I just thought I'd bore> regale you with my recent experiences..
Energy.
Been a customer of EDF Energy for nearly two years. Good pricing and really excellent website and customer service where you can speak to someone with a long delay or web chat with no delay.
But in January of this year our account was in debit to the tune of c £75 - and they insisted they would have to increase our Direct Debit by £20 a month to clear the balance before April... I rang them up - pointed out winter usage etc.. to no avail.. Up it went.
We were in credit by £15 by April so they reduced it back to the original level. I rang them and pointed out that based on their figures of projected usage based on history, it should fall £20 further. Oh no.. they would not budge.
Started looking around again..(no early termination fees) and joined Money Saving Expert Cheap Energy Club.www.moneysavingexpert.com/cheapenergyclub
Discovered a deal - fixed - with Scottish Power which was £300 pa cheaper than EDF..
So switched . EDF dragged feet on final billing - I eventually web chatted them - and printed it out - so it's now sorted. They owe us just over £1,000 - nil gas use in summer helped a lot. Hopefully paid soon.
I'll never ever go back to EDF after that.
PS : EDF promise to tell you if another major supplier is £50 a year cheaper - they did not tell me about Scottish Power. And the deal was not available through Comparison Websites - Comparethecarp .com etc.
Apart from the annual savings of over £300, I received £80 in spending vouchers from Scot Power and £30 from the Cheap Energy Club.
Virgin Media/NTL.
Used NTL since 2000 for broadband and second phone. Kept getting annoyed by recent price rises and having to ring to get a "temporary" discount to offset that. When the last discount ran out and I realised my bill has effectively doubled over 4 years, I swicthed to BT and ditched the second phone line. First year savings £250, next year - when offer runs out - £150.. (I may switch again.)
BT gave me £70 in a Sainsbury's gift card to spend as I liked.
All working OK: simple switch DIY.. Internet working perfectly.
Not going back to expensive NTL
Summary
So two suppliers have lost annual business worth well over £2500 combined, and I will never go back without a huge incentive..
My annual savings are £500+ and I have one off vouchers and cash worth £180.
I find it unbelievable that suppliers can be so insensitive - especially EDF- the £75 debit was peanuts compared to my annual spend and less than half our monthly Direct Debit..
Ah well.. their loss - my gain.
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I never had any problems with my previous energy supplier ( I cannot even remember who they were now!) but did a price comparison and thought I would change to OVO. They have been fine...they send me monthly email reminders to submit up to date readings, adjust my DD accordingly, and pay 3% on credit balances. Not much in the grand scheme of things, but all contact with them has been positive.
Next month my phone contract expires, and having been with Orange for many years am loathe to change. However, I fancy an IPhone 5S to replace my Nokia Windows phone ( being a techie Luddite I think it will be easier to use alongside my IPad) so will see what EE can offer me in due course.
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BT are my bete noir. They ring me up regularly (as I was once a customer) offering all kinds of inducements to return, except the one thing I could use, a decent broadband connection. When I point out that their long piece of wire to the exchange can only deliver 1Mbit on a good day, they ask for my postcode, then shuffle off, mumbling apologies. Why (oh why oh why) don't they check first..?!
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>> BT
>> why don't they check first..?!
Quite! I've had the same nonsense from them too. I even tried telling them it was a waste of time calling me and offering me BB as I'm still in a long term contract with my current BB provider so couldn't jump ship even if I wanted to. Made no difference, a month later they're phoning me up again with similar offers as before.
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Dont go to Scottish Power - if you do, check out their facebook page first.
Mind you I suspect all energy companies are equally dire.
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I am the only trained Utility Debt Adviser at our Bureau so I see a lot of utility complaints .As the TMWNN says keep away from Scottish Power - they are dire - I have spent hours on the phone with them trying to resolve problems. When a company actively encourages you to go to the Ombudsman to progress matters it tells you something. Once a complaint is lodged the company in question is "fined" .....speaks volumes. I know three of the call centre staff now and they recognise me when I phone.....speaks volumes. SP are now subject of evidence gathering by the Bureau because of their incredibly poor systems.
I am with EDF - I don't mind ideling a couple of hours occasionally locking horns with them In fairness they are now tamed - they are the best of a very bad lot.
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Which all goes to prove - that OFGEM are a complete waste of time, space and money...as if there was not enough evidence of it.
A classic case of regulatory capture..
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+1 for Scottish Power being crapola - prices are ok but the ability to sort out issues is pretty hopeless on their web-only tariffs.
In retrospect Scottish Hydro never caused me any problems in over 10 years but then they cost £200-300 a year more.
