Symbio Energy feedback

Twopints

fewkeste said:

I wonder if they'll go bust rather than pay? Cashflow is king was always impressed on me.

From reading this and other threads, surely "when" not "if"

BW1990

beefturnmail said:

thelight said:

rceebear said:

Despite giving regular meter readings Symbio have apparently under charged me so much so that they've tripled my direct debit! They also blocked me switching. I find their billing extremely difficult to understand and just want to leave as soon as I can.

Has anyone taken them to the Ombudsman for this switch blocking?

I am taking them to the ombudsman on this (amongst a litany of other problems). They blocked my switch and my account is in CREDIT (ie they owe me money!) - they are also threatening to take me to court for an amount I 'owe' which is based entirely on an inflated estimate. From reading comments on trustpilot I fully expect then to carry out this threat - bring it on, they will be laughed out if court as I can easily refute it.

It's just baffling isn't it. I can't get over them - how are they not being heavily sanctioned/ monitored/ shut down. It's like Symbio are on a different planet, and their regulator are taking no notice of the severe impact Symbio's 'business model' is having on their customers. 

Crazy that they think they can take you to court over none payment for units not even used! Needless to say, when they do finally instruct lawyers to see these claims through, hopefully they'll be advised properly, and it won't get anywhere near a judge. That said, despite the actual reality of these threats, it doesn't take away the headache of the situation and the threats/ harassment will be affecting many people's mental health. 

It frustrates me that Ofgem appear to be doing nothing apart from fining them for 'bigger' fish - that doesn't concern the consumer on a day to day basis (£100k fine for the renewable energy scheme, anyone?). If anything, the fine Ofgem are giving them will require them to hold on to people's credit balances even more so! We have to wait two months before we can even approach the ombudsman and their decisions have no teeth - Symbio don't follow them. I am purely taking my (admittedly small) issues to the Ombudsman because I feel like the more consumers clog up their inboxes with complaints relating to Symbio, the more they might take notice.

This is a company that:

• lures consumers in with low electricity unit prices
• removes said low unit prices as soon as they possibly can and then moves consumers to more expensive tariffs
• sends consumers bills with arbitrary, base-less and grossly inflated kWh estimates to preserve their cashflow. This results in consumers unable to manage their monthly cashflow and results in consumers holding, in many cases, inflated credit balance on their accounts. 
• takes direct debits much earlier than it states on bills - this really can affect people's monthly cashflow. 
• blocks consumers' inevitable attempt to switch away because they 'owe' Symbio money - but only by reference to their inflated arbitrary, base-less estimates. This is against the Regulators' guidelines for blocking a switch. Even if consumers do have 'real' debt on their account, a switch should only be blocked if the debt is longstanding. Maybe consumers wouldn't be bothered just paying up this 'balance', putting themselves even more in credit (temporarily), just so the switch can go through successfully - but Symbio don't refund credit balances without a fight (most of the fight consists of the silent treatment), and certainly not in a timely manner
• threatens consumers with court action and/ or places them on an expensive tariff if the consumer cancels their direct debit out of pure desperation to get a handle on the situation. 
• does not answer the phone. If it does, it often lies to placate its customers. 
• does not respond to emails. If it does, the response is severely delayed and often does not address the underlying complaint/ is a copy and paste job. 
• refuses to refund credit balances either on request after a high credit balance has been built up, or even after you have left the company. 
• refuses to discuss reducing its arbitrary baseless EACs on a case by case basis. 
• takes multiple direct debits in one month, but only credits one of these payments to your account balance. 
• makes their employees' spend their time harassing and threatening consumers on TrustPilot and via letters before action (re 'none payments'/ cancellations of direct debits) rather than responding to genuine customer queries. 
• is unable to deal with common energy company issues - moving house/ new tenants/ homeowners/ void properties with temporarily extremely low consumptions. 
• is unable to produce proper bills. When units are reconciled, they are reconciled, often, at the wrong rate meaning the consumer has overpaid for its units. 
• accuses its customers of lying if it decides it doesn't like their meter reading for that month (ie it's too low for their liking)
• blames absolutely everything on Covid rather than taking any responsibility or reaction to Covid restrictions in the same way every other company has had to. It's no excuse over a year on. 

