Symbio Energy feedback

rawmusic

I'm a relatively new customer with Symbio and can't believe what a joke this all is. They now have the ability to read my smart meter, but not the ability to state that figure accurately on my bill. I keep a very accurate excel sheet on this now and thus far have, according to them, managed to be £200 in the red compared to my actual usage. I know they charge you a month in advance, which puts you immediately in the red, but then the DD starts rising and the discrepancy gets wider. I am going to bite the bullet and pay the £30 exit fee and move back to a company with a better reputation and service... once, of course, I can get someone to properly sort out the figures that I've been charged. Incredulous...

fewkeste

rawmusic said:

I'm a relatively new customer with Symbio and can't believe what a joke this all is. They now have the ability to read my smart meter, but not the ability to state that figure accurately on my bill. I keep a very accurate excel sheet on this now and thus far have, according to them, managed to be £200 in the red compared to my actual usage. I know they charge you a month in advance, which puts you immediately in the red, but then the DD starts rising and the discrepancy gets wider. I am going to bite the bullet and pay the £30 exit fee and move back to a company with a better reputation and service... once, of course, I can get someone to properly sort out the figures that I've been charged. Incredulous...

Just curious - did you read this thread before deciding to move to them?

spot1034

I joined in February - opted for the fixed direct debit which is made up of six higher payments during the winter months and six lower payments in the summer. My usage does not vary as much as the difference between these figures, so during the two months I paid the higher winter debit I have built up a surplus of roughly £20. I anticipate that now I am paying the lower rate this will be eroded during the first half of the summer, so I will be at break even round about July. Whether they then allow me to go £15 to £20 into debit before the higher winter payments resume in October will be interesting, but at the moment I am perfectly happy other than that their bills reflect nothing of this - well it's probably in there somewhere but if I had been unprepared for the Symbio style of billing I'd now be wondering what on earth was going on!

niktheguru

rawmusic said:

I'm a relatively new customer with Symbio and can't believe what a joke this all is. They now have the ability to read my smart meter, but not the ability to state that figure accurately on my bill. I keep a very accurate excel sheet on this now and thus far have, according to them, managed to be £200 in the red compared to my actual usage. I know they charge you a month in advance, which puts you immediately in the red, but then the DD starts rising and the discrepancy gets wider. I am going to bite the bullet and pay the £30 exit fee and move back to a company with a better reputation and service... once, of course, I can get someone to properly sort out the figures that I've been charged. Incredulous...

When you say "in the red" what you are meaning is that your account is in credit and you have overpaid to Symbio compared to the energy you have used. Despite having a smart meter are you giving them monthly actual readings using their app or website? (Although they have been forced to register with the DCC they only did it because they had to, i'd be suprised if they were actually using smart readings yet)

The best thing to do (if you're willing to stick with them) is to call them and move to a FIXED DIRECT DEBIT where you agree a specific amount that you pay ever month (negotiate it to be 1/12 of your actual annual usage) That way you know what is being paid. Then keep note of your readings monthly in a spreadsheet (like you are doing) and keep an eye on your actual usage to ensure you are not massively over or underpaying. In the long run you will pay less as the unit rate is lower.
If you are organised it is relatively painless, if you just want the company to do everything then symbio isn't for you. (also note, lots of other energy companies will overcharge direct debits etc)

niktheguru

spot1034 said:

I joined in February - opted for the fixed direct debit which is made up of six higher payments during the winter months and six lower payments in the summer. My usage does not vary as much as the difference between these figures, so during the two months I paid the higher winter debit I have built up a surplus of roughly £20. I anticipate that now I am paying the lower rate this will be eroded during the first half of the summer, so I will be at break even round about July. Whether they then allow me to go £15 to £20 into debit before the higher winter payments resume in October will be interesting, but at the moment I am perfectly happy other than that their bills reflect nothing of this - well it's probably in there somewhere but if I had been unprepared for the Symbio style of billing I'd now be wondering what on earth was going on!

They allowed my account to go into about £60 debit (according to their advanced billing mechanism) before adjusting my  fixed direct debit, which they do for a 3 month period automatically (you get a email notifying you of the change) and then its apparently reassesed. Worked fine for me. (and was one of the very few things that was seamless at symbio)

CRISPIANNE3

niktheguru said:

CRISPIANNE3 said:

Swipe said:

Change to monthly fixed DD then you can just sit back and enjoy the wild estimates

I had thought of doing that but I am concerned they will get even more confused. At the most I am paying about £25 a month more than I should. 

Fixed direct debits with symbio are the best way. Just make sure you agree a low one to start with. Then they tend to review these every 3 months and amend them to cover any short fall on your account. A far better system for me. I received an email saying they were going to increase my DD for 3 months with the value, which I was happy with as I kept an eye on my balance......doing it this way left me in a small negative balance on switching away last month. Much better than them just taking whatever they want and leaving you out of pocket!

I would leave them but am on a fix until March 22. If I leave before then I pay £30 exit fee. The rate I'm on is very good but tbh for the saving of a few pounds a year I prefer to be with a more reliable company. 

niktheguru

CRISPIANNE3 said:

I would leave them but am on a fix until March 22. If I leave before then I pay £30 exit fee. The rate I'm on is very good but tbh for the saving of a few pounds a year I prefer to be with a more reliable company. 

bit late now! That suggests that you just fixed again last month! lol.

CRISPIANNE3

niktheguru said:

CRISPIANNE3 said:

I would leave them but am on a fix until March 22. If I leave before then I pay £30 exit fee. The rate I'm on is very good but tbh for the saving of a few pounds a year I prefer to be with a more reliable company. 

bit late now! That suggests that you just fixed again last month! lol.

I fixed in November 2020 fo 15 months.  I could not believe it when they raised my eac to 4940 from 4400 when in fact they have had to refund me each month. 

rp1974

One of the main reasons I joined Symbio back in July/August 2019 was that they were cheapest and offered fixed tariffs without exit fees,which was unusual.
Likely though Symbio will test their luck once too far,once too often with Ofgem who will then call time on them,given that possibility I opted for a variable tariff.
The worst that'll happen is I'm owed around £45,if things go pear shaped.
Maybe I'd even miss the white knuckle ride that's thrown in for free.

niktheguru

CRISPIANNE3 said:

niktheguru said:

CRISPIANNE3 said:

I would leave them but am on a fix until March 22. If I leave before then I pay £30 exit fee. The rate I'm on is very good but tbh for the saving of a few pounds a year I prefer to be with a more reliable company. 

bit late now! That suggests that you just fixed again last month! lol.

I fixed in November 2020 fo 15 months.  I could not believe it when they raised my eac to 4940 from 4400 when in fact they have had to refund me each month. 

ah yes, i remember you saying that, but you got a pretty decent rate locked in. You'll be saving about 100 quid per yr in the long run assuming you're saving approx 2p per unit!