Not so 'Good Energy' (long post sorry)

ValiantSon

bri160356 wrote: »

Apologies if I!!!8217;ve misunderstood your post, but you appear to be exonerating !!!8216;Good Energy!!!8217; for what is obviously a very badly managed account.

Your statement !!!8220;Assuming they have issued statements, then they had informed you about the debt!!!8221; raises a question;!!!8230;i.e. what action did !!!8216;Good Energy!!!8217; take to address this debt?

Answer: (apparently) they did nothing,!!!8230;in fact, by their own continuing shoddy management of the OP!!!8217;s account, they actually compounded matters by allowing the debt to accrue. The OP simply paid the monthly D/D!!!8217;s as requested by Good Energy.

I assume (though I may be wrong,...I!!!8217;ve been wrong before!:D ) that energy companies have a !!!8216;duty of care!!!8217; to ensure that customers are billed as accurately as possible;!!!8230; Good Energy have demonstrably failed to do this,!!!8230;and failed miserably, regardless of what action the OP could or should have taken.


Laying 100% of the blame at the feet of customer is a little harsh, IMHO;!!!8230;customers have a duty to pay the bill that!!!8217;s requested, in full and on time,!!!8230;which is what the OP did apparently.

The energy supplier has a duty to ensure that their bills reflect the customers energy consumption as accurately as possible. !!!8216;Good Energy!!!8217; failed to do that.

It really should not be the customers responsibility to micro-manage an Energy suppliers accounting systems;

!!!8230;however, given the litany of such billing foul-ups it is certainly wise to scrutinize your own account on a regular basis because many energy companies are quite capable of digging a hole for their own customers and then taking a back-step when their own short-comings are revealed;!!!8230;the OP !!!8216;s situation being a case in point.

I'm afraid that your comments amount to a claim that companies are bad and customers are poor victims. This is ridiculous, but representative of the editorial line on this site. The OP has taken no responsibility for ensuring that they are paying enough. Statements are issued, which show whether you are getting into debt. They could have easily contacted the supplier to discuss this, but they weren't checking their statements! They also weren't checking their bank statements, so had no idea how much was, or wasn't, being taken fromtheir account. They have been irresponsible.

Direct debits are often reviewed annually by energy companies, but there is nothing stopping a customer from taking pre-emptive action and contracting the supplier to discuss this sooner.

bri160356

ValiantSon wrote: »

I'm afraid that your comments amount to a claim that companies are bad and customers are poor victims. This is ridiculous, but representative of the editorial line on this site. The OP has taken no responsibility for ensuring that they are paying enough. Statements are issued, which show whether you are getting into debt. They could have easily contacted the supplier to discuss this, but they weren't checking their statements! They also weren't checking their bank statements, so had no idea how much was, or wasn't, being taken fromtheir account. They have been irresponsible.

Direct debits are often reviewed annually by energy companies, but there is nothing stopping a customer from taking pre-emptive action and contracting the supplier to discuss this sooner.

My post absolutely does not make a ‘ridiculous’ claim that companies are always bad and that customers are always victims;

….had the OP been more vigilant then quite clearly this situation would not have occurred.

However, just because the OP wasn’t vigilant does not give the Energy provider carte blanche to act in an irresponsible manner by methodically allowing the OP’s debt to spiral. They cannot absolve themselves by simply taking the stance that it’s the customers responsibility to highlight short-comings in their own billing procedures,…i.e. nothing to do with us, it’s the customers fault entirely for not spotting our blunders sooner.

You appear to think that GoodEnergy's total inaction and incompetence with the billing procedures is perfectly acceptable and it’s the sole responsibility of the customer to put the Energy company back on the right path;…it absolutely isn’t,…. GoodEnergy issued the bills, not the OP!

Energy providers have a duty of care to all their customers and especially to ‘vulnerable’ customers,….that is an ongoing condition of their licence.

Continually issuing incorrect bills over a long period of time does not constitute good customer service/care irrespective of what actions you think the customer could, or should, have taken.

ValiantSon

bri160356 wrote: »

My post absolutely does not make a !!!8216;ridiculous!!!8217; claim that companies are always bad and that customers are always victims;

!!!8230;.had the OP been more vigilant then quite clearly this situation would not have occurred.

