SHELL ENERGY KEEPING ME PRISONER TO THEIR SUPPLY TO ME.

electoman

Shell Energy will not allow me to change my energy supplier to EDF.

EDF energy have informed me that Shell Energy will not let me move to them!

1/  I am not in any debt with this company and never have been- in fact it is in credit!
2/  I pay by direct debit through my bank.
3/  I have new compatible smart meters installed- about a year now.
4/  I own out-right - my own house- Apparently if you rent they can do this?
5/  I do not use economy seven or ten.
6/  I am not on a pre-payment meter.

I decided to move onto EDF 3 Year fixed plan about a month ago.
I can not get any answer or replies from Shell Energy so they can explain to me why they can Lawfully stop me from changing?

I have tried to use the online Ombudsman service - but you have to wait 8 weeks and prove that you have had contact from your existing supplier.
HOW CAN YOU DO THAT IF SHELL ENERGY WONT REPLY?

I WILL NOW LOSE THE ENERGY DEAL I HAD SET UP WITH EDF AND HAVE TO PAY ENORMOUS AMOUNTS OF MONEY TO SHELL WHEN IT FINISHES MY FIXED DEAL THIS COMING JANUARY!

This is like a Dictatorship Economy, where the consumer has no rights at all when they are completely innocent!
This Government has a lot to answer for - disgusting!
I have NEVER BEEN IN ANY DEBT IN MY LIFE and these companies are allowed to do this. To hard working people with the blessing of this government.

SURLEY THIS HAS TO BE ILLEGAL? - HOW CAN A COMPANY STOP YOU DOING SOMETHING AS NORMAL AND LEGAL AS THIS?
HOW DARE SOME ONE SAY - in different terms - "YOUR STAYING WITH US - WE ARE NOT ALLOWING YOU TO CHANGE."

I doubt that even If I tried to take this to court it would just end up in tears, with you owing the court fees?
Quite truly I feel sick to the stomach!
Some times I wish that everything was Nationalised again.

BTW - The points listed at the start of this post are reasons why they CAN stop a transfer!

How many other people have experienced this?


Keith

Robin9

@electoman Are you 100% sure you are in credit?   

Some of the online accounts can be misleading.   They show your credit/debit at the time of the last bill plus the DD's you have made since. They may NOT show the cost of the energy you have used.

spiro

Robin9 said:

@electoman Are you 100% sure you are in credit?   

Some of the online accounts can be misleading.   They show your credit/debit at the time of the last bill plus the DD's you have made since. They may NOT show the cost of the energy you have used.

That makes no difference,  if you pay by DD you will have a debit or credit  balance, you also get statements not bills. What you don't get is a debt, this only occurs after they have issued a demand for payment (a bill) and you do not pay it within 28 days. Therefore your account could be £200 in debit and they can't stop you switching although some suppliers have incorrectly done that in the past.

Send an email with a subject clearly labelled Complaint and demanding to know why they are blocking your switch.  I would also statements that if you loose out on the tariff you hoped to switch to that you will take them to court for the extra costs you incur for the duration of the deal you lost.

Robin9

Can I put this another way 

@electoman How do you know you are in credit?  

Inigo_Montoya

When you complain to the Ombudsman you need to tell them that the tariff (which I assume was fixed) you wanted to move to is now unavailable & calculate how much extra you are going to have to pay based on the cheapest fixed tariff now available - you can't compare against the cheapest variable tariff as its going to increase in October & April (& potentially further too) & you don't know how much the increases are going to be

Hopefully they will award the difference as part of the resolution

The above assumes there was not a valid reason for the transfer to be blocked which you are not aware of but it does sound like it was blocked wrongly from what you have said so far

[Deleted User]

Inigo_Montoya said:

When you complain to the Ombudsman you need to tell them that the tariff (which I assume was fixed) you wanted to move to is now unavailable & calculate how much extra you are going to have to pay based on the cheapest fixed tariff now available - you can't compare against the cheapest variable tariff as its going to increase in October & April (& potentially further too) & you don't know how much the increases are going to be

Hopefully they will award the difference as part of the resolution

The above assumes there was not a valid reason for the transfer to be blocked which you are not aware of but it does sound like it was blocked wrongly from what you have said so far

This is all great advice but …… The supplier’s complaints procedure has 8 weeks to come up with a response and The Ombudsman process can take up to another 8 weeks to come to a Final Decision. The supplier then has 4 weeks to comply, and a further 4 weeks if it doesn’t. If the supplier does nothing, the Final Decision will not be enforced through the Courts by The Ombudsman.

As suggested, the OP needs to get all his facts right. For example, how much credit is there on the account (this must based on an actual meter reading and then it is valid for one day only)? Bear in mind that The Energy Ombudsman does NOT investigate: it adjudicates on the evidence provided to it by the complainant and the supplier. The Energy Ombudsman will be fully aware of the criteria that a supplier can use to block a switch. 

Edit:  I should have pointed out that if the supplier does not respond to a complaint in can be escalated to The Energy Ombudsman after 8 weeks has elapsed come what may.

electoman

Thanks for all replies.

All my facts are completely correct.

I have an online account with Shell and it suggested that I lower my Direct Debit payments by £7 per month.
I am in Credit of  £102 after paying this months Direct Debit.

However - this issue may have been resolved in that Shell have just sent me an email apologising for the blockage.

They have an ongoing IT/Technical problem that is not yet solved.
This situation can still prevent people moving to another supplier and possibly losing a better deal they could have got, because of the time scales involved.

I am not holding my breath on this one.
It could still be that I end up on a much higher tariff if Shell don't take the block off?

BobT36

Sounds like if they've acknowledge it's an IT problem of theirs, they should be refunding you the difference.