Key Post Is there a gas and electricity supplier which rewards loyal customers?

8) OK, I got a Welcome Email immediately after the phone call, inviting me to register.
But when I did, there is no sign of my contract.
 
Energia wouldn't e mail me the rates, for the next 12 months, at the end of my contract last week. I was told it had to be discussed on the phone. For a minute I thought it was 1967. My account has been in credit for the two years I have been with them, and the bills were essentially paid before I got them, but they were still happy to lose me as a customer because I have no interest in talking to them on the phone. I have moved to Bord Gais through Bonkers.ie.
 
Hello Mr. Burgess,

I completely understand the frustration and agree that poor service is a deterrent to switching.

I would make a point of contacting their head of customer service on this, as they are trying to attract new customers and silly things like having an automated service that requires you to input your account number, to only then have to give it again verbally need to be sorting out (permanently).... and that's before you get on to the matter of them not being able to quickly provide a replacement welcome pack.

Let's not forget, the more of us that complain, the better service levels will generally become :)
 
In Feb 2017 i was in the process of switching from Electric Irl to Energia for electricity,i was in contact with Electric Irl prior to see if there was any discounts available that would make me stay,i was told there wasn't so i continued with the online switching process,i'd say within a day or so of completing the online forms i received a call from a member of the Electric Irl sales team offering me €175 cashback and continuing 5.5% discount off their standard unit rate,i received my last bill of the one year contract yesterday with no €175 cashback,i rang today only to be told that there was no notes saying that this was offered to me,luckily i had all the notes of who offered me the deal,the customer service agent told me he would pass it on to a supervisor to check the phone log for the first 10 days of Feb 2017, i had calculated last year that i would have saved around €183 if i had have continued the move to Energia so the €175 cashback plus the difference in the standing charge enticed me to stay with Electric Irl..will have to wait and see what their response will be...in the meantime i've filled in the online forms to switch to Energia...again!!
 
MrEarl said:
Secondly, I have never been able to persuade an existing gas or electricity provider to match the best deal advertised on Bonkers.ie.
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I have found the same as well and I would imagine I would be profiled as a switcher given I switch every 12 months religiously. That said Energia did ring me proactively about keeping me as a customer but would not offer the best deal from bonkers. I have to admit I gave them one shot at it - told them they were getting one shot - and they could not match it. I have been with Energia twice before and switched both times after 1 year.

Personally I find the switching process on bonkers very easy - took me about 10 minutes once morning before the kids got up. I had my details at hand, including my average usage for the last 3 years and the latest meter readings and away I went. I find that 10 minutes doing something myself much easier than dealing with a call centre :)

Energia rang me back to change my mind - told them the deal I had got on bonkers and said if they could beat it I would consider it but otherwise I was letting the switch go through. They told me they could not beat it (as far as I can remember it was a special black friday deal)
 
MrEarl said:
Let's not forget, the more of us that complain, the better service levels will generally become
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Maybe, but a lot of this is also due to very complex IT systems which cost a lot of money to build and maintain. The sad reality is without a serious investment in the underlying technology, customer service will never really improve no matter what the company is.

The whole idea of moving toward 'digital transformation' to to empower the customer. Most companies are unable to empower the agents never mind the customers !
 
I rang Energia yesterday. They offered me a €100 credit to my account to stay with them plus a lower tariff. I am aware that I could have switched to Electric Ireland and received €175 cash back. I stayed with Energia. Not sure why.

I also rang Bord Gais. Two weeks ago they offered me a €100 credit on my account if I stayed. I was debating this. I decided to ring back to see what the update was. The person on customer service said to me "that they were not offering anything to me today to stay".
I couldn't believe that someone would say this as I have been a customer since 1975 and never missed paying a bill. I asked to speak to someone in their customer loyalty department and complained about the attitude of the person in customer service.

They also couldn't believe that someone in customer service would have said this to me and again offered the €100 credit on my account to stay. They said that they would listen back to the tapes of my conversation with the person in customer service and get back to me on it. It appears that depending on the mood of the person that you are dealing with you can get different levels of customer service. Certainly the person I was speaking with should not be allowed near a customer.

I decided to stay with Bord Gais. Again, not sure why.

Later that morning I got a letter from the Prize Bonds department telling me I had won a €100 prize.

So I ended up earning 3 x €100 payments yesterday morning. Not as good as some who did the switch. Better than those who did not do the switch. Somewhere in between I suppose.
 
Tintagel said:
Not as good as some who did the switch. Better than those who did not do the switch.
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Can I ask now long the process was to ring both sets of customer service teams, ask to be put through to loyalty and have those discussions with them? I am guessing it took at least 15-20 minutes to go through all of this.
Switching on bonkers takes less time than that - maybe 10 minutes if you have all your details ready. You are guaranteed to get the best possible rate and you don't have to speak to a human so no risk of being annoyed :)

I am just surprised that someone who starts the process of engaging with the utility companies to switch, would not accept only the lowest price.
A 20 second check on bonkers this morning shows the best deals are:
- Bord Gais for electricity @ 28% discount - saving 195.55 euro a year on the national average usage
- Flo Gas for gas @ 27.4% discount - saving 184.07 euro a year on the national average usage
Total saving is 379.62 euro

This is worth noting that both electricity and gas are simply commodities supplied by 3rd parties so no difference in the product you get at the end of it (unless you go down a green fuel route). I don't think I have ever had to contact a utility companies in 10 years, so no idea what any of their customer services are like (but assume they are outsourced anyway!!)
 
