Symbio Energy feedback

molerat

Spoke on phone and they will only take the fixed amount stated as per original contract, will see !

Talldave

bubieyehyeh wrote: »

Just received my 2nd bill. Well that is the worse bill to understand I've ever received for any company and I thought the EDF ones were bad! Took me a while to work out their system. However their estimator is a joke......

Welcome to the weird warped universe of Symbio and the crazy billing algorithm that opens up a world of bonus free electricity! Simply provide a reading the day after the day their estimate ran to on the previous bill and they add extra kWh (that they don't charge you for) into their estimating algorithm before doing their "variance" calculation.

I have no idea what's wrong with their estimating algorithm this month (some kind of start of year reset?) but they gave me 45kWh free for one day!! Which brings my free total so far to 116kWh after 4 months.

This month's wildly excessive estimate runs to 31 Jan and 1/2 Feb is a weekend, so I may try for 2 days free electricity by providing my reading on the 2nd Feb as I guess they won't run their bill cycle until Monday 3rd at the earliest.

Apart from the free electricity, the spelling mistakes on the bill change every month, so they obviously don't have a single bill template, but lots of different ones with different combinations of inexcusable spelling errors!

And then there's the maths!! They can't get multiplication right either.! For example Symbio believe that 397.27kWh x 10.870p = £43.20.! I've only noticed this since I've created a spreadsheet to track the bills and free electricity total.! What's the point in quoting the unit rate to a third decimal place of "0" if it's clearly not "0"?

Of course, I'm a happy customer as they're charging me less than the tariff quotation and the free electricity is currently equivalent to a 6% discount.

Cisco001

I am not to worry about the Jan over-overestimate.

I think they are over charging me about £20 this time.

I am sure i would usually in credit for more than £20 with other supplier.

Talldave

CRISPIANNE3 wrote: »

Not only have they doubled my usage for January the variance amount to me is crazy. I used 15 more units than forecast up until 30 December and they then estimated the last day of that month as being 35. That totals 50 units. My rates per kw is 10.49p they have come up with a figure of £7.83.

Anyone any ideas based on my figures they could have achieved that figure.

Did those 35 units appear in the section of the bill titled: "Consumption calclulation based upon estimated billed reads til date" (their spelling error!) with a "Days" value of 1? If so, that's your free units. They don't charge you for them, then add them to the estimate they predicted last month, then work out how much more or less than that you've used - the "variance units".

CRISPIANNE3 wrote: »

I can tell you its really ruined my weekend trying to get to the bottom of all this. I was in really good spirits on Friday until this latest bill from them arrived. I can easily afford to pay the extra and get it back. The issue for me is they have not got a clue in what they are doing....

The upside of them not having a clue is that they're giving us some free electricity. Maybe at some point they'll notice their error when they can't balance their books, but I would rather they fixed their broken billing system moving forwards and stayed in business than went under!
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Swipe

Just had an email to say they will be collecting my normal fixed monthly DD payment that I agreed to on sign up last month (fixed direct debit rather than variable - I was given a choice)

JazzyJ

I've attempted to phone them and received a message that they can't take my call and that I can leave a message after the beep! I suspect they are inundated with irate customers...

SuiDreams

another one with an inflated January bill and it doesn't seem to make sense TBH, have emailed a complaint.

CRISPIANNE3

They have now be sent an email cancelling the dd for £91.00 and set it the contractual amount of £47.00.

tk47

So I have received the advance notice from GoCardless, but still have no bill.

The bill summary, which is almost useless, does indicate payment will be collected on Friday 10 January 2020, so why are GoCardless going to attempt to collect on Thursday 10 January 2020?

I had considered phoning, but it looks like the Symbio Energy Freephone number has been removed from their website.

It was

0800 206 2330

Just tried to call it, and all I get now is a recorded message from Symbio asking me to call a fee incurring number.
I don't think so, especially as it seems all that will happen is that I will get another recorded message, that I will have the pleasure of paying for, to be informed they cannot take my call. :mad:

tk47

CRISPIANNE3 wrote: »

They have now be sent an email cancelling the dd for £91.00 and set it out the contractual amount of £47.00.

I was just about to warn others that have been advised of an intention to collect an alternative amount to that specified in the advance notice, that under the terms of the Direct Debit Scheme, an organisation may only collect the amount specified in the advance notice.

So, if Symbio plan to now collect a different amount, a new advanced notice needs to be provided; such advance notice must be in the prescibed form

Edit: Just checked, no new advance notice for me yet