However, just because the OP wasn!!!8217;t vigilant does not give the Energy provider carte blanche to act in an irresponsible manner by methodically allowing the OP!!!8217;s debt to spiral. They cannot absolve themselves by simply taking the stance that it!!!8217;s the customers responsibility to highlight short-comings in their own billing procedures,!!!8230;i.e. nothing to do with us, it!!!8217;s the customers fault entirely for not spotting our blunders sooner.

You appear to think that GoodEnergy's total inaction and incompetence with the billing procedures is perfectly acceptable and it!!!8217;s the sole responsibility of the customer to put the Energy company back on the right path;!!!8230;it absolutely isn!!!8217;t,!!!8230;. GoodEnergy issued the bills, not the OP!

Energy providers have a duty of care to all their customers and especially to !!!8216;vulnerable!!!8217; customers,!!!8230;.that is an ongoing condition of their licence.

Continually issuing incorrect bills over a long period of time does not constitute good customer service/care irrespective of what actions you think the customer could, or should, have taken.

Whatever.

I don't agree with you. The company haven't done anything wrong, apart from the short period where they were taking £18 direct debit, which I said was wrong and the OP should expect a reasonable gesture of good will for it. Other than they haven't done anything wrong, and it is the OP's irresponsibility that has caused this situation.

The problem was not caused by, "short-comings in their [Good Energy's] billing procedures." They used the annual consumption information provided to them by the customer to set a direct debit amount which should, more or less, cover the costs of energy for the forthcoming year. The customer then used more energy than those figures suggested that they would. That is the customer's fault, not the supplier's. The customer kept no track of their usage, nor of the balance on their account, nor of the direct debits that were being taken. That is all the customer's fault. If they had bothered to take any personal responsibility then they would have noticed fairly quickly that they were using more energy than anticipated, and that the direct debits were not covering the cost. They could then have contacted the supplier, ahead of the annual direct debit review, and asked for their direct debit to be increased. They didn't do this, however.

Neither did Good Energy, "Continually issu[e] incorrect bills over a long period of time." From what we can see they issued correct statements, based on the readings provided. These statements would have shown the amount of energy used, the cost per unit, the standing charge, payments to the account and the net balance (credit or debit). The statements were not incorrect. People on monthly direct debits don't receive bills because they are on a payment plan; the statements are intended to provide you with information to keep track of your account. The OP didn't do this.

Furthermore, it is absolutely ridiculous for the OP to expect to be released from the debt. They used the energy and they therefore have to pay for it.

Whether or not Good Energy could have tried to make the OP more aware of their increasing debt is irrelevant. They did make them aware by issuing statements which showed that a debt was accruing. How else should they have made them aware?

There is far too much lack of personal responsibility displayed on this forum, with people complaining that they are financially disadvantaged, yet when the facts are established, it is clear that they didn't take any responsibility for the situation. There is also too much pandering to this ridiculous attituded, and your post, I'm afraid, is indicative of this.

I don't expect you to agree with me, but your comments are erroneous and come from a mindset that has a starting position that companies are bad.

Robin9

The supplier does not cancel the DD as such. It ceases to request any payments in this way once a switch is in progress - one may continue to go through if the switch request has come in close to the payment date.

The supplier will use those bank details to make any credit/debit from the final bill.

If the OP looks at the Bank details then he.she will find the DD still listed. Only when all is complete should he/she cancel it.

griffloc

You don't say whether you've checked the price per kwh and daily standing charge etc if there is one, this is crucial in determining whether a quote from a switching service is competitive. I've had instances where the switching website has told me I will save but when I look at the price per kwh it was more than I was paying with my existing supplier. The monthly direct debit amount quoted doesn't necessarily reflect your actual usage. It does take some time but you can drill down into the quotes and find the kwh price then you will know for certain whether a supplier is cheaper or not. Don't know if they still do it but switching websites used to use the standard tariff of your existing supplier to compare so if you were on a cheaper tariff the results weren't at all accurate. Also have you checked your readings and worked out for yourself if their figures are correct? A friend had an electricity bill which was absolutely huge but the reason was that the electricity company had put the decimal point in the wrong place multiplying his usage by 10!!