Bulb denied my £250 top up.

MWT

Christoffelofalus said:

So I pulled together what I could into a pot in order to buffer against the energy price hikes.  I topped up my prepay key with £250 but it wouldn't transfer to my meter. 
I contacted bulb, they asked for photos of receipts and meter readings and then went silent via email.  I don't hear anything from them via email time and again after getting through via webchat but today I got this;   Confirming Prepay will not carry over.     

Not exactly eloquent here but I'm so angry.  

I wouldn't assume that the CS agent has given you accurate information.

Your only problem right now is that you can't transfer part of the balance from a key, it is all or nothing, so until your balance on the meter drops at least below £5, you will not be able to top-up again.

The tariff rates on the electricity key will not update until you next reload it, so it doesn't matter if you transfer to the meter today, or next week, the rates will not change as a consequence of transferring the credit to the meter.

The only part that remains to be seen is if Bulb will try to back-date the rate change at some point in the future.

Christoffelofalus

MattMattMattUK said:

Christoffelofalus said:

I should say this has been over a period of 4 days.  Only now have they confirmed they're not willing to transfer money to my meter OR honour pre-hike prices

You cannot top up over the maximum amount (£255) and there is nothing to do with "honouring" pre-hike prices, those prices were never legitimately allowed to be carried over past 1st April, it just so happens that in some cases there may have been a loophole. You tried to game the system, you failed, that is life. 

Forget the limits, that point is entirely irrelevant here; Further down the chat she says the rates will not carry over anyway (Again, negating your rather needless 'gAm'in'g tThe' sYSt'em' argument). 

They COULD credit my meter, I've seen it done. The point, again, is that they are not allowing me to carry over my rates as was suggested they might.

MWT

Christoffelofalus said:

They COULD credit my meter, I've seen it done. The point, again, is that they are not allowing me to carry over my rates as was suggested they might.

They can't add the last credit you paid for (£250) to a meter that isn't empty or close to it, I really don't think the agent was doing anything wrong in saying 'no' on that point, you will just have to wait a little...

Forget the limits, that point is entirely irrelevant here; Further down the chat she says the rates will not carry over anyway

... and there I think the agent is wrong in as much as using the key next week is no different to using it this week, the rates on the electricity key and hence the meter will not change.

If the agent is saying they will adjust later for the rate change then they could do that regardless of if you added credit to the meter today or not, so it makes no difference to your current problem.

Christoffelofalus

MWT said:

... and there I think the agent is wrong in as much as using the key next week is no different to using it this week, the rates on the electricity key and hence the meter will not change.

If the agent is saying they will adjust later for the rate change then they could do that regardless of if you added credit to the meter today or not, so it makes no difference to your current problem.

Yeh, it makes no difference how much I can top up right now.  I would hope that the purchase date would reflect which rate I get but it seems doubtful based on what the agent says.   Only time will tell. 

MWT

Christoffelofalus said:

MWT said:

... and there I think the agent is wrong in as much as using the key next week is no different to using it this week, the rates on the electricity key and hence the meter will not change.

If the agent is saying they will adjust later for the rate change then they could do that regardless of if you added credit to the meter today or not, so it makes no difference to your current problem.

Yeh, it makes no difference how much I can top up right now.  I would hope that the purchase date would reflect which rate I get but it seems doubtful based on what the agent says.   Only time will tell. 

If you mean the date you put the credit onto the key, then no, that has no direct relevance to the rates used for the consumption.

This is at the core of why this whole thing is a 'loop-hole' not a right.

You are not buying kWh when you put credit onto the key, you are just topping up your cash balance.

I'd say there is still a good chance that Bulb will not actually recover the additional cost for usage between now and when you next add credit to the key and use the key in the meter.

They have the right to do it, but I suspect they lack the ability and to some extent the motivation.

london21

Why not try £210?

Maximum it will allow is £250, you already have 37.40.

Maximum you can top up is £212.60

MWT

london21 said:

Why not try £210?

That isn't an option.

With £250 on the key you have to top up using all of it or nothing, you can't just take some of it off of the key.

Marvel1

MattMattMattUK said:

Marvel1 said:

It is true, wait until meter goes zero then use the key, the key holds today's rate, not tomorrow's.  It will update rates when the key is used at the shop from tomorrow.

However some suppliers have said that when the key is next used after a top up it will retrospectively apply the new rates (back dated to 01/04), a few will get away with it, but the majority of people trying to game the system will fail. 

I'm one of them after the first advice it was ok.