Refund from Ripple energy

kannaiah

Hi,

I paid £25 pounds to reserve on windfarm and I asked for refund recently and I have received the following message.

Sorry to hear you want a refund on your £25.00 reservation fee. After checking your account I can see this was purchased 12/3/22. Unfortunately as per the terms of purchasing the reservaion fee you can request a refund during the first 14 days afterthis was purchased. As we are outside of that 14 day window we won't be able to process a refund on this. 
For clarity, the reservation fee lasts for a total of 5 years from the date of purchase. If you don't wish to invest in the upcoming project it will automatically rollover onto the next project after the share offer window closes for that project. 

This feels wrong, is there a way for me to get my money back? I paid this using credit card.

Thank you.

user1977

You've given us very little info about what you're talking about. What terms did you sign up to? Why does it "feel" wrong?

kannaiah

First of all I wasn't aware of it being a non-refundable. Also it is just a reservation on to a co-op scheme.
I looked at internet archive to find what the terms were. They were updated recently to add non-refundable bit.

user1977

So do you have a copy of the terms which you signed up to?

pinkshoes

From their clearly published T&Cs:

https://rippleenergy.com/?gclid=CjwKCAiA3KefBhByEiwAi2LDHLSTniVgO0PluYTNflcZTNDCJJprB3izUYw8pHJXrV73o8h5Ba2q-RoC590QAvD_BwE

What are the reservation terms and conditions?

Before completing your reservation, you will be asked to agree to the following reservation terms and conditions:

I understand that today I am adding £25 into my Ripple account towards future wattage payments and reserving up to the amount of the available proportion of Ripple’s next wind farm or solar park that would generate what a typical UK household uses (2,900 kWh per year). If I decide to become a member of the ownership co-operative I will pay the remainder due when the share offer opens.

I understand that the indicative costs and benefits set out are Ripple’s estimates based on the information available today. The final cost and benefits as set out in the share offer document may be different from current estimates.

I understand that the £25 reservation fee is non-refundable and if I don’t use it to join a Ripple managed wind farm over the next 5 years it will be paid into a wind farm community benefit fund.

I understand that in the event the total capacity of reservations exceeds the capacity of the wind farm or solar park then reservations shall be allowed to complete in the order the reservations were made.

I understand that to become an owner of a Ripple managed wind farm I will need to become a member of the relevant ownership co-operative and agree to the co-operative’s rules and Ripple’s customer agreement in due course.

If I am already a member of a Ripple managed wind farm co-operative I understand that the maximum ownership level applies across all renewable energy projects Ripple manages.

I understand Ripple may amend this policy from time to time and that my reservation shall be subject to any such revised policy and that if I have a reasonable objection to the revised policy I may request a refund of my reservation payment.

kannaiah

https://web.archive.org/web/20221126132124/https://rippleenergy.com/terms this was when I paid
and this https://web.archive.org/web/20230207164356/https://rippleenergy.com/terms is current one 

As of now Last updated: 10 January 2023

I have replied them with above, I'm thinking of going for charge back, just wondering if I missed anything.

Alderbank

Your first link, from when you paid, doesn't make any reference to windfarms. Perhaps those T&Cs date back to before they started the windfarm scheme.

Chargeback is time limited, to 120 days I think. You are now well out of time.

You had the usual 14 days to cancel for change of mind. Then you have 5 years to choose a windfarm scheme to put your deposit towards. After 5 years of inactivity your unused £25 will be donated to a community benefit scheme. Is it the donation which you object to?

kannaiah

Those were snapshots at different times.
I paid on 5th of Dec. I will give charge back a go.

Alderbank

kannaiah said:

Those were snapshots at different times.
I paid on 5th of Dec. I will give charge back a go.

Apologies, your first post says 12/3/22 which I read as 12 March 2022.

Gavin83

kannaiah said:

Those were snapshots at different times.
I paid on 5th of Dec. I will give charge back a go.

Just don’t expect anything from it. Your only chance is if they don’t defend it. You agreed to the T&Cs when you joined and so far they don’t appear to have done anything wrong.

Just to clarify what does the £25 get you? Do you get discounted electricity or something? I’ve never heard of such a scheme before.

Alderbank

You get the option to buy a little bit of a wind turbine, how much is up to you.
When the turbine is up and running, the electricity generated by your share is knocked off your utility bill