Exit Fee for Leaving 1 Day Early.

Jofspring

[font=arial, sans-serif]Hi there,[/font]

[font=arial, sans-serif]I recently closed my Electric Ireland account as I left the property I was renting. I today received a bill with a €50 exit fee added. [/font]

[font=arial, sans-serif]I started my bills with Electric Ireland on 9th of April 2016 and closed it on the 8th of April 2017. I did not realise there was an early exit fee for leaving before the 12 months was up and considering I was one day short I feel it was harsh in the extreme to apply this charge. If I had know there would be this charge I would have hung on the extra day. I was not notified of the extra charge over the phone. [/font]

[font=arial, sans-serif]If you could contact me with regards this it would be appreciated.[/font]


Jof.

Wheety

09/04/16 - 08/04/17 is a year

Electric Ireland: Una

Hi Jofspring,

Thank you for getting in touch.

If you send us a private message confirming the relevant Electric Ireland account number, stating that you are the account-holder and your name, address and date of birth, we will review your query as soon as possible.

Thanks,
Una

________

Jofspring

Electric Ireland: Una wrote: »

Hi Jofspring,

Thank you for getting in touch.

If you send us a private message confirming the relevant Electric Ireland account number, stating that you are the account-holder and your name, address and date of birth, we will review your query as soon as possible.

Thanks,
Una

________

PM Sent.

Diego Murphy

Hate reviving an old thread, but I switched my electricity from electric Ireland during the week , about 4 weeks out of contract  and same as the time that I was switching gas last year, they've charged me 50 exit fee yet again .... Are you sneaking this through on customers hoping that they won't challenge it? 

Electric Ireland: Aoife

Hi there, 

We are very sorry to read you have been charged the fee in error.

We would like to review your account and find out why it was applied. 

Can you please send us the following details via private message and we will look into this? 

• Your full name
• Your account number
• The first line of your address
• Your contact number
• Confirmation you are the account holder (Yes/No)
  

Thanks, 
Aoife

Davey Devil

I have also been hit with a €50 exit fee despite being out of contract for six weeks when I moved to another supplier. Some very shady practice going on here. I've been switching companies every year between your competitors and have never had this issue. How can they get it right but electric Ireland are failing to solve this problem? Probably because they don't want to solve it. Outrageous. 

Electric Ireland: Aoife

Hi Davey Devil, 

We're very sorry to read this.

We would like to investigate this. Please send us a private message

For account security, we need you to please confirm the following details for us:

- Your full name
- Your account number
- The first line of your address
- Your contact number
- Confirmation you are the account holder (Yes/No)

We can then look into your query for you.

Kind regards,
Aoife

Davey Devil

I had this sorted in under 2 mins on the online chat. He sorted it so quickly that it seems like this is something he has to do often.

I tell you what you can do Aoife. You can escalate this to the highest level in your company. Its an absolute disgrace that Electric Ireland are attempting to get away with this charge in the hope that people don't notice. My account was out of contract for six weeks and I was charged an early exit fee. This should be impossible with automated systems.

I've found threads going back years with the same problem so its obvious to me that no attempt has been made to rectify this.

Absolutely shamefull, I'll never give Electric Ireland another cent of my money.

Electric Ireland: Aoife

Hi Davey Devil, 

We are very sorry that this happened and we are glad to read it has been resolved for you. 

We appreciate your feedback. We have already shared your posts with the relevant department.

We would appreciate if you could provide your details by private message as this could help our colleagues investigate the matter further.

Kind regards, 
Aoife

Arciphel

Just want to add that I also had to contact Electric Ireland today as they applied "in error" the exact same 50 Euro exit fee to my account, even though i was out of contract by a week - and had called them before I switched to have them confirm I was free to leave.  

It is such a coincidence - a cynical person might think that this is even something they do by design in the assumption that people, when leaving and closing their accounts, will not check the direct debits coming out of their accounts.  Luckily I don't believe such things.  

I have all the screen grabs etc so will be making a complaint to Electric Ireland so they can give this a robust and full investigation, and then following it up with the folks in the Commission for Regulation of Utilities.

FYI - the Electric Ireland complaints policy is here if you need it - https://www.electricireland.ie/docs/code-of-practice-complaint-handling-2015/electric-ireland-complaint-charter.pdf?sfvrsn=ddcaa20d_18

Electric Ireland: Aoife

Hi Arciphel,

We are very sorry to read this.

If you would like us to look into this, please send a private message with your account details.

For account security, we will require the following details:

• Your name as it appeared on your Electric Ireland account
• The first line of your address
• Your contact number
• Confirmation you were the account holder (Yes/No)
  

Kind regards,
Aoife

Cait04

This happened to me as well today.  I got my final bill and there was a €50 exit fee added on even though I had been out of contract for a week before I switched.  I rang their customer service and they removed it and said it had been applied 'in error'. There are bound to be people paying this fee that don't check their online bills and don't know that they have been charged it.

