Symbio Energy feedback

CRISPIANNE3

JazzyJ wrote: »

They've just put this on Facebook:

Dear Valued Customers.
We apologise that you couldn't connect to our customer service team as we have been held up with a lot of calls since our previous billing cycle. We usually reply to emails within 72-96 hours. If you have sent an email to "billing@symbioenergy.co.uk", please be adviced that your email will be bounced back since it is a no-reply email address.
As we know that the consumption rates in winters and summers vary significantly, (which was not incorporated in our system) as a result the bills generated for the month of October and November were based on using spring/summer estimated meter reads as opposed to the much higher winter consumption's actual amounts. Thereby, the bill received in the month of December and January is issued at a higher consumption in order to match the electricity supplied/ consumed. However, if you wish to pay a fixed monthly Direct Debit as per the initial quote that you signed up for, please let us know and we will amend the same. Also, we would request you to keep submitting your meter reads on the last day of each month so that we reconcile your bills in line with your meter reads and not according to the winter reconciliation. Please feel to inbox us your customer reference number along with the amount you would wish to fix your DD for.

Now if I had known I would have submitted on the last day of the month rather the day before. However I have told them they will get a meter every day until I have confidence they are on top of the situation.

Talldave

They really are useless. January is a tough month for most people, especially if they were paid early before Christmas, so it's the worst month of the year to start playing stupid games with direct debit payments.


My December consumption was 7.5% lower than my November consumption and below what they had estimated, but still they increased their estimate for January by nearly 60%.


I cannot comprehend how stupid they are being for people who provide monthly readings - they have the data, just use it! That said, they cannot spell or do multiplication, so I shouldn't be surprised.

Swipe wrote: »

They certainly aren't doing themselves any favours. This very act may result in their final downfall. Just look at the trustpilot reviews and score now. Currently at 47% bad. Any potential customers will see that and the reviews and run a mile. I'm not buying their reason for this either. How many of you were under estimated for October and November as they say?

They were under for November but over for December. But it's all immediately corrected for in their variance calculations (less the free units!).

Tennislady

I tried to call them many times before I searched for a reason why I couldn't speak to them. I gave meter readings at the end of each month, and they told me it would adjusted, so that I paid for what I used, which was what I wanted. Then for this payment to come out on the 10th Jan, they have gone mad and more than doubled the KWH figure and sum they want to take. I told them I would cancel my DD until they could confirm the figure for January which hasn't been used yet.

griffb

My November usage was underestimated by 54 units (est476 v act530), but that was due to a 2 day central heating breakdown (oil fired).
December usage was overestimated by 79 units (est606 v act527)
January is estimated at 946 units, so could be anything up to 400 units over :eek:
I don't want to go to a fixed dd regime, more than happy to stay on a variable dd with monthly adjustments, as long as the estimates are reasonable

tomthered

Well have messaged by facebook so will see if they respond

tk47

tk47 wrote: »

JazzyJ wrote: »

They've just put this on Facebook:

Dear Valued Customers.
We apologise that you couldn't connect to our customer service team as we have been held up with a lot of calls since our previous billing cycle. We usually reply to emails within 72-96 hours. If you have sent an email to "billing@symbioenergy.co.uk", please be adviced that your email will be bounced back since it is a no-reply email address.
As we know that the consumption rates in winters and summers vary significantly, (which was not incorporated in our system) as a result the bills generated for the month of October and November were based on using spring/summer estimated meter reads as opposed to the much higher winter consumption's actual amounts. Thereby, the bill received in the month of December and January is issued at a higher consumption in order to match the electricity supplied/ consumed. However, if you wish to pay a fixed monthly Direct Debit as per the initial quote that you signed up for, please let us know and we will amend the same. Also, we would request you to keep submitting your meter reads on the last day of each month so that we reconcile your bills in line with your meter reads and not according to the winter reconciliation. Please feel to inbox us your customer reference number along with the amount you would wish to fix your DD for.

