READERS' FORUM:Have your say

A reader called Roisin who has been “fuming” got in touch with us to outline her experiences attempting to switch her gas supplier from Bord Gáis Energy to Airtricity.

A sales rep from Airtricity called to her house last September and, as she had previously switched her electricity supply to them from the ESB, she was interested to hear more. “After discussing details with the rep, I decided to change supplier and signed up with all the relevant forms. I received a letter the following week from Airtricity to confirm that they were in the process of transferring my account, but wait for this, they outlined that I could no longer avail of the budgeting service for my electricity billing now that I was signing up to a gas account. That was the first I had heard of this clause,” she says.

She points out, quite reasonably, that a gas bill averaged out over the year at €88 per month is better than getting lower bills in the summer and “ginormous winter bills”.

So when she heard that a budget plan was no longer possible, she contacted Airtricity and told them that they must be out of their minds, particularly in the current economic climate.

She cancelled her application to transfer to Airtricity, “despite the ‘carrot’ of a 10 per cent reduction, as it is more important to me to budget to cover my bills. I was reassured that the application to cancel my supply from Bord Gáis had not yet been processed and that my account and supply with Bord Gáis would be uninterrupted.” Being somewhat sceptical, she rang a week later and was reassured that the application had been cancelled.

“All seemed well until January when I got a whopping bill from Bord Gáis for €289. I contacted their billing department to find out that my direct debit monthly billing plan amount had been cancelled and I was being treated as a new customer, without either a direct debit or a budget plan in place. I hadn’t noticed the omission of the gas direct debit,” she says.

“I explained the incompetence of Airtricity in dealing with the cancellation of my application to switch. I had no choice but to set up a new budget plan (incorporating the “arrears”) and reactivated my direct debit facility for an increased amount of €119 per month for 2011. The staff of Bord Gáis were most helpful, courteous and competent in helping me to get back on my financial budgeting track.”

She says that “was not the end of my woes with Airtricity”. She checked her Airtricity bill online and discovered that they had taken her off the budget plan because she had signed up to their gas package even though she had decided not to do so because she did not want to be taken off the budget plan.

We contacted the company and were told that Airtricity Budget Plan electricity-only customers who add gas to their account are – or at least should be – advised when switching their gas that this monthly payment option is not available.

“We regret that in this instance the customer in question was not advised when switching their gas that they would no longer be able to avail of the Airtricity Budget Plan, and we have apologised directly to the customer for any misunderstanding.”

He said that as soon as the customer advised Airtricity that she did not want to proceed with the switch, it immediately informed her previous supplier.

“Unfortunately we have no control over how the previous supplier treats any customer who chooses not to proceed with a switch. Any delay in this customer’s switch-back to Bord Gais Energy, or in the payment method that was applied to her account by her previous supplier, is entirely a matter for Bord Gáis who designed the market switching processes.”

He said her electricity account has now been restored to her chosen payment method of the Airtricity Budget Plan.

Top marks for TLC from M&S

From bad to good. Another reader got in touch to highlight a good customer service story.

“I went to Marks & Spencer before Christmas to buy some nursing bras as I was expecting a baby around the end of December,” writes Allison McDonald.

“They had to order them in and took my name and number, telling me to come back in a week to collect them. Imagine my surprise when they rang me to say that the delivery had been delayed by the snow and that they were worried in case I tried to make it into town in my condition! I wouldn’t have expected such personal concern from my local corner shop let alone a huge chainstore like Marks & Spencer. It was much appreciated.”