Symbio are helping themselves to people's bank accounts whilst stopping these people from moving away to another company. They are robbing people whilst holding them to ransom and nobody with any power is doing anything about it - far more concerned with whether or not Symbio have paid their renewable energy bill. 
 

DragonQ

They literally will not pick up the phone. The requested payment cannot be made on the website because the amount cannot be adjusted. I know from experience they take 3-4 weeks to respond to a single email.

If they block a switch you are essentially trapped right now.

beefturnmail

DragonQ said:

 The requested payment cannot be made on the website because the amount cannot be adjusted.

You can pay them manually (by bank transfer) for actual usage by using the following details - as can anyone who has cancelled the direct debit.  These details used to be on their bills from some time ago, and they sent me the same details a couple of weeks ago in a pre-action letter, threatening court action.   I'm using it to pay them weekly for my actual electricity usage at the moment (which I work out myself)

Account Name: Symbio Energy Limited

Account Number: 82453630

Sort Code: 40-23-13

Bank Name: HSBC Bank

DragonQ

beefturnmail said:

DragonQ said:

 The requested payment cannot be made on the website because the amount cannot be adjusted.

You can pay them manually (by bank transfer) for actual usage by using the following details - as can anyone who has cancelled the direct debit.  These details used to be on their bills from some time ago, and they sent me the same details a couple of weeks ago in a pre-action letter, threatening court action.   I'm using it to pay them weekly for my actual electricity usage at the moment (which I work out myself)

Account Name: Symbio Energy Limited

Account Number: 82453630

Sort Code: 40-23-13

Bank Name: HSBC Bank

Thanks, presumably the reference for the payment should be the Symbio "customer reference" number?

Gerry1

beefturnmail said:

DragonQ said:

 The requested payment cannot be made on the website because the amount cannot be adjusted.

You can pay them manually (by bank transfer) for actual usage by using the following details - as can anyone who has cancelled the direct debit.  These details used to be on their bills from some time ago, and they sent me the same details a couple of weeks ago in a pre-action letter, threatening court action.   I'm using it to pay them weekly for my actual electricity usage at the moment (which I work out myself)

But how long does it take them to credit your account with these manual payments?

beefturnmail

Gerry1 said:

beefturnmail said:

DragonQ said:

 The requested payment cannot be made on the website because the amount cannot be adjusted.

You can pay them manually (by bank transfer) for actual usage by using the following details - as can anyone who has cancelled the direct debit.  These details used to be on their bills from some time ago, and they sent me the same details a couple of weeks ago in a pre-action letter, threatening court action.   I'm using it to pay them weekly for my actual electricity usage at the moment (which I work out myself)

But how long does it take them to credit your account with these manual payments?

Payment was showing later the same day for me - yes, put your customer number in the reference box.  I also sent them a pdf of the payment confirmation as a remittance (possible in Nationwide internet banking, not sure about others)

davidsleath49

When it came to do my annual check on energy suppliers I found that I got the best deal with separate gas and electricity suppliers. That took me down the fatal route to Symbio Energy for my electricity. What an outfit! 
My first direct debit was for the wrong amount (too much) followed closely by a second one for the correct amount. That has now been refunded but I still don't know how they came to the first figure (cos they don't reply to emails).
Then I got my bill. If you thought utility bills were confusing you aint seen nothing yet!
I have flat units, I have consumption based on estimated reads, consumption based on customer submitted reads, Variance Credit of Reconciled Units!! 
All I know is how much I SHOULD be paying and will have to keep a check of how much they take and ask my bank to refund any dds taken in error. 
Not sure the saving is worth the hassle.

HonestJohn

Finally gave up on them replying to my complaint for a late final bill and credit refund. I have referred my case to the ombudsman. Maybe they will talk to them.

devondiver

BW1990 said:

beefturnmail said:

thelight said:

rceebear said:

Despite giving regular meter readings Symbio have apparently under charged me so much so that they've tripled my direct debit! They also blocked me switching. I find their billing extremely difficult to understand and just want to leave as soon as I can.