I sent my complaint to all the following addresses all of which I have been provided with by Symbio at some pont since I joined them. Hopefully at least one of them will work

[EMAIL="complaintresolutionmanager@symbioenergy.co.uk"]complaintresolutionmanager@symbioenergy.co.uk[/EMAIL]
[EMAIL="billing@symbioenergy.co.uk"]billing@symbioenergy.co.uk[/EMAIL]
[EMAIL="customerservices@symbioenergy.co.uk"]customerservices@symbioenergy.co.uk[/EMAIL]
[EMAIL="meterreads@symbioenergy.co.uk"]meterreads@symbioenergy.co.uk[/EMAIL]
[EMAIL="qualityassurance@symbioenergy.co.uk"]qualityassurance@symbioenergy.co.uk[/EMAIL]

I also have the following address ready for stage 2 of the complaint process, if required:
[EMAIL="CSDirector@symbioenergy.co.uk"]CSDirector@symbioenergy.co.uk[/EMAIL]


Edit: [STRIKE]I don't see that post on their facebook page :huh:[/STRIKE]
Their latest post appears to have been made on 02-Jan-2020

Hoff and Zaitz, who work at Diablo Canyon, California's last nuclear power plant, founded Mothers for Nuclear to foster dialogue with those who are sceptical about the use nuclear energy.

Edit2: Found it! It seems to be hidden as a reply to another facebooker.
Worse still, it only seems accessible to those signed into facebook :cool:

Just checked my welcome email I got last summer, you know the one where they claimed "We are confident that you will be very satisfied with the services that we offer.", and "that an individual Account Manager has been assigned for your account" I]name provided[/I

They also stated "We attempt to answer all emails within 24 hours, excluding weekends and public holidays."

Less than five months later, it all seems to have gone to pot. :cool:

merchcon55

tomthered wrote: »

Well have messaged by facebook so will see if they respond

I sent a message on FB this morning - within 10 minutes I had a reply that on FB it is only the marketing team, but they could arrange a callback at an agreed time, which I suggested as 11AM. No call was received so another brief FB message requesting a callback.

Received a FB reply from customer service within 10 minutes, apologies for not calling back at agreed time. Very quickly sorted me out and cancelled the scheduled DD of £108 (I have received an email with this cancellation).

Agreed payment will now be fixed each month at the original agreed figure of £60.34

While I am not thrilled that I had to take the time to sort this out, it did not take all that long and I thought the person on FB was very professional the way they handled the situation, which to me, is always important. No excuses, just give the customer what they want, if the request is reasonable.

Tafrock

Not impressed with how symbio are handling this

So much so I'm not hanging around. Like many others on trustpilot I've applied to join Green. Today

Symbio should have emailed all customers, withdrawn all bills it's obvious they are far too high, explained what's happened

None of this has happened. Shortest time I've ever been with an electricity company

Had my doubts from beginning but they did start to improve but I'm not staying with a company that refuse to bill on my meter readings or take into account my eac as they call it
Thanks to all that have contributed to this thread which I have been a major part of from the start

I will advise how the transfer goes then you'll find me on the green. Forum

Good luck everyone who keeps the faith

CRISPIANNE3

Tafrock wrote: »

Not impressed with how symbio are handling this

So much so I'm not hanging around. Like many others on trustpilot I've applied to join Green. Today

Symbio should have emailed all customers, withdrawn all bills it's obvious they are far too high, explained what's happened

None of this has happened. Shortest time I've ever been with an electricity company

Had my doubts from beginning but they did start to improve but I'm not staying with a company that refuse to bill on my meter readings or take into account my eac as they call it
Thanks to all that have contributed to this thread which I have been a major part of from the start

I will advise how the transfer goes then you'll find me on the green. Forum

Good luck everyone who keeps the faith

It would appear then if you submit the meter read on the very last day of the month then the estimate is based on your meter readings. However if meter reading supplied one day earlier then its based on their Winter consumption estimates.

You really could not make this up.

Tafrock

Well I supplied my meter reading on the last day of the month. Every month since April and I never had a true bill. I was happy with the estimates before they were within tolerance but 100+kwh above my usual usage (I only used 2682 total in 2019) is simply not acceptable. To go unexplained except for a repeated garbage statement about increased usage on Facebook is unacceptable
My gas monthly payment is lower than what symbio are trying to charge me for January's electricity and I'm heated and cooked by gas