Avro Energy banned from taking on new customers - MSE News

A very mixed bag of comments, for which I thank all contributors. I am thinking of switching to Avro and just had to share my customer experience so far.

I had a few questions and preferred to speak to a human being rather than wade through endless FAQs. After all, if they don't want to speak to potential customers during their very limited opening times, how good can their service be?

I called at 9.55 and 10.07 today and both times heard a voicemail telling me, "our lines are now closed." Hardly inspires confidence, does it? I roamed around their website for a while, started the switching process just to see how user friendly it is, then called again. This time I heard a different message telling me their lines were busy but, after a couple of minutes, got through to a young lady who sounded about 14.

We discussed some of my issues, mostly the failure to answer the phone, which I was informed was due to "technical issues". Failure to turn off the night service on the switchboard could be called a technical issue, I suppose. She then informed me they are not taking on new customers due to the Smart meter compliance problem. I queried this as there is a note to this effect on the MSE article, presumably in response to the above post.

The young lady disappeared for about five minutes and informed me on her return that MSE's information is correct and they are now taking on new customers... She had to be told this somewhat salient fact by someone who is not even a customer!

No wonder their prices are cheap; they need to be! Still undecided about whether to stick with the Big 6 or take the Avro challenge; thoughts, please?

Thank you, Gerry1! Well, I began a switch to EDF, in the end, because the saving going to Avro was halved by the fact they have not paid MSE commission so we get no cash back and, really, how much hassle is £25 worth? Their phone lines are open only during office hours; I want to be able to call my provider whenever I like. This was all of two days ago. I have now cancelled that switch because EDF are a veritable nightmare to deal with:

They don't want me to send them meter readings more than twice a year (whaaaaaaat???) and I am not allowed to call them. Sod that. I know these online tariffs are supposed to mean you only ever use the (godawful) online chat but my current supplier have never once told me to go away when I have called them (always after attempting the chat; all you have to say is they either did not know what they were doing or there were language difficulties, which has always been true)

What kind of a company discourages customers from sending meter readings? How irresponsible is that? Hello debt! Words fail me; I refuse to deal with a company like that. I have emailed the CEC about cancelling my switch on there so I can do another one. I have already done an online chat and phoned to cancel with EDF and have a transcript so they had better not go through with it.

EDF do not even have an energy usage chart on their online accounts unless you have a smart meter. How rubbish is that? I assumed (yeah, yeah, a$$ U me) that, because nPower have an energy tracker, every provider would or, at least, the rest of the big 6. My flabber is literally gasted. A bas EDF, a la lanterne!