Outfox The Market holding onto my credit

cypher007

i switched to oftm in about October last year then they hiked there prices masively so switched to Utility Point on the 1st of Jan this year. otfm still took a direct debit payment on 16 of Jan so i cancelled the dd. for about 3-4 weeks now i have been chasing them to credit me the £132 credit on my account. i keep getting various excusses.


today i chatted with them and they are now saying that they can see i was issued a refund and it should be in my bank within 3-14 days. !!!!!!!!!


whats worrying me with the colapse of alot of these small energy suppliers is that they will go bust taking my money with them. is there any safety net via my bank or ofgem?

grumpycrab

cypher007 wrote: »

whats worrying me with the colapse of alot of these small energy suppliers is that they will go bust taking my money with them. is there any safety net via my bank or ofgem?

ofgem. https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/consumers/household-gas-and-electricity-guide/extra-help-energy-services/ofgem-safety-net-if-your-energy-supplier-goes-out-business

cypher007

i had a quick look through that but it seems to deal with people who are still with a company and it goes bust, not one that is still trading after ive switched and has an outanding credit.


unless i missed something i cant see where ofgem say they will pay me.

Lochmaben

I left them in December and they kept making excuses as to why they couldn’t refund my credit balance. I got fed up and took out a Direct Debit Indemnity through my bank and got my money back that way. It’s like a Direct Debit in reverse. If they don’t refund your money within 14 days, email them and tell them what you intend to do, then do it.

wavelets

Lochmaben wrote: »

I left them in December and they kept making excuses as to why they couldn’t refund my credit balance. I got fed up and took out a Direct Debit Indemnity through my bank and got my money back that way. It’s like a Direct Debit in reverse. If they don’t refund your money within 14 days, email them and tell them what you intend to do, then do it.

Abuse of the direct debit guarantee system is not recommended, and doing so in your case will probably result in a failed payment fee as per the terms and conditions of supply.

If you have any cauue for complaint against the supplier, you should follow the supplier's complaint procedure - it's why it is there;)

As you posted elsewhere previously, your approach only caused more issues

Lochmaben wrote: »

Be VERY careful if you do this. I cancelled mine after leaving them, only to find that they set up (WITHOUT MY PERMISSION - which is illegal!) a new Direct Debit under a different Reference number and proceeded to take money from my account for the coming month, although I had told them when I was switching, sent the final meter readings, even from their site worked out what I had paid, how much I had used included the standing charge and done the sums in a form even a primary school pupil could understand. I informed them that I would cancel the DD from a particular date. It seems they didn’t either understand or deliberately chose to ignore the communication. Yesterday they sent me an email saying my bank had refused to,pay them any money and please reinstate the DD. My instrctions to my bank - after cancelling this newDD- were that ON NO ACCOUNT were they to allow OTM to have any further access to my account whatsoever. I suggest you do the same.

cypher007

well after reading what happened to Lochmaben, it sounds like what they did to me. they did try and setup a new DD after i left them, they swiped another £89.74 (which was higher than we agreed when i started with them). i thought it was just an error. seems maybe not.


i think i will give them there 14 days them pull the trigger on the DD refund. with an Ofgem complaint.

Tufty_B

I switched to Bulb on the 19 Dec 2018 and they are still taking money via direct debit but have not produced a bill since 1 Jan 2019.

Looking at the number of complaints, it seems OutFoxTheMarket are either run by a bunch of crooks or incompetents.

They state that they have 'Fantastic Customer Service' when in fact they are one if not the worst!

I'll have to report them to Ofgem, however from previous experience of so called unbiased regulators, they almost never side with the consumer that has been wronged, which is not surprising when they are funded by the energy companies.

wavelets

Tufty_B wrote: »

...
I'll have to report them to Ofgem, however from previous experience of so called unbiased regulators, they almost never side with the consumer that has been wronged, which is not surprising when they are funded by the energy companies.

Ofgem does not deal with an individual's customer complaint about their energy supplier.

That is the role of the energy ombudsman, but they won't get involved until you have followed the supplier's complaint procedure and allowed them the prescribed time to investigate and resolve.

Thanks for posting, and welcome back

matty_hunt

Me too. I left on 20th Dec but they have continued to bill me up to 19th Jan and took direct debits on 20th Dec and and 21st Jan. £140 in credit plus readjusted bill but despite promises of formulating a final bill I never hear from them or get any refund. Reading the above I think I will escalate this.

hubb

I left on 21st December and they are stiff fobbing me off with excuses. They now tell me it will be with me in my bank by 27th. I won't hold my breath.

Philip_Gahan

change.org petition is running to stop outfox the market fromndoing business


Philip