Symbio Energy feedback

niktheguru

If anyone is considering joining this excuse of an electricity company, PLEASE PLEASE DON'T.
I have switched to multiple small and new suppliers in the past, and I can honestly say, hands down these are the most utterly incompetent and useless people I have dealt with.

I have been a customer for 1 month, in that time they have placed my annual consumption at 4 times the level it should (despite having filled it correctly on application), have as a result taken a direct debit of £230 from my account, despite me calling them several times before hand telling them the amount was incorrect, having been forced by them to send an old bill with documented annual usage for my house (and their "industry standard estimate" also being the same as the one I provided). I was told that amount wouldnt be taken, but low and behold it was.
The only one good thing is you can get to a customer service agent within a few minutes (there is no long hold), however the majority are absolutely useless. They just constantly put you on hold to find out what to do, and when they come back they dont know what to do. Then I spoke to a supervisor and was promised a call back in 24hr for what should be an easy problem to just fix there and then.....low and behold no call back, no response after leaving them a voicemail 48hrs later.....just pure and utter incompetence. AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE!! Its just not worth the pennies you'll save.

(and issue still not sorted after more than an hour on hold)

brewerdave

niktheguru said:

If anyone is considering joining this excuse of an electricity company, PLEASE PLEASE DON'T.
I have switched to multiple small and new suppliers in the past, and I can honestly say, hands down these are the most utterly incompetent and useless people I have dealt with.

You need to switch to Together Energy if you want to see what REAL incompetence is !! 

rags58

I finally had enough of symbio and their excuses and have made an official complaint to the Ombudsman Services team. First time I have done that, dont really know what to expect but I've sent them all the relevant e-mails in pdf format (1st time doing that as well...what a palaver) along with all symbios excuses about overestimation. here's a few classics:
"With reference to your query, we would like to inform you that due to the unpremeditated, hence we had taken into account the lockdown situation and hence estimated the usage"
Some more excuses on why eac/12 will be ignored:

"However, there are other factors that involve in Estimating our customer's monthly bills:

• Estimated Annual Consumption (EAC) for the particular property
  
• Government EAC for this type of property​
• Time of year (longer days and warmer weather less usage- too hot and air-conditioning increases consumption)​
• Weather - Clouds increase consumption​
• Historical use​
• Wind speed - Rain - Both increase consumption as people feel colder​"  
  My final response to them:........Thank-you for your explanation and all the factors you take into account when estimating consumption for the following month.  I note you did not explain why you are ignoring my Eac/12 in your calculations which is approx 2300-2400 units a year and has historically been around that consumption level since 2016; regardless of sun, rain, cloud, wind, snow frost, earthquakes,.tornados, tsunamis...etc etc ..."oh and national pandemics"
  Divide 2400 units by 12 and that will be 200 units approx a month. If you then apply seasonal billing....(which you did in Dec 19) ie higher consumption in winter (ie more than 200 units) It follows that during  my summer period I can expect lower estimates (ie less than 200 units) and therefore lower bills. You have had your higher billing period in winter (see below) and I have paid higher bills. It is only reasonable for you to then calculate lower estimates for the remainder of my contract in the summer period. This is what you promised in your Dec 19 email and this is what you are refusing to implement. What I find completely unacceptable is instead of reducing my estimates in summer, you are estimating a higher level of consumption than I consumed in the depths of winter. I have asked you to recalculate your estimates taking into account my annual consumption and my monthly meter readings.....that is a very reasonable request.
• All they offered was another fixed direct debit at rate they were charging before the Dec e-mail. Seems they want higher rates regardless of the seasons....

Talldave

Symbio are utterly stupid, amazingly incompetent and full of !!!!!!. Their explanations beggar belief. However, because of their monthly billing "variance" reconciliation,  the overcharging stupidity is always limited to the 50%, 60%, or 70% over EAC they're randomly using that month. Ie: they're not cumulatively screwing us over for an extra £30 every month.

Whilst I have every sympathy for your frustration @rags58, I'm not sure that that, or the fact they're just plain stupid gives the ombudsman anything to act upon?

I predict that this month's over estimating excuse will be increased consumption due to social distancing! 

zantos

@Talldave. SO lets say:
Month 1 EAC £100 for month - Symbio charge £150 so this is what you have paid!
Month 2 EAC £100 for month - Symbio give back £50 and charge £150 again so you have paid £150!
Month 3 EAC £80 for month - Symbio give back £50 and charge £120, so you have paid £120!
This continues every month, therefore by my reckoning your electricity is costing you an extra 50% per month, how is this cheaper than a supplier who just charges EAC? A clever way of covering the fact that you are paying more, does this still mean that Symbio are stupid or just being decepyive?

zantos

Sorry deceptive NOT decepyive

zantos

@rags58

• Estimated Annual Consumption (EAC) for the particular property
  
• Government EAC for this type of property​
• Time of year (longer days and warmer weather less usage- too hot and air-conditioning increases consumption)​
• Weather - Clouds increase consumption"

Symbio know ALL about my property as per your given excuses - I live in a four bedroom detached house so everything must be "standard" which is why my first readings were queried.
I ONLY have electric heating (problem) BUT supplement with a log burner (another problem) and then I have solar panels on my roof (yet another problem) the result my daily usage is small, washing machine is used at night when there is little sun and during the day when the sun shines! Symbio wanted me to take a photo of my meter readings and send them in - I said if they could manage to photograph a smart meter while the readings changed automatically they should come and show me how! End of conversation.

carpy

just submitted my meter read (a day late) so we'll see what happens.....

matelodave

I'm still only paying my EAC/12 as a direct debit. The fictitious bills actually make no difference to me whatsoever - I send a reading, they come up with a sill estimate, put it on the bill but they are only taking my agreed DD. I really cannot see waht all the fuss is about. As far as I'm concerned they can guess all they like providing they just leave the DD alone - they faffed it about in November so they could have had another £50 in their account rather than mine if they'd left it alone.

We'll sort it out when the contract ends unless I decide to renew - which I might coz they are still cheap and I don't mind the sport

Talldave

zantos said:

@Talldave. SO lets say:
Month 1 EAC £100 for month - Symbio charge £150 so this is what you have paid!
Month 2 EAC £100 for month - Symbio give back £50 and charge £150 again so you have paid £150!
Month 3 EAC £80 for month - Symbio give back £50 and charge £120, so you have paid £120!
This continues every month, therefore by my reckoning your electricity is costing you an extra 50% per month, how is this cheaper than a supplier who just charges EAC? A clever way of covering the fact that you are paying more, does this still mean that Symbio are stupid or just being decepyive?

Your maths is wrong. In month two you would pay £100 because of the £50 credit from month 1. And so it goes on. You are never more than their excess on one month's EAC ahead. It's quite simple. I've been a customer/beneficiary of free units for 9 months and have a detailed spreadsheet that tracks the costs and free units. Not only are they very cheap, the free units account for a 4-5% discount on top. Although I wait to see if they've fixed that bug....