Back in 2018, Cameron purchased an apartment off the plan. The apartment was serviced by a common hot water system that was managed and billed as an embedded network by an energy retailer.
Cameron had not received regular bills from his retailer, based on the agreed billing frequency, for a period of 12 months. He said he had received a delayed hot water bill of $1,100 for a period of six-months and then another bill for $531 for a one-month period.
Cameron complained to his retailer about the delays and the inconsistent billing. His retailer told him that it would investigate the billing and provide a response. Cameron didn’t receive a response for over a month, so he sent a follow up email, but again, did not receive a reply. He then received a new hot water bill, so he tried calling his retailer but could only leave a phone message.
Cameron complained to us about the poor customer service he received when attempting to resolve his complaint.
How did we help?
We referred the matter back to the retailer to resolve it at a higher level and told Cameron that he could return to us if a satisfactory outcome could not be reached. Cameron returned to us because he was not contacted by the retailer at all.
We contacted the retailer to obtain the outcome of its investigation and were told that the billing delay was caused by data migration to a new billing system. The retailer also noted that the customer’s meter was incorrectly connected and crossed with another apartment.
Outcome
The retailer corrected the error and re-issued Cameron’s hot water bill. It also offered to waive six-months of charges as a customer service gesture. The retailer confirmed Cameron’s new billing cycle would be bi-monthly and provided a further credit of $100 as a goodwill gesture. Cameron accepted this outcome as resolution to the complaint.
Learn more about making a complaint about your embedded network.
