Outfox The Market Direct Debit changes

editor1

I'll once more add my two Bob's worth here, but must say the latest email dispatched from OFTM to me today from OFTM was ominous to say the least, particularly given the fact that the email was actually dispatched after 4.00AM UK timelines this Thursday (today) email dated 5th December; Here's what they state in latest blunder:

"Payment schedule:

A Direct Debit payment is due in respect of the above Direct Debit Instruction for £120.41 and will be collected on, or just after, the 3rd of January 2019. Further payments of £120.41 will then be collected on, or just after, the 3rd of each month until further notice.

If any of the above details are incorrect, please call us as soon as possible on 0800 1032702 or e-mail us at dd@outfoxthemarket.co.uk. However, if your details are correct you need do nothing and your Direct Debit will be processed as normal. For your information, the collections will be made using the reference above.

Should the amount, date or frequency of your Direct Debit change, we will notify you at least 10 working days in advance.

Yours sincerely,

Customer Services Manager
Outfox The Market"

Now, since 13 November OFTM has sent several DD instructions all showing clearly that our DD payments were rising to £119.13 as of December billing cycle and that said, increased payments, would be for 4 months only - whilst a significant increase from our sign-up DD of £85.09, the fact remains said DD payment does not cover Winter fuel costs, so, and for a short duration was happy to put up with OFTM crap as long as our annual expenditure remained static and consistent with the charges agreed to in March, namely the Whack January 18 month Fixed Term contract.

Whilst the new notification received today only shows an increase of £1.28 above figures quoted throughout November, what is totally ominous is the: "until further notice" part of the email, given all other correspondence indicated said increases were for 4 payment cycles only.

Many have stated that this Customer has been lenient towards OFTM, which is fact given the gas and electricity charges we subscribed too in March this year, which as all are aware are the lowest Fixed prices on the market. However, when OFTM begins forwarding correspondence that sends a shiver down the old spine I get somewhat annoyed, particularly given how badly the business has dealt with this whole charade since 13 November.

Given the present facts, if OFTM desire to shaft customers, fair enough, in which case they should offer all those on Fixed contract a one-off payment of £100 to leave the company, this being equivalent to their Exit fees.

Forcing customers on Fixed Contracts to leave by putting the fear of God into them and expecting Exit fee payments of 100 quid for those acting on their fears is unacceptable.

In a nutshell, OFTM has totally lost it and its business acumen is possibly the worst I've ever encountered, and that's saying something having dealt with Talk Talk!

dazzh

As at the @editor1 I have just received the latest email from OFTM with another increase to my DD from £130 to £133 for no reason.

My account is now £284 in credit and my latest bill(2 Dec 2018) has been paid.

Any emails I have sent to OFTM have never been replied to.

It's not looking good.

megafern

I am 2 weeks into a switch from Outfox and have given final meter readings to my new supplier. This will show a few pounds debit or credit with Outfox. The reason for my switch is their vast increase to my DD which is due soon. My query is, should I cancel the Outfox DD ? After all, it will only have to be returned.

markharding557

I am nearly switched to Avro, who, after all OTM's increases, are now slightly cheaper and it's fixed for a year.
Thank God!:j

Ian_875

This is just shambolic now. After getting few up a few weeks back I've moved from OFTM to Yorkshire energy

I received this e-mail from Yorkshire energy today

Hello Ian,

Congratulations!

You have now switched over to Yorkshire Energy. Your switch was completed on 6th December 2018. We will email you your statement monthly on the anniversary of this date.

To ensure we calculate your bill accurately please provide us with a monthly meter read. You can submit your readings on your online portal and we will send you a reminder when we need these.

Once again thank you for choosing Yorkshire Energy as your energy supplier

Thank you on behalf of the Yorkshire Energy team,

Brilliant. But wait, what's this from OFTM at 4am?

Date: 05 Dec 2018


Important: Advanced Notification of a Changed Direct Debit Instruction

Dear Mr


We are writing to advise you that your Direct Debit collections have changed as detailed below.

Hmm, interesting. All the details are the same? What's the point in this e-mail?

Oh wait, here comes another one moments later:

Payment schedule:


A Direct Debit payment is due in respect of the above Direct Debit Instruction for £123.12 and will be collected on, or just after, the 1st of January 2019. Further payments of £123.12 will then be collected on, or just after, the 1st of each month until further notice.

Now really, what is going on. According to OFTM website I am £132.86 in credit

Can I have some advice here? Given that my switch is now complete, can I just cancel the DD to OFTM? I've been hesitant to do this during the move, and also am concerned that this will affect my ability to get a refund of my outstanding credit balance. Is it wise to now just cancel the DD and send them an e-mail basically requesting a cheque for the outstanding balance?

