Complaint escalated with Energy Ombudsman about Green Star Energy

nickapollo

Hi there, I'm new to these forums though i do get the monesysavingexpert newsletter which is very helpful.

I've had an ongoing issue/complaint with Green Star Energy at my address which I have finally had to take to the ombudsman. I'm wondering what kind of outcome I can expect and if there are alternative methods which may be more worthwhile pursuing such as the small claims court etc.

I am not one to usually kick up a fuss, but I feel like this issue has been handled to an almost farcical level of ineptitude by this company and it has genuinely caused me a great deal of grief and frustration because I've been basically rendered powerless to change it.

The issue:

I moved into my property November 2017. It is written into my tenancy agreement that I can't change energy provider, which is Green Star Energy.

The Issue:
I paid my bill happily enough to a point. I did experience some financial difficulty at one point and set up a payment plan. But this is by the by. I am not disputing that I owe GreenStar energy money, nor do i expect a service for free. I signed up to their online service to help me manage my bill more effectively and efficiently

It came to my attention about June this year when I went to submit a meter reading on the online service that the Low (night) reading and Normal (day) reading were in the wrong boxes on my online account. ie. the Low figure which was higher was in the normal box and vice versa. There is an old fashioned two tier meter at my property and I am on an economy 7 tariff as I have storage heaters and an immersion heater for hot water. Admittedly I had entered a couple of meter readings before this date and not realised the mistake, simply adding into the box which had the closest figure to it. This issue must have predated me and who knows how many tenants have lived here under these circumstances.

So, after some online research to make sure that the Low reading should correspond to the Night rate on the online service and vice versa, I attempted to rectify the situation by inputting correct values on the online system. I click submit and get error messages 'your reading is too far out of the specified range, please re-enter'. I searched for a number for Green Star customer service on their site and so the nightmare begins!! :rotfl:

I get through to an overseas call centre. The person is very pleasant and polite. I explain the situation. I'm not sure they understand, the line is bad, I must admit I am finding it difficult to understand everything they are saying, I have to ask for information to be repeated and its basically a much longer call than expected. Nevertheless I am eventually reasonably assured they understand the situation and will update the system, and revise a bill to reflect billing at incorrect rates. It will take a few days for the system to update apparently.

A few days later, the values are still in the wrong box. I ring again, I wait on hold for 20 mins to half an hour. I then spend an hour trying to explain this issue to another overseas agent with the same problems as before. Im not sure they understand, I feel like the call is half english lesson half customer service. Nevertheless I am reasonably convinced they understand the issue and will update the values.

A week or so later, the values are still wrong on the online system. I ring again. I'm on hold for half an hour and then service gets cut off so i have to call bac. I wait another 20 minutes on hold and get through to an overseas centre. On this occasion I was very stressed in general about other things, and I behaved in a way that I am not proud of. I was not verbally abusive, but very very irate after encountering the same issues as before and not being at all convinced that my issue had been understood. Eventually, reasonably assuaged that the issue was understood the call ended.

A week later... oh. my. god. The values are still wrong. I ring green star again. Im on hold for half an hour again. I get through and immediately demand to talk to a supervisor, preferably based in britain or at least fluent in english. I get put on hold for half an hour. I get through to supervisor. Supervisor is no more helpful than previous agent. I have absolutely no confidence now that my situation is understood. I start the complaints process on that phone call.

Meanwhile, my bill is now clocking up. I don't want to pay because I am in utter confusion as to what my bill actually is or should be by now, given that im very likely to be being charged incorrectly.

I'm assured by a letter and an email that my complaint is being investigated and a revised bill will be generated. I get an email saying my situation has now been resolved. I check my account, the values are still wrong.

A meter man is sent around by green star energy around this point to take an unequivocal reading. He enters the values incorrectly, or correctly, im not even sure anymore. All i know is there is one reading which says 'Low' and a number next to it. I can only assume this number is the number for the low rate right? And the number next to 'Normal' is the day rate. But the meter man has put these in vice versa. How is this even possible, this has started to defy belief.

