AGL - Don’t Fucking Bother….
Last year around the end of July I received a letter from AGL stating that they were going to increase their Gas and Electricity prices, which pissed me off to begin with, as I had just had the new ‘cheaper’ prices kick in… You know the sorts of dudes that turn up on a weekend, when you’re relaxing and spew verbal diarrhea at you… On this such occasion the dude assured me that there was no contract period, they were just offering better prices… At the time I thought, “Fuck yea, saving money for doing nothing, sure!”
Then no less than 2 weeks later I get the letter in the mail saying they had increased their prices… Let me tell you, that did not impress me one bit, like they were saying, look we’re cheaper, then ehehehehe fuck no, just kidding!! So I got out our last couple of gas and electricity bills out and create an excel, plugged in the other vendors prices with our usage, to determine a new vendor, TRU Energy.
So I called TRU Energy and organised our gas and electricity to be moved over to them, which was all well and good, I started getting bills from them… In August my beautiful wife and I bought a house and moved into it at the start of September, we got our connections successfully moved over to our new place, everything was cool…
But at the start of December I get a bill from AGL, I thought, this is interesting… Turn the bill over to find that the billing period over-lapped the period we were actually with them, we had left them, according to TRU Energy on the 30th of July for electricity and the 3rd of August for gas! So I called the AGL customer service call centre and explained the situation to some drone, to which he asked me to send a letter stating when we had left the property, as in when we had moved out… Now I had just explained that we had CHANGED PROVIDERS…. Let me say that again… I CHANGED PROVIDERS… I even gave him the dates… But he was hellbent, after putting me on hold 5 fucking times, to get me to fax a letter over stating WHEN we had MOVED out of the property… Now it does not take a brain surgeon to realise that, fuck me, they switched to someone BEFORE they moved out… so I sent a letter stating the following:
To whom it may concern,
As per my phone call to your customer service department on the 29th of December 2007 to inform you that you had kept on billing us, even though we had changed providers.
Our AGL account numbers are as such:
• Electricity: <Our number>
• Gas: <Our number>
According to our new provider, TRUEnergy, we changed providers on the following dates:
• Electricity – 30th July 2007
• Gas – 3rd August 2007
I’m not sure why you have asked me for the date I moved out of the property, I changed providers, I did not move houses.
Please amend your records according to the dates above and send any final bills to the following address:
Jody Cones
123 MyAddress Drive.
Hoopers Cloaking. Vic. 8514
Kind Regards.
Jody Cones
Now I faxed this letter just after Christmas and the other day I get a letter in the mail, a *gasp* disconnection notice… Which brings me to today, I figure, why the fuck should I be calling this mob to sort out their fucking issue, reason: credit agencies…. If I’ve got this straight, if I don’t catch their OWN fuck-up it spoils MY credit rating, does anyone see a fucking issue here… And that’s just the start of it… I picked up the phone at 4:30PM on a Monday, today in fact… Dial the number and are greeted by a NUMBER BUSY message on my phone… I try again… and again… and again… wait 15 minutes…. still nothing… By this stage I want to embed the phone in my office partition wall… so I sit here frustrated unable to even get through to their customer service department…..
According to the letter they are going to disconnect my gas and electricity tomorrow… I really want to know if they disconnect the current tenants of the rental property we left…
Am I being unreasonable here, or is this just so piss poor it’s not funny?
The bad thing about this situation is that all I want to do is call them and just let fly, scream my lungs out down the phone, but that won’t make any difference what-so-ever… But the more fucked thing is… If I keep my calm and they sort out a credit and everything gets smoothed over and they are apologetic… What about the poor fucker that would just have paid the bill when he got it…? AGL would have swindled $100’s from him… WHAT THE FUCK!?!?!?!?
Get your fucking act together AGL, I will now to my death, do anything and everything in my power to deter people from using your piss poor services…. Consider this a fucking wake up call, seriously….
January 21st, 2008 at 5:44 pm
We only have one company down here, don’t have to worry
January 21st, 2008 at 5:52 pm
That is more up the extreme end of the bad customer service scale … but it seems that customer service is getting worse and worse and there are more bad stories than good! How do they get away with it? Why aren’t they being held accountable? Customer service used to be a value proposition … now it’s all come down to prices mingled with who can screw the customer over and get away with it.
January 21st, 2008 at 6:03 pm
That’s some nice paintshopping, boy. The rant was good value too.
I called consumer affairs on TRUenergy a couple of months back when their door-to-door guy showed up telling me they wanted to offer me savings on my account as a valued customer of theirs because I pay my bills on time. It wasn’t until I checked my old bills that I realised… I’m with Origin. The guy then explained that, as TRU supply Origin with the electricity and Origin just resell it to me, they consider me to be their customer. Asshole. I complained to TRU as well, and they promised to make sure their door-to-door people stop trying to mislead customers. I’ll believe it when I see it.
January 25th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
AGL informed me today that if you are one day late with your account they charge you $8.80 late fee. So for the ast three months they have charged me *.80 on top of my small gas bill. This is so evil. These people are disgusting! Who else can I use in Sydney. Energy Aust can’t take any more customers and I hate X%$%#@&!!’n AGL!
January 25th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
I feel your pain Rick, I might try and call AGL back this afternoon…
I fear I might get a busy signal again
January 26th, 2008 at 12:43 am
I had a payment plan worked out and discussed with Sensis to pay for the remaining $600 for Yellow Pages advertising … as I’ve now shut the business down and closed my Sensis account. Yet on Wednesday I get two letters; in one, the final payout figure has crept up over $1,000 and the other letter was an “Intent to summons” - *sighs*
January 30th, 2008 at 9:43 am
I have been trying to call AGL customer service for the last 2 weeks…..everytime of the day…and have consistently got busy signals. So annoying. I gave up trying and called one of their other numbers, and was given the option of at least leaving a message.
Something got to be wrong with their phone system…..
February 1st, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Well good luck trying to get through to AGL for ANYTHING at the moment. The system has been in meltdown since the start of the year. No phones have been answered. If anyone has managed to get through to them, you are a rare breed indeed.
I got sick of trying, so rang the Electricity Ombudsman and found out I was only the gazillionth customer (ok, slight exaggeration there) to complain about the phones and a problem.
My problem? Requested final reading be done and electricity be disconnected as we were moving out Nov 4th 2007 prior to house being demolished. About Dec 20th rang to say had not received final bill. Uh oh, final reading not done, account not closed. Investigations team will call back within 5 days. 1st week of Jan. No call. Start trying to ring, and ring and ring. Finally called Ombudsman. They are onto to it, but, they are STILL taking fortnightly payments out of my bank for a house that no longer exists! Some bullshit about a Smoothing Contract and Direct Debits cannot be stopped??? What fricken contract??? Like hell they can’t stop them!
Go to the Ombudsman, at the moment that is the only course of action that I have heard that can freeze anything happening with them.
March 13th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
I had Victoria Electricity tell me that I wasn’t even changing supplier when they knocked on my door. I didn’t even realise until after I signed and they gave me the paper work. I didn’t mind because I was getting a 12% discount. It wasn’t until TRU Energy knocked on my door and showed me I was paying a higher rate and that is why the discount was so high. So I went back with TRU but then I got the letter from TRU about 2-3 weeks later that they are increasing their rate. The wonderful thing with contracts is they can do that and I now have an enormous exit fee for 3 years so I will have to stay with TRU for now.
Anyway the reason I found your site is because AGL just knocked on my door saying they have a discount to offer for paying our bills on time. I told my partner to tell him that we are on a contract and he insisted that it was the same company. So I think they are all the same in the end.
March 14th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
The problem almost certainly stems from the fact that AGL have just installed a new multi-million dollar billing system and the whole thing has been an almighty great screw-up from start to finish. Publicly, the whole project has been hailed as a great success, but the reality is constant billing screw-ups, and the call centre melting down with so many complaints.
Good luck getting anything fixed, though. Management have their heads shoved so far up their collective arses, they can’t (or won’t) hear the complaints.
March 27th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
I just want to say for those thinking the Ombudsman is the way to go, good luck with that too. I had AGL take 4 payments out of my account back in January ( payments they were not authorised to take) and I am STILL trying to get those payments back. The Ombudsman told me the best course of action was to go through them and AGL would have a definite deadline to respnd by, March 14. I have been given the run around over and over again with them. On Thursday the 20th I was advised by management that I would MOST DEFINATELY hear from their office on Tuesday and I am still waiting for someone at the Ombudsman’s office to return one of my numerous messages. The whole process is a waste of time!!!!!!!!!!
