Shell Energy - not billing

Lilashes85

Hello - Hoping someone can give me some advice. 

I switched to Shell last year, there were issues with the switch and I communicated with them via twitter to 'resolve' the issues - when I set up my account I also set up a DD for my payments. I later received an email advising I was paying on receipt of bill (I had confirmation of DD in place). My switch was supposed to be the start of Oct, but leading up to this date I received no contact from them, so again, I contacted them, they advised there was an issue but it was being sorted and the switch was in place and they will be billing from 3 Oct, I set up another DD, I was assured everything was in place and not to worry. 

I checked my bank a few days later and the DD was in place, panic over - forgot about it and continued with my life  

In January I had to move, I couldn't advise them of this online so again I messaged them on twitter with readings and advised them I would give final readings when I left. 

About a week after I moved I get an email from them advising there was an issue with my gas meter (this is the 1st communication I have had with them since some time in Sept) as I had changed the meter the day before the switch....never happened..! The gas and elec meters were both changed to smart meters in 2017. I did as requested and emailed a pic of the gas meter with ref.

around 3 weeks after I moved I receive a welcome email for my gas and elec supply, on the same day I receive a 'sorry you're leaving' email, and then I received a bill for nearly £400!!

To my surprise they never took any payments from my DD, but wanted to use my DD to take full payment now!  I checked with my bank, no DD was ever taken, I cancelled it, as I don't have that money now.

My first complaint was resolved by them removing the 2x £30 exit fees, my argument was, they never started my account until 3 weeks after I moved, you have never administered my account and have put me into debt! They agreed and removed the fees-  my point is, they would have never found out they didn't open my account until I moved or changed suppliers, this could have been years later meaning I could owe thousands without knowing I had a debt. 

If they had been using my DD my final bill would have been around £40, which I could have cleared - I had no reason to think the DD wasn't being taken, I had no communication from them to advise there was an issue or give me an opportunity to pay manually until the issue was resolved, I've now moved house thinking the money in my account was mine to use and have had to buy white goods etc. 

Anyway - as above, I received no communication from Shell at all from Sept - Feb, I then get harassed by them by phone, email and SMS (13 calls in 3 days) chasing me for this debt, that they have created. 

I know I owe the money, this is not my point - my point is, if they were doing their job I wouldn't owe this amount, I wouldn't have bought the white goods when I did or I may have not moved to this flat and looked for one that supplied white goods. I don;t have the money and none of this is my fault. 

Shell has said I have to repay the debt in 12 months or this will affect my credit rating - I don't agree with this as they are the reason I owe this debt, so they should allow me to pay it back and not affect my credit.

Also, I have 2 meters with them, if there was a problem with the gas meter, why has this stopped them from setting up my electric account? Why has this stopped them billing me? As they pointed out, this is my usage, and that sentiment swings both ways - whether there was an issue with the meter or not this doesn't stop me raking up units and shouldn't stop them from taking payment as clearly money was owing. 

When I checked my final bill the meter reference they used for my gas is no the same as the meter I had in the property - this is backed up by the picture I sent them and my final bill from EON which has the same meter ref and that bill was until Oct 2020

Not sure what to do with this now - I have escalated the complaint and they keep saying the same thing, I have to pay within 12 months, the previously offered to take £10 off the bill, they didn't do this and I think this is a joke, they have caused me undue stress in an already stressful time and none of this is my doing.

Any help??

MWT

Nothing much anyone can add that is going to be much help unfortunately.

All of this is far too recent to benefit from any back-billing rules, and given all the problems you had getting this started you don't have much of an excuse for not noticing that you were not paying, so you can't really claim that you are entirely blameless in having spent the money you should have been paying to them...

In the circumstances giving you 12 months to pay seems more than adequate

Lilashes85

If the DD is set up with my bank, which it wasn't the first time. 

I'm not sure how I'm to blame for not knowing they didn't set up my account...but thanks anyway

MWT

Lilashes85 said:
I'm not sure how I'm to blame for not knowing they didn't set up my account...but thanks anyway

Just to help avoid anything like this in the future, when you switch you need to make sure your payments are being made and that the new supplier is actually getting meter readings if you have smart meters or that you are giving them monthly readings if they are not getting them directly from your meters.

It isn't enough to just set up a DD and then do nothing for a few months.

Even if the DD was being taken there is no guarantee that it was actually covering your usage, so even the most minimal of checks from your side would have revealed that your account was not properly in place and that your payments were not being taken.

Fortunately the amount owed is not huge as the time period was relatively short, and being given 12 months to pay is actually a good result.

phillw

Lilashes85 said:

If the DD is set up with my bank, which it wasn't the first time. 

I'm not sure how I'm to blame for not knowing they didn't set up my account...but thanks anyway

How is this about blame? They want paying for the energy you used and haven't paid for.

Your complaint seems to be that you didn't know they hadn't taken the money and then so you spent all the money in your account, thinking you had more than you otherwise should have.

You're better off having 12 months to pay it than if they had been taking a direct debit.

What else do you think they should do?

Lilashes85

Just to update you, the ombudsmen found in favour of me for all points raised in my complaint and Shell have to compensate me two seperate amounts as the Ombudsmen have advised  and write a formal apology letter. 

I was not complaining about paying my own bill, I'm not a moron, but thanks for the replies.
I'm glad I didn't listen to them and took this to the ombudsmen.

Although I didn't check for a debited payment, which I have never done after seeing a DD is set up against my account, Shell have a responsibility to tell the customer if there is an issue with their account, which there was and they never advised of the issue.