I now start sending emails. I send a photo of my meter and a photo of my online account reading. I seek confirmation of which value goes in which box. The email responder advises that the Low reading corresponds to the Night time box and the Normal reading corresponds to the daytime box. Its unequivocal. I had sought confirmation of this on the phone calls and although it was unclear whether they understood, that was also the general gist. Makes sense right? Night time is a low rate, low demand. Daytime - peak time - is a normal rate. Ok then. 'We have updated your account to reflect the correct readings now of <wrong value in wrong box again>. Oh. my god. I honestly feel at this point like im losing my marbles. I give up and just wait for the complaints period to end. I get a letter informing me I can now complain to the ombudsman. Im very busy and I plan to get on with it when I have time.

I then get a call while at work from Green Star energy complaints team. She is a nice lady. She's British, fluent in English and seems to understand exactly what the problem is. She assures me that the issue is now resolved. The figures are correctly swapped over and they recognise my inconvenience and would like to offer me £75 goodwill payment. I know how it works with this process a bit, if it goes to the ombudsman it will incur the company a fee of a few hundred, so any settlement below that is still better for the supplier. Nevertheless, she is nice, she sounds a bit nervous at the idea of negotiating so I just accept, glad the issue is resolved. Great now I can get on with my life.

NO! I. Was. Wrong dear reader! A few days later I check my online account. The values are still wrong. They have cancelled about 8 previous bills but in the new one, the god darn values are still, wrong!!

I give up, I put it to the back of my mind and try my best to ignore the harassing letters and enails, Im very busy with work. I have a full time job and am trying to start a business with the precious free time I have left over. I wait til I have an opportunity to deal with it. Which is today. A day off, another one spent dealing with this problem.

I ring green star ask them to reopen the complaint, in itself an absolute challenge. I ring the ombudsman and divulge details. I spend the rest of the day uploading, photoing every bit of evidence, every bill, every photo I sent, every email string and making sure the details of my complaint are as accurate as possible.

What can I expect from this? I feel like this has gone beyond a shortfall in customer service to be absolutely ridiculous. They have stated on numerous occasions that what im saying is correct, in email and on the phone. And yet every bill, the figures have not changed. I recognise it will be a nightmare to reestimate what the actual bills are given that who knows how long the wrong readings have been on the system. Nevertheless thats not my problem. I just want to use energy, get billed at the correct rates and pay it.

I'm not one to usually kick up a fuss. I resisted at first not wanting to lose any overseas call centre agent their job as who knows what pithy job protection laws they have over there and how valuable a job is. But come on, this has become maddening.

Ive seen on similar threads, you cant expect to be compsnsated for your time and loss of earnings. But I dont understand why not. Spending time on this has cost me money, it has cost me time. They have repeatedly told me they will resolve it and then they havent. Its like living in an alternate universe.

I now do expect a decent amount of compensation for the stress of dealing with this and for my lost time which is very valuable to me.

However after reading some threads ive got no real confidence that even the ombudsman will satisfactorily sort this. What can I do? Are there no win no fee solicitors out there? Should I file in the small claims court.

I cant cope with them keeping on doing this :mad::mad::(:(

Gerry1

Switch on absolutely everything in the property in the middle of the day, notably the immersion heater, tumble dryer and kettle and see which register is clocking up rapidly: that's the Normal or Day rate register. If it transpires that the readings have always been swapped over then you should be due a sizeable refund backdated to when they started supplying you.
]
Forget the phone, communicate only in writing. Post a letter to Green Star Energy's CEO (get proof of posting (free) or send Recorded delivery) and also send an email (you can find his name and contact info at the ceoemail website, search for it). Make the Subject COMPLAINT - ACCOUNT xxxxxx - ECONOMY 7 REGISTERS TRANSPOSED - REFUND DUE and ask for it to be resolved promptly or a deadlock letter sent.

BTW, keep it short and snappy (1 side of A4 at most), don't tell him your whole life story. Bullet points are often best. Don't give all the history of complaints, that's water under the bridge. Just say that you've proved the readings have been transposed since Day / Month / Year; you should have paid £Small.Sum but you've actually been billed £Big.Sum, hence you're claiming a refund of £Big.Sum - £Small Sum. End of.

If it's not sorted out PDQ, on receipt of said letter or after eight weeks then go to the Ombudsman.

Finally, note that as a tenant you have the right to switch supplier if you pay your energy supplier directly for your gas or electricity. This includes if you have a prepayment meter.

So start switching now ! The third party that verifies the readings will probably query them but that can only help you.

