Energy firm shambles that’s fuelled your fury
Last week, Money Mail told of Green Star Energy’s erratic billing. Now we’ve been flooded with letters revealing the chaotic service you’ve received
MONEY Mail has handed the energy watchdog a dossier of damning complaints about Green Star Energy.
The file contains dozens of letters and emails from readers who are furious with the firm over its shambolic customer service. They say they have been: REPEATEDLY sent inaccurate bills that are too high. CHASED for money they do not owe. DENIED refunds although in credit. SWITCHED to new tariffs without their permission.
UNABLE to get any sense out of the firm when they complain.
Green Star Energy was founded in 2013 and supplies more than 250,000 households. Many customers were attracted to the firm because its tariffs were typically cheaper than the big Six energy suppliers.
In January, Green Star was appointed by energy watchdog Ofgem to take on the 10,000 Future Energy customers after the firm collapsed.
last week, our letters editor Tony hazell told of a reader at her wits’ end because Green Star kept sending electricity bills when she was not even a customer.
Since then, we have been inundated with complaints from other customers. Graham Gladstone, 42, and wife lisa, 39, from Northumberland, have been fighting to get an accurate bill since being switched from Future Energy in March.
Graham, a sales adviser, says Future Energy tried to increase his monthly payment for gas and electricity from £100 to £250 days before it collapsed.
when Green Star took over, it continued to chase them for £250 monthly payments despite being sent meter readings showing that they do not use this much power.
Six months on, Graham and lisa are still waiting for their bills to be corrected, and in the meantime Green Star has failed to take any payments. The firm has also sent them an estimated bill for next year, which at £3,000 is double the previous amount.
when they tried to change supplier, their switch was blocked.
Graham says: ‘I don’t want to pay these high prices but they won’t let us leave. we’ve been putting away £100 a month but I’m worried they will hit us with a massive bill. No one will take my meter readings.’
david Savage, 75, a retired engineer who looks after his 96-year-old motherin-law Caroline’s bills, has been chasing the firm for a £392 refund since February.
SEVERAL months after switching Caroline’s supply away from Green Star, he noticed the firm had kept taking monthly payments, building up credit of £392.
david, from wrexham, says: ‘I keep getting fobbed off. I want to know what is stopping them from refunding the money.’
Other readers say they are receiving threatening letters over money they do not owe.
businessman Graham lloyd, 62, says his 83-year-old father, harold, switched away from Green Star at the start of September and paid a final bill of £362. but he has been sent a letter saying unless he paid a £72 bill, his account would be passed to debt collectors.
Graham, from Cumbria, says: ‘My father has never been in debt. he switched to keep costs down and now they are sending estimated final bills. It makes no sense.’
Steve brown, from huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, left Green Star in March, but the supplier debited his bank account by £ 382 in September without warning.
when he chased the firm to ask why, he was told it was money owed for energy when he’d changed suppliers seven months earlier. he says: ‘I cannot prove this money is not owed. I have no breakdown of how they have come to this conclusion. I’ve asked for one but I’ve still not received it.’
Citizens advice ranked Green Star 26th out of 32 suppliers in its latest customer service league table. The firm was awarded just 2.2 stars out of a possible five for its performance rating between January and March.
Just last month, Green Star was forced by Ofgem to pay £680,000 in compensation for misselling and failing to provide annual statements for three years.
Green Star’s website claims ‘our customers are the backbone of our business’ and promises ‘the outcome of your complaint will always result in one or more of the following: apology, explanation, taking of appropriate remedial action and an award of compensation in appropriate circumstances’.
Yet wigan-based retired police officer Malcolm Murphy, 71, and wife Sheila, 65, a retired support worker, say the firm has refused for months to acknowledge their meter readings.
Malcolm says: ‘Green Star Energy employ contractors to take meter readings, which is fair enough, but they appear to ignore them and send me estimated readings.
‘I have emailed about this but get no reply. I have forwarded photos of my meters showing the readings. This is also ignored, and I still receive estimated readings.’
Mechanic paul attfield, 50 from dagenham in Essex, has been unable to get into his online Green Star account for five weeks.
he says: ‘without access to my account, I have no idea what I owe, what my energy usage is or when I’m supposed to take meter readings. I just keep being fobbed off with “we are working on this issue and will let you know when this issue has been resolved”.’
anthony pygram, Ofgem director of conduct and enforcement, says: ‘we will take the experiences raised by Green Star Energy customers in letters to Money Mail into consideration as part of our wider intelligence gathering.
‘last week, we published our biyearly complaints-handling survey that shows high levels of customers are dissatisfied with how their complaint has been dealt with by their supplier. Consumers want to see faster resolution and more regular updates throughout the resolution process.
‘ we expect all suppliers — including Green Star Energy — to take these lessons seriously and work hard to put things right for customers as soon as possible.’
a spokesman for Green Star Energy says: ‘Customer satisfaction is paramount to us.
‘when there are gaps with that service, we work diligently to make sure that we correct any issues and deliver on customers’ expectations. we have investigated each case forwarded to us, many of which had already been resolved.
‘we continue to work to resolve any outstanding matters directly with our customers as quickly as possible.’