Bonkers is great, until something goes wrong.

I could not have spoken more positively about them, until recently. They messed up my most recent move, then they wouldn't admit it, but when I asked them if their calls were recorded and they acknowledged that they were, they somewhat acknowledged their error and their responsibility, but still left me with endless calls between two service providers as I tried to unravel the mess they had caused and not put right.

Their website is great for price comparison, but after my most recent experience, I would be more inclined to do the move by phone directly with the new provider now after using Bonkers just for research. Telephone calls can take a few minutes, but once you select the option for new customers, they rarely leave you hanging around.
 
MrEarl said:
They messed up my most recent move, then they wouldn't admit it,
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interesting MrEarl. Like yourself (up to that point), I only had very positive experiences with bonkers and I switch every year. Sometimes on their site and sometimes on the service providers site.

I have to admit I hate ringing call centres with a passion. I think it may be a demographic thing !! I blame UPC/Virgin Media for the 'hatred' :) I lose 30 minutes of my life I will never get back every time I have to ring them
 
Hi I was thinking of switching both utilities a couple of weeks back. Entered my details on bonkers and switcher.ie and got different recommendations from both of them which confused me as surely the cheapest deals should be the same on both websites. Also I noticed that in the recommendations although the unit prices were slightly lower than what I'm on with SSE the standing charges were a lot higher. So I left it. Should I revisit am out of contract with SSE.
 
Susie2017 said:
... Should I revisit am out of contract with SSE.
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Absolutely, the worst thing you can do is nothing.

Perhaps Bonkers and Switcher have each negotiated individual deals with certain providers, to offer to their users ? Regardless, the obvious thing is to pick the deal that's best for you, from all of the deals that are available.
 
Brendan Burgess said:
OK, it looks like Electric Ireland is the only company which does not have a one year discount.

https://www.electricireland.ie/swit...s?priceType=D&pricePlanId=35#smartheatingtabs

If you get your gas and electricity from them, they charge 13.84 for electricity and 4.376 for gas.

It's not a one year special, it's their price for those who pay by direct debit and who accept paperless billing.
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I thought that Electric Ireland was committed to treating loyal customers fairly, so I have not reviewed my electricity and gas. But now I see that they are offering new customers a big discount for the first year, which annoys me.

I presume that there isn't anyone treating customers fairly?

Brendan
 
Where do you get 13.84 for electricity - that is about half the going rate :)
 
To answer your question - none of the utility companies treat their existing customers fairly - you have to threaten to switch or even switch to get their best offer.

Unfortunately, it's the nature of the business - they are all selling exactly the same product so from a business point of view keeping existing customers is not a priority at all so charging them more is the best way to do business from their point of view. Obtaining new customers is cheap these days so it is easy to replace any that leave
 
Hello,

I've yet to see any power supply company treat loyal existing customers fairly. They are every bit as bad as the insurance industry...

I go on to a well known price comparison website every year, and find that I need to move every year, to get the best deal. Coincidently, this year, I've found myself back with Electric Ireland (14% discount on both fuels in Y1, plus €260 cash credited to my customer account).

However, that still puts an obligation on the customer. I'd rather see the supplier treat everyone fairly, by giving existing customers the same deal as they offer to new customers, to at least show some level of decency.

I've also taken a further step towards ensuring that I pay the least amount necessary, for my future electricity needs, by installing solar panels on my roof. It's very early days, and it won't remove my need for a third party electricity supplier, but it's definitely a step in the right direction, with regards to reducing the ability of third party suppliers, to keep overcharging me, in the future !
 
MrEarl said:
Hello,

I've yet to see any power supply company treat loyal existing customers fairly. They are every bit as bad as the insurance industry...

I go on to a well known price comparison website every year, and find that I need to move every year, to get the best deal. Coincidently, this year, I've found myself back with Electric Ireland (14% discount on both fuels in Y1, plus €260 cash credited to my customer account).

However, that still puts an obligation on the customer. I'd rather see the supplier treat everyone fairly, by giving existing customers the same deal as they offer to new customers, to at least show some level of decency.

I've also taken a further step towards ensuring that I pay the least amount necessary, for my future electricity needs, by installing solar panels on my roof. It's very early days, and it won't remove my need for a third party electricity supplier, but it's definitely a step in the right direction, with regards to reducing the ability of third party suppliers, to keep overcharging me, in the future !
Click to expand...

The irony there is that, in future, the likes of you and me will probably keep on switching annually - in order to get the most attractive FIT!

(I switched from Energia to Electric Ireland recently. My FIT fell from 24c per unit to 21c per unit, but I calculated that the €150 sign up bonus would probably exceed the reduction in my FIT income. Mind you, if we have a really good summer, then I'll probably end up kicking myself!) :confused:
 
BG phoned me and offered 20% discount on their standard rate at renewal. I tried to see if I could get better online as a new customer but could only find 17%
 
It has been mentioned many times on AAM that the discount rate is not what we should be looking at but the price per unit and also the annual charge which can vary a lot from one company to another.

Most people move each year to avoid this existing customer problem.

I have found of late that the deals on Bonkers and Switcher are not great and it is better to check both those and the rates on the individual company's website.

It pays to run your electricity usage figures through www.energypal.ie also.

From a customer service point of view I would rate the companies as follows from the ones that I have used plus I don't have an EV/panels/gas heating:

1. Energia - excellent but dearer
2. Electric Ireland - good, but last time I checked figures, which is a couple of months ago, were dear
3. Bord Gais - cheaper but can be troublesome and time consuming to deal with
 
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