Gerry1

You might find it useful to make a short smartphone video of your meter clocking up on the night register during the day (or vice versa). You can easily timestamp it by including a DAB radio displaying the DAB time/date and tuned to Radio 4 at the start of The World At One or the Midnight News. Make sure the meter number is clearly shown.

That should provide powerful evidence and would probably suffice to get a favourable ruling if it goes to the small claims court.

Don't forget to come back and tell us how you got on !

andy111

Gerry1, a supremely comprehensive answer.

My cap is suitably doffed.

DawnCrush

nickapollo wrote: »

Hi there, I'm new to these forums though i do get the monesysavingexpert newsletter which is very helpful.

I've had an ongoing issue/complaint with Green Star Energy at my address which I have finally had to take to the ombudsman. I'm wondering what kind of outcome I can expect and if there are alternative methods which may be more worthwhile pursuing such as the small claims court etc.

I am not one to usually kick up a fuss, but I feel like this issue has been handled to an almost farcical level of ineptitude by this company and it has genuinely caused me a great deal of grief and frustration because I've been basically rendered powerless to change it.

The issue:

I moved into my property November 2017. It is written into my tenancy agreement that I can't change energy provider, which is Green Star Energy.

The Issue:
I paid my bill happily enough to a point. I did experience some financial difficulty at one point and set up a payment plan. But this is by the by. I am not disputing that I owe GreenStar energy money, nor do i expect a service for free. I signed up to their online service to help me manage my bill more effectively and efficiently

It came to my attention about June this year when I went to submit a meter reading on the online service that the Low (night) reading and Normal (day) reading were in the wrong boxes on my online account. ie. the Low figure which was higher was in the normal box and vice versa. There is an old fashioned two tier meter at my property and I am on an economy 7 tariff as I have storage heaters and an immersion heater for hot water. Admittedly I had entered a couple of meter readings before this date and not realised the mistake, simply adding into the box which had the closest figure to it. This issue must have predated me and who knows how many tenants have lived here under these circumstances.

So, after some online research to make sure that the Low reading should correspond to the Night rate on the online service and vice versa, I attempted to rectify the situation by inputting correct values on the online system. I click submit and get error messages 'your reading is too far out of the specified range, please re-enter'. I searched for a number for Green Star customer service on their site and so the nightmare begins!! :rotfl:

I get through to an overseas call centre. The person is very pleasant and polite. I explain the situation. I'm not sure they understand, the line is bad, I must admit I am finding it difficult to understand everything they are saying, I have to ask for information to be repeated and its basically a much longer call than expected. Nevertheless I am eventually reasonably assured they understand the situation and will update the system, and revise a bill to reflect billing at incorrect rates. It will take a few days for the system to update apparently.

A few days later, the values are still in the wrong box. I ring again, I wait on hold for 20 mins to half an hour. I then spend an hour trying to explain this issue to another overseas agent with the same problems as before. Im not sure they understand, I feel like the call is half english lesson half customer service. Nevertheless I am reasonably convinced they understand the issue and will update the values.

A week or so later, the values are still wrong on the online system. I ring again. I'm on hold for half an hour and then service gets cut off so i have to call bac. I wait another 20 minutes on hold and get through to an overseas centre. On this occasion I was very stressed in general about other things, and I behaved in a way that I am not proud of. I was not verbally abusive, but very very irate after encountering the same issues as before and not being at all convinced that my issue had been understood. Eventually, reasonably assuaged that the issue was understood the call ended.

A week later... oh. my. god. The values are still wrong. I ring green star again. Im on hold for half an hour again. I get through and immediately demand to talk to a supervisor, preferably based in britain or at least fluent in english. I get put on hold for half an hour. I get through to supervisor. Supervisor is no more helpful than previous agent. I have absolutely no confidence now that my situation is understood. I start the complaints process on that phone call.

Meanwhile, my bill is now clocking up. I don't want to pay because I am in utter confusion as to what my bill actually is or should be by now, given that im very likely to be being charged incorrectly.

I'm assured by a letter and an email that my complaint is being investigated and a revised bill will be generated. I get an email saying my situation has now been resolved. I check my account, the values are still wrong.

A meter man is sent around by green star energy around this point to take an unequivocal reading. He enters the values incorrectly, or correctly, im not even sure anymore. All i know is there is one reading which says 'Low' and a number next to it. I can only assume this number is the number for the low rate right? And the number next to 'Normal' is the day rate. But the meter man has put these in vice versa. How is this even possible, this has started to defy belief.

