Airtricity

Has anyone else had this problem?
I'm on an airtricity budget plan of €63 per month since April. I'm After getting a bill to say I'm in arrears of €360 since june on top of my regular payments. My electricity usage has not changed in this time as myself and my wife are out everyday till the evening. We have contacted airtricity, and they have said that we cannot leave until we have cleared the bill. They also said that if we refuse to pay the arrears that it will be sent to a debt collection agency. There is no way we owe this money. Has anybody else had this problem with airtricity and how was it sorted?

Thoie

loveboatcaptain wrote: »

Has anyone else had this problem?
I'm on an airtricity budget plan of €63 per month since April. I'm After getting a bill to say I'm in arrears of €360 since june on top of my regular payments. My electricity usage has not changed in this time as myself and my wife are out everyday till the evening. We have contacted airtricity, and they have said that we cannot leave until we have cleared the bill. They also said that if we refuse to pay the arrears that it will be sent to a debt collection agency. There is no way we owe this money. Has anybody else had this problem with airtricity and how was it sorted?

The best thing to do is to check the actual meter reading now, compared to when you started with them (on your first bill), and work out the costs and how much you've already paid. There was a note to say that prices had changed in September, so that may throw you out of whack a few cents.

It's important with the budget plan to ensure that you're paying enough by keeping an eye on your own meter readings. They only estimate the monthly charge - in my case they overestimated it so they owe me money.

If it turns out you do owe the money, then you'll need to come to some arrangement with them. They'll need to adjust the monthly amount to something realistic anyway, then suggest that you pay an extra 20/30 a month on top of that.

sector

see if they've hit you with the 300 quid "deposit" for example if your DD didnt go through one month or whatever & the result was the entire monthly bill wasn't cleared they could do that without you realising & simply add the 300 onto a bill, i mean you should of noticed but maybe not I guess.

foggy_lad

sector wrote: »

see if they've hit you with the 300 quid "deposit" for example if your DD didnt go through one month or whatever & the result was the entire monthly bill wasn't cleared they could do that without you realising & simply add the 300 onto a bill, i mean you should of noticed but maybe not I guess.

It seems likely to be a deposit added to your bill in June as even with average use €125 sounds about right for 2 months use. Check your meter reading and compare it to the present reading on the last bill you got, if there is a big difference then they have been over/under estimating your bills.

PBPumpkin

After months of charging us only €10 a bill on one of their budget plans, we contacted them with a current meter reading last May so we'ed be all square.

They put the monthly charge up to €17, that's right a whole 7 euro per bill.

In mid- October I got a call from them saying that we were over €700 in arrears & they wanted to sort out a payment plan with us.

We agreed on a monthly charge of about €128 for 6 months plus the current bill charge to clear -

Then I got a letter in the post saying that €450 is overdue & needs to be cleared immediately.

I called them - there was a problem on their side, the payment plan was cancelled, so they reinstated it - a bit annoying but "oh well"


A day later I got a text saying that my "continued supply is at risk" if I don't pay the balance immediately.
I called them up again - the pay plan was cancelled again - they couldn't tell my why but said it was no problem to set it up again.
I said fine, but I'd need something in writing from them, even an email, outlining the payment plan - in case there were any more issues with it

They said thay could not provide that, but that my bill when it became available on their website would show DD amount, plus the amount to be deducted in subsequent months, so I said that would have to do.

I opened up my bill online the other day, it says a direct debit of nearly €800 will be taken in November, no mention of payment plan.

I'm at wits end dealing with them - they seem relatively helpful on the phone, but essentially don't know what they are doing - there's a massive gulf between the customer service & the credit control depts.

Anyhoo, I think it's time to clear the balance and move to another provider -

justbored

This post has been deleted.

the groutch

these equal monthly payment things seem like a bad bad idea. far too easy to be hit with one huge bill.

PBPumpkin

The problem I have with them is that they cannot decide how much to charge me - they keep quoting different figures depending on who I'm speaking with.

Surely they are all looking at the same system/account so I don't know where the problem is ..........

I received a letter from them yesterday - outlining a new payment plan - €78 a month for 6 months!
This is €50 less than what they told me on the phone, and the 4th figure I've gotten from them.

