Homeshift Energy

thrombosis

Hey there,

Have any of you had dealings with Homeshift energy?
I have had nothing but a bad taste in my mouth since I signed up with them on a recommendation from the estate agents.

My services (G+E) started a week before the end of October and on the 1st day a card payment was taken for roughly 100 pound in line with the last 12 months usage - these guys charge in advance. Readings were provided on the day of signup. A week or so after payment was taken the account balance on their app showed at 50 in debt. As i hate seeing anything in debt nowadays i paid an extra 60 to knock it in to credit.

At the end of the next month (end November) Another payment was taken for 100. This put the account in to credit again (+50).

Couple days later account is showing 110 in debt and my calculated card payment due for the 1st Jan is over 200 pound.

I have never paid so much for energy in my life, living in a small 2 bedroom house with a wood burner for heating...

So this week I have identified a new supplier who have quotes me 120 pound a month less than these cowboys are wanting to charge. I have now been emailed by the new suppliers saying my existing ones have put a block on for monies owed.

To summarise, £260+ paid for 6 weeks of electric and gas, homeshift won't let me change suppliers because the think I owe another 110 pound. 6 weeks....

Am I being taken advantage of?

wavelets

thrombosis wrote: »

Hey there,

Have any of you had dealings with Homeshift energy?
I have had nothing but a bad taste in my mouth since I signed up with them on a recommendation from the estate agents.

My services (G+E) started a week before the end of October and on the 1st day a card payment was taken for roughly 100 pound in line with the last 12 months usage - these guys charge in advance. Readings were provided on the day of signup. A week or so after payment was taken the account balance on their app showed at 50 in debt. As i hate seeing anything in debt nowadays i paid an extra 60 to knock it in to credit.

At the end of the next month (end November) Another payment was taken for 100. This put the account in to credit again (+50).

Couple days later account is showing 110 in debt and my calculated card payment due for the 1st Jan is over 200 pound.

I have never paid so much for energy in my life, living in a small 2 bedroom house with a wood burner for heating...

So this week I have identified a new supplier who have quotes me 120 pound a month less than these cowboys are wanting to charge. I have now been emailed by the new suppliers saying my existing ones have put a block on for monies owed.

To summarise, £260+ paid for 6 weeks of electric and gas, homeshift won't let me change suppliers because the think I owe another 110 pound. 6 weeks....

Am I being taken advantage of?

I'm sorry, but I don't quite foloow your post.
You were given a estimated payment of £100pm by the supplier. This would be based upon an anticipated annual usage as you are aware, giving an estimated annual cost of about £1200 that you refer to.

But now you say you have found a supplier that will charge you £120 pm less than that? :huh:
Do you mean £120 per year less,because you know there is no supplier that will pay you £20 per month for the energy you consume.

You need to ensure you are comparing apples with apples when comparing costs (i.e. in this case the same annual consumption).
And if you really have consumed £260 worth of energy in 6 weeks with Homneshift, no supplier is going to supply you the same amount of energy in 6 weeks for just £80

Also, I don't see how your account can be in debit 1 week after you have provided the opening read only, and paid £100 in advance; some more info would be required from you to clarify how this debit figure was arrived at.
Presumably you did look into that before agreeing to pay a further £60.

You will be being billed according to the tariff you agreed when you joined the supplier, and which would have been laid out in the welcome pack you received.
It's the tariff you need to concentrate on, not the amopunts you pay (which obviously depend on what is consumed, based on actual meter readings - or estimated readings where no actual meter readings are provided)

So perhaps you could detail the tariff you agreed to pay, and the estimated annual consunption you agreed with when you agreed £100 per month was a suitable monthly figure?

Moving onto the Homeshift, is a trading style of LawDeck Ltd - but they are not a licenced energy supplier.

As far as I can see, Homeshift is an online app that allows you to manage a number of services all in one place i.e. energy, internet, water and council tax. And of course there is a fee for such convenience. It was presumably that total management functionality that the EA was recommending, rather than just a single service they offer. (Energy)

Homeshift Energy is a white label tariff of Effortless Energy Ltd. (who themselves trade under the name "Go Effortless Energy")
You can find the feedback thread for Go Effortless here:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5292460
(although there is no feedback available, and won't be as MSE have locked the thread for some reason, possibly due to inactivity)

Homeshift Energy only says they will be cheaper than the standard plans of the big energy providers, and MSE suggests that savings of several £100 per annum can be made by switching from such standard plans.

