Saturday 4 June 2016

Extra Energy

I'm thinking of changing my blog name to My Rant in Flip Flops, I know I've gone on and on about our buildings works and also about our debacle with Extra Energy but the latter continues.  I thought we had it all sorted when we got our monthly payment reduced to £70 and were told we'd receive the £600+ we were in credit back into our bank account within 10 days.  Of course the money didn't return so after over 2 weeks I phoned customer service, as its laughingly called, again.  They said the payment had been rejected, nice of them to keep quiet about that.  It transpired that though I had given them a current meter reading it hadn't been passed on, the robot I spoke to said he would put the correct information through and I'd have my money back in 21 days.  Having been promised 10 days, admittedly that didn't happen, I asked why it would take so long.  Apparently they have a new system in place and it's not really up and running yet so there is a delay.  I ranted on as usual, got extremely cross and gave up.
Next day we received a revised bill, obviously the meter readings had now been passed through.  In 16 months we had used just under £1,200 of power, are now £750 in credit so they had decided to up our monthly payment to £129.  I was beginning to think Extra Energy are carrying out some personal vendetta against me.  The Customer Services bloke this time said that it was the system that made the payment adjustments and when I suggested that someone had set up the system to do that he laughed.  I wish I could laugh about this crazy situation, I wish we could have our money back and find another provider.
Last night Mr FF read in the paper that Extra Energy has the worst ever number of customer service complaints against any company, they have responded by described the situation as challenging and apologised to their customers.  I won't give up because I like a challenge too but my goodness it's exhausting, infuriating and all caused by their inefficiency and inabilities.  I might just phone them and see if they've read the article.
Have a calm weekend, I shall mostly be dusting whilst ranting.

7 comments:

  1. Oh - I can relate to this, as we have been dealing with Indian call centres trying to sort out our new "superfast" fibre broadband ........

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  2. I would cancel the direct debit. That might make them sit up and listen. They can hardly 'cut you off' while you are still in credit and at least they won't be holding even more of your money. I had a dreadful time with this company when trying to get the refund we were entitled when we moved house; they used every excuse under the sun and constantly made false promises. I really do sympathise with you. Good luck, just keep up the pressure, formally log your complaint and refer the matter to the Ombudsman. You really can't believe a word they tell you. Best wishes, Lyn

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  3. Shame you can't install solar panels and bypass them entirely . . .

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  4. Oh dear, it gets worse rather than better! My suggestion is to start hoarding wool so that you can insulate your house and won't need to pay for heating!

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  5. What is wrong with these companies? I think it's actually theft it's outrageous. Good luck with it all im sure you will get it sorted.

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  6. Word of warning. If you cancel the direct debit, they will put you onto an extortionate tariff. I know, it happened to me. It's in their T&Cs and you can't do anything about it. Just switch providers, they will pay back what they owe you at the end into your account, via the direct debit you have set up. Best thing I ever did was get away from them, dreadful dreadful company. I can feel my stress levels going up just talking about it.

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