Outfox The Market Direct Debit changes

lympus48

I did the same leaving...they greatly worry me. Will stick with companies which have a reasonable reputation. The increase in prices and very big winter hike was the final straw. I want to pay for my monthly energy evenly especially as nearly fully retired ( semi-retired you can just about manage some changes)

wild666

Just had this email from them as I am leaving them on the 14th



Hi xxxx,

Can you please provide photos for your two rate electricity meter readings to make sure you are billed correctly.


[FONT=&quot]Kind regards,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]so I got out the DSLR aqnd took 3 images and put them in the email, hope they like 3 images each at 24.2Mb [/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT][FONT=&quot]they wanted them as they don't believe what I am putting in my meter readings, the Act 02 Rate that only works for 8 hours once a week on a Sunday[/FONT][FONT=&quot].
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]

jk0

wild666 wrote: »

[FONT=&quot]the Act 02 Rate that only works for 8 hours once a week on a Sunday[/FONT][FONT=&quot].
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]

That sounds interesting. Did you use to have a free day's electricity at the weekend from British Gas?


What rate do OFTM charge you for that?

wild666

jk0 wrote: »

That sounds interesting. Did you use to have a free day's electricity at the weekend from British Gas?


What rate do OFTM charge you for that?

Yes every Sunday but I dumped them in Jan 2018 and it was FUBAR from day 1

RS2OOO

Email i've just sent them if anyone interested. Although I have actually signed up to someone else now:

Hello,

Account Number: OTMXXXXXXX

I have not received a response to my complaint submitted on 15th November, nor my complaint submitted on 17th November. 3 Weeks has passed since submitting these complaints yet your own terms and conditions state I will be contacted within 2 working days of submitting a complaint.

I have also not received a response to my email on 3rd December advising that I am not authorising you to take payment of £180.82 on 24th December which is quoted on a new Direct Debit mandate that I have not agreed to, because this amount is not the amount agreed within my contract, nor the amount of £114.84 specified on your email dated 22nd November advising me of the Winter Price Uplift.

I have not been able to contact you by phone as the phone line is constantly engaged.

I have not been able to contact you via Live Chat because the Live chat no longer appears to be available through your website.

In view of the above I am now advising that if I have not received contact from you by telephone with a resolution to my complaints by close of business on Friday 7th December, I will be cancelling the Direct Debit instruction under the Direct Debit guarantee and moving my supply to a new company.

Regards,

Boardyeti

You have got to love a bit of passive aggressive emailing.

This is what I emailed last week.

What is going on with my DD please?

Originally I was paying £45.52 per month on the low user tariff, then you advised me it would be raised to £79.66 and now you advise me that on 16 Dec 2018 my revised DD will be £102.53 an increase of 125% from my original monthly payment.

Clearly this is not acceptable, especially this close to Christmas and I am assuming that it is an error and you are just penning an email of apology and correction!

kaizen99

I switched to OTM at the end of September. I have had three DD withdrawals of £37. I have had two bills and I am £27 in credit. I have had three DD notifications, one for £65, one for £50 and the latest for £92! I have used nowhere near that in the past. I know the wholesale prices have risen, but not by £280%. I have had no reply from them, either about my DDs or my complaint. I have applied to leave OTM and shall be in touch with my bank if they take money I have not agreed for them to take. I am also taking advice on possible mis-selling.

ThemeOne

I am going to leave OFTM now as I'm fed up with all their silly emails, and my DD is going up to over £90 which is quite unrealistic.

Would there be negative consequences to me simply cancelling the DD?

RS2OOO

ThemeOne wrote: »

Would there be negative consequences to me simply cancelling the DD?

I would guess they'd block a transfer if money is owed to them.

T&C's state this:

You must pay the amount shown as outstanding on your bill in accordance with our standard payment method of Direct Debit. Payment is taken monthly in advance.
Any missed or late payments will incur a charge of £25 if payment is not made within 5 working days from the payment due date.

If your account is adequately in credit to cover your next bill I think you'd be ok.

However, assuming your account doesn't have adequate credit to cover your next bill, you could, like me, initiate a transfer well in advance of your next DD being due, then once the transfer has been processed to cancel the DD then pay any outstanding balance by phone.

I initiated a transfer yesterday and my DD is due on 24th Dec. I intend to cancel it with my bank 2 working days prior to the due date as hopefully by then the new supplier will be ready to go and it will be too late for OTM to block the transfer.

All in theory of course.

On another note, I notice today another firm, Utility Point are coming out significantly cheaper than anyone else by quite a margin in my area at least. I actually set up an account with People's Energy yesterday who were marginally more expensive but I'll stick with it just to get away from OTM ASAP.

RS2OOO

My review of Outfox the Market:

Outfox The Market Boardroom Meetings.

November 2018
CEO: This was supposed to be a shell company so why have we got 100,000 customers? Get rid of them immediately.

Sales Director: We've been trying to offer the worst customer service possible, but they keep signing up to us, its our prices, they aren’t high enough.

Finance Director: We’ve already put prices up 3 times in the last Month but it hasn’t worked so we’ve now doubled winter Direct Debits just in time for Christmas so hopefully this should scare a few away.

CEO: Put them up more. Find a way to put the membership fee up. Remove the Live chat from the website and leave the phones off the hook. Make sure you delete any of our T&Cs that could be used against us.

All: Yes Sir, we’ll be on it right away.


December 2018:

CEO: What the hell is going on, we still have 50,000 customers, how many times do I have to tell you, we need to get it down to zero customers, sharpish.

Customer Service Director: My team have been so busy dealing with complaints from the price increases we’ve not had chance to look at other options.

CEO: For Christs sake why are you replying to complaints, I want this stopped immediately.

Finance Director: We got rid of the membership fee.

CEO: YOU DID WHAT? Explain yourself…..

Finance Director: We replaced it with an inflated standing charge that will make every single customer have to pay at least £40 per year more as well as the 40% increase in unit prices.

CEO: That’s not good enough. I want better than this.

Customer Service Director: Have any of you ever heard of BILL SHOCK?

Finance Director: No, what’s that?

Customer Service Director: Well, As we’ve now increased prices 4 times without success we email them all a brand new Direct Debit Mandate showing a random monthly instalment amount that is at least 50% higher than the winter uplift prices we told them we’d charge.

CEO: That sounds interesting, we need to think carefully how we implement this.

Finance Director: You’ve just hit the nail on the head Sir….. this is our problem, we keep explaining our actions when implementing these changes. This time we need to set up new DD Mandates showing hugely inflated amounts plucked from thin air without explanation and simply tell them we’ll be taking that amount every Month till further notice.

CEO: Fantastic Idea, just Brilliant, I love it, they will be leaving in droves now, boot up the random number generator program while I crack open the champagne.

CEO: Champagne anyone?