June 2nd, 2008 at 6:19 pm
I have called AGL twice in the last week trying to find out why our electricity account hasn’t arrived since the reading was to have taken place at the beginning of May. Too long to wait the first time I phoned so waited a few days and tried again. This time after waiting 20 minutes my call was finally answered whereby I tried to find out what was going on with our account and why no bill had been sent. It appears that no reading has yet been recorded on our account so a message has to be sent though to the meter reading department to send the reading through to the accounts department so that they can send an account. My reply to that was “what is going on here - you’re not answering phones and accounts are not being sent out - do AGL have some problems that their customers are not aware of?” Of course the answer was no - but now I read on this site that there is in fact a big problem since a new billing system was installed. How interesting. No bill, no customer service - because the phones aren’t being answered to give you any and when you do finally get through - no answers! I hate to imagine what sort of bill I’m going to eventually receive. I think I’ll also be looking to change providers!
June 7th, 2008 at 2:23 am
Sometimes you just need to vent! I too am on a mission to stop anyone from even considering using AGL. I have had problems too numerous to mention since December 2006.
…..they include - them losing some of my money when they changed my account number without mentioning it to me, them taking money out of my account without authorisation on two occasions, them promising explanations, reimbursements and communication and NEVER getting back to me or taking any action, and the piece-de-resistance, them ADDING one of my payments of $50 to my electricity account balance rather than deducting it! (Watch out for that one!)
Probably the worst aspect of it all has been the 15 beautifully trained, perfectly modulated, ever-so-apologetic AGL service centre people that I have spoken to (after waiting on average 25 minutes each time), who are always so sympathetic and horrified that the promises made during my previous call have not be enacted!….and who then proceed to do NOTHING as well!
Am currently, as a result of contact with the ombudsman for the 4th time, dealing with a senior “customer advocacy consultant” at AGL, who in early May, promised reimbursements, plus some ‘inconvenience’ money and a full account reconciliation and who reaffirms the promises regularly via email but who a month later still hasn’t actually sent me anything! As Jane said, the ombudsman is helpful and good at getting AGL to promise amends, but still nothing happens!
The only outlet for my frustration and sheer incredulity - that one huge company could make so many mistakes with just one customer - is a blog like this. Screaming at the monolith is futile!
June 7th, 2008 at 10:30 am
Yeah these guys really don’t care about the customer at the end of the day. You are a number lumped in with millions of others and what are you going to do if AGL’s service is shit? Go to someone else that’s just as bad? When AGL get its head out of its arse they might just start to make it easy for us, and not just fuck us around.
June 17th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
We switched to AGL last year and never got a bill - now we just got one for the WHOLE YEAR for $2109. Like we can afford that!! I haven’t been able to get through to customer service but if I don’t get through I don’t know what will happen?? Anyway, if I can’t get through might take up suggestion of the Ombudsman.
Because AGL have been so crap decided we’d switch supplier again. Found a great site that does the comparison for you and you can swtich onlin using their site:
www.shoparound.com.au
At least you don’t have to talk to energy companies to do it!!!!!!!!!
June 20th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
I had a situation with Bigpond.
It went on for ages right and the internet still was shit. So i called up and the drone is arguing with me like i am causing him trouble and i go ‘listen mate, i have called you guys a hundred times about this and it still doesn’t work’. And the drone goes ‘ah sorry sir, i have it on file here that you have only called eighty two times about this fault’. What a dickhead.
So it is not just the power guys who are shit.
June 23rd, 2008 at 11:31 am
In early June I received a bill from AGL Electricity. “Interesting” I thought since I wasn’t aware that AGL was my electricity supplier. Gas yes, but not electricity. I had made up my mind that I would remain with Origin. I contacted AGL who advised that I had entered into a contract with AGL for electricity supply on 22 November 2007. I don’t recall speaking to an AGL representative on the phone, I don’t recall an AGL representative coming to my home and, to the best of my recollection, being a Thursday, I was at work.
I asked to speak to a manager and requested that a copy of the contract be forwarded to me, immediately, by facsimile. Nearly three weeks on and numerous phone calls and requests I’m still waiting for a copy of that contract. Interestingly, last call I made to AGL, using their automated phone service, my nine digit account number could not be recognised because they operate on eight digit account numbers. Apparently, after receiving only one account, I remain on the “old” system.
On advice, from one of AGL’s own employees, I have now lodged a complaint, though I don’t hold much hope of a resolution in the near future. At this point, as AGL cannot come up with the evidence, I am making the assumption that there is no contract, though, I stop short of accusing them of fraudulent activity.
July 4th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
I just got a called from AGL again, stated we got an over due bill. I told them i never received a bill from them properly, in fact i when i go back to the record, I get 1 bill per year since 2005 and all the address on them are wrong.
I spoke to them for at least dozen of occasion telling them to correct the address since 2005, but they still put some weird address on my bill where it stated “service address”, along with half correct mailing address.
Worst, according to their shit customer service, in their multi-million dollars system, it stated i’ve got two properties under one account. Wow AGL are you planning to give me a property that I never had before?
July 4th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Forget about AGL.
just connect your power from here http://www.energywatch.com.au . .. easy.. no waiting time.. plus.. 10% discount..
that where i get mine connected..
Patrick
September 4th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Just a follow up on my earlier post. The Ombudsman’s office was extremely efficient and good to deal with in my experience.
They followed through with my complaint, in line with their processes, in a very timely manner. I received many calls letting me know what stage they were up to in the complaint process. Although they did give AGL an order to cease direct payments, this did not happen and rather than wait, I contacted my bank who put an immediate block on my account in regards to AGL.
Eventually case was closed with AGL reimbursing me quite well. All good.
This month, I received a disconnection notice if I did not pay my bill. ROFLMAO good grief, the incompetence of this company is astounding. Yep, go ahead morons and disconnect the power to a house that no longer exists. Have fun!
Rang the ombudsman, they sorted it immediately.
September 16th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
NEVER ever phone a power or gas retailer direct. Energy watch offer a price comparison service, compare all the retailers and find you the cheapest one. They also do business accounts too and are a free service.
October 14th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
We received our last gasbill from AGL in April, 08 I rang them, was told they had our reading and would pass it on to the billing dept. nothing. My neigbours got their gasbill
2 weeks ago. So I sent a letter, again nothing.
Today I wrote to the Water & Energy Ombudsman, hopefully something will happen now.
We are old age pensioners, we have ducted heating, this winter we used it a lot.
I expect a massive bill. I am utterly pissed off with their incompetence.
My neighbour said to go to Origin, I wonder what they are like.
I will never sign a contract, will never give these clowns access to my bank account.
I may dedicate the rest of my life to make theirs miserable.
I am an easy going bloke, just don’t piss me off.
October 15th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
—–Original Message—–
From: Sean O’Reilly
Sent: Wednesday, 15 October 2008 12:15 PM
To: ‘ewovinfo@ewov.com.au’
Subject: Complaint from EWOV website
Dear EWOV
Please investigate my complaint. Details are as follows:
Your contact details (name, phone, fax, email, address etc)
(removed for privacy reasons)
Whether your complaint relates to electricity, gas or water
gas
The address of the electricity, gas or water supply point
(removed for privacy reasons)
The name of the energy or water company you’re lodging the complaint against
AGL
Details of the complaint (including the amounts of any bills you are disputing and any details of any information provided by the company when you contacted them about your complaint)
My AGL account number is (removed for privacy reasons)
Following up from my complaint on Mon 7/07/2008 2:59 PM, AGL have sent me another account notice for $50.16 and saying that my services may be disconnected if I do not pay. I can state that my account is balanced and there is no money owing.
I have tried to resolve this with AGL in the past, and in this instance, however when I call them (as I did at 12:05pm today), they do not seem to have my information on their billing system and I have had to wait on 40 minutes on hold in the past.
Please investigate this as it appears to be a systematic with AGL. Also, what penalties, if any, have been applied to AGL for mine and others systematic and endemic billing errors in the past?
Regards
Sean O’Reilly
October 23rd, 2008 at 11:35 am
As I googled how shitty AGL is, I found here, seems I am not the very few people who had extremely bad experience with AGL. My electricity was wrongfully switched off and left my family in darkness for 2 days now. And AGL still not fixing the problem that even they admits it’s their fault. I wrote a complaint letter to EWON as Sean did. I am not sure how this will end, but I think we need to take more legal actions, not just complaint to the EWON. AGL’s service is totally unacceptable.
Anybody know a good lawyer that can take this knida of case to the court?
October 24th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
has anyone not had a bad experience with AGL!!????
THey are they Telstra of the energy biz
Forget the bullshit, i left AGL because of a MASSIVE billing issue, they
basically forgot to charge me for 9 months, then hit me with a 2k bill in one go.
I called Energywatch.com.au who seem to be a watchdog service, and they got me
out of trouble, and onto a 10% cheaper plan than wat i had at AGL.
Forget the scumbag energy companies!!!!!
http://www.energywatch.com.au
cheers
Crystal
November 13th, 2008 at 1:23 am
Crystal,
I am facing the same the same situation - expecting a huge bill after almost 10 months without receiving one. If you read my post, would you please mention what Energywatch did for you (ie. negotiate a payment plan with AGL, or was the bill reduced?).
Thanks, Paul
November 24th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
AGL just love sending me red ‘Reminder’ accounts - they have sent me 8 since 21 October! (I have a “Bill Smoothing’ plan with them, which I regularly pay monthly).
