Energy supplier accusing customers of bullying!!!

Kezzo

I recently switched to Symbio as they are marketed as being the cheapest. Their customer support is very poor. It is virtually impossible to contact them, the phones are not answered and they take weeks to get back to telephone and email messages (over 4 weeks this time). During the wait I decided to look at their reviews on Trustpilot and was shocked to see that any negative reviews (of which there are lots!) have the most shocking responses from Symbio. In most they accuse the customer of cyber bullying them!!! Surely a review about a negative experience is not bullying?!?!  I sincerely regret switching to them and am now looking into paying an exit fee and moving to another company that’s fractionally more expensive. I will definitely be leaving a review of my experience once the contract is ended

Gerry1

I don't know why anyone trusts Trustpilot.  Many reviews seems to be posted by the companies themselves, usually five star and praising named members of staff to the sky.  Unflattering reviews are challenged by the companies and taken down.

brewerdave

Re Trustpilot and energy companies - just look at reviews for Together Energy - they are all either 1 star (posted by disgruntled TE customers) or 5 star (posted by either by staff or customers begged to post a positive review).
Trustpilot makes Amazon reviews seem trustworthy !!

Kezzo

Gerry1 I agree but the issue I’m talking about is the responses from Symbio to their 1 star reviews. Usually companies at least pretend to care or offer to try and rectify issues and by doing this improve their image not hurl accusations back at their customer that has already had a bad experience with them

dogshome

Sorry you have been caught out with Symbio - The advice from the old hands on this forum is to check the customer feed-back before signing up - The upside is that you won't make the same mistake twice

Swipe

To be fair, I think the Indian Call centre in Goa suffered some abuse regarding them being based overseas and the "cyber bullying" part which was the original response to those comments got added to their lazy cut and paste template response text.

rp1974

Ah yes the well known and respected institution that is Trustpilot,you can accept information posted there as being as accurate and true as that posted on Facebook,Twitter,etc.Been with Symbio since August 2019 and just about to renew.Not the very cheapest anymore however the amount of difference makes switching in my case an unnecessary action.Kezzo,did you do price  comparisons before signing up with Symbio,or just take their word for it?.The response to customer complaints probably an automated standard reply is unacceptable though,and can be safely disregarded and ignored.

Kezzo

Rp1974 Symbio was the cheapest on the Martin lewis comparisons but it did say there wasn’t enough feedback to say if they were good or bad. I usually go with one of the bigger companies and pay a little more but this time I thought I’d try a smaller company. If I’d realised they are so small they can’t even answer the phone I wouldn’t have bothered!!  Having researched a little more I don’t think any of the energy companies are giving good customer service 

peter12345678910

The cheapest tariff may turn out the most expensive. I always look for 2 year fixed price deals, as tariffs always rise just before winter. 

Trust pilot does have a few negative reviews about Symbio and they do appear an expression of real frustration whereas the five star reviews do not seem to express real praise but false praise.