Outfox Energy Changing Company Policy Behind Customers' Backs

Bungle73

Been with this company since last year, and never had a problem. Any contact has been dealt with swiftly and well. However something recently has irked me a great deal.

As you're aware recently tariffs across the board have been changing quite frequently. It's not uncommon to sign up for one tariff, only for the same company to offer a cheaper one later down the line. Typical policy is for an exit fee to be charged to change tariff or leave. Some companies have been waiving the fee for an internal switch. This is what Outfox were telling people was the case earlier in the year.

However, out of the blue they have started charging people an exit fee to change tariffs internally without notification. Judging by the comments about it on the customer Facebook page this change has come as a surprise to everyone.

I only changed tariffs last night,  when a substantially cheaper deal became available. I was given no notice that a fee would apply - I only found out about it by reading the customer comments this morning.

I got straight onto the chat to find out what was going on. They told me the previous policy was a "gesture of goodwill" and had ended. This is not what they were telling people earlier in the year - no mention was made of a "gesture of goodwill" or the policy only being temporary. To me it seems they have been misleading people, and I'm not happy.

I did get them to wave the fee for my latest switch though, because they could tell I was annoyed. But this time only.

Netexporter

I think you can read "gesture of goodwill" as "poor business decision that has come back to bite them". I imagine if you read the small print they can change tariff conditions at any time, excluding the SVT.

HillStreetBlues

Although their T&Cs state they can charge you for switching to tariffs (apart from Smart Tariff ) if in the past they haven't charged then there should be some warning when switching that they've changed policy.