Has anyone taken them to the Ombudsman for this switch blocking?

I am taking them to the ombudsman on this (amongst a litany of other problems). They blocked my switch and my account is in CREDIT (ie they owe me money!) - they are also threatening to take me to court for an amount I 'owe' which is based entirely on an inflated estimate. From reading comments on trustpilot I fully expect then to carry out this threat - bring it on, they will be laughed out if court as I can easily refute it.

It's just baffling isn't it. I can't get over them - how are they not being heavily sanctioned/ monitored/ shut down. It's like Symbio are on a different planet, and their regulator are taking no notice of the severe impact Symbio's 'business model' is having on their customers. 

Crazy that they think they can take you to court over none payment for units not even used! Needless to say, when they do finally instruct lawyers to see these claims through, hopefully they'll be advised properly, and it won't get anywhere near a judge. That said, despite the actual reality of these threats, it doesn't take away the headache of the situation and the threats/ harassment will be affecting many people's mental health. 

It frustrates me that Ofgem appear to be doing nothing apart from fining them for 'bigger' fish - that doesn't concern the consumer on a day to day basis (£100k fine for the renewable energy scheme, anyone?). If anything, the fine Ofgem are giving them will require them to hold on to people's credit balances even more so! We have to wait two months before we can even approach the ombudsman and their decisions have no teeth - Symbio don't follow them. I am purely taking my (admittedly small) issues to the Ombudsman because I feel like the more consumers clog up their inboxes with complaints relating to Symbio, the more they might take notice.

This is a company that:

• lures consumers in with low electricity unit prices
• removes said low unit prices as soon as they possibly can and then moves consumers to more expensive tariffs
• sends consumers bills with arbitrary, base-less and grossly inflated kWh estimates to preserve their cashflow. This results in consumers unable to manage their monthly cashflow and results in consumers holding, in many cases, inflated credit balance on their accounts. 
• takes direct debits much earlier than it states on bills - this really can affect people's monthly cashflow. 
• blocks consumers' inevitable attempt to switch away because they 'owe' Symbio money - but only by reference to their inflated arbitrary, base-less estimates. This is against the Regulators' guidelines for blocking a switch. Even if consumers do have 'real' debt on their account, a switch should only be blocked if the debt is longstanding. Maybe consumers wouldn't be bothered just paying up this 'balance', putting themselves even more in credit (temporarily), just so the switch can go through successfully - but Symbio don't refund credit balances without a fight (most of the fight consists of the silent treatment), and certainly not in a timely manner
• threatens consumers with court action and/ or places them on an expensive tariff if the consumer cancels their direct debit out of pure desperation to get a handle on the situation. 
• does not answer the phone. If it does, it often lies to placate its customers. 
• does not respond to emails. If it does, the response is severely delayed and often does not address the underlying complaint/ is a copy and paste job. 
• refuses to refund credit balances either on request after a high credit balance has been built up, or even after you have left the company. 
• refuses to discuss reducing its arbitrary baseless EACs on a case by case basis. 
• takes multiple direct debits in one month, but only credits one of these payments to your account balance. 
• makes their employees' spend their time harassing and threatening consumers on TrustPilot and via letters before action (re 'none payments'/ cancellations of direct debits) rather than responding to genuine customer queries. 
• is unable to deal with common energy company issues - moving house/ new tenants/ homeowners/ void properties with temporarily extremely low consumptions. 
• is unable to produce proper bills. When units are reconciled, they are reconciled, often, at the wrong rate meaning the consumer has overpaid for its units. 
• accuses its customers of lying if it decides it doesn't like their meter reading for that month (ie it's too low for their liking)
• blames absolutely everything on Covid rather than taking any responsibility or reaction to Covid restrictions in the same way every other company has had to. It's no excuse over a year on. 

Symbio are helping themselves to people's bank accounts whilst stopping these people from moving away to another company. They are robbing people whilst holding them to ransom and nobody with any power is doing anything about it - far more concerned with whether or not Symbio have paid their renewable energy bill. 
 

Hallelujah!!!!