Almost £3000 paid for gas never received!

AnneWilde

I am at the end of my tether with both Toto and EDF. Here is a sad summary of the last 10 years of gross mismanagement of our energy account:

In 2007, we switched from British Gas to EDF for our gas and electricity supplies and remained with EDF for 10 years. Over this period, our monthly direct debit payments started at £216/month and changed 17 times, ranging from £50 to £671 per month.

At one point in 2015, we received an electricity bill showing that we were £3,916.89 in credit, despite the fact that the original agreement with EDF stated that they would automatically refund any credit in excess of £150, or recover any debit greater than £150. When we asked for the £3916.89 to be refunded, we were told that our gas was in debit for around £4000 so on balance, we were okay. This seemed strange, as the previous bill for gas and electricity combined showed an overall credit of £2223.80.

At the start of 2016, we were paying £209/month. From May 2016, this was increased to £487/month, then reduced in April 2017 to £405/month. At this point, we received a bill showing an account balance of £0.00 so felt that this was a good time to switch suppliers, hoping for a bit more stability in our payments and greater visibility of where we are with our fuel costs.

On 5th April, 2017, following information from The Cheap Energy Club on the MSE website, we applied to switch both our gas and electricity supplies from EDF to Toto. On 10th April, 2017, we received a welcome pack from Toto, estimating our gas consumption at £1874.38 for the year, and electricity at £1357.62 for the year. On this basis, the monthly direct debit for the two would be £269.33 from 1st May, 2017.

On 28th June, 2017, the Cheap Energy Club confirmed that our electricity had been switched over successfully, but not the gas, and that we would receive cash back once this had been completed. On 31st October, the Cheap Energy Club again informed us that the gas had not been successfully transferred. Neither EDF nor Toto had told us anything.

From May to October 2017, we were paying Toto £269.33/month for gas and electricity, and paying EDF £273.00 per month for gas only. On 19th October, EDF reduced the monthly payment to £114. I wrote to Toto on 31st October, 2017, asking why the switch had not been made, and for a refund of the money they had taken for gas not supplied. I also provided meter readings again.

On 3rd December, 2017, I received a letter from Toto saying that energy prices were increasing, and that our monthly direct debit would be increased to £293 until January 2018, and then a further increase to £398 thereafter. A week later, I had another letter from Toto saying that they were switching us to a seasonal direct debit and would be charged £404/month in Winter and £134.67/month in Summer.

On 12th December, 2017, I had an email reply to my request at the end of October, saying that Toto had re-applied to switch our gas, and that it should be completed by 28th December, 2017. In the meantime, Toto would calculate the refund due and return it to our account.
On 19th December, 2017, I had another email from Toto saying that in order to issue a refund (for the gas they had not supplied) they need to send us a bill first, and requested another meter reading.

On 26th December, 2017, I received a mail shot from Toto, saying that there was a misprint in the welcome packs stating that there was a “price guarantee”, but that prices would not be increased.

We received no further communication or refund from Toto at this time.

On 16th April, 2018, we were informed by EDF that our direct debit payment would be changing from £114/month to £596/month from 19th May, 2018, and that our account was £2409.71 in debit, even though the previous bill had shown a credit of £273.00.

On 6th September, 2018, I tried to contact Toto by telephone, but was put on hold repeatedly for long periods of time and did not succeed in getting through to them. I therefore wrote again asking why our gas had not been transferred and for a refund of the money paid for gas that they had not supplied. I received an automated response, saying that they would answer within 48 hours. I chased a response on 10th September and again on the 12th. On 18th, I received a response saying that they had re-applied but that the switch had failed again. I was asked for more meter readings so that they could apply again, and told that they would send an accurate bill and refund any credit due.

Meter readings were sent yet again on 29th September. Not having heard anything further, I chased again on 24th October. On 25th October, I received an email saying that a refund would be placed in our account, but that it would take 28 days to process before a bank transfer could be requested in the next payment run. I was also told that our monthly direct debit would be amended to £113.

Since April this year, we have been paying £865.33 per month for our gas and electricity, and by my reckoning, Toto owes us almost £3000 for gas they have not supplied. It seems we are no nearer to finding a solution.

If you are considering switching, I would avoid both EDF and Toto with the largest bargepole you can find! It is time that the energy companies started providing some stability and transparency in their billing - and a measure of real customer service is long overdue...

Mister_G

This is the "LPG, Heating Oil, Solid & Other Fuels" forum. This post should really be in the Energy forum. Perhaps the mods could move it to the correct place.

kazwookie

I suggest you start being very pro active in getting your refund.

A letter to the CEO might be a good start.Then start getting your local newspapers / social media / radio station involved as companies hate that sort of thing.

One other thing to do, but it may not bode well for you is to cancel the SO, until it is back to zero, but generally this is not a good idea, but may make then sit up and listen to you