This isn't enough to clear the arrears, so I'm not sure how they came up with it.

My fear is that I'll get cut off or get a bad credit rating because of their incompetence ..............

foggy_lad

PBPumpkin wrote: »

The problem I have with them is that they cannot decide how much to charge me - they keep quoting different figures depending on who I'm speaking with.

Surely they are all looking at the same system/account so I don't know where the problem is ..........

I received a letter from them yesterday - outlining a new payment plan - €78 a month for 6 months!
This is €50 less than what they told me on the phone, and the 4th figure I've gotten from them.

This isn't enough to clear the arrears, so I'm not sure how they came up with it.

My fear is that I'll get cut off or get a bad credit rating because of their incompetence ..............

Firstly you should read your meter and calculate how much you owe, the figure you get will not be accurate but will give a rough idea.

Next step is WRITE to the company, use the Heading "Formal Complaint" and detail all that has happened so far and how they have not provided adequate billing services for your account. let them know what you expect of them. Ask them to respond to you in writing.

Next you should allow the company 10 days to respond with their plan of action/resolution and if this is not good enough for you then ask for your complaint to be escelated(in writing) and if this does not happen you can then contact the regulator and ask them to intervene.

Staplor

I had a similar issue. I folowed their complaints procedure to the letter. Then their agent refused me a manager (which is the next step in their complaints procedure) so I quoted this to them, I got a manager. No luck with the manager. I asked to cancel my contract as they were not providing the accurate billing service I subscribed to, (told by door to door sales people there would be no difference but the name of the company on the bill). So after using my Junior Cert Business Studies Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act, I asked to switch my provider without the exit fee, they agreed.

At this point I meant to cancel my direct debit, but I forgot to, so they billed me the full amount, I had intended on paying them in stretched out installments.

Haven't lloked back since leaving them, one guy I spoke to told me they hadn't got the bill estimation going and that's probably why you are seeing the spike in the bill.

Also, that Space Pony advert did my head in on hold.

PBPumpkin

Exit Fee?

What exit fee?

I plan to just pay them off then switch to another provider..... am I missung something here?

I understand what you are saying about complaints procedure etc

Not to be too blunt, but I already have a job - it's not up to me to figure out how Airticity billing should work.

Staplor

There's an exit fee if you break their contract in the first year. I was threatened with it but retorted with them not providing the service promised thus them breaking the agreement.

vicM

when I signed up with them over a year ago, there was no need for a 12 month contract (Though they tried to push one on me for some winter offer,gladly declined)

think the best way to deal with all the energy providers is to set up reminders and submit meter readings. this lets me know im paying for what I have used as the huge bill shock happed to me with board gais. I think its lazy of them not to read meters atleast thrice a year.

If you log into your airticity account you can set up reminders and would get a text when you can go and submit your meter readings. Have Elec and gas with them and this set-up suits me fine

Tow

vicM wrote: »

think the best way to deal with all the energy providers is to set up reminders and submit meter readings. this lets me know im paying for what I have used as the huge bill shock happed to me with board gais.

Airtricity's billing system is so messed up that even sending in readings each month (which we do) does not work.

Our commercial builing was moved over to them a few months ago and so far:
Only 2 of the 3 (one is wattless energy and is billed) electrical meters are being billed. The 'missing meter' has left the ESB's billing system, but Airtricity says that we only ever had two . The amount on the first electrical bill was over €700, but only 300 odd was debited from the account. I could go on...

The first gas bill arrived a week or so ago. i.e. months later, but we use no gas during the summer anyway. I must post a copy of it on line!, it has figures debited and credited all over the place (they do not add up to the missing money from the electrical bill) and to make it more interesting the meter number MPRN, capacity, rate codes etc have 'X's in the fields. Yes, it appears Airtricity have also lost our huge industrial gas meter from their billing system.

At this rate we will make a substantial saving in out energy costs this year.

PBPumpkin

Savings til they realise their incompetence, then they'll hit you with a big bill, the total of which they're probably guessing

foggy_lad

PBPumpkin wrote: »

Savings til they realise their incompetence, then they'll hit you with a big bill, the total of which they're probably guessing

But you can bet the farm it will be guesstimated well in their favour!

