AVRO refuse to refund credit - beware

formbyian

Last year we signed up to AVRO energy attracted by their low prices but soon things started to go wrong. We quickly found that our direct debits were way too large and it got to the stage where we were £150 in credit with them. Despite regularly supplying meter readings, AVRO refused to refund all of this credit or adjust our direct debit payments. We thought of giving them the benefit of the doubt and sign up again when our one year contract ended but again they refused to return our excess credit. We have now left AVRO because of this but they are refusing to return the £26.89 we are in credit by. Looks like we will have to take this one to OFGEM in what will no doubt turn out to be a very protracted battle. Be warned - they may have low prices but that's only because they are subsidised by having so many customers in credit. If you do go with them make sure that you seriously underestimate your usage (I would say by half) so that you stay in debt to them. Otherwise you will end up chasing them forever to get your credit refunded as we have.

PennineAcute

Forget OFGEM, if you are certain that they owe you the money, I would just go to the small claims. A few instances of court costs may make them change their ways.

Streaky_Bacon

It shouldn't really be protracted, and you don't take it to Ofgem.

Write a formal complaint to them. If they don't resolve in 8 weeks, send it to the Energy Ombudsman, and leave it to them.

It will be resolved and you may even get a little bit of compensation.

cranford

formbyian, If your DD's were too large and AVRO would not adjust them and with AVRO taking the first DD in advance, I don't understand why you were only £26.89 in credit when you left?
I myself can be about £220 in credit going into the winter but I don't mind as I have saved hundreds over the last two years which more than cover this credit.
So I suggest that you work out how much you have saved in comparison to being £150 in credit and £27 at the end.

C_Mababejive

Write by recorded post to their registered office stating that if they do not pay you by X date, you will initiate proceedings in the small claims court.

Biscuit_Tin

Court action should only be considered as a matter of last resort.

Fail to follow this rule and you will probably still get your £26.89 back, but it could end up costing you more than that in court fees, which the court may not award you in such circumstances.

Contact the debtor, and if you do not like the response, follow their complaint procedure, escalating teh matter to the ombudsman at the appropriate time if necessary.
Not only will this probably get you your £26.89 back, but it's FREE, and if the ombudsman needs to get involved, they may even award you a further £25 goodwill gesture to be funded by the supplier.

t0rt0ise

When you say they have refused, have they actually said "we will not give you your money" or are they just being very slow? How long has it been? It's normal for it all to take six weeks.

Biggus_Dickus

OP,

Your post is far too vague for anyone to take your Avro Energy ‘warning’ with anything but a pinch of salt.

I’d be guessing, but it sounds like you don’t fully understand the process that energy companies use to produce final bills and credit refunds.

Dobbibill

Being in credit just after the summer months as you go into winter is perfectly normal as you will use this credit in the winter months rather than having a huge DD in winter and small DD in summer.

When did you switch from Avro? As already said above, a final bill can take 6 weeks to produce.

Is the £26.89 credit showing on your final bill or your online account?
This small credit seems to suggest you were paying the correct amount via DD, give or take £2 - £3 a month.

formbyian

Few quick points here to set the record straight:

1) Why should I have to pay for electricity/gas I have not used ? Some people may prefer to pay the same amount every month but prefer to pay for what I HAVE ACTUALLY USED. There is no point in providing meter readings if the energy company is just going to ignore them. It would be interesting to see how many customers are credit with AVRO and by how much by compared to those who are in debt. Clearly energy companies are building up credits to gain interest on the money - interest which you the consumer should be getting on their savings, not them.

2) At one stage we were approx £150 in credit with AVRO but they would only refund £50 thus keeping £100 of our money. Added to the £26.89 this makes £76.89 credit for the year or more than one monthly DD of £74. This is definitely not a small amount although IMHO they should not be keeping even a single penny of our money.

3) On our last bill AVRO took a full £74 DD. They could of course just have reduced this to £47.11 so that they owned us nothing but it seems they would rather keep our money and let us chase them for it. I wonder how many customers they have "forgotten" to refund with their final credit.

4) My advice stands. If you are signing up to a new company make sure you under report your usage or you will end up chasing the enery company forever over outstanding credits.

5) If energy companies actually charged customers for the amount THEY HAD ACTUALLY USED there would be none of this hassle. But no - they'd rather rip us off instead.

6) AVRO have been sent a link to this thread but guess what - no response. Guilty conscience then AVRO ?

Flt._Lt._Biggles

formbyian wrote: »

Few quick points here to set the record straight:

1) Why should I have to pay for electricity/gas I have not used ? Some people may prefer to pay the same amount every month but prefer to pay for what I HAVE ACTUALLY USED. There is no point in providing meter readings if the energy company is just going to ignore them. It would be interesting to see how many customers are credit with AVRO and by how much by compared to those who are in debt. Clearly energy companies are building up credits to gain interest on the money - interest which you the consumer should be getting on their savings, not them.

2) At one stage we were approx £150 in credit with AVRO but they would only refund £50 thus keeping £100 of our money. Added to the £26.89 this makes £76.89 credit for the year or more than one monthly DD of £74. This is definitely not a small amount although IMHO they should not be keeping even a single penny of our money.

3) On our last bill AVRO took a full £74 DD. They could of course just have reduced this to £47.11 so that they owned us nothing but it seems they would rather keep our money and let us chase them for it. I wonder how many customers they have "forgotten" to refund with their final credit.

4) My advice stands. If you are signing up to a new company make sure you under report your usage or you will end up chasing the enery company forever over outstanding credits.

5) If energy companies actually charged customers for the amount THEY HAD ACTUALLY USED there would be none of this hassle. But no - they'd rather rip us off instead.

6) AVRO have been sent a link to this thread but guess what - no response. Guilty conscience then AVRO ?

Whether any supplier would take the time to respond to this diatribe is debateable, but perhaps the simple answer is that MSE do not seem to have authorised Avro to post on this site yet.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/781221/companies-organisations-journalists-with-permission-to-post

:cool: