Who do you complain to about Ombudsman Services?

Spoonie_Turtle

PenryP said:

At one point it suggests i should take my compaint to the Ombudsman !

Where?         

[Deleted User]

Spoonie_Turtle said:

PenryP said:

At one point it suggests i should take my compaint to the Ombudsman !

Where?         

I think that the OP means ‘Regulator’; that is, Ofgem. 

EOS has explained very clearly the limitations of the service that it offers. It cannot force energy suppliers to update their systems nor can it change the appointment of a SoLR. Given that EOS has made an award at the upper end of the scale, I struggle to see what more there is to complain about.

CanNeverThinkOfAUsername

Having just read the full Ombudsman reply it is not that bad, it's one of the good ones. Not perfect, but good. They have given you details, and explained things etc. I don't see anything unprofessional, we all make typo's at work.

As for the "drunken post-christmas party ramblings", i can't see anything of the like tbh.

Mobtr

victor2 said:

PenryP said:

Here is a copy of the final decision i received yesterday - My complaint related to EDF cutting short the quarterly period of my whole amount quartery account account, applying estimated readings, billing and taking dirct debit payments part way through the quarerly window. Taking estimated direct debit, rather than the accurate amount or the RPA which the document terms state should be taken when reading aren't provided. EDF failed to acknowledge, appologise or make amends for it's mismanagement. I'd backed this up with 13 peices of evidence detailing the ongoing issues.

Ombudsman Services response below,

....

 

Not judging you in any way, but your own post illustrates how typos can creep into a post/email etc., and I probably know you as well as you know the person who wrote your response.
I don't fully understand their response, but equally don't understand how you say you were on direct debit quarterly full amount when EDF only offer direct debit monthly full amount.
I can quite easily believe EDF had shortcomings in their management of your account, for which it has been suggested they give you a £100 gesture. If everything is now sorted out to a reasonable state going forward, I'd be inclined to accept that and move on. If you want to switch away, nothing is stopping you, apart from finding a supplier you can currently switch to!

EDF do offer quarterly direct debit whole amount 

victor2

Mobtr said:

victor2 said:

PenryP said:

Here is a copy of the final decision i received yesterday - My complaint related to EDF cutting short the quarterly period of my whole amount quartery account account, applying estimated readings, billing and taking dirct debit payments part way through the quarerly window. Taking estimated direct debit, rather than the accurate amount or the RPA which the document terms state should be taken when reading aren't provided. EDF failed to acknowledge, appologise or make amends for it's mismanagement. I'd backed this up with 13 peices of evidence detailing the ongoing issues.

Ombudsman Services response below,

....

 

Not judging you in any way, but your own post illustrates how typos can creep into a post/email etc., and I probably know you as well as you know the person who wrote your response.
I don't fully understand their response, but equally don't understand how you say you were on direct debit quarterly full amount when EDF only offer direct debit monthly full amount.
I can quite easily believe EDF had shortcomings in their management of your account, for which it has been suggested they give you a £100 gesture. If everything is now sorted out to a reasonable state going forward, I'd be inclined to accept that and move on. If you want to switch away, nothing is stopping you, apart from finding a supplier you can currently switch to!

EDF do offer quarterly direct debit whole amount 

I could only see DD whole amount (monthly) on their website. Doesn't mean they don't offer quarterly though!

EssexHebridean

The Ombudsman upheld your complaint, and ordered EDF to pay you a £100 goodwill payment as compensation. Thry have explained that they cannot do anything about instructing. New SOLR as that is outside their remit - however you can simply nave supplier anyway.

could I ask - what outcome were you hoping for? 

MorningcoffeeIV

PenryP said:

  

The decision i received is the problem - it is barely coherent, full of factual inaccuracies, and fails to acknowledge the majority of the complaint. It honestly reads like drunken post-christmas party ramblings.   At one point it suggests i should take my compaint to the Ombudsman !

When you read their response  - had you, by any chance, just returned from your own Christmas party, and perhaps consumed a little too much eggnog? 

It seems the most likely explanation for your confusion...

macman

I think the OP was expecting much more compo than £100....
That's not how it works, I think the average compo awarded is nearer £50? Very few would get more than £100.
The only 'ramblings' I can see are in the original post.

ariarnia

macman said:

I think the OP was expecting much more compo than £100....
That's not how it works, I think the average compo awarded is nearer £50? Very few would get more than £100.
The only 'ramblings' I can see are in the original post.

from there summary it looks like what they wanted was a punitive damage of double the difference between the default payment and bill based on meter readings. the response from the ombudsman clearly states the service is not in place to punish the supplier for mistakes but to decide the right level of remedy for the mistakes. so the award for the stress and bother. if thats the problem then a complaint about the response wont make a difference. 

but if the problem is that hey dont know the difference between an ombudsman (that looks at individual customer complaints) and a industry regulator (that looks at business practices and if they comply with the insustry requirements) then maybe google might help? 

