By Will Sturgeon, 13 January 2004 10:00
NEWS Electricity giant EDF Energy, which encompasses London Electric and Seeboard, is currently working to fix serious problems with up to 45,000 customer accounts following a migration of internal systems back in November last year.
A number of customer accounts are still inaccessible more than two months after the problem first arose, meaning bill payments are impossible to make and customers experiencing problems with their accounts or requiring further assistance are unable to be helped at present.
A member of the company's customer services team confirmed the ongoing problems to silicon.com but admitted she had "no idea how many customers this is affecting".
Today, EDF admitted to silicon.com as many as 45,000 accounts could be hit by the problems, but insisted all affected customers should have been notified and claimed the migration of 4.5 million accounts had been "extremely successful".
However, one customer, who begged to differ with that assessment, told silicon.com that she's heard nothing from the company and has been waiting almost two months for a final bill for her account. She added that the delay has complicated a house move.
She said she's grown annoyed at the lack of communication on the part of EDF - having only been informed of the problems when she recently called them.
"We contacted Seeboard late last year to provide a final meter reading and asked them to close the account and send out a final bill which all seemed to be fine," she told silicon.com.
"However, after about six weeks we still hadn't seen a bill, which we needed in order to claim back our security deposit from our previous landlords.
"I rang Seeboard only to be told a problem in November had locked our account and they were still working to sort it out. This was the first we've been told about this - although the problem had obviously occurred before we even spoke to them the first time - and they're still telling us it could be another couple of weeks before it's resolved."
"I was told they'd chase up the IT department to get it sorted but I am a little doubtful. It sounds like a right cock-up to me," she added.
Any Seeboard or London Electric customers worried about their accounts should contact EDF customer services on 0207 242 9050.
Comments
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1. anonymous
Doesn't inspire confidence, does it? But they're not alone - we switched our telecomms to THUS in October and have yet to receive a single invoice. Apparently they stopped issuing them towards the end of the year so they could roll out a new billing system. The cashflow impact must be massive - if I tried that here, I'd be strung up.
2. Barry Barney
I to as a customer of Seeboard am extremeley disappointed with the failure of the company to respond to my e-mails. The customer services phoneline is constantly 'busy for more than ten minutes - please call back'Failure to inform me of the changeover was bad enough, but my account-payable by direct debit will now show on record as being 'IN ARREARS' which will be due to no fault of my own. How will this look to any new company that I approach? I accuse Seeboard of a breach of contract by their action/lack of action and hope others do likewise. Yes, Full address willingly supplied!!!
3. Barry Barney
P.S.
As for using the phone number supplied - THEY'VE GOT MINE!!!!!!
4. Tim Fawcett
I was a customer of EDF for exactly 47 days over two years ago, yet still get billed by them for current electricity usage! Every time I ring to sort it out they say "Sorry it won't happen again" - until the next billing period...