Mis-selling problem

dustygerb

Hello all,
I was a Green Network Energy customer. My account has now been automatically transferred to EDF.
When I swapped my dual fuel account to GNE I did so based on their figure of £80 and some pence p.c.m., given the details of my previous bills and usage. 

It became apparent that I had accrued a large debt during the initial six month period which became larger as time went on, as did my bills. One month my bill was nearly twice the estimated amount.
I raised a complaint with GNE. They told me that my bills were correct. Nothing material, that would have affected my bills had changed substantially during this period to explain the drastic rise.
After much going and froing and no sign of resolution, they went bust.

Shortly after this I received an automated email from GNE informing me that I was now, given that my complaint had not been resolved eight weeks after raising it, entitled to refer it to the energy Ombudsman. I contacted the Ombudsman’s office and was informed that they would not take on the case because GNE were no longer trading! 

EDF has now raised my complaint with the relevant party at what remains of GNE. GNE upheld my complaint that I was, in effect, mis sold the contract, given the discrepancy between their original offer and subsequent bills.

EDF say that they are not liable for the mistakes of GNE and have offered me a £50 goodwill gesture.
I have refused this as I consider it a derisory amount given that my closing bill from GNE asks for around £500 to settle the debt. Also, had I been given accurate information about the potential size of my bills during my time as a GNE customer, I would never have switched to them. 

EDF have been good enough to say that they will look again at a resolution but I suspect that it will be unacceptable to me. Ideally, I would like this debt cancelled, given the circumstances. 

Can anyone advise me as to where I stand? I’ve felt pretty powerless from the beginning.

Any constructive input would be appreciated.

TIA

Andrew

dunstonh

When I swapped my dual fuel account to GNE I did so based on their figure of £80 and some pence p.c.m., given the details of my previous bills and usage. 

That is the worst way to compare providers and switch on that basis.   It inevitably ends up with the individual not paying close to the right amount.

It became apparent that I had accrued a large debt during the initial six month period which became larger as time went on, as did my bills

How many meter readings did you give in that period?

One month my bill was nearly twice the estimated amount.
I raised a complaint with GNE. They told me that my bills were correct. Nothing material, that would have affected my bills had changed substantially during this period to explain the drastic rise.

Was this a cold month?  Its normal for actual use to double during the cold months.

Shortly after this I received an automated email from GNE informing me that I was now, given that my complaint had not been resolved eight weeks after raising it, entitled to refer it to the energy Ombudsman. I contacted the Ombudsman’s office and was informed that they would not take on the case because GNE were no longer trading! 

That is normal with most ombudsman services.   

 Also, had I been given accurate information about the potential size of my bills during my time as a GNE customer, I would never have switched to them. 

How could they give you accurate information when you did not give them accurate information to begin with. Garbage in, garbage out.

Can anyone advise me as to where I stand?

During any of this process, have you looked at your actual usage and compared the old tariff with the new one?  I would not be surprised to find that the cost difference is minimal.

Also, did you do the switch after summer or before summer?  if you did after summer, then you had no summer credit build up and you would automatically go into debt with the supplier because of that.

Reed_Richards

My earlier post was not meant to be unkind, merely to prepare the OP for the likely tenure of some of the responses to follow.

A direct debit with an energy company is not an all-you-can-eat contract, it is based around an estimate of what energy you will use, the price per unit and the standing charge.  If someone pays no attention to the price and the standing charge they have no solid basis for comparing one energy company with another and could suffer from mis-selling.  If it were up to me the practice comparison sites have of headlining the direct debit and hiding away the price details would be banned 

Subsequently the unwary consumer may find that the usage estimate on which their direct debit was based was wrong and that they have paid less (or occasionally more) than they need to over some period of time.  In such instances they can find themselves suddenly faced with a large catch-up bill.  As best as I can tell this is what happened to the OP and I think they have done well to be offered compensation.  I do not know how they could possibly get more. 

