Add your feedback on energy supplier Green Star Energy

suitcasegirl wrote: »

Hi all,

Having had a few issues with Green Star Energy's website (difficult accessing full breakdowns of bills etc), I decided to leave them.
I had set up a direct debit with them, an amount to be decided by them, to be taken out of my account every month. Having had the direct debit leave my account without fail nor missed payments, when I decided to change supplier, they have surprised me with a colossal bill over £900.00. I am astounded as to how I have suddenly come to be in arrears when I haven't missed a payment and it is them who decides how much my monthly direct debit is supposed to be.

I emailed them to ask how this has happened, no response.
I called them to ask for proper bills to be sent to me as my account with them online would only ever show the end monthly figure of how much I was in credit or debit. Nothing has arrived in nearly two weeks since I called them.

What I have received is a letter from their lawyers talking about debt recovery and court action.

Anyone else been through anything similar with them. Advice anyone?
Many thanks.

Welcome Suitcase Girl:)
You are likely to nee the Ombudsman and can't raise a complaint with them until there has been an active complaint raised with the company for (I think) 8 weeks.
Raise a formal complaint with GSE now, which will give you the earliest opportunity to get the Ombudsman involved.
In writing, insist that they give an itemised, detailed breakdown of their bill which evidences the amount they believe you owe them - until they have done this they have no basis on which to be asking you for payment.
I cancelled my direct debit at this point and told them in the letter that as they couldn't give me an accurate bill I wasn't prepared to pay any more until they could evidence that I owed them something.
I then asserted that they had taken money without evidence that I owed them anything; I exercised my rights under the Direct Debit rules and insisted on an immediate refund of money I had paid.

This (eventually) focussed their minds and I received a full refund a couple of weeks later (I also managed to coerce them into raising erroneous transfer switch back to my original supplier - you might want to consider this too).

Had this not happened, I was planning to make a Data Protection information request and had already taken advice from a Solicitor provided by my home insurance policy.

Essentially, I invoked every bit or statutory and legal obligation available to me to bring pressure to bear on them.

As they are now sending you legal letters, I suggest you look to see if you have any legal insurance available to you (home insurance, vehicle insurance, Union membership, Which? subscription you already have might well give you this).

I couldn't get GSE to engage with me at all (beyond the scripted patronising available from their call centres) until I contacted Hudson Energy's head office. This is their parent company - I've posted their details previously.

Once I had called them, I was put in touch with people at GSE who could actually take action (and you need this before you stand a chance with any of the above).

I was also extremely polite, but very, very, very persistent. I was often on the phone for more than an hour whilst I persisted in not taking 'no' for an answer and asserted my legal rights as a consumer, relentlessly.

Lastly, I had been with EON. At a particularly low ebb one day, I rang them and asked their customer service for advice. They were excellent and provided me with a lot of insight to how the various processes for calculating & generating bills work, which enabled me to tell GSE (on several occasions) that I knew they were stone-walling me, lying to me or not telling me the whole truth (each happened frequently). This was very satisfying and very effective (I loved the guilty silence of 'someone found out' and I even received the occasional apology).

I wish you a lot of luck - you're going to need it.

Where are MSE in helping with these problems? You set this up Martin and led a lot of people to deal with a charlatan organisation - Hang your head in shame.

QualityTester wrote: »

There are good deals to be had with Green Star Energy. But their Customer Service is appalling. If you have no problems and don't need to contact them then all will be fine. But if you do then BEWARE. The main problem seems to be email - or the lack of response to them. Emails are not answered - ever - despite the fact that the account is 'online'. I sent two emails as requested to renew my annual contract last year, yet the next bill showed me on Standard (expensive) Tariff. I was at last able to get through on the 'phone and the matter was sorted out and I had a bill that showed the tariff changes correctly. Yet the next bill showed those changes repeated with a total of two bills at the bottom. From this point on things went downhill even faster. I requested a new bill without the old change; I was told this was 'not possible' but I could be emailed an explanation. This never arrived and I have sent two letters to Customer Service and their C.E.O., emailed four times to Customer service, copied to the CEO and Hudson Energy USA, all with 'return notices' on. Not one reply. I telephoned again twice and was told by 'Owen' - seems to be a generic name - all would be sorted. Now all I get is overdue letters.
In summation, do not touch these people with a bargepole.

The really difficult thing I found with GSE is that, once with them you are utterly helpless until you can either engage them in a dialogue or switch away from them, but all the latter does is postpone the inevitable bogus/inaccurate/spurious and late bills. I was lucky that I managed to cancel my switch to them and return to EON 'as if I'd never left', at which point I was able to negotiate with them about what tariff I should pay for the period. If GSE ever chase me for money, I'll tell them to see me in Court.

ben501 wrote: »

Just finished my time with Green Star. No longer competitive for me so I've switched elsewhere.

I had no problems during my time with them, everything done online so no need to phone. Since leaving I have phoned twice and both times were answered quickly, despite the 'big queue' warning.

Now I've left the fun and games have begun. I've been advised it will take up to 6 weeks to get my meter readings from the new company, and until then Green Star will continue to take my direct debit, despite my account being over £200 in credit.
So now I've had to find some extra money as I'm paying utility bills to two companies until they sort it out.
I can't cancel the DD as it needs to be left open in order to refund me later.

And the best bit
They're taking money from me to fund a closed account that is substantially in credit, and I'm expected to phone them up and ask for it back.:mad:

I've transferred suppliers several times and I don't recall being messed around like this!

You might consider: Close the Direct Debit at your bank so that they can't take more. Invoke the Direct Debit guarantee that requires them to refund monies taken in error, on the basis that If they haven't calculated your bill yet, they can't justify having taken the £200, they shouldn't have taken it and they must refund it or fall foul of the Direct Debit rules. It's the basis of how I finally managed to get their attention.

I have just sent a complaint in to Green Star energy as they are completely incompetent - couldn't run a p"~@-up in a brewery.

I had the unfortunate pleasure to be moved to Green Star Energy when Future Energy went bust and since 31st January 2018 I have had nothing but frustration and no resolution to my problems.

I was unable to set up an online account for a number of weeks and then when eventually it was set up, my mobile number was incorrect. This was then put right and I requested a direct debit form to be sent so I could set up payment. I eventually received this and sent off the completed form on 20.03.18 but then when I contacted the customer service department to chase up the payment dates, was told that they had not received the form. This was sent again on 21.04.18 but I still have not had a letter or any further communication to confirm this has been set up.

I have logged my meter readings for both Gas and Electric on several occasions, but when I check the app, it is showing as nothing submitted for the Gas meter.

I am getting increasingly frustrated at the lack of contact and also how unprofessional the company is. Therefore, I will be terminating my contract at the earliest convenience and do not expect to receive any termination fees, or large bills that I can not pay due to the company not being able to set up a simple monthly direct debit.

I will be advising my friends and family NOT to use Green Star Energy.:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad: