First Utility - what the f**k?

"Help desk" - hmmm.

Well, I'm still cross, because I wonder how many people like your mum just pay up, not wanting to cause a fuss or get into trouble.

Sorted!

I got a call today from the bereavement team, and everything seems to be sorted now.
The causes for it all are rather strange, and neither I nor the lovely helpful woman who called me could understand how one of them (seems their computer had somehow changed around some letters in my email address???) could happen, but it did, so I hadn't got any of the emails they had sent! Hard to believe - wouldn't their computers tell them if an email hadn't been delivered?

Now that it is sorted, I am less angry about the incompetence that led to Mum being told that exit charges had been levied (they had already been removed again by the time the offending letter had been sent out, apparently), but still feel very angry by the brick wall I came up again when my authorisation was denied. I am still very much on record as having this authorisation! My theory is that once Dad's account was fully closed, my authorisation became limited to Mum's account. However, I definitely gave both account numbers in all but one of my recent attempts to sort things out (probably in that one too but I couldn't swear to it), so why did they not realize that the two were related?

Anyway, at least I can now reassure Mum that it's sorted. When I spoke to her last night and she asked if I had spoken to FU yet, I just told her that yes, I had, and was waiting for them to get back to me. Fortunately, she has no idea how much of my hair I have pulled out in the last few days.

Oh my goodness - it's just occurred to me that those emails that I didn't get, containing confidential details, could actually have gone to someone else! Bu***r!

I really wish I had the name of the woman from the bereavement department who phoned me back in January, grannyactivist, but i was in a supermarket when i took that call so no pen or paper handy to write anything down. She clearly had all the info I had given to the helpline operative 8 days earlier, and knew that my mum had given verbal consent to my dealing with matters on her behalf, and asked whether I would like them to send emails to me or my mum etc. I don't know what went wrong after that, but she would have been my best hope of getting it sorted out if I knew who she was and how to contact her.

As for the name of the helpdesk man I spoke to on the phone this morning who couldn't or couldn't even pass me on to someone else, I'm afraid i couldn't make out his name. It was one of those calls where I had to ask him to repeat himself so many times that it was embarrassing!

I am learning though, and have taken a screenshot of the later Facebook chat that I had with 'Jack', so at least I have a record of that.

I often have to ring utility companies, solicitors and government departments on behalf of my clients and have a form that clients sign giving permission for me to act on their behalf and on making a first phone call I have my client to hand so that additional verbal permission can be given. I always take the name of the person I speak to and when possible I ask for their direct number or extension. That way I can more easily speak to the same person each time and it builds a little rapport.

Thanks MamaCaz. He could have been difficult because the payment was overdue despite being on my spreadsheet. I just haven't been very efficient because it is all so very, very hard. I wish all the people I had to deal with were so kind as well as efficient. I do think it would be very easy to just tell them all there was no money and then they would all cancel their bills. There doesn't seem to be any system to check if I am truthful.

Now that's more like proper service, Nonnie!

I'm pleased for you that they didn't make an already bad situation worse, but very sorry for your loss.

I just had a call from a company my DS owed money to and it was so opposite from what you are experiencing and what I had from the utilities. I am sure he was trying to get me to say that DS didn't leave enough to cover the outstanding amount and therefore I didn't need to pay it. He really was very nice and even told me about counselling services for the bereaved.

Just a thought, if your father was a tax payer your mother will be due a refund. I mention this as HMRC don't appear to have a system in place to deal with the death of a tax payer. I really had to fight for it but won in the end. They even gave me compensation for the way they dealt with it.

Good luck with it all.

Today I rang them. Couldn't get past first base, as the young man on the phone couldn't find any record of me either.
Could he put me through to someone else? No. Could he ask the bereavement dept to ring me? No. Could I speak to someone higher up? No. All because he wouldn't be able to " attach a note to the account because I am not authorized!
Yes, I could get my mum to phone them to authorise me, but I don't want to involve her if possible because the letter upset her enough, and she is not well at the moment, quite possibly because of anxiety.

My next step was to go on their Facebook page (thinking it wouldn't do any harm to show that I use social media ). It didn't take long for them to enter into live chat with me then!
Nothing resolved yet, but at least it looks like my emails will be brought to the attention of the bereavement team (and what I was told a couple of weeks ago about this being in their hands was confirmed).

Something has just crossed my mind - if they don't accept that I am authorized, I wonder how they will explain having closed my dad's account and opened one in Mum's name! It can't have been anything to do with me if I am not authorized, and it certainly wasn't my mum.

Oh well, tomorrow is another day.

I'm not surprised. Similar situation and I was told I could not pay by direct debit and that I had to go on the standard, much more expensive tarrif but maybe that was because the home was empty.