They’re not interested in resolving any problems though. I rang on 10 Nov but they asked me to call back later in the week because their ’system was down’. They’ve got to be joking, it took me 20 mins to get through! So I tried emailing them via the website - you can only write 1000 characters, so I asked them to email me. No response, of course. I did try to ring again tonight and they now have this new automated voice which tells you how much you owe them before they put you on hold, apparently I owe $500+, funny cause the reminder I received in the mail today said $161.62!
As I said above (No 13), I’ve referred AGL problems to the ombudsman 4 times since 2006. Each problem has been resolved eventually, only to be replaced by a new one.(There is some massive bug sitting on my account number on their system!)
Finally tonight, I switched to Red Energy, via the Choice website (similar system to Energywatch - they compare your current deal with a range of suppliers)……….but I’m a little anxious as to whether I will actually ever be free of AGL.
December 3rd, 2008 at 10:41 pm
AGL are BAD, BAD, BAD.
We too got disconnection notices today because their accounts department cannot find a payment we made 6 months ago. We’ve sent the proof several times and spent many hours on the phone. They took our cash and lost the record of it, so now we have to sweat about it!
They have bad accounts, bad attitude, bad business ethics and go out of their way it seems to PISS PEOPLE OFF.
DO NOT USE AGL people. Again, DO NOT USE AGL!!!!!!! Repeat, DO NOT USE AGL!!!!!!! Got it?
December 5th, 2008 at 2:19 am
Because of a dodgy bill etc we switched to Origin for gas (whom we were with originally before stupidly getting sucked in by one of the door to door sales drones from AGL who promised us a cheaper service, yeah for the first month maybe till they put the price up) Now i received the final AGL bill where they are trying to charge us a $48 exit fee because according to them we switched while in contract which is complete bull! AGL sent us a letter a few mths back saying we will automatically be ‘rolled over’ to another energy plan (contract, funny how they dont like using that word when thats exactly what it is). It also said you do not have to do anything BUT if you specifically do not want to go onto another plan you need to phone them to say so, which is exactly what i did but now i guess its just my word against theirs. What i dont understand is how a contract can be legally binding when i haven’t signed anything nor given a verbal agreement?.
Im not suprised this has happened & can guess what the response will be when i ring them about it, they won’t be able to find that particular piece of info on their systems etc, i am only going on past experiences with them. I will be going to the Ombudsman if they dont sort it in a timely manner but what i am wondering is how these companies get away with it?!?! surely if they have a certain amount of complaints made against them they need to be held accountable?? why doesnt the govt do something about it??
December 8th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
For anyone with billing issues with AGL, download a copy of the ‘Energy Retail Code’ (I believe the October 2007 version is current). According to Part 2, Section 6.2 of the Code (’Undercharging’), a retailer MUST issue a bill at least every 3 months, and yet if they don’t they’re still entitled to back-bill up to 9 months. That’s ridiculous.
Apparently the number of customer complaints the Energy and Water Ombudsman’s Office deals with has skyrocketed recently. Hopefully, eventually, the regulations are tightened and retailers are made more accountable.
And to answer your question Terry, the government doesn’t do anything about it because they’re effing useless.
December 31st, 2008 at 11:04 pm
We have had ongoing problems with AGL since a door to door fraudster convinced my husband to sign for 1 months free supply with Origin stating that we were actually with Origin. I couldn’t find a bill and had no idea who we were with. When we found out we had been tricked into changing over we complained and ACCC told Origin they had to switch us back. From then on (March 08) AGL refused to acknowledge us, insisting they were not our retailer. Contacted our supplier (Alinta) who said that AGL are in fact our retailer. We have repeatedly contacted AGL requesting a bill and every month they tell us it is coming. We just want to pay the damn bill before it grows way beyond our capacity to meet. My last contact was a month ago; I was put through to a supervisor who noted all of the calls we have made, said she would lodge a complaint on our behalf and that she would direct that we receive a bill immediately. Yeah well we’re still waiting….
January 6th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
We connected our services here with that connect company you can use when renting.
we moved in January 08 and just received 5 bills at once cause no one could tell us who we were with.
AGL bill from Feb to Dec is $1322 with one bill being $450 keeping in mind our heater packed up and we were with out heating from March through to June then with out again fro 3 1/2 weeks in august…
They said i had to transfer the gas into my name as it was just a dear customer bill so i could dispute the bill not i have done it they say you have taken responsibility for the bill its your problem. I checked my meter tonight and my meter reads 7331 but according to my billing period ending 23rd Dec 08 it read 7831 with an actual reading!
so they have plain and simple ripped me there not by much but makes you think how you can get a $450 gas bill with no heating working.
I have never ever has an electricity bill that high with 2 Air Cond units in this house
I think they are a bunch of pricks!!!!!
January 6th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
Sorry the above comment is for AGL
February 1st, 2009 at 10:29 pm
AGL are crap, my elderly mother did not receive a bill for nearly a year, even though she rang and rang asking for them. Then all of a sudden received all the back dated bills in one day. My mother has been paying $20 a fortnight all of 2008 on a payment plan but the number is not connected to her address but to her old address!!!she moved two years ago!! After many many repeated calls to AGL and getting a new person each time all promising financial statements so we can sort this mess out we are still waiting for a written response. It is time to move on to a company who knows what they are doing.
February 3rd, 2009 at 10:16 am
This passage is from the ENERGY RETAILERS - COMPARATIVE PERFORMANCE REPORT – CUSTOMER SERVICE - 2007-08, issued by the Essential Services Commission.
“Most major retailers reported a fall in the number of cases requiring full
investigation by EWOV. The exception was AGL, which recorded an 87 per
cent increase in the number of such cases. This increase is a direct
consequence of issues arising from the transition in December 2007 of
AGL’s Victorian customers to a new billing system. The Commission expects
that these complaints should fall in the next reporting period.”
Unbelievable.
February 21st, 2009 at 3:25 pm
Hey - I came across you post immediately after talking to one of the ‘dudes that turn up on a weekend, when you’re relaxing and spew verbal diarrhea at you’, but I have a rule. I sign nothing at the doorstep.
After he’d gone I did a check … and that’s why I am here!
Thanks for your comments … and if it’s any consolation to you I shall not be entertaining AGL based on your comments alone !! so as you said “I will now to my death, do anything and everything in my power to deter people from using your piss poor services” you can now claim a small moral victory
Cheers
Simon
March 5th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
I HATE AGL. I will also do everything in my power to deter people from using their “services”.
March 22nd, 2009 at 8:00 pm
My flatmate and I have received two bills from AGL this week. One asking for $290 to be paid two monthes ago and another asking for $960 to be paid a month ago. Is that $1150 in total? I don’t know.
Both had our correct address but were addressed to “Dear Customer”, like they’d never asked the customer’s name when they signed on.
We won’t be paying them, but by the sounds of it, we shouldn’t even be following it up if there’s the chance it might spoilt our credit rating.
March 31st, 2009 at 9:10 pm
The above issues are are a joke but mine is a greater joke.I have come to end of my tether with AGL.The problems I have with them incorporates all the above and more.We have escalated it to the MD and still no satisfaction.Business as normal just as all of you above have described.
Wpuld some of you wish to respond to my question.
Has any one out there tried litigation ?
April 5th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
AGL, they operate in a moral vacuum. After ongoing dispute re security deposit which I didn’t want to pay, I elected to leave and signed up with an alternate supplier. Get this, three weeks after leaving they had me disconnected for non-payment of my own money, which if it had been payed, would have been refunded by then anyway. So, after leaving AGL, notifying them by phone and making sure the call centre moron made a note on their system, and getting his assurance they wouldn’t trespass on my property and disconnect for non-payment of a deposit that he agreed was now irrelevant because I was no longer a customer, they just went and disconnected anyway. Yep, hate AGL. And the stupidity of them is astounding. They lose $1.02 a day on gas usage forever because they want to take $150 and then give it back. AGL will go broke, they can’t be this stupid in isolation, it must be evident in other business practices.
April 17th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
Since my last post (No. 27 above), I changed, in December, to Red Energy in an attempt to rid myself of AGL.
Nevertheless, I received from AGL in February a “Final Demand” letter for $176.00 on the Gas Bill which I had paid in full 3 weeks earlier. Also in February and today, 2 more “Final Reminders” for the Final Electricity Bill that I never actually received - despite calling them in both February and March.
A few more calls later, and I think Gas is resolved (yay!). When I rang today I found out that my Final Electricity Bill (for 16 Sept - 9 Dec 08) was sent 2 days ago (15 April 09), that would be one day after the most recent Final Reminder was sent for that bill!
For my fellow travellers on the AGL hellride, I’d like to share the list of AGL people with whom I have spoken since 2007, who have always been pleasant and to whom I offer my sincere condolences for their misfortune in working for such an awful, abysmal, crap (dis)organisation which lacks any form of integrity. Ugh! Goodbye to Angie, Elton, Cush, Alicia, A’arne, Kelly, James, Brodie, Sarah, Nathan, Harry, Linda, Jenny, Rupert, Manny, Rupinda, Andre, Ken, Jay and Alana. I hope you have/will all find better, more ethical, places to work.