I guess it's like car insurance: you usually get what you pay for ultimately
Last edited by: Lygonos on Wed 22 Oct 14 at 17:54
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Civil servants (and their avatars) in the higher echelons, tend to favour the "policy" aspects of regulation rather than getting into the swamp of enforcement. Hence the lack of diligence. Policy guys detest enforcers, as they tend to upset the cosy arrangements they enjoy. It can be no fun having the corporate guards set loose. The corporates generally avoid the operational people, who have to have a degree of backbone:) Obviously discarded as the ladder is climbed. It seems some organisations are set up to be enforcement deserts: the old and now disreputable "light-touch". The bankers liked that:)
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Civil servants (and their avatars) in the higher echelons, tend to favour the "policy" aspects of regulation rather than getting into the swamp of enforcement.
In the companies I worked for , that kind of attitude lasted about 5 minutes..
Looking at the banks and their apparent wholesale breaking of every rule, the banking regulators at the time deserve to go to jail.. pour encourager les autres. Oh it was accountable to no-one in 2008-9
"The FSA was not accountable to Treasury Ministers or to Parliament, as confirmed by Hector Sants at a Treasury Select Committee meeting on 9 March 2011"
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_Services_Authority#2009_regulations
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>> "The FSA was not accountable to Treasury Ministers or to Parliament, as confirmed by Hector
>> Sants at a Treasury Select Committee meeting on 9 March 2011"
>> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_Services_Authority#2009_regulations
The same Wiki entry describes it as quasi judicial. On that basis it's accountable before the courts.
Accountability to Ministers or Parliament (presumably via a select committee)sound like good things. Either imply that in theory, and likely practice too, there could or would be political interference in its day to day activity.
There's no perfect solution.
The mood music of the early noughties was deregulation. If Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition had a view on subject at time it was that Blair/Brown were not going far enough or fast enough and were strangling enterprise.
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Six of us went to a restaurant in Funchal a few nights ago. The worst service I can remember. One particular member of staff really should be banned from working anywhere in customer services. No eye contact, the most thoroughly miserable person I have ever had the misfortune to encounter.
I have had my moments and banned many customers from my retail business when I have overheard them bring rude to staff. This tosh about the customer always being right is a lot of bull. Unfortunately, now I work for someone else, I am unable to ban rude & obnoxious customers. Mores the pity.
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Of course you never know peoples circumstances. I was once told at work to cheer up and not look so b***** miserable. My brother had died the night before.
You might have better luck with this restaurant. My favourite in Funchal. well worth a try if you have the time.
www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g189167-d1173095-Reviews-Restaurante_Dos_Combatentes-Funchal_Madeira_Madeira_Islands.html
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Several comments on TA about the quality of customer service at this 'restaurant'. Hindsight eh...
Now discovered Leeno's in Funchal. Top spot. Already booked to dine there again, but thanks for the recommendation CGN.
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FSA was a company limited by guarantee, funded by the financial industry. Regulatory capture at birth perhaps! Sants was CEO until he resigned before it's abolition. Just goes to show that where there is a will, there is a way.
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On the couple of occasions I've been to Madeira I think I can honestly say I never found a bad restaurant.
I was advised to stay self-catering as the food's so good and you're not restricted to whatever a hotel dishes up.
You get used to them serving their funny little bananas (they're not plantains) with almost everything, although I did find sprouts served with fish a little unusual, I wouldn't have considered it, but it worked.
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"On the couple of occasions I've been to Madeira I think I can honestly say I never found a bad restaurant. "
Oh I don't know - I could point you to a couple of absolutely dire ones, especially in the Hotel Zone. By and large though the standard is reasonably good. Haven't been there for a few years and now tend to go to the island of La Palma in the Canaries. Probably will go back to Funchal next year
Last time I was in Madeira my wife and I caught Norovirus. Never been so violently sick in all my life so another good reason for having an apartment. Wouldn't want to have been in a hotel with that!
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The trouble with self catering is that you often don't have pools... Indoor & outdoor, jacuzzi, gym and a nice big brekkie on tap till late morning. I take full advantage of all these. Swim n gym 9 till 10.15 then full brekkie and a stroll before beer o'clock at noon.
T'internet is a bit hit & miss sometimes in self catering apartments.
Luckily we have a kitchen in our room so bed tea before a swim...and endless decent wine & cold beer on tap. Until the early hours.
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I think you are either a hotel person or you are not. My personal choice is a hotel for 3 nights or less , a house or an apartment for longer. It's all down to personal choice but I quite like fixing myself a bit of breakfast and the space and freedom a house give you .
If I want something cooked for me I go to a restaurant. The last three places I have rented have all had pools but I hardly used them and the idea of using a gym filled with sweaty keep-fit enthusiasts doesn't appeal. In fact what I really don't like about hotels in general is the other guests. :-)
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Gyms.... Nothing wrong with some cute Portugese girls enjoying a spinning class.
Each to his own, but I understand the point about fellow guests.
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How to really retain your customers - not - legacylad
