wrote: »

Sadly, you don't mention what your advice might be.

Money transferred by mistake can be reclaimed this way.

On the date you transfer to another supplier you cancel the direct debit with the previous supplier.
You are no longer their customer and therefore do not need to make regular payments.
You are not liable to pay for energy used until they issue a final bill based on closing meter readings.
The direct debit scheme is one way and is not used for credit refunds.

wavelets

markharding557 wrote: »

Money transferred by mistake can be reclaimed this way.

On the date you transfer to another supplier you cancel the direct debit with the previous supplier.
You are no longer their customer and therefore do not need to make regular payments.
You are not liable to pay for energy used until they issue a final bill based on closing meter readings.
The direct debit scheme is one way and is not used for credit refunds.

Depends on the terms you agreed to abide by.
Is there anything in the OFTM terms that support any of this???

There is a term that says late or missed payments may incur a £25 charge though

southboundagain

Outfox have sent me a failed DD notice two weeks after they explicitly told me I could cancel my DD, so I wouldn't be so convinced that they know their behind from their elbow when it comes to DDs. There's a huge difference between agreeing to a late fee and agreeing to Outfox trying to take indefinite DDs from ex-customers in credit.

ben501

wavelets wrote: »

Depends on the terms you agreed to abide by.
Is there anything in the OFTM terms that support any of this???

There is a term that says late or missed payments [STRIKE]may[/STRIKE]will incur a £25 charge though

This is all part of the OFTM minefield. Very few seem to know what they agreed to as they were never sent a copy, and the online version is repeatedly amended without informing the customers. (done to death over the last few months I think, but no definitive solution/agreement about enforceability/legality)
Is increasing the charge from £5 to £25 without informing customers enforceable? What if they amended the website T&C to make it a £250 charge?