This rankles….(Feb 2009)”AGL Energy has reported a $A1.65 billion interim net profit. The company has also revealed that its capital expenditure for the “Project Phoenix” billing system overhaul stood at $A164.4 million as at 31 December 2008. The total cost of the project has risen to $A215 million.” I don’t know whether to laugh or cry!
Farewell and good riddance to AGL.
Jenni
April 18th, 2009 at 3:47 am
So far I haven’t received a bill for Feb 08 to Nov 08. And, given that the account was erroneously in my name throughout the summer of 07/08, it’s just as well. A pro-rata estimate would not an accurate measure of my consumption, so I’m hoping that AGL simply wrote it off. Either way, and despite my good fortune, the company is a joke. How they can record a profit is staggering.
April 21st, 2009 at 4:17 pm
I am in QLD and signed up with AGL in Nov 08. I am renting and just about to finish the 6mth lease and have not had a bill ever from them. Searching and finding you all with these problems makes me wish I had of done the search first!!! I canned Telstra 4 months ago for the same reasons! Should I call and follow up to get a bill, or should I just let it go???
May 3rd, 2009 at 3:13 pm
I am also appalled at the service provided by AGL. I am glad in a way that I’m not the only one. Am currently having my complaint investigated by the Queensland Energy Ombudsmen. Terrible phone manner, no knowledge whatsoever of their product and no willingness to escalate my concerns to their managers.
The Gas Help Hotline in Queensland even told me that AGL have a high turnover of staff and often give misinformation. AGL referred me to them with a connection question that I had.
Regards,
Tim
May 7th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
We hear and empathise with you all, AGL is the worst company to deal with on the face of our beautiful planet. After 35 calls and not once being able to speak to the same supervisor we were left with nowhere to turn but the ombudsmen. Seems AGL have a pretty bad history and a poor record of returning calls. Between my wife and I we have spent 15 hours of our time trying to clear our name. We have a bill that has now been in dispute and on hold for 7 months so if you are looking for a quick result think again. Their follow up is horrible, it is a pity the debt collectors and bill generators weren’t quite as incompetent, even though we have been told ten times our bill is under investigation the keep sending the bills and we keep getting calls from debt collectors (one more today) I will now do everything in my power to tell the world to avoid AGL like the you would avoid PIG FLU this company is the pits. As we stand now on no less that ten occasions we have been asked to read our meter, this is a challenge when we haven’t even lived in the same state for 4 months albeit the house, they then threaten to turn the meter off, well that should have been disconnected 4 months ago for the same reason, the last bloke tells me that that wasn’t even done. If A Current affair need a story they need only go to this website, even simpler they could make random calls to every household in the country and anybody that has or has ever had an AGL account will have a story to tell. I want to know why in this case you have to defend your innocence or they threaten you with a poor credit rating that stays with you for 7 years. The law should protect these scumbags from us. Somebody give us a helpline that works.
May 9th, 2009 at 10:35 pm
We have not received a bill in the 18 mths we have lived in this house. I’ve made numerous calls, they promise to sort it out… I think this is good. Nothing changes. As we live on a corner allotment, we have our real address and another that would be ours if our house faced the other street. They can’t even get that right. They have our “other” address as a different number … and that number is an existing house. These people have not received a bill either, have had disconnections notices over unpaid bills that were meant for our house… but we’d never got them. They argue with me that this other address is really ours!! How thick are they? The other poor lady is stressed that they’ll have no power. They also change our account numbers around to suit themselves.
Regarding the thing about them not being able to bill back past 9 months… one guy is charging us for over a year ago, I asked how as that’s outside of the 9 months… it was a March til June bill… his reply was because they didn’t actually do anything about the bill til 31st Oct now they can still charge us as it IS within the 9 months. I told him that was their fault, not ours. I even told him that this whole thing has been a shambles since we moved in… which they have no recollection of. Even though I received my final account for my previous address to my current address. I existed then… but apparently I am not their customer, but then I am their customer, but I don’t live in one house… I appear to have two houses, mine and the one up the road. {I only met those people today, so I don’t see how we live there as well} Well really, AGL isn’t saying we live in 2 houses, they’re saying that these 2 houses are the SAME house… different address, both with metre numbers that don’t match either house. GRRRR!!!!!! This whole thing is too stressful for me, I’m getting hubby to ring on Monday.
I know this isn’t over yet… it really is like talking to a brick wall… only worse!!!!
May 13th, 2009 at 9:50 pm
We have an interval meter installed at our residence. In 2008, we received correspondence from AGL that since we have an interval meter installed, we would be charged at off peak, shoulder and peak rates, depending on the time of day and day of the week. Since my electricity bills simply keep escalating, I contacted AGL to ask them for a daily reading so that I could try to ascertain why the consumption appeared to be escalating all the time. No one at AGL is willing to give me this information. Apparently I don’t know how much work this is going to take!! (So I have told by the very helpful staff!!!) I have been told that my meter and my bill are correct, but no one at AGL is prepared to give me information to verify this. What sort of business is this that won’t tell you how your bill is calculated, and yet expects you to simply pay?
May 25th, 2009 at 8:50 pm
Does anybody know if the “Energy Retail Code” as mentioned by Paul (post #30) is applicable in Queensland? My research has not shown any correlation between this Code and Queensland. I have only found a Standard Retail Contract which has no mention of the 9 month backdating limit.
I received my first bill from AGL the other day which represents nearly a year, and was wondering if I was only entitled to pay the last 9 months worth.
Thanks.
June 12th, 2009 at 8:56 pm
I was optimistic when I wrote that in April (No. 41)…that I was finally rid of AGL after changing to Red Energy in December.
Paid my AGL ‘Final Bill’ for electricity on 16 May (received it on 10 May, even though bill was for 16 Sep - 9 Dec 2008).
Received ‘Final Reminder’ on 30 May….ignored because bill was paid.
Received ‘Final Demand’ with the usual threats today (12 June)
GO AWAY AGL…….I HATE YOU!!!!
NEVER, NEVER, NEVER go near AGL!!
Jenni
July 12th, 2009 at 3:49 am
I’m sad to report similar problems with AGL. They misread the meter on a house I own in Victoria - it was empty at the time as we were having another dwelling built at the rear. Gas was off at the cock - so I know consumption was zero. Their misdemeanors include:
(1) telling me that I had no right to request a meter reading, I had to arrange my own from interstate (sure enough consumption was zero). (I was kind enough to give them my mailing address so that I actually receive these bills.)
(2) refusing to rectify the incorrect bill - they just said that they would send my reading to the readings department and the matter would be closed.
(3) two months later sending me a ‘reminder’ for the consumption based on the old incorrect reading - now this straddles the Project Phoenix ‘upgrade’ so could pass as a genuine error.
(4) making me hold for ages before I gave up and emailed advising them of the misreading, my previous contact and that I was sick of waiting at their convenience to fix their repeated stuff-ups. Go and read the meter - if you really want the $831.20 I’ll see you in court. And left my mobile and email address.
(5) auto-reply promised to get back to me within 3-5 business days (552 days and still waiting)
(6) sent me the disconnection warning (maybe this was their reply to (5)?), including threat to trash my credit rating. I had two investment loan applications in progress so was rather sensitive. I called call centre and after only 30 minutes having them verbal spam me about the benefits of setting up direct credit (yeah!) every 2 minutes - just to stop me doing anything productive I get through and rant at various staff trying to get someone who has authority to fix it. In the process they try the little trick of getting me to take responsibility for the bill. I’m pretty savvy by this stage and explain that I owned the house, and there was no tennant, but that given their behavious thus far I was not making any admisions they might use against me. I was pretty pissed at the bloke for trying to get me to take responsibility for an grossly invalid bill, that they hadn’t bothered to fix for the last three months. I cut close to the wire and was asked explicitly at least once if I was making threats against AGL staff. I’m guessing this was a trigger to call in the police - at least it would have been action - by this time any action is looking attractive. Finally I realised that there was no special ‘tiger team’ to fix the inevitible migration issues - at least not for lowly customers. So make sure they have full knowledge that I have been disputing the billing basis, and that they should not take any further collection action until they rectify the readings issue.
(7) Two fridays later I arrive home late from work to find a 24 hour disconnection notice demanding that I act within 24 hours, or they’ll disconnect the gas and report me to credit rating agencies. Now I know that the mail takes an extra day or two to get to me interstate, and new tenants have shifted in just the week before, and I’ve still got one of the new loan applications in progress. I tried the 24 hour contact number - but unless I threaten to blow up the gas main they can’t help me. Trust me it wasn’t a completely unattractive concept. I had a couple of low sleep nights with my mind racing at how -king crazy this is that I can be subjected to this and AGL can erect systems to keep me at arms length and powerless.
