Green switch to Shell Energy - two direct debits taken

Plasticman

I was a customer of Green Supplier Ltd who have now been taken over by Shell Energy. As advised by them I kept the old direct debit in place. This month I've had a direct debit taken both by Shell AND by Green. Shell tell me they can't help and I should contact the bank. My bank has told me that they can't help (under the direct debit guarantee) as Green have gone into administration! Any suggestions on how go get this resolved? I can't believe that I'm the only person who this has happened to. 

MWT

If you have not already done so, cancel the Green DD now.

The general advice form the SoLR not to cancel the DD with the failed supplier assumes that they will be able to transfer the DD to themselves, but if you end up setting up a new one with them then the old one should be cancelled.

Have you had a final bill yet from Green?

Once you get that, any credit remaining should be transferred to your Shell account, it may take a while but you will get the money on your new account eventually.

Bacman

Your bank have let a direct debit go to a company no longer trading, speak to them again.

Speak to the administrators of Green.

There have been many posts here and also on the Shell site that they couldn't transfer the DD from Green so therefore there was no point keeping the Green DD in place.

Plasticman

Thanks for the info. I cancelled the DD after this amount was taken. 

@MWT no, I haven't had a final bill from Green and the balance hasn't been transferred apparently so maybe I'll hold fire until that happens to see whether this payment has been included. 

MWT

Plasticman said:

@MWT no, I haven't had a final bill from Green and the balance hasn't been transferred apparently so maybe I'll hold fire until that happens to see whether this payment has been included. 

That makes sense, nothing really to complain about until the final bill is produced and you won't see the balance transferred until that happens anyway.

Plasticman

@MWT it's fine for me but not so great for people who haven't got the luxury of a spare monthly payment in their bank account just before Christmas. 

Bacman

Plasticman said:

@MWT it's fine for me but not so great for people who haven't got the luxury of a spare monthly payment in their bank account just before Christmas. 

Absolutely. Many people struggle with bills for sure. One tip here though, when you set up your Shell DD you can adjust what you want to pay them - sure after a couple of months if the figure is too low then they will increase the level however if you have a pot in the Green credit then you should be able to start with a low DD amount with Shell to tide you over for a couple of months, then when your balance from Green clears the credit in Shell, increase the Shell DD accordingly. That will bide a little time to get used to higher bills.

MWT

Plasticman said:

@MWT it's fine for me but not so great for people who haven't got the luxury of a spare monthly payment in their bank account just before Christmas. 

Understood, but I'd hope that if things were that tight then there would be a higher probability that they wouldn't keep two DD live at the same time...

canary2211

Pleased to say I have received recently

• final Green bill - fully agreed.
• first Shell bill - fully agreed
• Green credit balance correctly showing on Shell bill
• DD all in order.

Sadly, the tariff is about 80% increased. Hey ho..........

kerri_gt

Argh! Cancelled my Green DD in Dec-21 at the request of Shell and just logged onto my banking today to see another payment for Green has been taken in Jan!  

QrizB

kerri_gt said:

Argh! Cancelled my Green DD in Dec-21 at the request of Shell and just logged onto my banking today to see another payment for Green has been taken in Jan!  

If your bank has paid a cancelled DD you need to get onto the bank and get them to reverse it.