Getting a better Energy deal - WHAT A JOKE!
I have been with AGL for Gas & Elec for some years. After the July 1 price skyrocket I decided to look into things. AGL had been giving me a paltry 6% off Elec and 2% off Gas. We are never late - in fact the account is usually still in credit AFTER the bill has been presented to us, because I pay in advance every fortnight.
I wrote a spreadsheet so that I could compare some different suppliers rates. This is a bit tricky because they all calculate things differently, with different rates and thresholds. Some discount usage AND daily supply and most just discount usage. Then of course the rates all vary with postcodes and so it goes on. It is an absolute minefield, and if you are not bent to be good with detail and numbers then you will undoubtedly be ripped off.
The Energy Companies are playing us for mugs, pure and simple.
I have to say that you REALLY need to be on your game to get the best deal. I am 100% certain that there are many older people being absolutely gouged by these miserable mongrels. It is unconscionable.
To be frank, I believe that the Energy companies have now reached the heady depths of the banks, and may indeed be acting in an even worse manner.
The sequence of events that has unfolded is truly astonishing. So much so that I ended up writing to my two local Members (State & Fed), a Senator, the Prime Minister, and the head of AGL Marketing. Bloody AGL wrote back apologising for "any inconvenience caused". Boy did they get a hot response to that. "Incon-bloody-venience? Is that what you think 30 or more hours of my time wasted is????"
I would estimate that there have been in excess of 40 phone calls, and so far this has taken up around 35-40 hours of my time, over the last 6 weeks. I wish I had kept diary notes from the start, but one does not expect such a fiasco to unfold. Especially when one is reassured every step of the way how EASY this is going to be. John Elliot response to that!
When you decide to leave a retailer, because another offers you a better deal, the victor sends the vanquished a "notice to quit" if you like - you know "nyaa nyaa we have the poor bastard now, so cease and desist". When that happens the Vanquished have a Retention Team that have better discounts than the Sales Team can offer. They have to call you within the 10 day cooling off period for the Victor, and sweet-talk you into staying with these better rates.
In my case, AGL were the Vanquished, and Origin were the Victors. After my initial call to AGL my Gas discount went from 2% to 16%, and then in a subsequent phone call it magically became 20% (without saying anything), and Elec went from 6% to 24%.
Now I happened to know that they can do better than that, through a friend who went through the same process. He said that the Retention team called him and offered him 25% off Gas and 32% off elec.
So I told AGL that I knew they could do better. "Sorry, can't give you that until you actually leave." SO I have to waste Origin's time and effort, oh, and considerable hours of my own.
Well what a sorry bloody chain of events that started. I am now 4 levels of management (AGL) up from the usual call centre. Just cockup after cockup after cockup, and they are still happening. Got the latest call from AGL this arvo, after someone read my email. The upshot of that was that my Gas was still going to Origin, and that I had until close of business today to stop it. Earlier in this call I said "I know this call with you is not the last call I will have to make". She said she thought it actually would be. No more than 5 minutes later she was proved wrong (when it surfaced that the Gas was still going to Origin).
We agreed that I would call Origin to stop the transfer, and that she would call me back in 30 minutes or so.
So I rang Origin and explained to the chap what was going on, and did Origin have a retention dept? Yes. Ok why don't you call them, and tell them they need to talk to me because right now I'm ready to throttle AGL. OK.
Finish up I got a better deal on the Gas & Elec than what Origin originally tempted me away with. This deal was marginally cheaper than AGL's best offer on Elec, and marginally more on Gas so I have now made a final decision to make the move to Origin for both.
When the AGL "4 levels up" lady rang back to see how I went she sounded quite disappointed that I had done exactly the opposite of what I had set out to do (cancel the move to Origin with just hours to spare). I think the "4 levels up" people expect to always be successful.
TOUGH LUCK! :((:~:((
She knew she didn't have leg to stand on though.