(8) On Monday I started calling at 0830 and get through pretty promptly - a hint, the interstate numbers (13 numbers are kinda regional) sometimes don’t have a queue and seem to be able to push you to the front of the right call centre. I tried to pull out all stops to have someone in that stinking company fix this. They tried again to make me take responsibility for the account - and said they couldn’t fix it unless I did - this is a lie - they can’t fix it anyway, but not taking responsibility isn’t the reason. They eventually offered to take another meter reading in 3 days. I exploded - they had known for nearly 100 days that the reading was wrong, and the only action they had taken was to keep sending me bills. They screwed up multiple times, demand that I act within 24 hours, and when I point out that they are wrong, they can find the notes of the files from my previous calls that fully support my story and indicate that they have completely dropped the ball - but they insist they cannot read the meter in less than 3 days. No I say, you just don’t care enough to read the meter in less than three days - I can fly from interstate and read the meter in less than 6 hours - you just don’t care enough to do it in less than three days. Well where do you get off threatening me and demanding action from me within 24 hours?
(9) So that I could put this behind me I had my rental agent go to the property and photograph the meter, which I emailed to AGL to prove that their readings were wrong (by exactly 1000 units). We quickly arranged a small bill based on consumption to that date - even though the tenants were paying for the same gas with another retailer. I paid this immediately via BPay and went to chat with the ombudsman.
Ombudsman were nice enough, but don’t have the power to make AGL place a proper value on what they put their customers through (external costs in management speak). I’m even more pissed because I was on a deemed contract, which is what happens if you haven’t arranged a contract with anyone. So caveat emptor is no suitable explanation for the regulators that sit over this. AGL offered me $250, which they couldn’t donate to charity on my behalf. This was insufficient to make sure AGL management cared, and was woefully inadequate for the hours I had spent dealing with them and the 2am and sleepless nights (it’s currently 2:21am and I went to bed to sleep at 10pm but can’t sleep). I told ombusdman to jam the money up AGLs orifice.
(10) They tested my patience by re-issuing this last bill on 5 Oct 08, demanding payment by 26 Feb 08. I rang and politely informed them of my previous payment, which they noted.
(11) On 11 May 09 AGL sent me a new bill for $446 for consumption ending in Nov 07. The readings again grossly contradict the photo I supplied in Feb 08, and for which they had already billed me and been paid. I contacted AGL, and the lovely Brooke couldn’t explain the basis of the account, but did promise that the account was locked and they would not issue me any further correspondence without making sure they were right. Given my previous experiences I tried for several minutes to back up her promise - you know something silly like - If we just recklessly issue you with a reminder notice for this bill, which would be out 12th major error then we will send you a letter saying sorry, explaining how we managed to be such a shambles and specifying what we are doing to fix it. But no - the promise would have no backing - and I think she had her fingers crossed too.
(12) I go to Ombudsman again, who go to AGL, who I ask - what is the basis for the bills relating to Oct/Nov 07. Who took the readings? When were they taken? When did AGL receive them? I got no reply to this one.
(13) Final reminder arrives for the latest bill - in breach of Brooke’s promise, and Ombudsman’s rule about no direct contact. YGBFKM! Called AGL - yet again - really nice rep - she explained why the previous lock didn’t work, and also let me know that there is a 9 month back-billing limit in Victoria. The bill was for a period that ended 18 months ago.
(14) Off to Ombudsman again, asking same questions as (12). I really want them to address the cultural issues behind all this - it is patently obvious that the business is being ruthlessly managed to maintain maximum revenue for minimum cost. All external costs have zero value. While they can screw us around like this - and at worst cough up a couple of hundred dollars in an ombudsman settlement - it makes business sense. Ombudsman came back with readings that contradict almost everything AGL sent me, but they can’t do anything. The Ombudsman’s office seem to be used by AGL as part of their mitigation strategy to get away with their behaviour.
(15) Meanwhile AGL sent me a new bill - for zero dollars (yeah!), but writing off their wrong billing as ‘Unbillable Consumption Charges’. Gee am I glad I never ‘took responsibility’ for any of these bills.
This sorry saga lasted almost 2 years (hopefully its over). AGL sent me 6 invalid collection notices after I first alerted them to their error, including 4 letters from David McNeil - General Manager Customer Operations, offering me a payment plan to reduce the financial burden, etc. I have not received a single letter from one of their managers saying sorry, or any other indication that they are not content with what they have done.
If I saw David McNeil on fire in the street I wouldn’t let my dog piss on him.
July 20th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
I have one for you
AGL sent 2 consecutive bills, both estimated…
The plot thickens
I rang them when I received the first bill (estimated) and was told there was an error in the reading my electronic meter hence the bill was estimated and I paid this bill as I am obliged to do.
A few days later another bill arrived for around $1.50, again estimated, saying that they had undercharged on the previous bill. Hmmmm….
Me thinks this is strange, they estimate the bill, get it wrong, then send a demand for more while not knowing what the true reading should be…
Ok a call to AGL agreeing that we will true up on the next bill and all should be good.
FAT CHANCE
Next bill arrived, again estimated, this time the $1.50 carryover from the last bill had suddenly become $3.30……WHAT!!!!
Rang AGL and asked to explain how $1.50 morphed into #3.30!! and was told “the bill is correct sir” I then asked how can $1.50 become #3.30? “The bill is correc sir”
Then I asked why the currrent bill is still estimated!
The response…
- the meter reader was unable to read the meter, I replied …”lets see now I haven’t looked recently but unless it grew legs and ran away, it should be in the same spot it has been for the last 40 years”
- You must have a locked gate, I replied, “Yes, the front gate is still locked and standing against the side of the house where its been for the last 6 years after a truck collected it and part of the front fence while reversing up my drive!”
- Oh you must have a dog in your front yard, I replied “I don’t own a dog, there are no stray dogs in my area as the council makes too much money from strays and if I did have a dog, I don’t have a front gate/fence to keep the animal in, anyway!!”
-Oh let me look…….Ok what has happened sir, is that there was an error in one of the readings and we have to issue you with an estimated bill. I then asked them what I should do next and the response was “Pay the bill and all should true up on the next one”
Hmmmm….. two readings, two estimated bills….. Sorry mate not good enough…I need a bill which is actual “Please arrange a meter reading and send me an actual bill”
AGL advised me that there would be a charge for this extra reading, to which I replied I am happy to pay for your in-ability to accuracy bill me and as such I will be billing AGL for my time at standard daily rates while this matter drags on and then proceeded to advise AGL of my rates and by charging me for their in-ability to do their job properly would constitute an agreement between us to mutually bill.
“Sir I cannot agree to these conditions!!!” ….. Let me see, You are the representing AGL! You are telling me that I need to pay for your in-ability to get an accurate reading and who pays for my time????”
AGL then went on to explain that because I have an electronic meter, which keeps a track of readings every half hour, if any one of these readings is corrupted then the bill is marked estimated and that the meters are read by the distributor and passed onto AGL and that AGL rely on the distributor for the readings….. OK….”why is a problem between AGL and the distributor MY PROBLEM????” “If AGL cannot bill me correctly then they should not bill me at all !!!” and “If AGL are having problems with 2 readings an hour how are they going to cope when the new metering system comes online with 6 readings an hour??” “does this mean I will NEVER get an accurate bill !!!!!???”
If that is the case, I am estimating that your estimate of the payment I owe you is way wrong and I will pay you what I estimate the bill to be. The onus of proof that I am wrongly estimating now falls onto AGL….I figure that my guess is as good as theirs.
AGL - Sir we will not charge you for the extra reading…..Please ensure that there is unrestricted access to the meter…..etc etc etc…
Sure enough, within 2 days a meter reader did in fact come to read the meter.
By this time another BILL ARRIVES again for undercharging on the previous bill….
A few days later, a new bill arrives, again estimated…but canceling the previous one AND it is exactly the SAME as the one before…. “No mention of the undercharged bill though”
Rang AGL
“Sir I can see from your record that we did an extra meter reading that we did not charge you for….and we have estimated the bill because there was an error in the readings ………………. ” [ insert previous conversations around this ]
Look AGL all I am asking for is an accurate bill so that I can pay you !!!!!!!!!
“Sir I will pass this onto the accounts department and metering department”…”This is all I can do…” … “It usually takes about 2 weeks for accounts to get back to you”
Ok I thought…another 2 week delay in me, paying them…..Their loss….NO F**KING WAY !!!!!
Within 2 days, I have BPay billing, a new bill arrives, just like the previous one with only the previous bill canceled and the words ESTIMATED replaced by ACTUAL……
MAN these guys need to BUY Tattlotto tickets and go to the races and hit the Casinos….they can somehow predict with 100% accuracy what your bill is going to be based on corrupt data…This talent I want…… I WILL NEVER NEED TO WORK AGAIN…
Me pays the bill…..Its an ACTUAL…read the contract…..
Waiting for the next one….if its estimated………GOD HELP ME……I am going to ask for a new meter…….This should be fun…… Its after 1st July, and the mandated roll out of “Smart Meters” has begun….
