Shell energy broadband - any feedback from recent joiners ?

Fonque

I signed up through MSE on the 10th August. I was given an activation date for the 24th. A router arrived and followed instructions on my Activation Date. 

The day after my 'Go Live' I received 2 identical emails from Plusnet indicating that the the transfer process has been cancelled (Home Phone - Cancellation stopped), although I have not given any such instruction for this to occur. I assumed in error that these were auto-generated and sent by mistake. I sent an email through the support section but have not heard anything.

It has only recently come to my attention that I am still being charged a monthly bill by Plusnet, for Line Rental and Unlimited Broadband Contract (£30.98) when my broadband is being supplied by Shell. Obviously I do not want to be paying two ISP's when I am only using Shell for the service.

Also, since the switch, my connection keeps dropping out intermittently for a few seconds several times an hour (Particularly if I'm streaming video). I've swapped out microfilters, changed cables, reset the network and reset the router to no avail. I suspect the cheap router is the culprit and I have been intending to buy my own anyway.

I have sent a complaint through to Shell via thier online complaint form but I am waiting on a reply. Due to Covid I suspect I may be waiting a while.

I have not been impressed with my Switchover so far. It has not gone smoothly.

pallyman

I went live last night and up till now everything is running smoothly,Fingers crossed.

Joeroom

Just got my first bill after going live on 28th Sept.  Yes, they've added VAT to the charges, this was not in the agreement.  I'm going straight to Ofcom because it seems a waste of time complaining to Shell.  I'm also wondering if they're going to try to renege on the £75 refund deal - not if I've got anything to do with it.  I'm now looking to leave appropriate reviews where I can.  I thought talktalk were bad but I now really regret joining Shell.  MARTIN LEWIS PLEASE TAKE UP THESE ISSUES ON OUR BEHALF.

JJ_Egan

ML does not read this forum .

Sold the site many years ago .

MSE_Chris

Joeroom said:

Just got my first bill after going live on 28th Sept.  Yes, they've added VAT to the charges, this was not in the agreement.  I'm going straight to Ofcom because it seems a waste of time complaining to Shell.  I'm also wondering if they're going to try to renege on the £75 refund deal - not if I've got anything to do with it.  I'm now looking to leave appropriate reviews where I can.  I thought talktalk were bad but I now really regret joining Shell.  MARTIN LEWIS PLEASE TAKE UP THESE ISSUES ON OUR BEHALF.

Hi Joeroom,

VAT is added to all broadband products, I'm not sure why you'd think broadband is excluded from VAT?

I think the confusion has come from the fact that Shell Energy breakdown your costs by listing VAT as a seperate item on your bill, like other bills do.

If you want to query your bill, only Shell Energy will be best positioned to help you with this. Ofcom won't assist you with bill queries.

You can live chat with Shell Energy by typing the word 'chat' on this page and clicking 'send': https://www.shellenergy.co.uk/contact-us

Or alternatively, call 0330 0945801, 8am to 8pm weekdays and 9am to 4pm on Saturdays.

I hope this helps explain,

MSE Chris

lev441

Trying to sign up for Shell Superfast fibre via MSE page, but error keeps coming up that there's a technical error and to try again later. Shell Live chat said they can't replicate any issue... Anyone else having the same problem?

chrissy456

Just be careful if you sign up for broadband by using MSE. Suppliers do renegade on promises or introduce new charges unknown to MSE as with Shell and then there is a lack of effective help available from MSE to resolve.   

This time round I decided to sign up to a new supplier without using MSE and ensured that there were no hidden charges and the voucher/discount was offered to all customers and mentioned directly on the supplier website.  

LikeaDream

MSE_Chris said: Thanks for raising this again with me and as mentioned before in a previous post, I've got all the reassurances from Shell Energy Broadband that for customers who switched through MSE won't be charged the cease charge upon leaving. At this stage, no customer has approached us with a bill where the cease charge has been applied. For that reason, I believe this to be agent error at the moment until a user approaches us with evidence stating otherwise.

It's frustrating to us that agents at Shell are still not advising our users correctly on this, but like I said, we've got the reassurances from Shell directly that this cease charge won't apply to those leaving out-of-contract.

I'll message Shell Energy again now asking it to cascade the information to its agents.

Thanks,
MSE Chris

@MSE_Chris

Today we received the following assurance from Nicola of Shell Energy Customer Services. "I can confirm customers that sign up through MSE are to have the cease charge removed.  I am sorry you received the incorrect information"

We also received the Ofcom mandatory end of contract (eoc) notification by email on 3 September stating:
The contract end date is 18 September 2020 - The price paid before this date is £16.99 - No changes to the service or price and price paid at the end of this period is £16.99.

So, thanks to MSE_Chris, Shell Energy have trickled down to its team the deal agreed with MSE. Furthermore, the discounted deal via MSE is continuing at the same monthly price according to the eoc notification.  So, we are still customers of Shell Energy having signed up via MSE on a great promotion and completed the 12 month contract. On the same monthly price and really now just waiting on TalkTalk (Shell's supplier) and Shell Energy Broadband to start providing the full fibre broadband that we have available here but that Shell isn't yet offering to customers.

trinidadone

So I joined Shell on 1st September 2020, since joining I have been provided with the standard broadband only, still waiting for the fiber to be added. My experience tells me this company has a terrible record for customer service, even though I have an outstanding complaint, not once as the company's section contacted me (complaint raised on 2nd Sept).  Unless you contact the company, you not contacted, there are no updates. The last time I contacted this company was over a week ago when they told me in chat, that Openreach are working on the "problem" (I have no idea what the problem is). I actually regret joining the company, it is causing difficulty in the household, as I am very restricted in where I can work at home because the standard broadband simply is not strong enough. Shell does not care about its customers, even my last interaction took 40 minutes before someone in chat would respond to me (I only had ten minutes as I was on lunch). Baased on my experience, just avoid this company. Also, their charging process is strange, the company charges you a monthly fee, adds a discount (which is great), and then it's topped back up again by the vat, so really you actually pay the amount advertised (I can only assume the monthly amounts advertised are without VAT - very crafty I would say, and not transparent). I should be getting £120.00 credit at some point. Shell seems to blame open reach for the lack of fiber broadband connection to my home. I just want to go, especially as the company has billed me for fiber for this month. 

trinidadone

I thought I would also let people know that most companies do not charge their customers to talk to their customer service team, however, if you do use your shell phone to talk to customer service, you will be charged, unless you have their telephone packages, so use your minute on your mobile, far cheaper.