Symbio Energy feedback

Gerry1

zantos said:

Ofgem in its wisdom stipulates that a company must refund any money owed within 10 days of a final bill BUT doesn't say how long a customer must wait for this final bill to appear!

Wrong.  Two weeks or automatic £30 compo.

zantos

Gerry1 said:

zantos said:

Ofgem in its wisdom stipulates that a company must refund any money owed within 10 days of a final bill BUT doesn't say how long a customer must wait for this final bill to appear!

Wrong.  Two weeks or automatic £30 compo.

Think you'll find that the £30 is ONLY given after 10 days from receiving the final bill, according to everything I can find on the Ofgem site. They decided that putting a limit on how long anyone had to wait for their final bill was "too restrictive" o  electricity companies. I know Martin was camapaigning for a SIX week wait for the final bill in June 2018 but nothing ever happened. If you can find anywhere this two week compensation rule exists I shall be very happy - it will pay my early termination fee for me!

matelodave

There you go - the rules changed on 1st May 2020, £30 if they take more than six weeks and another £30 if they dont refund after another two weeks https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/consumers/household-gas-and-electricity-guide/how-switch-energy-supplier-and-shop-better-deal/compensation-if-there-s-energy-switch-problem

zantos

matelodave said:

There you go - the rules changed on 1st May 2020, £30 if they take more than six weeks and another £30 if they dont refund after another two weeks https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/consumers/household-gas-and-electricity-guide/how-switch-energy-supplier-and-shop-better-deal/compensation-if-there-s-energy-switch-problem

Nice one, thanks - don't know how I missed that! Just sit back and wait now I suppose 

Talldave

It must be the hot weather affecting me, but I stupidly thought I would email Symbio in response to their new T's&C's to ask why they still esimate at EAC/12+35% in summer and whether they would use my first 12 months' consumption figures as estimates for the second year of frustration. I specifically asked them not to suggest fixed direct debit, as I just want to know why the estimates are so stupid.

Guess what they suggested...

Symbio said:

To make sure that you can keep a track of your monthly bills, we recommend to setup a fixed Direct Debit amount as per the defined tariff.

Other nuggets include:

Symbio said:

We need to also look at considerable amount of energy used for a year.

(I'm a couple of percent under EAC) and:

Symbio said:

Keeping our billing structure and policies in mind we ensure that your energy usage will always remain well within your complete energy usage for the year.

I can't even start to work out what on earth this meaningless garbage is meant to say.  Needless to say, I've asked, more for the amusement value of seeing what else these muppets can come up with, rather than holding out any hope for an answer to my questions!

Talldave

I would do July reading as normal and photograph the meter reading that you send to your new supplier. Don't send it, or the final reading, to Symbio. Remember that their new terms and conditions that waffle on about photos don't apply until after you've left; your contract is under your original terms and conditions. 

Symbio clearly don't understand how switching works and have neatly incorporated this ignorance into yet another of their meaningless emails. 

matelodave

According to the rules they have to use the figures that you send to your new supplier which are validated by a third party so as long as you give them the same figure as you give your new supplier there really shouldn't be a problem but as you've probably noticed from the hundreds of posts on this thread they don't really seem to know their A from their E.

Just make sure that you've kept all the info that you possibly can from the time you started - all the bills and statements so you've got your own records as they may not be available to you once you've left and keep your final bill and proof of payment for a several years afterwards. 

rags58

 I am in the process of switching away from symbio (11 months into my contract) and have a provisional date of commencement with my new supplier for the 16/7/20. I just received this email from Symbio:
"We trust that this email finds you well. This email is to inform you that we have received a notification that another supplier is taking over the supply of your meter. Please confirm if this is done as per your request. If you are unaware of this switch, please contact us so that we can accordingly object to this. If indeed you are moving away, we request you to provide us with a meter reading along with the meter picture on the day of the switch. The meter picture is required to validate the final reading, that we receive from your new supplier. We will process the final bill as per the final meter reading we receive from your new supplier. 
We request you to please........click on the link and submit your consent. Having said that, if there is indeed anything that we can do to make you change your mind and decide to stay with us, please let us know. We promise to try and resolve any issues that you may have."
I would appreciate any advice regarding meter readings at the end of this month for July, should I?
Also advice on meter picture on the day of the switch as their email state it is req'd, yet in the same paragraph they state they will process the final bill as per the final meter reading from my new supplier. It seems a bit contradictory and confusing. Any advice will be appreciated.

rags58

Talldave said:

I would do July reading as normal and photograph the meter reading that you send to your new supplier. Don't send it, or the final reading, to Symbio. Remember that their new terms and conditions that waffle on about photos don't apply until after you've left; your contract is under your original terms and conditions..... 

matelodave said:

According to the rules they have to use the figures that you send to your new supplier which are validated by a third party so as long as you give them the same figure as you give your new supplier there really shouldn't be a problem ......Just make sure that you've kept all the info that you possibly can from the time you started......your own records as they may not be available to you once you've left and keep your final bill and proof of payment for a several years afterwards. 

Many thanks for all the advice.

I do keep all my emails/bill from them and looked through them and found the original t&c email issued to me in July last year. Just sent Symbio an email pointing out that they are quoting their new t&c which have not been agreed and please confirm they will abide by their original version 0.02 issued May 19.

I will send my July reading at the end of the month. Will be "interesting" to see how they calculate as I will be out of contract for part of the period.

As for the switch. I will send the meter reading when requested by my new supplier and take a pic.

Normally I would delete my bills  from a utility company after a year. Think it's sound advice to hold on to the final bill for a fair bit longer. My experience of Symbio has not inspired confidence in anything they calculate or in anything that requires a level of competence. 

brewerdave

rags58 said:

Talldave said:

I would do July reading as normal and photograph the meter reading that you send to your new supplier. Don't send it, or the final reading, to Symbio. Remember that their new terms and conditions that waffle on about photos don't apply until after you've left; your contract is under your original terms and conditions..... 

matelodave said:

According to the rules they have to use the figures that you send to your new supplier which are validated by a third party so as long as you give them the same figure as you give your new supplier there really shouldn't be a problem ......Just make sure that you've kept all the info that you possibly can from the time you started......your own records as they may not be available to you once you've left and keep your final bill and proof of payment for a several years afterwards. 

Normally I would delete my bills  from a utility company after a year. Think it's sound advice to hold on to the final bill for a fair bit longer. My experience of Symbio has not inspired confidence in anything they calculate or in anything that requires a level of competence. 

I've got bills for utilities going back to 2006, mostly pdfs on the PC . Doesn't take up much space on a modern hard drive !!