Oh just for fun…..when you get an under charge bill from AGL signed from David McNeil ring AGL and ask for him……
Good Luck!!!
July 20th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Update—-
Just spoke with the distributor… it seems that if the meter reads faulty twice in a row then they “Automatically review” the meter, replace it and take it back to the workshop and extract the data from it…..
My meter is not showing any abnormal readings !!!????
The plot thickens….
July 31st, 2009 at 12:26 am
Oh, Craig…. I feel your pain - I do understand! I really do.
I too could write a book on my experiences with AGL since December, 2006. This is my 5th entry here (Nos. 13, 27, 41, 49) because there is no avenue that I’m aware of to seek retribution. It is soooo frustrating!
As stated earlier, I finally escaped AGL in December…..well, not really. I’m beginning to think noone EVER really escapes from AGL. After receiving a ‘Final Demand’ for my final electricity bill on 10 June, 2009, one month after I had paid the bill, I emailed to clarify the situation in an attempt to ward off their threats to call the debt collector and to tarnish my credit rating. Two days later, I received a brief unapologetic reply, acknowledging that the balance of my account was nil. Yippee, it’s over! (I naively thought - 6 months after leaving them, and with an account balance of nil, surely one is justified in feeling a little glee).
But no, tonight, I get a call from a COLLECTION agency!!! I was in a reasobaly good space, after a frantic day at work, but my mood just plummeted. This is psychological abuse and it weighs me down. The worst thing is the inability to speak to anyone in authority who will actually acknowledge the hellride I have been subjected to.
I have records of speaking with 26 AGL customer service consultants, I have resorted to the ombudsman on 4 occasions for totally different issues and yet I have always paid my bills on time.
I’m not a violent person, but…………..
Jenni
August 11th, 2009 at 10:51 am
Hello - “Dear Customer”
Me - “Dear Who?……………. when did I sign an agreement to have you supply power to me?”
AGL - “Well, no you didn’t sir! - but we do supply power to you”
Me - “Let me get this clear, Have I made a written agreement for your to supply power to me?”
AGL - “err no sir”
Me - “What is the name on the account you keep sending me?”
AGL - “Dear Customer”
Me - Not getting very far are we!? - call me back when you can show me the agreement that was made between AGL and me.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
NOTE - despite the volumes of notes and extensive phone conversations, my request to sit down and go through accounts with an AGL representative ‘face to face’, has not yet eventuated. I have requested they take me to court so I can speak with someone there and show them the accounts………… that has not happened. I have repeatedly asked to see a person face to face without success at all!
When I asked what would happen if I fronted at their office in Adelaide they they claim does not exist, they said I would be taken to a room with a table and chair and on the table would be a phone…………. yep you guessed it!………. someone would call me!
No-one could ever complain about AGL customer service………….. there simply isn’t.
any!
PS - If you have an account titled “Dear Customer” - don’t pay it!Chances are you have no contract wtht them and they don’t know your name.
August 18th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
Another angry AGL customer here!
We moved to another property last July and called AGL to disconnet and connect, then faxed at least 3 times of the settlement paper because every time we call back to check if they received the fax they said no or don’t know. Then finally the last one said don’t worry your new account will be created, then we waited for the bill.
Then AGL never send any gas bills since last July, then we emailed and called and was told their billing system was down or something like that and they will send us the bills later so we don’t have to worry. Then the story began.
They charged us the period which we didn’t live in the current place, when we called, they said they never received the settlement paper which we faxed at least 3 times, what the hell?
Now they ask us to fax again the settlement paper, this is just rediculous.
August 20th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
People from AGL are mother fucking assholes. I have a takeaway business that opens from 5-9pm, when their meter reading people are not working. Somehow the meter is located inside the building (I did not decide it to be built there) and so I am always getting estimate and overcharged. The only way to correct it is to get a special reading with arranged time with a fee, which is fucking ridicules. Those fucking reading people will be working during the same hours anyway, why pay extra? So I ask if there is alternative solution, and they say ETSA hire those people and so I called ETSA. They just kick me and my problem to the electricity provider company. The provider then said that AGL looks after customer service, if they have any, and refuse to do anything. I went all piss off with several of those sons and daughters of bitches from AGL and they tell me the best I can do is to call closer to the reading date, the 20th of August, and they can tell me which 2 days those mother fucking lazy asshole meter reading people will turn up (it was originally 7 days). So I called and those disgusting incest creature from AGL tell me that it is now 5 days! 2 days before the 25th and 2 days after. Fucking liars with absolutely no dignity, sub-quality life form, scum of the society, demented products of bestiality, the willing whore of filth!
September 1st, 2009 at 11:56 am
might as well share our hassles too…..at home, we received a huge account after not receiving anything for 11 months in 2008, though meter was read regularly and we noted the dates. A friend has had a business since May 2008,and still has no account, now Sept 2009, despite regular reading being taken in the shop, innumerable calls by him to AGL,correspondence from AGL to him since June 09, saying the account would ‘be there next week’, but ”he’d only be charged for past 12 months and he’d get a $40 refund voucher, and a plan to pay it off if it is too big to pay at once” !! - but still no account. Yes - it will be huge, as it is a large airconditioned shop , lots of lights and heating for fish, refrigeration etc……how inefficient and useless is this company.
Here in Qld, we have an ambulance levy included in our electricity account.Besides our late and very large account, we discovered early this year, that the account had been charged at 3 times the rate, for the ambulance levy. Innumerable phone calls, emails, never being able to speak to the same person as last time- result - ‘it is all fixed now’ - so they said. Latest account has the correct amount !! - but still shows outstanding debt of the extra amounts, back to Jan 2008, so not fixed at all - surprise, surprise. One of the many different people we spoke to said we were being charged ‘like a caravan park’, and on selling power !! - for goodness sake, what a load of nonsense - it’s just a house in the middle of suburbia, and always has been. So we start all over again - and join along with so many others with problems it seems…..yes, a Current Affairs type programme would have plenty of input that’s for sure - how can such hopeless people be able to manage a obviously large company???
September 9th, 2009 at 11:36 am
hi,
i am working on a story about AGL and looking for people willing to be filmed on camera for this story. would need to film thurs sept 10… i have read the agl comments and wonder if anyone would like to be involved? cheers, tania, today tonight, channel seven
September 10th, 2009 at 11:10 am
I have yet another AGL story- they really are exceptionally incompetent!
In July we got DirectConnect to organise gas and electricity supply at our investment property in Melbourne for the 3 weeks between tenant moving out and settlement day, so that our son who was caretaking the property could stay there. IF we’d known all the above about AGL we would have been more specific.
DirectConnect set us up with AGL for both gas and electricity. Being a careful sort I checked the meter readings at the beginning and end of the three weeks, and recorded them with witnesses signatures.
The bills arrived ok. The electricity bill tallied with my readings and I paid it. But the gas readings on their bill bore no resemblance to mine,and the “amount used” was 5 times my calculations. Numerous phone calls with polite call centre AGL workers just assuring me the readings were correct got no-where, and I received the Final Demand. I asked to speak to the supervisor and told them to go and check the meter NOW. Meanwhile, I got two other people to go and read the meter and also note the Meter Number.And it’s a different meter! They had been billing me for a totally different meter number, but the correct address. They have no record of OUR meter number and don’t know who was actually supplying gas at that address. The latest is- the bill is cancelled and we can forget it. I sure hope so, but reading the stories above I wonder if it’s over yet.
September 15th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
AGL seems to be a hideous headless beast that has been let loose on unsuspecting people who simply want to get on with their life, pay for energy that they use, and who assumed initially that someone at AGL knew what they were doing.
My experience since 2007 when I notified them that I wanted the gas disconnected was similar to others. I received nothing from them for about 12 months. Then got a bill for an excessive amount of gas which when the meter was finally read indicated I had used a substantial negative amount of gas.
I have since received numerous bills over a range of amounts and have not used any gas at all.
I have kept getting threats to disconnect the gas, which was done in September 2007. Two years ago.
Yesterday I got a letter from their bill collection agency through their lawyer saying I should pay $72 plus $49.50 lawyer fee within 7 days of the letter dated 5 days ago. Gave me 2 days.
I phoned the agency which seems to be the same as the lawyer, and after discussing the situation was advised to pay.
The kind hearted lawyer said that they would waive the $49.50 fee, just pay $72 and everything would be solved. I indicated that I would not do that as I believe AGL has displayed such gross incompetence, that I would be satisfied at this stage, only with a complete ‘no payment, all forgotten’ plan.
I was politely told that it would be better to pay the $72 which I could do immediately by credit card, and the issue would be over, otherwise the whole thing could drag on for months or years, and that I couldn’t win and it would cost more.
I was told I couldn’t make a difference, 1 in a million couldn’t make a difference. Was this a challenge?
So one of the next moves has led me to this site to see if I am alone or have others become prey for the AGL monster?
