Powershop and E.ON

Donnymad

Has anyone else been disappointed by the way that Powershop has treated, (some of), its customers during the take-over E.O..

I have been with Powershop, previously part of nPower, for more than 2 years and I have to say that their model of buying energy, as much or as little as you want, using their Powerpacks, suited me down to earth! The website was excellent and all the information regarding prices, usage, etc. was easily available. Their Customer Service was ok, but fell away in the last few months...probably due to the pandemic.

I only found out about the takeover by E.ON when it was mentioned on another forum some time ago. No official contact at all from Powershop, except when I logged onto my account a few days ago and read: “Welcome! We have moved you to Powershop Lite.” I believe that translates into more expensive tariffs, even though my current ones don’t expire until October.
All the credit that I had built up by buying Powerpacks has now been refunded which means, I think, that I can’t purchase energy at their current prices. The Customer Service is virtually non-existent. I called them yesterday, and literally spent 51 minutes waiting for a response. Not even a recorded message to say that “my call will be answered soon.” I sent a (polite) online message of complaint today. Following my earlier experience I don’t have great hopes of a positive response.
If this is the way that E.ON treat its new customers, then I can’t see me staying with them too long, I’m afraid. However, I will see what they have to offer, and if they have a similar purchasing model to Powershop at similar prices, then I am prepared to give them a try.

Has anyone else, who is with Powershop, had my experiences?

SPOWER

Sorry, I am not answering your questions, but I am glad to see the back of them- Poweshop.  It was too complicated and just because it works in NZ and Aus don't mean it will work here.  We have different climates for a start.  Good riddance to them for over complicating energy.

Donnymad

We obviously have different opinions of Powershop...as we both are entitled to, SPOWER! It is/was certainly different from other energy suppliers, but if you are prepared to buy energy online a couple of times a week and supply monthly meter readings then, for me, I had energy costs of less than £700pa and good customer service...before the pandemic set in. 

I, for one, am sorry to see them go. I just wish that they had handled the switch more professionally.

Carrot007

Donnymad said:

I, for one, am sorry to see them go. I just wish that they had handled the switch more professionally.

It was pretty bad. However you can blame eon for that. They had owned then for over a year before makeing a descision about what to do. And with hardly any time left decided that no they would not be keeping that part going. The past year could hopwever well have been part of that as it was not decided beforehand (where as npower's domestic transfer that I was a part of was (I left eon next sucks)).

Donnymad

Carrot007 said:

Donnymad said:

I, for one, am sorry to see them go. I just wish that they had handled the switch more professionally.

They had owned then for over a year before makeing a descision about what to do. And with hardly any time left decided that no they would not be keeping that part going. 

Wow, I never realised that E.ON had owned Powershop since 2020. That makes the whole transfer procedure even worse.

tlcgrantham

Very interesting comments about Eons dealings. Assuming they’re true it completely explains the awful way Powershop customers have been treated conning them into buying packs they couldn’t use. I too was very satisfied with the Powershop model and customer service till most of the advisers  were made redundant leaving a skeleton staff to deal with angry customers 

Donnymad

Thanks for your comments, tlcg. I see that Powerpacks are no longer available to purchase, and the only information Powershop are providing is an estimate of how much I have used during the last period, and another estimate for the next period.
My balance has built up to a reasonable sum, which I assume will now be used to purchase future energy at higher tariffs...not the ones that I signed up to. Not happy at all, especially with the total lack of information from Powershop.
I’m tempted to contact Ofgem, but do you think that this is too early in the process? 

tlcgrantham

The first step would be to make an official complaint using Powershops process by email. There is another thread for Powershop and it seems others feel like you are doing similar. It may well result in some form of compensation if enough do it. If not by all means take it Ofgem.

Donnymad

Thanks again, tlcj. I wasn’t aware of the other similar thread, “Add your feedback on energy supplier Powershop.” I’ll use that one from now on!