For more details see: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/lower-energy-direct-debits/       

[Deleted User]

EDF is 100% correct. They have taken over the GNE accounts under the SoLR process. Any ongoing complaints; resolutions not implemented, claims of mis-selling etc made against GNE sit entirely with the failed company which is no longer trading. Personally, I am surprised that EDF has made a ‘goodwill’ offer as it has done nothing wrong.

So where do you stand? In truth, the ship has sailed. The Energy Ombudsman will not investigate complaints against a failed supplier as there is no way to hold a company that no longer exists to account. You could of course go to Court but who would you sue: you cannot sue a company that is no longer trading.

In sum, you should take the £50 on offer and notch this one down to experience.

molerat

Take the money, £50 is a pretty good amount and is likely the best you are going to get for something that is not the fault of EDF and is pretty much down to your own lack of diligence when setting up an energy account.  Be aware that by refusing the offer EDF could wash their hands of it and set the dogs on you for the outstanding balance. As above NEVER use previous DDs as the consumption figure, accurate annual kWh is the ONLY figure to use.

Gerry1

The milkman charges 50p per pint. You tell him you'll probably use six pints per week, and that you'll leave him a note when you don't want a delivery or need an extra pint.

You put £3 a week into a jam jar to pay him at the end of the month.

You don't count the bottles or keep your notes, and at the end of the month you find that there's not enough in your kitty to pay your bill in full. Turns out that you've glugged your way through far more of those 50p pints than you had anticipated.

Why do you expect the milkman to make up your shortfall from his pocket?

Cardew

Reed_Richards said:

 If it were up to me the practice comparison sites have of headlining the direct debit and hiding away the price details would be banned   

Agreed, but I would go further.

The whole reason Comparison websites exist is earn commission and using direct debit comparisons is but one 'ploy' To achieve this they have a variety of other dubious(not illegal) practices that are tolerated by Ofgem. i.e.

1. Showing only the companies to whom the comparison websites can switch the user*

2. Showing savings calculated on the assumption at the end of the fixed period tariff the customer would revert to their energy company's standard tariff*

3. Not showing if the customer's present company has a cheaper tariff.

* Us anoraks are aware that you can overcome that obstacle - but many will not be aware.

Now an even worse practice has arisen. The so-called 'exclusive' tariffs negotiated with a company by a comparison website.

I have an annex with very low gas.electricity consumption. Like many others I used Ebico with their zero rate Daily Standing Charge(DSC) but high unit(kWh) prices. However the days of low rate DSC are gone with the average in excess of 20p day, 40p  for dual fuel. However I found out by chance that one company were offering a DSC rate of 7.35p(14.7p for dual) through a comparison website I have never used. Do we need to check the scores of comparison websites in future to see if they have an Exclusive tariff?

I believe that there should be a government funded single comparison website - run by the Energy Saving Trust?? - that would not be driven by profit.

Gerry1

Citizens Advice and 'Which? Switch' are the closest to unbiased, whole of the market price comparison websites.

You may find this an interesting read:-

A “parasite market”: A competitive market of energy price comparison websites reduces consumer welfare

Cardew

Gerry1 said:

Citizens Advice and 'Which? Switch' are the closest to unbiased, whole of the market price comparison websites.

You may find this an interesting read:-

A “parasite market”: A competitive market of energy price comparison websites reduces consumer welfare

Thanks! This is the main conclusion:

The solution is clear: a single non-commercial PCW, such as the already existing Citizens Advice comparison tool, should be operated in a transactional mode, and overseen by the regulator, while providing energy price comparison services on a commercial basis should be prohibited.

The comparison websites get £millions every month in commission which is paid for by consumers in higher prices. Another benefit of closing down commercial PCWs would be the removal from our screens of an over-weight tenor and meerkat puppets.

I would add that the Citizens Advice and Which PCWs will not, by definition, show the 'Exclusive' tariffs that are only available on a single PCW.