Feedback on Utility Point

barryd999

So its not just me thats had problems leaving Utility point. I left in August and they ended up carrying on taking money and now owe me £67 which they promised to pay within ten days. That was two months ago. Several lengthy calls later still nothing. What can you do?

Swipe

barryd999 wrote: »

So its not just me thats had problems leaving Utility point. I left in August and they ended up carrying on taking money and now owe me £67 which they promised to pay within ten days. That was two months ago. Several lengthy calls later still nothing. What can you do?

For a start, you can get on the chat and tell them they owe you £30 compensation for not meeting the 10 days. Also remind them that if they fail to pay your £30 within 10 working days they will owe you another £30. I managed to get £30 out of these clowns after my refund wasn't paid within 10 working days of my final bill. If you insist on a cheque as I did, as I didn't want to email them or paste my bank details in their unsecure chat, it takes 3 weeks for that to arrive. I couldn't be bothered to press them for the extra £30 I was probably owed.

--Tony--

Take great care.

This company can charge you an additional £30 a year (£15 a fuel) if you fail to provide a meter reading "at least once a month".

The £30 is called an "online discount", however MSE energy club says there is no "online discount", you might wonder how this is possible.

The T&C's reveal they have factored the discount into the tariff and call it an "online discount".

So... forget to provide a monthly meter reading and they can legally increase your tariffs.

I consider it extremely sneaky to hide a discount within the tariff and then set a rule that is very easy to fall foul of.




EDIT.
Interestingly, they have left a huge loophole in their T&C's:

"You will provide meter readings when prompted before you take a supply from us, and at least once a month, using your UP Utility hub only (unless you have a smart meter)."

So, with a smart meter you don't need to supply monthly meter readings.

Then in the FAQ:

Do Utility Point support Smart Meters?
We don’t currently support smart meters, but we will do in the future.

So, the way I read that... if you have a smart meter, it wont function smartly as they don't support smart meters.
But as you have a smart meter the T&C's clearly state you don't need to provide a monthly reading.

BigBlueSky

I wasn't aware of this at all. Does this apply to all tariffs with UtilityPoint ?

WiseOwll

I’m currently with Utilitypoint and questioned this term. As long as you give one every 3 months they won’t impose it. The women I spoke to said they would rather bill on actual than estimated. I suppose it makes sense less issues.

niktheguru

I must say I have not had any significant problems with utility point.
I have had gas and electricity with them for a year and theyve been helpful and accurate on the whole.

I have just moved my electricity to "Green" as they were cheaper now my fixed tariff ended, this transfer occurred on the 23rd dec, It all happened seemlessly, I received an email from utility point ackownledging I was switching and "approving" the switch, my direct debit for electricity has stopped, it all seems faultless. Just awaiting the final bill now.

Swipe

niktheguru wrote: »

my direct debit for electricity has stopped, it all seems faultless. Just awaiting the final bill now.

This is where the fun begins. You'll be waiting forever for your final bill and be sure to claim your "automatic" £30 compensation for the late refund of any credit due. Also, just because they say the DD has stopped, keep a close eye on your bank statements for any surprises.

grumpycrab

Pinstar wrote: »

One issue is that my account is in credit by nearly £250 after 12 months though so I am not sure what will happen if I request a refund whilst still a customer/member.

Yep, great prices but Comms are a bit slow (typical with small providers); for my renewal they adjusted the DD to take account of my large credit which I didn't mind. fingers crossed they don't run out of cash.

lorrie431

Don’t switch. I went with Look After My Bills which I thought was great no didn’t have to do very much. Utility point was the chosen company by them to save me money, was one £3 a month but better in my pocket. Things were going smoothly until utility point announced that my dd would be increasing by £15 a month. My account was and still is in credit (as was my previous account with previous supplier)
Having contacted utility point a number of times and submitting updated meter readings on request, they have yet to respond to me regarding my query. They have however increased my payments!! Not a happy customer.

PennineAcute

After leaving UP in the summer due to a bad experience, in the middle of December, I noticed they could save me £84, dual fuel, for the next 12 months.

Decided to give them another chance and was supposed to go live on 4 Jan. Got regular update emails from them, but nothing after the 24 Dec. On 1 Jan, although my account was active, I emailed them my opening reads, as I could not enter them on line. Still heard nothing, no confirmation of receipt of email.

Yesterday, Monday, 6 Jan - after my first direct debit of £68.99 had been taken that day - I received a bounced email confirmation regarding my opening read email, so rang them to see what was going on. Got through to someone who started off being plain useless. Eventually, I was told that the switch had failed and I would have to do an indemnity claim. Told them I would be, I would also be cancelling the direct debit and asked them to also cancel - as they were now in breach of contract. I also asked for this to be confirmed by email.

Within the hour, I received the following email:

Good afternoon,


Thank you for your call today.


Follow our conversation please be aware that I have requested for your account to be cancelled within 14 days of Cooling Off period.


If you will have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us.




Warmest Regards

Jelena

Members Relationship Specialist

Utility Point Ltd

Emailed them back to let them know this cancellation has nothing to do with my 14-day cooling off period, as this has long past. This is due to them breaching the contract which I signed.

We will see what happens. Luckily I kept my direct debit going with my previous suppliers.

This is the bounced email

This is the mail system at host mail.xxxxxxxxx.co.uk. I'm sorry to have to inform you that your message could not be delivered to one or more recipients. It's attached below. For further assistance, please send mail to postmaster. If you do so, please include this problem report. You can delete your own text from the attached returned message. The mail system [EMAIL="help&#64;utiltypoint.co.uk"]<help@utiltypoint.co.uk>[/EMAIL]: connect to utiltypoint.co.uk[81.171.22.4]:25: Connection timed out