Still, at least there are no exit fees to worry about with Homeshift. (not that there are any with the stnarard plans of any big supplier either)

There are limited reasons a supplier may prevent a switch request from them, and where debt is indicated, it must be debt (and not simply account debit). A debt is not a debt unless and until at least 28 days have passed since it was formally demanded (e.g.you were sent a bill which demanded the payment)

I wouldn;t have thought that if you joined the supplier in late October as you say, and you paid the £100 requested in advance as agreed, that any supplier would have the time, let alone the cause, to by now have sent you a demand for further payment and still left 28 days for payment. So it sounds like a simple error has occurred, that can usually be resolved by a simple phone call.

If you have cause to complain, you can follow the supplier's complaint procedure here:
https://www.homeshift.com/energy/complaints

thrombosis

I'm sorry it doesn't make sense, it doesn't to me either.
As I am unable to post links or images here is a breakdown:

Payments:
24th October- £95.61
24th October- £10.00
16th November- £50.00
1st December- £95.61

Balance and due:
£93.31 in debt
£199.20 due on 1st January

Starting readings:
24th October - Gas - 02036
24th October- Electricity- 20052

Readings yesterday:
7th December - Gas - 02212
7th December - Electricity - 20255

Rates:
Unit rate
Electric - 17.35p per kWh
Gas - 4.83p per kWh
Standing charge
Electric - 30.82p per day
Gas - 17.13p per day
Tariff comparison rate (TCR)
Electric - 20.98p per kWh
Gas - 5.33p per kWh

thrombosis

In terms of usage, I didn't estimate - they looked at the previous 12 months of supply and made their own conclusion.

In terms of a prospective new supplier, I provided the assumed annual usage in homeshifts bill to me as an example. Their 'estimated' monthly cost was 82 pound roughly, which was approximately 120 less than the next cost assumed.

In terms of debt or not, the words in their site clearly say in debt and I have emails from Octopus Energy saying that Homeshift have put a block on moving.

Robin9

thrombosis wrote: »

Rates:
Unit rate
Electric - 17.35p per kWh
Gas - 4.83p per kWh
Standing charge
Electric - 30.82p per day
Gas - 17.13p per day

They are not cheap are they.

redfox

Homeshift wrote: »

Hi

I wanted to take some time to reply to your thread. For full transparency, I work at Homeshift

You need MSE's permission to post on behalf of a company so your post has been reported to the Forum Team.

System

I tend to give any business recommendation from an Estate Agent a wide berth. Out-of-interest, are Estate Agents legally required to disclose any commission that they might receive from their recommendations.

thrombosis

I supplied meter readings upon commencing of supply 24th Oct, 1st December and again on the 7th Dec so there shouldn't be such confusion. 24th October reading for gas was 02036 and one of the last things the operative said yesterday was that the initial reading was 01873 - no idea where that number came from. My tenancy inventory photos from when I moved in on the 1st October were 01992.

I have been chatting to an operative on your chat
function however I will be in contact on Monday, thanks.

Re:
Also, I do appreciate that we now live in a world of distrust and scepticism where anything not understood is immediately considered underhand but I assure you and hopefully our direct reply to your thread here shows you that we’re very happy to help.

As its been a cause of concern and upon being emailed that my move was blocked, I just wanted to see if anyone has had similar experience. Yes not understood, but for valid reasons don't you think? Thanks again, will be in touch.

Hoof_Hearted

I agree with Hengus. The prices are probably inflated by EA commission. Perhaps the Homeshift Rep could clarify how much commission they are paying.

Get on a comparison site and move on asap.

From the Homeshift agents website:

Why agents use Homeshift: Earns Extra Revenue -- Generate a lifetime of commission from everyone that walks through your door, including all online Rightmove, Zoopla, and OnTheMarket applicants.

https://agents.homeshift.com

thrombosis

Comparison site used, Blocked from moving whilst this issue is sorted out.

I see appeal in being able to pay all bills through one portal, however this isn't for me, especially after the issues so far.

wavelets

Keno18 wrote: »

Hi Thrombosis,

Ken here. ....

You need MSE's permission to post on behalf of a company so your posts have been reported to the Forum Team.