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I’ve used the Co-Op to make 5 x £999 topups to my energy provider over a space of 4-6 weeks back in Mar/Apr. I’ve now switched provider, but was told the credit balance can’t be transferred to the new provider and will be refunded to me.
I’ve been strung along for 5 months now with them saying they will refund it soon. I’ve recently learned that they raised a Suspicious activity reporrt because the deposits looked “dodgy”. So far I’ve done the below:
– Voluntarily provided a summary of why I have done the deposits and provided all of my financial info (my credit card statements, bank account, salary, bonus etc). To be clear – they did not ask for this, I volunteered it to speed up the investigation.
– Raised a formal complaint with them
– Notified them that I’ll be raising this with the ombudsman (and CC’d my lawyer as an empty threat) and said that I’ll be seeking interest on the balance as well as compensation for time lost
– Called every two weeks to ask for an updatePlease help – What can I do? I haven’t raised the ombudsman complaint but think it’s come to a point where I should do. It’s a large balance that could be earning 5% in a savings account.
Fellow HfP’ers, thank you in advance for your advice and help!
High level mickey taking like this will be what kills the Co-op workaround for good at some point.
You can go to the Energy Ombudsman either eight weeks after you have raised a complaint if you haven’t received a response or after you have received a deadlock letter if that’s sooner.
If your energy provider had grounds to issue a SAR, which it sounds as though they did, I don’t think the EO will be unduly sympathetic towards you and awards for inconvenience will be fairly nominal. If you do go to the EO, keep the complaint measure, succinct and factual and don’t ask for anything unreasonable. You could possibly raise a dispute with your credit card company, but owing to the SAR / nature of the transactions, this may not be a wise course of action.
Aside from being slow, it’s hard to see that the energy provider has done anything wrong here.
You have made several mistakes –
* changing provider when you have a huge credit balance
* Running up such a huge credit balance in such a short period of time
* expecting the old provider to automatically transfer 5k to another energy provider (actual LOL)The fact that you could get 5% in a savings account is irrelevant; you played a game and you lost.
Having said that, I do hope you get your money back soon.
“I’ve been strung along for 5 months now”
Is that even true? You said you paid over Mar/Apr. Sounds more like you have been ‘strung along’ for 4 months to me, and that means you would have been asking them to give the money to you as soon as you had paid it. Put that as another mistake.
You shouldn’t even be aware of the SAR… Telling you would be tipping off.
Either way, depositing £5k of cash (they will see it as a cash deposit regardless) and immediately asking for it back is going to throw up a lot of red flags on their end. A normal person would have just deposited it into their bank account.
You will need to exhaust their complaints process and go to the Ombudsman once a final response has been issued or after 8 weeks have passed since the complaint was raised.
I’d expect only the money back though, no interest.
You’re not getting any sympathy are you?
You played the points game and are suffering the consequences. I hope the points were worth it.
You’d have likely gotten away with one £999 payment without issue but 5 has now become suspicious.
I’m not sure cc’ing your lawyer into correspondence is a good idea – even as an empty threat.
“but was told the credit balance can’t be transferred to the new provider and will be refunded to me”
This is correct. Energy companies are individual corporate entities. They can’t send funds from one to another. You close one account and pay the balance or get a balance refunded then start the new account with a new provider at zero. I don’t know why anyone would think differently.
@davefl, people think differently because they hear the stories of customers being transferred from bankrupt suppliers into new suppliers along with their balances and assume that a voluntary switch works the same way.
@Rui N, Sure customers transferred but balances not. When igloo went under the balances were refunded
@Rui N, Sure customers transferred but balances not. When igloo went under the balances were refunded
When my company (Avro) went bust in 2020 the credit funds were transferred to the new company as well as my account. Took Octopus 11 months to refund me.
This has to be a wind up. Surely no one is this stupid?! £5,000 of top-ups in 4 to 6 weeks and then instantly switching supplier and demanding a refund. Will look like an attempt at cleaning dirty money to the energy supplier and flagged as possible money laundering.
@Rui N, Sure customers transferred but balances not. When igloo went under the balances were refunded
Mine with Igloo wasn’t refunded, it was moved to Eon.