As an aside, does it seem odd to anyone else that the amount they're apparently taking is £123.12 - looks like a placeholder numbers to me, ala 123.123.123.123.123

EDIT: Chat transcript for anyone interested:

Kamal 8:35 AM
thank you
there is no objection on your account, and you have left us as of today

Ian 8:36 AM
Thank you for confirming
I have received an e-mail this morning informing me that £123.12 is due to be taken from my Direct Debit on 1st Jan. Can you confirm this is not the case, and also confirm when I will receive my refund of my outstanding credit of £132.86

Kamal 8:37 AM
as you have switched away you can cancel your direct debit
when we get your meter reads from your new supplier
we can refund you once the final bill is raised

Ian 8:38 AM
OK, so to confirm, you're telling me I can 100% cancel my Direct Debit as of today?

Kamal 8:40 AM
one moment just confirming with accounts
yes you can cancel the direct debit

System

Ian_875 wrote: »

This is just shambolic now. After getting few up a few weeks back I've moved from OFTM to Yorkshire energy

I received this e-mail from Yorkshire energy today

Hello Ian,

Congratulations!

You have now switched over to Yorkshire Energy. Your switch was completed on 6th December 2018. We will email you your statement monthly on the anniversary of this date.

To ensure we calculate your bill accurately please provide us with a monthly meter read. You can submit your readings on your online portal and we will send you a reminder when we need these.

Once again thank you for choosing Yorkshire Energy as your energy supplier

Thank you on behalf of the Yorkshire Energy team,

Brilliant. But wait, what's this from OFTM at 4am?

Date: 05 Dec 2018


Important: Advanced Notification of a Changed Direct Debit Instruction

Dear {Edited by Forum Team}


We are writing to advise you that your Direct Debit collections have changed as detailed below.

Hmm, interesting. All the details are the same? What's the point in this e-mail?

Oh wait, here comes another one moments later:

Payment schedule:


A Direct Debit payment is due in respect of the above Direct Debit Instruction for £123.12 and will be collected on, or just after, the 1st of January 2019. Further payments of £123.12 will then be collected on, or just after, the 1st of each month until further notice.

Now really, what is going on. According to OFTM website I am £132.86 in credit

Can I have some advice here? Given that my switch is now complete, can I just cancel the DD to OFTM? I've been hesitant to do this during the move, and also am concerned that this will affect my ability to get a refund of my outstanding credit balance. Is it wise to now just cancel the DD and send them an e-mail basically requesting a cheque for the outstanding balance?

As an aside, does it seem odd to anyone else that the amount they're apparently taking is £123.12 - looks like a placeholder numbers to me, ala 123.123.123.123.123

As far as your old supplier is concerned, the transfer of supply isn't administratively complete. I think, without exception, most of the previous suppliers that I have been with have continued to take DD payments until they have received final industry-verified meter readings from the gaining supplier. This can be annoying but the consumer will not lose out in the longer term.

Ian_875

I supplied both OFTM and Yorkshire Energy with the requested meter readings on the 1st of this month.

ukcobra

I am in the same position as many have outlined.


Credit balance of > £220 (Nov Bill paid)
D/D of £159 per month going up to £239
No emails I sent have been responded to by OFTM, neither has my complaint.
I have no T&Cs listed on my account or in the welcome email.


I have had 2 Web chats with Customer Service, who are completely unable to do anything. I requested a refund of the credit balance 2 days ago, but I have no expectation that it will happen, so I will recall my direct debit amount when they try to take it, because they would have failed to return my credit as they outlined in their email.



I am on the fixed tariff, which is a good deal, and I am not able to leave until Sep 2019 without a penalty.


They did try and increase the membership fee unsuccessfully, because I do believe it would have been a price increase to a fixed price agreement.


OFTM are completely out of their depth here and I have every expectation they will go bust, their attitude to customers stinks.
Their liabilities can be seen on their company accounts, so I know why they are doing this, they need cash in the bank to keep going.


There is a lot to be said for the larger companies, with accessible customer service, who are empowered and empathetic. OFTM have none of these qualities.

john-306

I'm in the process of leaving these clowns, had 2 emails overnight saying direct debit is changing from £66pm to £133pm from next bill.
That's on top of numerous others with various prices over the last 2 months.
I've only been with them since September and they can't even get my usage figures correct which I've compiled over the last 4 years, told then and they massively increases them.
Roll on the swap over.

Ian_875

So, they have just confirmed on the live chat that I can cancel my Direct Debit as I've left, and they'll arrange a refund once my bill has come through from the new supplier.

Interesting that the chat transcript came from

"Chat conversation sent by Kamal (kamal.akbar@fischerenergy.co.uk)"