How do I get authority to represent a friend with their electricity provider?

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Secondincommand

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A friend /work colleague of mine has a long standing issue with his electricity supplier ( overcharge on bills because all units are being charged at day rate tariff , as his night meter has been stuck and hasn't moved in two years). The problem is I can't help him because the supplier insist that they can only discuss or engage with email correspondence with the customer " named on the bill" alone. Now my friend is one of the most brilliant people at the profession he engages in , but when it comes to this type of thing its like a cow looking in to a bottle.
I can 1000% help my friend ,but how do I get the supplier to engage with me , ( with my friend's full permission and authority). Is there a standard letter or something than my friend can draft to allow me to talk on their behalf. The energy supplier says "no" but I have an inkling they are saying that to avoid paying out the credit due to my friend ?
I would imagine AAM contributors would commonly have had this situation . Thanks in advance.
 
If you ring them with the account holder present, he can verbally consent to the official discussing the matter with you. If you're the same gender, you can tell them you are he but make sure you have the security questions, DOB etc, to hand.
 
Slim said:
you're the same gender, you can tell them you are he but make sure you have the security questions, DOB etc
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Not a good idea.

All thats needed is for you to be added to the account details as their agent.

Can be done on speakerphone call & follow up with letter.
 
Slim said:
If you ring them with the account holder present, he can verbally consent to the official discussing the matter with you. If you're the same gender, you can tell them you are he but make sure you have the security questions, DOB etc, to hand.
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Thanks Slim , but I don't want to go down the route of pretending to be my friend to be honest. It only ends up in a tangle later on and anyway why should I have to fib when I'm helping the guy out? The verbal account holder consent option only works for the initial query. Enevitably Customer Care tell you they'll get back to you , which they don't , and if they do , they ring my friend and we're back to square one.
 
Brendan Burgess said:
Are you sure you can help him with calculating issues. Your maths isn't great so far.

Brendan
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I'll take your post as a humourous comment , Brendan. my 1000% reference is to emphasise my point and in hindsight a bit ill advised on my part. I thought posters would know what I mean. Please edit it if you wish to 100% as I would genuinely like my post to be taken seriously . I am trying help my friend.
 
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Your friend needs to be treated as a customer with additional needs and various suppliers have policies. Electric Ireland allow a nominated representative. Bordgais energy have special services customer who can have a nominated representative. SEAirtricity have “Redirecting communications – for people who request it, we can send communications to a friend or relative”

I am not sure what supplier your friend has but you can help him to sign up for the equivalent in his supplier, you sort the issue and away you go.
 
If you contact the CCPC, they should be able to help your friend out with impartial advise on how to deal with the issue at hand
But I'm sure it will require your friend escalating it to an official complaint and going through their suppliers complaint process
which normally can be found in the FAQ section of the energy providers website

Consumer Rights & Personal Finance - CCPC

The CCPC has information and useful tools on consumer rights and personal finance. Check out our latest news and get practical independent information.
www.ccpc.ie www.ccpc.ie
 
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bestestimate said:
I'll take your post as a humourous comment , Brendan. my 1000% reference is to emphasise my point and in hindsight a bit ill advised on my part. I thought posters would know what I mean. Please edit it if you wish to 100% as I would genuinely like my post to be taken seriously . I am trying help my friend.
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Really? I wasn’t 200% sure until you clarified.

Just pretend to be your friend via email and over the phone. Sometimes the most obvious solution is the best one. You’re just making it more difficult than it needs to be.
 
Slim said:
If you ring them with the account holder present, he can verbally consent to the official discussing the matter with you. If you're the same gender, you can tell them you are he but make sure you have the security questions, DOB etc, to hand.
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Just an update on this . Took Slim's advice , had all my figures and calculations bills in front of me. Rang supplier last Thursday . Customer service agent said there wouldn't be a hope of getting a credit at this stage after 2 years and that my friend should have complained earlier. I persisted and and asked the agent to register my friend's issue/complaint. My friend got an updated bill this morning showing €1800 credit off his next bill. Couldn't believe it , thought it was going to go on for months. Thanks everyone.
 
Secondincommand said:
Just an update on this . Took Slim's advice , had all my figures and calculations bills in front of me. Rang supplier last Thursday . Customer service agent said there wouldn't be a hope of getting a credit at this stage after 2 years and that my friend should have complained earlier. I persisted and and asked the agent to register my friend's issue/complaint. My friend got an updated bill this morning showing €1800 credit off his next bill. Couldn't believe it , thought it was going to go on for months. Thanks everyone.
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Well done you. And thank you for the update which shows persistence works.

I suspect the fact Joe Duffy of Liveline was dealing with something similar a week ago helped. It was about Eir. People were being fobbed off etc.

For the record I send emails for someone who is unable to deal with things like this. I'm also the account contact person in relation to a credit card, got the authority and then they deal with me. The reason I couldn't pretend to be the other person is we are different sexes. And once was told to leave the room by a company, but that didn't help the person trying to sort out the problem. Some people need help, especially elderly and infirm. But most companies will let you deal with the account once they know the score.
 
Well done on sorting it! I had similar issue last year with friends who had an astronomical bill for storage heaters. I eventually registered a new email in their name (with their permission obviously) and communicated using that, I found phone calls useless as had to repeat whole story each time. Anyway took 9 months amid threats of disconnection etc but got refund of all the obviously overcharged money too, nearly 1k in this case.
 
Monbretia said:
Well done on sorting it! I had similar issue last year with friends who had an astronomical bill for storage heaters. I eventually registered a new email in their name (with their permission obviously) and communicated using that, I found phone calls useless as had to repeat whole story each time. Anyway took 9 months amid threats of disconnection etc but got refund of all the obviously overcharged money too, nearly 1k in this case.
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Yes , I was extremely surprised that the issue was resolved so quickly. I think staying composed and not taking it out on the agent helped and insisting that he took all details down and recording them properly even though he thought I was wasting my time. Sometimes it means repeating your point politely over and over again , that plus I think I might have got a bit lucky on this as well to be fair.
 
Secondincommand said:
Yes , I was extremely surprised that the issue was resolved so quickly. I think staying composed and not taking it out on the agent helped and insisting that he took all details down and recording them properly even though he thought I was wasting my time. Sometimes it means repeating your point politely over and over again , that plus I think I might have got a bit lucky on this as well to be fair.
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Definitely repetition! I must have repeated myself umpteen times in the emails, couldn't be dealing with them in person as it was raising my blood pressure!

Asked for final resolution letter several times to go to regulator and oddly enough it wasn't until I (as the customer) said there was to be no more correspondence or phone calls to them but through an authorised 3rd party (me) that I actually got a result! I think they must have mistook me for a solicitor or similar as they immediately rang the customer depsite being told no phone calls only in writing please and resolved the issue.
 
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