If yours was refunded there must have been some issue with your account, because transferring debts and credits during bankruptcy is the standard.@Rui N, Sure customers transferred but balances not. When igloo went under the balances were refunded
When my company (Avro) went bust in 2020 the credit funds were transferred to the new company as well as my account. Took Octopus 11 months to refund me.
This is the standard practice, and the new supplier can even agree with Ofgem that transferred balances cannot be refunded to customers.
This has to be a wind up. Surely no one is this stupid?! £5,000 of top-ups in 4 to 6 weeks and then instantly switching supplier and demanding a refund. Will look like an attempt at cleaning dirty money to the energy supplier and flagged as possible money laundering.
This.
When we play the points game, we need to keep in mind that the businesses we are dealing with may be looking at our transactions through a different lense… Anti-money laundering (AML) obligations placed on them are stringent and the penalties for getting it wrong are extremely high.
You need to understand the profile that providers hold on you (annual income and likely spend levels being key) and to appreciate that any transactions that do not fit with that profile will likely trigger AML alerts, with the risk that your funds may be frozen or worse. For instance, the dreaded CIFAS marker may be added to your credit file.
Let’s be careful out there people!
@Rui N, Sure customers transferred but balances not. When igloo went under the balances were refunded
Mine with Igloo wasn’t refunded, it was moved to Eon.
If yours was refunded there must have been some issue with your account, because transferring debts and credits during bankruptcy is the standard.Wasn’t my account, was my mum’s. Nothing wrong, she was about 300 quid in credit and it was refunded after about 8 week as per the emails she received
This has to be a wind up. Surely no one is this stupid?! £5,000 of top-ups in 4 to 6 weeks and then instantly switching supplier and demanding a refund. Will look like an attempt at cleaning dirty money to the energy supplier and flagged as possible money laundering.
Please re-read the 1st 2 lines from the OP. He was demanding they transfer the money to the new supplier, not asking for a refund. They refused that and subsequently his complaining and threats have raised a red flag.
@davefl the title of this thread uses the word “Refund”. They are ultimately now trying to get a refund even if that wasn’t the original intention.
I am baffled why people try gaming the system. It doesn’t seem worthwhile for something that earns at most 7500 Avios, so £75, assuming it was an Amex BAPP card. I’d sooner keep £5k in my current account earning zero interest than risk the situation OP is in.
I have no advice to offer OP except to wish them good luck and hope they get their money back.
I notice the OP hasn’t replied? Switching when £5k in credit? It all sounds very fishy to me.
I am baffled why people try gaming the system. It doesn’t seem worthwhile for something that earns at most 7500 Avios, so £75, assuming it was an Amex BAPP card. I’d sooner keep £5k in my current account earning zero interest than risk the situation OP is in.
I think sometimes people almost get addicted to this game? Like I know someone who juggles dozens of cards for family, holds tens of thousands of pounds in gift cards which he buys and sells. And works in financial services for good measure. The risk is really mostly not worth the reward IMHO, but it may take for one to properly get stung to stop.
I notice the OP hasn’t replied? Switching when £5k in credit? It all sounds very fishy to me.
To be fair it’s been less than 24 hours since they posted
High level mickey taking like this will be what kills the Co-op workaround for good at some point.
What is this Co-op workaround?
@davefl
I am baffled why people try gaming the system. It doesn’t seem worthwhile for something that earns at most 7500 Avios, so £75, assuming it was an Amex BAPP card. I’d sooner keep £5k in my current account earning zero interest than risk the situation OP is in.Could well have been to reach a signup or spend bonus, or trigger a voucher.
I think sometimes people almost get addicted to this game? Like I know someone who juggles dozens of cards for family, holds tens of thousands of pounds in gift cards which he buys and sells. And works in financial services for good measure. The risk is really mostly not worth the reward IMHO, but it may take for one to properly get stung to stop.
Most people seemd to do this becauase they wanted to hit a spend threshold to earn a voucher or signup bonus and paying an advance on your utility bills or paying the whole of your council tax was often suggested as a way to do that but I don’t recall anyone ever saying do it the way the OP has of for £5k
And of course no one should spend in this way if they can’t afford to do it in the first place.
It’s trolling.
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