I now have a greater respect for the folk who took on Hardies. Could it happen with AGL. Admittedly the issues don’t appear to be matters of life and death, but it is emerging as an issue of a massive ‘headless’ organisation causing ordinary people to waste their time and expend much emotional energy with the threat that the issue will not go away.
As many have experiences, we may be hassled a year or so after we thought the issue was settled only to realize that the ‘beast’ had raised its ugly head again.
I’m not sure where to go from here, although I am seeking legal advice. Perhaps others out there have some ideas?
September 25th, 2009 at 3:28 am
AGL is the best….
AGL is the only reatiler who uses SAP , and it had the balls to introduce that system where as origin ,tru etc etc still use the old crap system ….
dont u want australia to enhance with technology?????
bcos we changed our billing system to SAP , we had some initial setup problems and it them a while to fix it up ..due to this reason some people skipped their bill for a year , some even misse dtheir concession….
BUt now things have been fixed up……and there wouldnt be aproblem ..
ppl support australia while they play cricket , they support aus in olympics… then why not supporting australian retailer which is in australia for 175 years???
TXU- Texas Utilities , TRU - Singapore Power……..
One day im sure we will be sold to either chinese or the americans
September 25th, 2009 at 3:31 am
@ ERIC …………
why dont u read your meter every quaterly and call up AGL or write down your meter readings in a piece of paper and leave it near your door ..
AGL charges you money because The distribution company charges them..
September 25th, 2009 at 3:35 am
@ jeni …
its due to SAP billing system of AGL , there were some issues…
even centrelink uses SAP , they have heaps of difficulties in the system..
September 28th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Ive been looking into AGL for about 2 years after they stuffed me around and can say AGL are by far and away the most incompetent utility company in Australia. Their incapacity to configure their billing system has led to literally 10s of thousands of people/businesses being incorrectly billed, incorrectly referred to debt collectors or not billed at all for services. Not being billed for services might sound nice, but if they discover your $700 qtrly bill hasnt been sent for 9 months, and they send you a $2100 bill to be paid in 30 days from issue to make up for it or face disconnection and debt collectors, you’ll know about it.
Think seriously before you switch to AGL.
October 11th, 2009 at 9:07 am
WELL SAME STORY HERE TO GUYS !! agl resent all my bills again , apparently according to there fantastic new billing system ive been living in my property for 2 years and never paid a bill !!!!! was told by there operator that we dont make mistakes give us lots off money or we will cut your power off !!!! after telling them i still had 90% off the bill reciets there story changed and was told it was a billing error , EVEN THOUGH THERE LAST BILL SENT SHOWED THERE WAS NO OVER DUE BILLS AND EVERYTHING WAS OK , ive requested all the bills to be reissued for the whole to years ive been there CAN THEY DO THIS ? no they cant , they tell me what is owing is owed from there billing eror from 2008 BUT THESE IDOTS CANT SHOW ME A BILL FOR IT , so there tryng to get money for which i know i dont owe , but cant show me what it is for !! can a carpenter do a job for you three years ago , and turn up on your doorstep and say i quoted you wrong three years ago , give us some money ! i dont think so , tough titty i say , i suggest to anyone that is with agl or considering signing up with them DONT , CHANGE NOW , NOW IT SEEMS THEY HAVE STOPED ANSWERING THERE PHONES SO THEY DONT HAVE TO DEAL WITH US LET US ALL HOPE THEY GO BROKE , THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN OUR GOVERNMENT SELL THEM SELVES OUT TO SMALL INADEQUITE COMPANIES LIKE AGL , print these pages out and send them to energex corperates so they know whats going on , i will , but im sure they will not lose any sleep when there sleeping on materess filed with cash from the energex pass over to agl , its us little people who will get screwed over THATS FOR SURE
October 21st, 2009 at 10:17 pm
My prob seems so tiny now. we signed up oct 08. were sent a final bill from old company. 9 months later no agl bill so i called and got “this is very unusual, we will send bill, we can only back bill 9 months” 1 month later still no bill, I call again same thing, month later same thing. we r moving soon what should i do? do i keep calling/ call Ombudsman or do i leave it n hope they never come after me, i have notifyed them 3 times surly iv done my part???
October 23rd, 2009 at 4:35 pm
To everyone who wrote on this site PLS consider what I am about to say. This is important information coming from a former AGL customer service operater.
Firstly I know that AGL is usless (extremely) and was one of the most useless companies I have every worked at. I myself was suprised at the stupidity of the company and the procedures and the constant levels of abuse from errors made by the system and unresolved issues. Working at agl for 3 months was the worst 3 months of my life and took away all my confidence. I’d get abused at least 10-30 times a day and had riddicoulous time frames to maintain on calls (normally a time frame of 2mins expected for the stats)
Within 2 mins you were expected to help customers such as yourselfs to fix a problem through complex and stupid billing systems and procedures. The most power a customer service rep has is to email the department thats suitable to address the issue with and you have no idea if they will fix the problem. You also have a rotating system so your not at the same computer, you don’t have your own inbox (or email address) and you don’t have your own phone extension as it changes constantly. So if customers want to speak to you again they can’t.
As for when a customer wants to speak to a manager (that won’t get you anywhere-there are team leaders and they are answering calls themself and don’t have the resources to fix the problem themselfs). Often people want to speak to the complaint department which is understandable but keep in mind that before the customer service rep can put the call through to someone in complaints to take the call they have to get permission. Often they will tell you to sort it out urself and send an email when you have the customer screaming and crying.
After witnessing the poor customers being frustrated and crying and screaming it made me loose massive faith in using Agl as my own provider as the top managers and leaders have no idea how to manage a company. The changing of the billing system is a joke and makes it difficult and frustrating too for the cust service rep’s as they often have to transfer the call to a rep trained in the old system. The phone systems were constantly crashing and we had to change buildings sometimes and often had people screaming and telling us how useless we were as they were trying to get through for 20mins and once they were through we couldnt help them as the computers had crashed as all done electronically.
Whilst I worked at agl I worked hard for the little pay i recieved and the long hours with riddicoulous stats (including them watching your toliet break times). As an australian and most importantly as a person it was very degrading and made me scared to do reception at my next job.
Why have I spent 15mins writing this email and telling u? I am hoping that everyone will be a little bit harsh on the customer service rep’s who are just as trying to do their job (some acually do care and want to help you-like I did) with the poor systems and policies and also LACK of help they have from managers and those higher up in the company hierachy.
Agl is one of the worst companies and wouldn’t recommend anyone using them or swappping over (espeically via the door to door salemen-don’t even waste your time with them). I wish all of you luck who are using Agl and are trying to change over (even the change overs can be difficult I know). My advice to anyone who wants to use Agl as a provider DON’T! You’ll save yourself alot of time and trouble and also the poor customer service rep who is just like you paying to do a job.
October 23rd, 2009 at 4:37 pm
Sorry about my typing errors (from my above response)-in a rush writing this at work and don’t have time to double check. Thanks
November 19th, 2009 at 9:01 pm
I should have googled AGL issues before connecting with them. This is so comprehensive but not enough people know about their incompetence until it’s too late. in my case:
- Moved into apartment in Aug 2008.
- Connected gas and power with AGL. setup both with direct debit.
- Bills come in each quarter. Tells me payment received each time. Direct debit to your account will take place on due date.
- Moved into house in Aug 2009. Called AGL to move accounts to new address. All is fine.
- Get final notice for $650 in Nov 09 for apartment I moved out of 3 months ago. Called up to ask what this is for - guy says ignore it looks like a glitch because bills says payment received.
- Get final demand notice 2 weeks later. Call up again (another 30min wait) and apparently none of the direct debits to power bill went through. But the gas one worked and I set them up at same time! The bills said payment received! they can’t tell me what account the direct debit is if it was different to gas bill. Now i need to search statements for every credit card / bank account to prove i’ve paid it. They should be paying people like us who lose time dealing with their problems.
December 8th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
OMG. My heart is sinking. I have been with AGL a while. I made the mistake of trying to change my DD online in Sept. It didn’t happen but how was I to know? Their “Customer Service” person said that if the change had gone through they would have written to me! So, even though I was not told they would write and confirm, I was to telepathically know this.
Then I get a call on my answerphone saying they are “reinstating” my direct debit. Yes, my old, cancelled bank account is being reinstated. Of course this did not work and the “customer service” operator was unable to change my bank details by phone. Then I received a final demand for the last bill threatening to cut me off (which should have come out by DD) which I then paid by Bpay.
Once again I changed my DD bank details on their website.
More ridiculous emails from them which seemed not to refer to my case at all. Then an amount not resembling my bill has been DD’d from my bank account, so I am really confused. And I have overpaid now. They keep sending automated emails apologising for the error, but not explaining what they have done, nor the strange amount they have given themselves from my bank account in addition to the Bpaid bill. And now they owe me money. I can get no explanation or reply from them apart from automated “we are sorry for the error” robot emails. Time to call the Ombudsman?
Who do I change my gas account to? I live in Qld.
