Ever asked for a refund of credit from your energy company ?

[Scaleyback]

I admit to having a ' bee in my bonnet ' with this.

My credit balance with my energy company (Octopus) was £315.00 with a further monthly direct debit of £115 due, (it had left my bank) so a potential credit of £430.00.
When I requested £150.00 refund, this via their accepted menu procedures, I received an automated message saying (my words) due to the balance level this would need to be referred 'upwards'
Now I have been with Octopus for approx 3 years, never been in debt, always been in credit and so I was annoyed.

Then I received an email Ok'ing the refund and saying allow 10 working days ?
When I complained to Octopus that it shouldn't be this difficult and lengthy to get my money back e.g someone could be in urgent need of these funds ?

Octopus blamed the bank. What ever happened to banking ' faster payments' ?

I asked my bank (Santander) they said:-
" Once the merchant process the money and the bank has received this, it will be in your account "

I think their (Octopus) procedures are possibly designed to retain as much of our money in their coffers as long as possible ?

Have you asked for a refund from your energy company, and what was your experience ?

p.s today is the 9th day (6 working days) and no refund yet.

 

[wiggydiggy]

Yes EDF, and a few others, they will hold onto your money (and the interest) for as long as possible.

I'm with Octopus too, best advice is to keep your payments on track so you don't build up a balance so high, Ive generally found them to be ok.

 

[sevenfourate]

I had a ‘large’ credit with EDF a few months ago and requested £200 back. I almost felt like I had to ‘explain myself’ to them 😳

The cheeky fu@#*rs then refunded me like £196.54 or something. It’s my money and I asked for £200. His complicated can it be ?

 

[a.twiddler]

Outfox the Market paid up promptly when I queried the amount of credit I had. They also adjusted my payments downwards. I notice it's starting to creep up again -time to request another refund.

 

[Beebo]

I don’t mind the credit buildup in the summer as I know it will even out over the winter.
Plus prices are going up again in October, so it gives me a bit of a cushion.

 

[Drago]

Yes, from Scottish Poower.

Changed suppliers when we moved and I wanted the winter credit I'd built up refunded. They're f%&@^£*=> idiots, sent to the cheque to the house I was no longer living at and couldn't access despite me making it very obvious I had closed the account because I'd moved.

They just couldn't see it. As far as they were concerned they'd issued a cheque and that was that. I sent them the small claims forms and told them I'd lodge them by x date if they didnt get their act together and they finally sent a cheque to the house I actuwlly live at.

 

[a.twiddler]

The main concern with building up credit is not getting it back if the company goes bust as so many of them were doing not so long ago. We were regularly changing suppliers around that time to get the best deal and changed companies and got a refund a couple of weeks before one small company in particular stopped trading. There were many companies springing up then that we'd never heard of before so it was a bit risky.

 

[wafter]

I've never asked, however our online account with OVO allows us to stipulate monthly payments and when I found out we were in credit by hundreds of pounds (about enough to cover the next 9 months) I cut them right back. We remain in credit but they keep sending us "oh noes, you don't want to go into debt" letters; which will be ignored until we're actually in debt and I revise the monthly payment.

Conversely I think we owe British Gas a couple of grand; and while they're not knocking down the door to get it, it'll stay that way.

This whole model is a disgusting, exploititive blag and it's obscene that it's not illegal / at least capped. The f*ckers must be sitting on literally millions of pounds of people's money they have no right to be in possession of; depriving the rightful owners of the interest it would generate and creaming it off for themselves.

What other service would you front-load like this? Everything other service is paid for retrospectively; effectively running a small monthly credit.

 

[richardfm]

I have had credit back from Octopus quickly without a problem.
A few years ago I was with a Scottish company (now defunct) that I don't remember the name of, when I switched from them I ended up issuing proceedings against them in the Scottish courts to get my money back. In the end I got the credit and court costs from them

 

[Profpointy]

I admit to having a ' bee in my bonnet ' with this.

My credit balance with my energy company (Octopus) was £315.00 with a further monthly direct debit of £115 due, (it had left my bank) so a potential credit of £430.00.
When I requested £150.00 refund, this via their accepted menu procedures, I received an automated message saying (my words) due to the balance level this would need to be referred 'upwards'
Now I have been with Octopus for approx 3 years, never been in debt, always been in credit and so I was annoyed.

Then I received an email Ok'ing the refund and saying allow 10 working days ?
When I complained to Octopus that it shouldn't be this difficult and lengthy to get my money back e.g someone could be in urgent need of these funds ?

Octopus blamed the bank. What ever happened to banking ' faster payments' ?

I asked my bank (Santander) they said:-
" Once the merchant process the money and the bank has received this, it will be in your account "

I think their (Octopus) procedures are possibly designed to retain as much of our money in their coffers as long as possible ?

Have you asked for a refund from your energy company, and what was your experience ?

p.s today is the 9th day (6 working days) and no refund yet.

I'd not been paying attention and it took me 18months plus to get my money. I was at the point of taking them to court

 

[Emanresu]

Yes. British Gas but I already knew I was entitled to get it back. This is what Ofgem say if you need to quote it to them.

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/are-you-owed-money-your-energy-bill

 

[a.twiddler]

Conversely, many years ago we changed from British Gas to another supplier and it turned out that we had a debit. We ended up having to make repayments over several months to pay it back. We still made the change , not least due to British Gas's unhelpful and snotty attitude and sense of entitlement over the change. We learned our lesson then, to keep track of the account and not to assume that your supplier is acting in your best interests.

 

[Kingfisher101]

No, I only pay for what I've used in the first place. I'm not on a monthly DD. So I read the meters then get the bills for the month and pay them.

 

[raleighnut]

We had a new gas meter fitted and it was faulty, never moved. I only noticed when they asked for a reading (it's in a box outside) I informed them of this and they changed the meter. Then it came to the amount that had built up from the DD, they wanted to 'estimate' our usage but I got Maz to go to Citizens Advice and they confirmed what I thought in that they can't do that as there was no way to prove we'd used any gas at all.. Now this isn't like a meter that developed a fault but rather a new meter they fitted.

We eventually got a full refund less 'standing charge'

 

[Scaleyback]

No, I only pay for what I've used in the first place. I'm not on a monthly DD. So I read the meters then get the bills for the month and pay them.

Yes, that's a possibility now Octopus have pis*ed me off. Need to find out how much I save by paying by direct debit.