Treated very badly by Thames Water so wrote a letter, yes real paper and envelope, and it worked! Bill was cancelled and I got a bunch of flowers! Real letters seem to give them a shock.

Lets hope this thread gets posted in elsewhere. I can't stand this kind of thing, and its all too common.

I don't want to phone First Utility until I have the letter and any details on it to hand.
However, I decided to send a simple email to them today to ask if my mum's understanding of the exit charges is correct.

First, I sent one to the bereavement department, but as they haven't responded to any emails from me so far (one I sent a month ago!), I decided to send one to 'support' as well.

Now I am fuming even more - basically, they replied saying that they can't discuss the accounts with me without authorization. I AM AUTHORIZED, FFS! My mum gave permission over the phone when i first contacted them, they took all my details, and it went on record. I know this happened because this authorization was confirmed when I had to phone them about some meter readings and again when I entered into live chat one day to try to find out if Mum's account was up and running yet.

To anyone thinking of changing energy supplier, i suggest that you avoid First Utility like the plague.

Thanks Jalima. I will definitely go down that route if things are not sorted out very quickly.

Once I actually have that last letter in front of me (probably midweek, as I doubt if Mum will have managed to post it on today), I will be straight on the phone to First Utility, then start working my way up through the official complaints procedure right away if necessary.
I hate having to deal with this sort of thing, but I hate poor service even more! I might end up having to contact Martin Lewis

Try the Ombudsman MamaCaz

www.ombudsman-services.org/sectors/energy

That cannot be right and they need to be taken to task.

That's interesting, Chewbacca, as it shows that it isn't just one department at FU that is incompetent!
I hope you soon get your issue sorted out. I might be in the same position on Mum's behalf when her own contract runs out later this year - assuming of course that we have sorted the current problem by then.

I was with First Utility on a 3 year contract but, a few weeks before the contract came up for renewal, they emailed me to give me the new details for a further contract with them. The increase in monthly direct debits was to be 28% despite my account having been considerably in credit for the duration of the existing contract. I was told that the only way to reduce the direct debit was if I agreed to have a smart meter - which I did not want. I found a better contract on USwitch and informed First Utility that I would not be renewing the contract with them. 10 weeks later, I'm still trying to get the overpayment on my account refunded to me. Like the OP, I've spent hours on the phone, sent many emails and have sent hard copy letters, requesting that they pay back the money to my bank account. I'm still waiting...... would never deal with them again or recommend them

Alima, with hindsight, doing nothing until the contract ended would have been best - the energy kept coming and the bills kept being paid, but you are right that Mum was a little bit upset that the bills kept coming in my dad's name.
Ironically, First Utility are still sending letters out to Dad, albeit 'care of' my mum. From what she told me over the phone this morning, the latest letter (five pages of what Mum described as 'double-dutch') seems to suggest that they still don't have all the info they need, yet they have closed the old account and opened the new one and I sent all the info they could possibly need weeks ago. It seems to me that different departments are not sharing info, and the one that should be dealing with this, the bereavement department, is the weak link.
Oh well, I suppose it will all get sorted, but like Mum, I could really do without this.

Sorry, only just seen your second post Luckygirl, but yes, Facebook and Twitter are certainly the way to go!

This sounds very incompetent of FU. (Seeing their name reduced to initials seems quite apt don’t you think?) I can understand that your Mum would like the account transferred to her name but does it have to be done legally? Probably receiving letters addressed to her DH would be upsetting. If not, couldn’t the status quo run till the end of any contract then switch to a new supplier with no chance of any bereavement department being able to mess it up. Or is that being too simplistic?

I will indeed, Luckygirl, that is assuming that I can actually get to speak to someone at First Utility who is in a position to sort things out.
Right now, I am so angry with them that I am as keen to alert others to their incompetence as I am to sort out our own problem!

Go onto their facebook or twitter pages and say what you have to say - companies hate such discussions being "out there."

Your poor Mum must be so worried. How dare they! I am sure you will be having strong words with them.

Unbelievable, isn't it, MissAdventure!

And to be honest, I don't believe it, and think that it is almost certainly just an error (to put it much more politely than I feel like doing). However, my mum is already suffering typical anxiety symptoms since my dad's death, and even though she knows that I will sort this out for her, she is still anxious because of it and I really feel so angry about it all!

First Utility have certainly lost a potential customer because of their incompetence - all my dealings with their frontline staff, those who man the phones and live chat, have been great, and I was going to get a quote from them when my own electricity supply needed renewing, but those working behind the scenes, those who actually need to make things happen, have proved to be useless!

That can't be right, surely? I feel incensed on your Mum's behalf!!