January 20th, 2010 at 3:43 pm
well,i can not believe what i am reading!
my promblems will properly starting as well.
they send a not ordered aplication,that i have not requested.
first call to them,i got hang up on.
second call,wend to a cambera call centre,promissed to fix it.
but reading all this,i am getting worried…..
horst in oak flats nsw
February 1st, 2010 at 3:29 am
I had a very bad experience to deal with AGL since 2006. Just find this website and I am sure the list on bad experience to deal with AGL will keep increasing. Here is the story of another unhappy AGL victim.
In 2006, we moved in a new apartment but found the gas meter was not working properly. So wrong bills were received for 3 quarters but it took over 1 year before AGL fixed the meter. And we argued with AGL on the incorrect gas usage for 1.5 year before they finally agreed to charge a bill that we believed is reasonable. We thought this might be over. But this is just the beginning of the nightmare!
We settled the bill using direct debit. For the Dec 08 invoice, it was settled as usual and AGL acknowledged this payment in Feb 09 invoice. However, they said in Nov 09 that due to their billing system problem, they did not receive the payment and requested us to pay again. When I asked them to provide proof, they said that they cannot and instead ask me to provide proof that I have paid?? I never get any payment rejection in my bank statement. But AGL insisted we need to pay the back-date bill. This is still oustanding and totally ridiculous! Why the customer needs to help AGL to fix their internal problem?
Also, from Q3 2008 onwards, we deliberately used less gas due to financial crisis. For 3 the following consecutive quaters, the total usage is less than the corresponding quarter in the previous year - a trend we expect. But for the quarter May to Aug 09, the MJ of gas usage suddenly increases by over 50% as compared to the same quarter in 2008! We escalated and of course AGL ignored and insisted their usage record is correct. We then escalated further to Energy & Water Ombudsman NSW in Oct 09 but after 2 months’ investigation, EWON just said that the meter readings of AGL are correct??? Now we are helpless but it is obvious that the system of AGL is a crab! Totally unreliable and untrustable company. It wasted me a lot of time and money to call them just to resolve this usage and wrong billing issues
We have no choice but switch to Energy Australia in Nov 09. Unfortunately, because of this dispute, AGL refused to let us transfer to Energy Australia. Now we are stucked! Anyone can offer kind advice what shall we do?
March 4th, 2010 at 2:52 pm
Hi all,
I worked in the electricity industry for many years.
Just wanted to let everyone on her know that they should stay away from a company called
ENERGYWATCH! that’s right ENERGYWATCH! the owner Ben Polis is a scammer not only ripping
off customers but screwing over electricity companies just to make a quick buck.
My advice to all is just deal directly with a electricity company instead of these
re sellers like go switch, energywatch etc.
I hope this helps people into the future.
March 4th, 2010 at 2:53 pm
Hi all,
I worked in the electricity industry for many years.
Just wanted to let everyone on here know that they should stay away from a company called
ENERGYWATCH! that’s right ENERGYWATCH! the owner Ben Polis is a scammer not only ripping
off customers but screwing over electricity companies just to make a quick buck.
My advice to all is just deal directly with a electricity company instead of these
re sellers like go switch, energywatch etc.
I hope this helps people into the future.
March 16th, 2010 at 4:22 am
It’s with a heavy heart I read all these posts, I too have been caught up in the AGL scam.
After getting disconnection notices for over a two year period, on a FtNightly basis (Computer glitch) I contacted the Energy and Water Ombudsman, here in Melbourne. I’m on a dissability pension, and pay all bills on a two week cycle, at the post office, once my pension goes into my bank acct.
I setup a “easyway” payment plan with AGL, as I have with most utilities, and of course on a two week basis had to ring, say I’d paid, and why are you always sending me disconnection notices? They had some story that it took 5 days to get money from the post office to their billing dept. Sounds strange as it would obviously be electronic money exchange which is pretty well instant. Basically I could see they had no control over their Computer Network, the monies I paid were probably sitting at a Computer waiting to be processed by an AGL employee.
Being on a limited income I’m really careful to keep everything paid and running smooth, AGL stopped that. I have been with them for about five years and up untill 2007 they had been very good. It was once I had moved to a new place that everything got screwy. To have a “Easyway” payment plan they need to have an idea of a years usage, so until you’ve stayed for a year they just guess, and approximate, which was very difficult as I was paying way too much. In summer you don’t use the Electric heater, so it is cyclic. However the disconnection notices have a profound effect psychologically. Thinking each FtNight your Power will be cut off is not a healthy way to live !
9 months ago I, as I said, contacted the Energy and Water Ombudsman, their contact details were on my AGL bill, which says alot doesn’t it. They are expecting complaints, and also expect us to get in contact with the Ombudsman. I felt i’d sorted the thing out over about a period of a month and a half working with the Ombudsman, I sure wasn’t happy that no one would look at my receipts, or try to figure the math, but AGL lessened the pain by issuing all the things the Ombudsman had said they were not to do, like charge a “early termination fee”, then a late payment fee, they really had no control over the computer, it was sending it’s own letters. In the end the Ombudsman made them pay $250 of “Goodwill” to me, essentially lowering the ridiculous “estimation” of my power usage charges. I changed to another company once I’d paid the final bill to AGL, but this week, 8 months after leaving AGL I’ve received two bills from them. One for $180, in lapsed “bill smoothing” payments, and a $300 Final notice. I’m not even with them, but they believe I have not paid the last bill, which is no wonder when you ring a number given by the Ombudsman to a Senior Officer to make a plan to pay your final bill, to find yourself listening to a whimpering idiot saying,”We have no System”, “Call back in a few days”.I just paid the damn Final notice and now, seven months later the bills are arriving. This is no way to do business, this is no way to treat everyday Energy consumers. So back were I started essentially. I’m sympathetic to all before me who have suffered under AGL. It can drive you nuts ! I’m not sure how to cope … They want me to provide a receipt, … well really I don’t think I have one. But, why seven months (?),I did pay, I did ring and tell the senior officer whom the Ombudsman had been dealing with i’d made a payment in full, and asked politely for them to note the call, and my payment. If there had been a problem they should contact me immediately and see why. The read of people previously not having been billed for six months, a year, very disturbing.
At least having read all of this I have some informed information when I ring the Ombudsman tomorrow to explain why I haven’t paid a 8 month old final notice. Really something has to be done about this company. If I end up with a bad credit rating because of AGL heads will roll.
March 19th, 2010 at 6:59 pm
‘Here lies another customer..frazzled to death by AGL and their inabilty to do ANYTHING right’ I wish i had have done some research before i signed up…what a nightmare… 2 1/2 years only 3 massive bills…one to the wrong person and one missing bill which the credit agency contacts me about on the DAY I receive the final notice.!!!!!! Run away …run away….
March 30th, 2010 at 8:29 pm
Amen,
I am going through the exact same bullshit. AGL is chasing me up for a bill of close to $500 which was accumulated AFTER I had moved out of the property. After countless dead end calls to their piss poor call centre in the phillipines, which, mind you, takes at least half an hour to even get through to each time, I eventually got the number of a contact in Australia who assured me after I sent in a copy of my tenant ledger, it would be sorted out. I don’t hear anything for about a month, until a debt recovery agency is on my case. I guess this is AGL’s idea of “getting back to me”. I’m still sorting it out now. I really wish I had read this forum before I dealt with these deadshits
May 26th, 2010 at 8:23 pm
Stupid AGL door knockers.. I just had to tell some idiot 20 times that im not interested…
I feel it was very close to harassment, and his last comment was “i’ll come round another time..”
I dont even have an account with AGL..!
AGL = Dickheads…
July 2nd, 2010 at 5:27 pm
I am going for an interview with AGL Inbound Call Centre on wednesday…. I’m getting scared, I like to fix problems, I don’t want to get a whole bunch of issues I cant fix, from a bunch of people yelling at me because the company I work for sucks. Maybe I should re-consider going for this job….
July 22nd, 2010 at 7:52 pm
Mark , if u inform AGL Movers Dept(131245), they could arrange the move-out from that property, the Energy retailers cant dream about us leaving premises.
July 28th, 2010 at 1:39 pm
Oh dear.. We had almost the exact same problem a few years back. And I know several friends did too. I ignored it for a while, but then worried about credit ratings too. I really wanted to see if they cut the service of to the new tennants.
Currently looking at switching providers again - just to get cheaper deal but will NEVER go to AGL again (unless they can offer free energy or something).
They have a pretty well known rep for poor service and situations like this.
July 30th, 2010 at 11:43 am
David McNeill general manager at AGL is contactable via Linled In - if you are on Linked In bombard him!!!!
July 30th, 2010 at 11:54 am
AGL keep sending us billed readings for an electric hot water meter they disconnected when we changed to AGL GAS hot water. This month they duplicated the reading on meter #2 on the dead meter. This amounted to overcharging more than $300 on the bill. If we had not queried it they would have made this money for nothing! That is FRAUD. Needless to say I have complained to AGL and EWON (again)….
If they offer us an early exit from our 2 year contract we will take it! And if not after it expires we are GONE GONE GONE. What incompetents!