I now start sending emails. I send a photo of my meter and a photo of my online account reading. I seek confirmation of which value goes in which box. The email responder advises that the Low reading corresponds to the Night time box and the Normal reading corresponds to the daytime box. Its unequivocal. I had sought confirmation of this on the phone calls and although it was unclear whether they understood, that was also the general gist. Makes sense right? Night time is a low rate, low demand. Daytime - peak time - is a normal rate. Ok then. 'We have updated your account to reflect the correct readings now of <wrong value in wrong box again>. Oh. my god. I honestly feel at this point like im losing my marbles. I give up and just wait for the complaints period to end. I get a letter informing me I can now complain to the ombudsman. Im very busy and I plan to get on with it when I have time.

I then get a call while at work from Green Star energy complaints team. She is a nice lady. She's British, fluent in English and seems to understand exactly what the problem is. She assures me that the issue is now resolved. The figures are correctly swapped over and they recognise my inconvenience and would like to offer me £75 goodwill payment. I know how it works with this process a bit, if it goes to the ombudsman it will incur the company a fee of a few hundred, so any settlement below that is still better for the supplier. Nevertheless, she is nice, she sounds a bit nervous at the idea of negotiating so I just accept, glad the issue is resolved. Great now I can get on with my life.

NO! I. Was. Wrong dear reader! A few days later I check my online account. The values are still wrong. They have cancelled about 8 previous bills but in the new one, the god darn values are still, wrong!!

I give up, I put it to the back of my mind and try my best to ignore the harassing letters and enails, Im very busy with work. I have a full time job and am trying to start a business with the precious free time I have left over. I wait til I have an opportunity to deal with it. Which is today. A day off, another one spent dealing with this problem.

I ring green star ask them to reopen the complaint, in itself an absolute challenge. I ring the ombudsman and divulge details. I spend the rest of the day uploading, photoing every bit of evidence, every bill, every photo I sent, every email string and making sure the details of my complaint are as accurate as possible.

What can I expect from this? I feel like this has gone beyond a shortfall in customer service to be absolutely ridiculous. They have stated on numerous occasions that what im saying is correct, in email and on the phone. And yet every bill, the figures have not changed. I recognise it will be a nightmare to reestimate what the actual bills are given that who knows how long the wrong readings have been on the system. Nevertheless thats not my problem. I just want to use energy, get billed at the correct rates and pay it.

I'm not one to usually kick up a fuss. I resisted at first not wanting to lose any overseas call centre agent their job as who knows what pithy job protection laws they have over there and how valuable a job is. But come on, this has become maddening.

Ive seen on similar threads, you cant expect to be compsnsated for your time and loss of earnings. But I dont understand why not. Spending time on this has cost me money, it has cost me time. They have repeatedly told me they will resolve it and then they havent. Its like living in an alternate universe.

I now do expect a decent amount of compensation for the stress of dealing with this and for my lost time which is very valuable to me.

However after reading some threads ive got no real confidence that even the ombudsman will satisfactorily sort this. What can I do? Are there no win no fee solicitors out there? Should I file in the small claims court.

I cant cope with them keeping on doing this :mad::mad::(:(

You can either file in your local county court, or you can file online (cheaper! :money:) with Money Claim Online

You don't need a solicitor; the process is designed to allow you to act in person and without representation.

In fact, legal fees (if incurred) are not usually recoverable in such claims. Hence, it would be most unlikely that any solicitor would take on such matters under a no win, no fee agreeement.

Pete99

If you look at the ofgem.gov.uk website, enter Tenants' energy rights explained in the search box, there's a bit explaining your rights to switch as a tenant, as long as you pay the supplier yourself and not the landlord for energy you have the right to switch, personally I can't see why a landlord would tie you in to one particular energy supplier, surely they're only interested in getting the rent in.

Talldave

Although it's going off topic, potential tenants should refuse to sign tenancy agreements with clauses that prohibit energy switching. It's just lazy landlords/letting agents not keeping up with the times.

On our current rental through a large and allegedly respectable letting agency I had to correct several errors on the rental agreement before it was fit to sign and also point out that their documentation on the letting process with regards to deposits etc didn't match what they asked for. It's lazy incompetence- just point it out and get them to fix it.