Arciphel

Cait04 wrote: »

This happened to me as well today.  I got my final bill and there was a €50 exit fee added on even though I had been out of contract for a week before I switched.  I rang their customer service and they removed it and said it had been applied 'in error'. There are bound to be people paying this fee that don't check their online bills and don't know that they have been charged it.

Hi Cait04, yes it seems to be pretty systematic doesn't it?  Hopefully if people keep posting in here when it happens then if other people search online they will find this thread about it.

Electric Ireland: Una

Hi all,

We are so sorry about this. We can assure that it is an error.

We have escalated it to our senior colleagues.

Kind regards,
Una

Arciphel

Electric Ireland: Una wrote: »

Hi all,

We are so sorry about this. We can assure that it is an error.

We have escalated it to our senior colleagues.

Kind regards,
Una

I'd say it's a mistake if it happens to one person, when it happens to five people its more of a policy.

Electric Ireland: Una

Hi Arciphel,

We can guarantee it is a system error, but we certainly understand your upset at it occurring. It is being worked on at present.

Kind regards,
Una

Arciphel

Just wanted to update this thread so that it’s visible, seems like another load of people were hit with this charge “in error” last month. Good for them to known this is a common occurrence with Electric Ireland.

Electric Ireland: Una wrote: »

Hi Arciphel,

We can guarantee it is a system error, but we certainly understand your upset at it occurring. It is being worked on at present.

Kind regards,
Una

Chemistry3

I had also been 2 weeks out of contract, and made a switch on Dec 5th but a 50 euro exit fee is showing up(awaiting final bill still though which may come soon). I deliberately waited after my plan expired because I was caught out before by a day. Also it is not my fault that most of the bills were estimated as I got no slips in the door/call outs for a long time which I found strange as if Electric Ireland were delighted to keep on estimating, though Electric Ireland did manage to come in very close and whenever I provided an exact reading to them, they would not re-issue a new bill because the estimated was accurate enough I presume. If I had my 1st bill from Nov 20th 2018 and switched on Dec 5th 2019, surely I should not be charged an exit fee. My last bill was up to Nov 1st 2019, so I now await an accurate partial bill without that exit fee. 

CPTM

I too have faced this issue just now. How can I get it resolved?

Electric Ireland: Aoife

Hi Chemistry3 and CPTM, 

We regret to read this. 

Can you please send us a private message with your account details? We would like to look into this for you.

We require the following information: 

- Your full name
- Your account number
- The first line of your address
- Your contact number
- Confirmation that you are the account holder (Yes/No)

Kind regards, 
Aoife

CPTM

Electric Ireland: Aoife wrote: »

Hi Chemistry3 and CPTM, 

We regret to read this. 

Can you please send us a private message with your account details? We would like to look into this for you.

We require the following information: 

- Your full name
- Your account number
- The first line of your address
- Your contact number
- Confirmation that you are the account holder (Yes/No)

Kind regards, 
Aoife

Sorry for the delay. PM sent - I see 50 euro was charged to both electricity and gas. 100 euro altogether!

Vego

I thought it was just the insurance industry that were crooks .....

Electric Ireland: Aoife

Hi CPTM,


Thank you for getting back to us.


We will get back to your PM as soon as possible. 


Kind regards, 
Aoife

Orla6

In March, 2020 this 'error' is still being made. It can no longer be called a mistake or system error. 
I have had to contact Electric Ireland to get it removed 
Not so much as an apology, just 'the exit fee has been removed'

Uncle Pierre

Just to say that the very same thing happened to me around the end of January, when I switched away from Electric Ireland to a different company. Was happy at the time that it was resolved very quickly when I phoned them about it. But as somebody else points out here, the fact that it's being resolved so quickly when you contact them suggests it's the kind of thing that's happening very often. 

Electric Ireland: Una

Hi Orla,

We are extremely sorry about this. We can assure it is an error.

If you would like us to escalate it further, just private message us the Electric Ireland account number, name, address, telephone number, and state for GDPR (Data Protection) that you were the account-holder of that Electric Ireland account.

Kind regards,
Una

Orla6

Una
Your pm said nothing I haven't seen in your responses to the other people affected by this 'error'.  I can't see how you can call it an error and say it is being worked on continuously and being corrected when it has been going on for years and affects so many people. 

Salary Negotiator

Hi Una 

How many customers have been affected by this error? 

I've no doubt complaints are being logged for each and every case so it should be easy to tell us. 

Vego

Almost like it's policy to charge and default to it's an error when you get caught out ... because of the length of time this error has been going on .... someone is saying it's ok

Pekarirska

Hi Una,

Opened my account on 4/6/2019 and closed on 3/6/2020, being hit with €50 charge on the last bill.

Was just told by cc team over the phone that I'm liable for the charge.

Anything you can do for me?