SSE Muppets - RANT

[vstar]

Drawmer,

Several things...

1) The "http://www.sourthern-electric.co.uk/HelpAndAdvice/ComplaintsProcedure" URL is a typo on the muppets part, and by the look of it it's been "link-jacked" (a deliberately mis-spelt URL has been registered by someone to catch mis-spellings typed into a browser) hence the lack of a of complaints page. If you try it without the U, i.e. "http://www.southern-electric.co.uk/HelpAndAdvice/ComplaintsProcedure" it works fine.

2) I doubt you'll ever get a an explanation of how the new payment was calculated because a) it's a commercially sensitive information or b) muppet will never get to talk to the guy who actually decided it or more likely c) it's just ignore everything else and add 20% to the DD to cover our 20% increase.

3) It's nothing to do with 'fairness', of course they are trying to fleece us, they are a company whose sole purpose is to make their shareholders richer. Having massive cash deposits and massive monthly income is good for cashflow and excellent for goodwill from the city boys. That's why they also hang onto our FITs payments for 3 months...

4) My standing tactic, is just leave the DD as whatever they want it to be, BUT ask for the credit balance back as a cheque. Yes, the credit balance may build up but in six/nine months (depending on where winter sits) ring them up and ask for the credit balance back as cheque again. Anglia water/nPower/BGas/etc have all cooperated over the years...

V.

[Drawmer]

Vstar - Noted re the url mistype - but they still muppets.
re the calculation - all I want is a note showing what I used and what they think I will use. The calculation the same company has done for my gas bill is fine.
re fairness - actually I don't care now, but when they tell me I got paid 20 days before I did, they need keeping in line.
Also - the person that replied to me after 21 days, says I've got 10 days to get back to her - and she's away for the next two weeks!

I'm still cross about them sending out intelligible notices about increases in DD amount. They need to make so that the reader can follow the reasoning. That's my main beef. All the rest is just for sport.

[Drawmer]

Still haven't had a reply explaining why the electric billing can't do an understandable estimate like the gas part of the company can, or why my credit is ignored...

But I did get another letter from SSE today, explaining that I can get 6% off my paying monthly.
S'funny 'cos I do that already.
Went on-line to check, and the account number doesn't match.
Rang up to ask....

Turns out they'd juxt sent me letter asking me to pay by monthly DD for my FIT account - MUPPETS!

[langstroth3]

It's nothing to do with 'fairness', of course they are trying to fleece us, they are a company whose sole purpose is to make their shareholders richer

I know how you feel, having seen the gas rates go up by ~60% over 5 yrs, but if you have a private equity based pension we probably are the shareholders....

[wookey]

Yeah, it's hard work getting your debit turned down to the right answer with all utilities. We've had this for years as we're usually off the bottom of their charts (the water people are actually hardest work as they really don't believe our usage, despite them doing the measuring). I just set the missus on them which generally seems to work  - she doesn't take any cr*p. And of course personally I have no prob with paying them in arrears. Of course we're now making a profit of about £900/yr which is quite pleasing :-)

[acresswell]

I did get another letter from SSE today, explaining that I can get 6% off my paying monthly...
Turns out they'd juxt sent me letter asking me to pay by monthly DD for my FIT account - MUPPETS!

You'd better hope they're not going to change to paying you monthly... and then knock 6% off!   

[Antman]

Following on from Drawmer's original post, and now that I have my FiT contract signed    I can now add my tale of SSE ineptitude.

I expected my 1993 vintage GEC spinning disc with dials meter to go backwards when generating. What I didn't bank on was for it to seize solid whilst trying to clock backwards from 68728.0 to 7.9 !

Wanting to avoid any hassle later I owned asap up by ringing SEC (part of SSE) on the Monday morning, explained the problem and was told I would get called back later. No call came.
Called again, waited on hold whilst they called "Meter Accuracy". Came back with "Your installer must have wired it wrong - you will need to get them back to check the wiring before we can do anything".
I knew it was correct and failed to get an answer when I asked exactly how can you mis-wire an inverter on the consumer side of the meter so as to stall it?

So having wasted my and the installers time having to do as they asked, I rang them back. Another wait on hold whilst they spoke to "meter accuracy" again.
Now I am told "The inverter is faulty and is pushing dc back into the mains" .
By this time I am getting somewhat annoyed    so I played my trump card by asking "In that case, why when we isolate the inverter does the meter still not move".  "Oh...We'll call you back"
I then got a call from the previous operative's boss (all names removed to protect the innocent). "I am X's supervisor. X is getting a little stressed...." Not surprised, as so was I after a cumulative 50 minutes of listening to the same bleedin 'on-hold' tune on a call I am paying for even if it is 0845 !!!

Finally they agreed to do what was needed from the outset and the meter was replaced on 1st December - strangely enough it worked perfectly from the outset.

By contrast, the engineer arrived on time having been asked to call by his colleague (who should have come) but who was delayed on another job. He had never heard of either scenario offered by the meter accuracy operatives.
Engineers 10/10
Meter Accuracy staff 0/10 (and that's generous)

Clearly SEC/SSE need some significant training for their meter accuracy staff as there are at least two individuals that are using incorrect assumptions to avoid the inevitable. If they are offering the same excuses to customers whose meters run backwards to avoid replacement then they are causing untold delays and frustration all round.

I am supposed to call them if they have not called me (which they haven't of course) with a meter reading to discuss lost revenue for the two weeks when the meter was not recording. That will be an interesting call - two half days annual leave + 50 mins (so far) of phone calls to put right their faulty equipment vs two weeks leccy use.... 

Antman

[Drawmer]

...I am supposed to call them if they have not called me (which they haven't of course) with a meter reading to discuss lost revenue for the two weeks when the meter was not recording. That will be an interesting call - two half days annual leave + 50 mins (so far) of phone calls to put right their faulty equipment vs two weeks leccy use.... 

Antman

Doh!
Just prepare your bill Anthony.
Their equipment failed, and you told them immediately. Any delay was down to them, and they caused you expense by way of lost annual leave and telephone calls.

I'm still awaiting an explanation btw; I had a voice mail a week ago promising an email answer......

[clivejo]

I've had the same carry on with PowerNI in Northern Ireland.  Got a letter reviewing my DD and its going from £33 to £46 !!!  This is after it going up from £20 a few months ago!  No reason given, just in order for the balance to remain as close to zero at possible they worked out I had to pay £13 extra a month.  So rang up to ask how they calculated the increase they said there was a planned increase of 20% and an average seasonal increase due to me using more in the cold weather!!!  Any fool can look at my historical records and see my usage goes down in the colder months, as my main cost is a big freezer which runs less often in the cold!  So a 20% increase is £39.60 and they want another £6.40 a month for nothing!  I really regret signing up for Direct Debit, any so called savings has been spent in 40min long telephone calls to complete and utter idiots!  I dont even save on paper as they seem to send me that many letters with details about reviews and DD payment changes!!

Another gripe I have is with TV Licensing, could someone please explain to me how they convince themselves that by paying monthly by DD is more cost effective?  By my calculations, you are paying double for six months so by they end of the first year you will have paid for a year and a half of TV licence!!!  It seems they will always have you paying for six months in advance!!!