Tow

PBPumpkin wrote: »

Savings til they realise their incompetence, then they'll hit you with a big bill, the total of which they're probably guessing

Very true, I know of another place who was hit with a €10k electric bill last year. I dont think there are enough digits on a standard meter for a 10K bill!

melekalikimaka

how can they guess a bill if you give in reads every two months?

master-t

We had a similar issue with our bills on the monthly budget plan. They quoted us an estimate for our monthly use based on our first two month bill. It seemed quite low, but we didn't say anything as we thought 'great, much cheaper than the others.'

After the first few months, I had not submitted any readings despite getting the text reminders - my fault completely. I called up with a read after about 4 months and we were way off what we should have been paying a month. We fixed it up then and havn't looked back since tbh.

I think with a budget plan, and I could be wrong here, they make it quite clear that it is an ESTIMATE of use. If you are being charged, as quoted above, €10 and then €17 a month, lets be honest, you know something is wrong and you should bring it to their attention ASAP. Don't let it run on for months as of course you will be bitten.

I asked their customer service (very helpful I have to say, especially compared to some shower of ***** i've dealt with in the past) what would of happened if I didn't ring in with my read, and he said that it was an annual budget plan and would be fixed up at the end of the year.

When you sign up to something, my advice is be sure what you are signing up to and understand how it works. Monthly elec bills for €10? Come on. Stick to the monthly billing if it doesn't work and at least you know where you stand each month.

hitbit

Hi,
Anyone here able to explain Airtricity's invoice reversal.

Hitbit

hitbit

So like myself no one else can explain "invoice reversal". Now that I have switched from Airtricity I find another strange term in my account summary " bill smoothing". They use a most unusual, unorthodox and unknown billing system. I wonder if this is designed to confuse their customers. We have elected to have an accountant look at our account first to final bill.
I would advise that anyone reading this and considering switching to Airtricity refrain from doing so. In the event anyone does elect to avail of their services stay well clear of their budget plan and check every single bill on receipt.

Hitbit

wmpdd3

i have been looking at switching my account and my mothers account but the tiny saving is just not worth the hassel, surly a copy of sage ould come up with a better billing system.
Looking at statistics it looks as we are lazy consumers as wont change from a higher charging main supplier, but there is more to it than that.

makingSense

The main point here is STAY AWAY FROM AIRTRICITY. I got a bill for overa thousand for one month and the hassle to stop the DD before it was charged!! I pity the people that have to man the phones

They will not be in the business long. STAY well clear. BORD gais fine in my experience

hitbit

I would strongly advise people to stay away from Airtricity. I have recently switched to Electric Irl after 2 years as an Airtricity customer. They are often very slightly cheaper than others BUT their standing charges are higher. Their billing system is a total nightmare ( budget Plan ). It is impossible to follow and I suspect specifically designed to confuse their customers to the point that they do know when they are being overcharged. I believe what they give with one hand is taken back twofold with the other.
My league of useless companies.
1 Sky Tv
2 Airtricity:
3 Greyhound Waste
4 Eircom:
5 Sky Media Shower that carry the guarantee on Aldi's Lcds:
6 FIAT Ireland
7 Fast Fit:

Hitbit

chrislad

I'm pretty close to leaving them too. Similar story when my bills were about 65, then they changed us to 6 month billing without telling us. I agreed to pay double for 6 months (about 110 per month or so) then after the 6 months, they increased my bill (monthly!) to 128 and it's risen to 172 last month. Mental.

lala88

makingSense wrote: »

The main point here is STAY AWAY FROM AIRTRICITY. I got a bill for overa thousand for one month and the hassle to stop the DD before it was charged!! I pity the people that have to man the phones

They will not be in the business long. STAY well clear. BORD gais fine in my experience

well they've been in business for about 15 years now so clearly they must be doing something right....

lala88

melekalikimaka wrote: »

how can they guess a bill if you give in reads every two months?

Saying they guess it it just an easy way for people to try and get out of paying

dudara

OK - this was a zombie thread, and the discussion is not adding anything as the original Consumer Issue is over a year old. If people want to generally comment how bad Airtricity are, then take it to the Best/Worst Customer Service thread.

Thread closed

dudara