Extra Energy wouldn’t call me back when my wife died
MY LATE wife and I had a joint email address. She dealt with all our bills.
On November 4, I received an email from Extra Energy, addressed to my wife, to inform us that they had been unable to collect a direct debit payment.
I rang and explained that my wife had died, I had closed her bank account and was paying all the bills.
Extra Energy said that my wife had changed supplier from them in February or March 2015.
I have called several times to find how much is owed, but none of my calls has been returned.
I then received another email demanding payment and saying £12 would be added to the outstanding bill.
However, I still have no idea of how much this bill is because they have not supplied one.
I have made at least six phone calls, written and emailed. All I receive is a standard reply that someone will contact me within 24 to 48 hours.
It was bad enough to lose my wife so quickly, but to be chased and harassed by a company that will not even communicate with me is disgusting.
G. W., Lancs.
YOU sum up my thoughts very well in the last paragraph of your letter. Once again we have a company that cannot communicate in a proper and civilised fashion with a bereaved person.
You had contacted Extra Energy to explain that you were unable to access the account online and, very reasonably, asked to be sent a paper bill.
Extra Energy says that due to an ‘internal issue’ there was a delay in the complaints team responding to you.
Well, it should not have been a complaints team responding; it should have been a dedicated bereavement team. And if they don’t have one, shame on them.
Extra Energy has at last emailed, with a breakdown of the bill and apologising for the lack of communication.
And I am pleased to say it has gone a step further and written off the outstanding balance by way of apology.
Ben Jones, managing director of Extra Energy, says: ‘We are extremely sorry for the insensitivity Mr W experienced at a difficult time.
‘Customer service is our numberone priority, and in this case we have fallen below the high standards we expect of ourselves.’
A senior team member has called you to apologise. Incidentally, in a Which? survey in the autumn of 2014, Extra Energy scored just two out of five for customer service, ranking it among the worst of the energy providers.
On Moneysupermarket, it is rated three out of ten, so perhaps Mr Jones might want to make customer service an even greater priority in 2016. I HAVE paid National Insurance for 48 years and understand that all I need to qualify for a full new state pension is 35 years. However, while working I was in two private pensions that were contracted out of the state pension. This means I will lose in the region of £48.95 per week in state pension.
I was never informed that as a result of contracting out of the state pension I would be affected so badly.
Am I able to pursue a claim against the pension trustees?
G. W., W. Yorks. I THINK you’ve got hold of the wrong end of the stick.
You’ve spent many years in jobs where your employers have provided a pension — and now you ask whether you can pursue a claim against them. On what grounds do you intend to base your claim — excessive generosity?
Members of occupational pension schemes were traditionally contracted out of Serps and later the state second pension — so they did not build up these extra state pensions.
Both they and their employer benefited by paying less national Insurance.
however, the quid pro quo was that the employer had to pay a guaranteed minimum pension broadly equivalent to what might have been received in Serps.
After 1997, the rules became more flexible.
Contracting out has knocked on to the new state pension, which will be launched in April — and I think this may be the source of your confusion. Pension statements have two calculations showing how much pension you would be entitled to under both the old and new systems.
these calculations will show deductions for the years you were contracted out — for some, these can look particularly large under the new system.
But you will get the higher of the two amounts shown and you will not be any worse off than you would be under the current system.
to sum up: far from losing out or being penalised, you will have gained not just from paying less national Insurance, but also from having your employer contribute to your pension.