Symbio Energy feedback

devondiver

cannugec5 said:

I signed up to Symbio last month, after reading the posts on here and well aware of the anticipated poor service. I am also aware they use estimates and reconciliation, and that I must do monthly meter reads at the end of each month. 

I am  here to look for some explanation into their billing rationale. 

I know you pay in advance of the month, but am still confused.  

I switched to them for the last week of March, and during that time they took a direct debit in excess of the agreed amount. I presumed this was to cover 5 weeks, so accept that I am already ahead by a month. 

But today they have taken another full months payment, which in effect means I have paid for the next 8 weeks (presuming my usage doesn’t dramatically change). Is this their normal practice? 

I don't think anyone on here will be surprised. Expect to be taken to the cleaners and good luck when you try to leave. (Hotel California?) Not helpful I know but the writing has been on the wall for so long now and yet people are still chancing their luck.

If it's advice your after - how long have you got? Read and inwardly digest recent posts on here (and other Symbio threads) and TP reviews. Seriously consider cancelling your DD citing (presumably) breach of agreement (and trust), try to recover overpayment from bank and insist on switching. Ignore their threats and make your own to use the full force of the law to recover serious compensation. Be prepared for a battle and a long wait. Sorry but you seem to be far from alone.

Tallerdave

Of course their refunds of overestimated units are done using the unit rate on the current bill and not the unit rate that they actually charged you on the previous bill.

So if your unit rate has gone up, you gain. If your unit rate has gone down, you lose. It's real basic stuff that they can't get right.

I'm tempted to email them to point this out because I suspect their explanation/excuse would be comical. The expected response would be "you're correct, we'll fix it". But I don't think they have anyone intelligent enough to understand the issue.

ywlgy

Tallerdave said:

Of course their refunds of overestimated units are done using the unit rate on the current bill and not the unit rate that they actually charged you on the previous bill.

So if your unit rate has gone up, you gain. If your unit rate has gone down, you lose. It's real basic stuff that they can't get right.

I'm tempted to email them to point this out because I suspect their explanation/excuse would be comical. The expected response would be "you're correct, we'll fix it". But I don't think they have anyone intelligent enough to understand the issue.

This just happened to me...
Symbio underestimated my night usage for the previous months and now reconcile it using the new and higher unit rate, which costs me £30 more...Just sent an email asking for correction. Let's see what will happen.

JudgeDekker

Just switched to Symbio. Blimey the bill is complicated. I'm OK with figures and I've got nothing better to do with my time, so I can work out the correct answer for myself. But if you're not the kind of person that enjoys a maths puzzle I'd steer clear: their business model is probably based on 'accidentally' overcharging people like you.

I moved from Green, because they put the prices up by like a million percent. Shame, they were super-easy to deal with.

JudgeDekker

Also I notice that Symbio's tariff Low Fair and Green Variable SE02 V13 isn't on the Cheap Energy club list of Tariffs. If anyone powerful at MSE is reading this, coudl that be added please? Thanks.

Hasbeen

JudgeDekker said:

Also I notice that Symbio's tariff Low Fair and Green Variable SE02 V13 isn't on the Cheap Energy club list of Tariffs. If anyone powerful at MSE is reading this, coudl that be added please? Thanks.

Perhaps because Symbio do not offer it anymore?

"Symbio Energy

23.02.2021

23.02.2021

Electricity

Removal of Low Fair and Green Variable SE02 v13"

devondiver

JudgeDekker said:

Also I notice that Symbio's tariff Low Fair and Green Variable SE02 V13 isn't on the Cheap Energy club list of Tariffs. If anyone powerful at MSE is reading this, coudl that be added please? Thanks.

You cannot be serious. In the words of the latest of a string of scathing Trustpilot reviews: "THIS COMPANY IS ROBBING ITS CUSTOMERS BLIND!". Why would anyone still recommend them??

Rodders53

devondiver said:
In the words of the latest of a string of scathing Trustpilot reviews: "THIS COMPANY IS ROBBING ITS CUSTOMERS BLIND!". Why would anyone still recommend them??

Because they aren't robbing the vast majority of their customers and they are still cheap for electricity?

They are taking excessive 'next month's energy use' sums, but that all gets 'washed' in the reconciliation process based on accurate meter reads from the customer at the next bill. (Where they repeat their inaccurate estimate process).

I'm happy enough with Symbio - so there!

devondiver

Rodders53 said:

devondiver said:
In the words of the latest of a string of scathing Trustpilot reviews: "THIS COMPANY IS ROBBING ITS CUSTOMERS BLIND!". Why would anyone still recommend them??

Because they aren't robbing the vast majority of their customers and they are still cheap for electricity?

They are taking excessive 'next month's energy use' sums, but that all gets 'washed' in the reconciliation process based on accurate meter reads from the customer at the next bill. (Where they repeat their inaccurate estimate process).

I'm happy enough with Symbio - so there!

Thanks Rodders for explaining that .
How could you know "they aren't robbing the vast majority of their customers"? TP certainly tells a different and very worrying story. Surely not isolated incidents.
And as for "they are still cheap for electricity". Really? As another of yesterday's TP reviewers put it - "Save £1 and spend £10 persistently chasing them!". And, as I've stated above - I had no trouble getting a better deal, and from a company that seems (so far) to run an excellent ship.
BTW - am I the only one who checks other review sites? I had never bothered with TP before but the avalanche of disgruntled victims at the moment would be quite entertaining if it weren't so serious. So many people getting so much grief cannot be right.
So there!! 
You have been warned. 

Mister_G

As another satisfied Symbio customer, I have no problem with them.

They are certainly the cheapest for me (I did shop around the comparison sites back in February when I renewed for another year).  My March bill was spot on for what I had used, and I'm happy lending them my monthly payment a month in advance.

During my previous year with them the payments were all over the place, but at the end of the year I ended up paying exactly the right amount for the electricity that I used.

They may not be for everyone, but no complaints here.  It's funny how happy customers never put much on these forums!