Decision Dilemma - Symbio, Pure Planet, or....?

SaraD

Tallerdave said:

Symbio - massively over-estimate to gain interest free loan from customers

Can you explain this sentence, please? Sorry if it's obvious to others. I'm assuming you switched to Symbio purely on cost, then? And I'm curious to know if you plan to stick with them or return to Pure Planet (or another supplier) when you next can?

UnclaimedEnergy

Symbio Energy are known to overbill customers by 20%+
Symbio also have a habit recently of taking more than one direct debit each month.

Sure on an annual basis you should save £50, however if this requires you to pay out an extra £50 a month, is it worth it?
Whatever credit you have when they went bust will be covered by the new supplier, however people who were with Yorkshire Energy when they went bust in December are still waiting for their credit 

Hasbeen

UnclaimedEnergy said:

Symbio Energy are known to overbill customers by 20%+
Symbio also have a habit recently of taking more than one direct debit each month.

Sure on an annual basis you should save £50, however if this requires you to pay out an extra £50 a month, is it worth it?
Whatever credit you have when they went bust will be covered by the new supplier, however people who were with Yorkshire Energy when they went bust in December are still waiting for their credit 

As others have said Symbio's billing system is "different" you provide the reading and they "calculate" forward to a reading when the bill is validated and approved LOL. But as others have said in other threads, it all works out in the end. even when they leave.

And they do give you the option of not paying by DD, but on receipt of bill. I have been with them now up to 2 years.

All companies have posters providing horror stories about them, but as long as I am saving my money then fine. 

icantbelieveitsnotbutter_2

My experience is to avoid pure planet at all costs. They're not worth the hassle and aren't the cheapest and definitely not by the time they hike up your bills artificially. 

Hasbeen

Yes. Last time I renewed it was between Symbio and Neon Reef. So in your position, I would go for Neon Reef

Gerry1

Not sure you've done your sums correctly and compared all suppliers if a single rate tariff with Neon Reef works out cheaper than E7.

It works for me because my night usage is only 22%, but yours is likely to be much higher.  But if everything adds up, go for Neon Reef.  I wouldn't think of going to a company that tries to deter critical reviews by threatening £25,000 damages claims (have a look at Symbio's boilerplate replies on Trustpilot).

UnclaimedEnergy

@Hasbeen You sound like you work for them... seriously, stop defending them just because they're offering rates way below costs and hiding the facts from people who actually want advice on what suppliers are like.

• Symbio calculate forward yes, however most of the time this calculation is nearly double the EAC/12. They've previously used the excuse of higher winter usage for this, however this is still carrying on now. Even if it is reconciled every month, you're still paying more than you should be each month to keep them afloat.
• They then take two direct debits from you if you aren't on pay on receipt
• Recently they increased everyones EACs by 12% without any evidence supporting the increase.
• They're now threatening legal action on Trustpilot to anyone leaving a 1 star review
• You now have customers saying that they're waiting months for a credit refund after switching away.

These aren't the odd customer providing horror stories, the majority of people have these issues with them. 

If you're desperate to get the cheapest deal and have the cash-flow to keep up with the sporadic billing then go for it, 100%. If not, for now go for Neon Reef.

SaraD

Gerry1 said:

Not sure you've done your sums correctly and compared all suppliers if a single rate tariff with Neon Reef works out cheaper than E7.

It works for me because my night usage is only 22%, but yours is likely to be much higher.  But if everything adds up, go for Neon Reef.  I wouldn't think of going to a company that tries to deter critical reviews by threatening £25,000 damages claims (have a look at Symbio's boilerplate replies on Trustpilot).

My night usage is 31% - I've re-checked that a few times. So a bit higher, yes, but the sums do still work.

So I've just signed up with Neon Reef but already I'm confused? They're charging me less on the Direct Debit than the estimate on the tariff quoted on this MSE site -  which I thought was based on the details I have input about my usage - so what changed? I must be thick as I just don't get how it all works! One day I'll figure it all out! I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the next 12 months and interested to see how/if my new smart meter can be used or not. Thanks all.

SaraD

UnclaimedEnergy said:

@Hasbeen You sound like you work for them... seriously, stop defending them just because they're offering rates way below costs and hiding the facts from people who actually want advice on what suppliers are like.

• Symbio calculate forward yes, however most of the time this calculation is nearly double the EAC/12. They've previously used the excuse of higher winter usage for this, however this is still carrying on now. Even if it is reconciled every month, you're still paying more than you should be each month to keep them afloat.
• They then take two direct debits from you if you aren't on pay on receipt
• Recently they increased everyones EACs by 12% without any evidence supporting the increase.
• They're now threatening legal action on Trustpilot to anyone leaving a 1 star review
• You now have customers saying that they're waiting months for a credit refund after switching away.

These aren't the odd customer providing horror stories, the majority of people have these issues with them. 

If you're desperate to get the cheapest deal and have the cash-flow to keep up with the sporadic billing then go for it, 100%. If not, for now go for Neon Reef.

I appreciate everyone will have an individual view, so I'm taking all comments on board, with thanks, as it's a learning curve for me. The one thing that I can be 100% certain of, is that whichever option I go for, I'm almost certain to have some issue - as I've just said, have just signed up with Neon Reef and not only do the figures not seem to match the tariff quoted here, but I've just tried to register with their website only for an error to occur. I'm thinking it must simply be ME, lol!! 

SPOWER

SaraD said:

Gerry1 said:

Not sure you've done your sums correctly and compared all suppliers if a single rate tariff with Neon Reef works out cheaper than E7.

It works for me because my night usage is only 22%, but yours is likely to be much higher.  But if everything adds up, go for Neon Reef.  I wouldn't think of going to a company that tries to deter critical reviews by threatening £25,000 damages claims (have a look at Symbio's boilerplate replies on Trustpilot).

My night usage is 31% - I've re-checked that a few times. So a bit higher, yes, but the sums do still work.

So I've just signed up with Neon Reef but already I'm confused? They're charging me less on the Direct Debit than the estimate on the tariff quoted on this MSE site -  which I thought was based on the details I have input about my usage - so what changed? I must be thick as I just don't get how it all works! One day I'll figure it all out! I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the next 12 months and interested to see how/if my new smart meter can be used or not. Thanks all.

Hi.  Neon Reef seem to estimate what you use based on questions about the size of your home and how many bedrooms you have I think.  On the quote screen, you have to click on something to input the actual usage.  With myself, I had to ask them to increase my Direct Debit by £10 as the quote amount was too low.