PenryP

Thank you to those who posted thoughtful replies, i'll repond to a few

On-the-coast said:

There are a few typos / grammatical errors in a very long letter, I didn’t read it all, but skipping to the end it says your complaint (or part of it) was upheld & they will instruct EDF to pay you £100. 

Isn’t that a decent & professional outcome?

I'd only spotted one type myself (the use of  "monthly" rather than "quarterly"  in product description ) - I dont feel a "gestures of goodwill" are at all professional.  The last time EDF cut short the quarterly period and took an estimated DD, they provided an apology, compensation for the mismanagmnt, and offered a refund of the amount taken (and that was before i'd even subitted a complaint to them about it). A gesture of goodwill is not an achnowledgement of wrongdoing, it's throwing money at a customer in the hope they will go away without fixing the issue, it is not at all decent when there is a problem to be addressed..

HampshireH said:

Agree with the above I'm struggling to see where the unprofessional behaviour is and it certainly doesn't read like post party ramblings.

What is it you actually want as an outcome

The problem is the content of the response, which i'd like to complain about.  

As an outcome, I would like EDF to manage my account according to the product terms, appologise for cutting short the quarterly period and taking money when they shouldn't have based on guestimated readings, (for the second time)  i also suggested compensation "to say sorry" on par with the previous occasion -  here's the wording i used in my requested remedy.

  EDF should acknowledge and apologise, as they did on the prior occasion.

  EDF should apply a £50 credit to my account “to say sorry” as they did on the prior occasion.

  EDF should be encouraged to investigate to ensure this does not occur again.

  EDF should be encouraged to manage my account in accordance with the published product terms.

victor2 said:

... I can quite easily believe EDF had shortcomings in their management of your account, for which it has been suggested they give you a £100 gesture. If everything is now sorted out to a reasonable state going forward, I'd be inclined to accept that and move on. If you want to switch away, nothing is stopping you, apart from finding a supplier you can currently switch to!

Unfortunatly everything is not in a reasonable state going forward, i can forsee the same repeated mismanagement of my account reoccuring again within days of this OS case being concluded - (As it did within 48 hours of my previoud OS case concluding in September)

I was stuck with EDF after i was moved to them, the for months no suppliers would accept a switch. since July i've been stuck in these 2 OS cases, hopefully once this one has concluded i can find someone who will take on my account as i've heard a few are taking new customers now!

ariarnia said:

the adjudicator provided a summary of the case as put forward by both sides as far as they understand it. that might seem rambling but thats what they do. yes there are some typos and you could contact the ombudsman's office and ask them to review and amend the response to fix those errors for it to be easier for you to read and understand. i can't see they would have a problem doing that and you would probably get an apology. but fixing typos in the decision wouldn't effect the finding of the decision.  

they are basically saying there was a problem with your bill being estemated when it shouldn't be. edf identified the issue and you have since been billed based on your actual reading. i assume thats right as you havent said otherwise.

they also highlighted the areas where you have asked them to instruct edf to take an action that is outside of the scope of the ombudsman's powers. as stated in the response the ombudsman is an arbitration relating to your specific complaint not an industry regulator. so they can't tell a company to fix or replace there billing system or send there staff on training or change there processes. all they can do is find that the company hasn't followed there processes or that there was a problem with the it system and decide on an appropriate amount of compensation. thats why they direct you to ofgem for those parts of your complaint. 

they have also highlighted you can switch provider whenever you want (the same as anyone else). and that you can get a smart meter installed which would likely mean the problem doesn't repeat. 

they have awarded you £100 compensation for the bother and stress of having to sort the problem and the poor customer service you received from edf. 

as above... other than the typos what's the problem exactly?

My complaints main focus was EDF cutting short the quarterly payment period and billing randomly when they shouldn't part way through the quarterly period, (for the second time this year).  (not something which a smart meter could prevent imho,)

The agent at OS ignores all of the 13 pieces of evidence i provided, and ignores the 4 page Summary explaining the evidence i provided. They also ignore EDF's failure to adhere to the previous OS remedy requirement from the prior upheld OS case in September.

Instead of reviewing the actual evidence i provided, the agent instead claims i have provided evidence that i did not (evidence that i submitting meter readings online in mid September), they then go into very specific details of the cascade effect caused by the submission of these (ficticious) meter readings which lead on to  "system issues online",  the creation of replacement estimated readings, that lead on to estimated bills, that caused the taking of DD and subsequently causing the fixed annual RPA to change when it shouldn't (for the 7th time this year). An entiely fanciful story, seemingly concocted during the conversation between the agent and someone at EDF, without a shred of evidence submitted to the case file referring to any of it.

The agent then goes on to say it's out oh their remit tosuggest EDF fix the (fictional) system errors that are the cause ...

So yes, i find the response very unprofessional. and i find the suggestion of the £100 "gesture of goodwill" in reponse to a fantasy story baffling.