First Utility Reviews

Name: First Utility
Rating: 1.21

1.2 Rating 129 Reviews

5 %

of reviewers recommend First Utility

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1.2

Based on 129 reviews

Shipping & Delivery
Delivery Methods	Courier
Customer Service
Communication Channels	Telephone, Live Chat, Email
Queries Resolved In	Over A Week
Customer Service	1.1 out of 5

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First Utility 1 star review on 30th September 2022

Anonymous

First Utility 1 star review on 16th July 2022

Brenda Price

Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

Sort by: Most Recent Most Recent Highest Rated Filter: None None 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Stars Helpful

“Like so many other people, I’ve been scammed by first utility with varying bills from £28 to £200 in the space of one month in the middle of summer for a one bedroom tiny cottage. I work 12 hours a day 6 days a week and mainly leave my boiler and heater completely switched off for effective energy saving. They now tell me I owe them £620 and refuse to check my metres aren’t faulty without charging an extra £250. Avoid these scam artists.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“APPALLING CUSTOMER SERVICE. Dear Mr Sir I have been forced to contact you, as the service provided by Shell, is appalling. I was a customer, of First Utility for over 8 years .They fitted my Smart meter.& readings were automatically sent by the meter. Then this year Shell took over, I remained with Shell ,as I expected the great service to continue. HOW WRONG I have been. About a month ago, Shell contacted me to arrange for an Engineer to fit a new battery in the meter. It took the engineer about 2 hrs to fit !!!!!! I subsequently, went on to the live chat line to check all satisfactory. They asked me for the meter nos which I did. They then asked me to give readings. I said I was unable to as I had never read the meter ever. First Utility had installed & readings were automatic from day 1. I asked that a member of Management,to contact me ASAP to arrange for an engineer to call & give assistance ,as I have “Vision Impairment” NO REPLY RECEIVED OR CONTACT BY PHONE TODATE. Today, I received my monthly a/c Over the Summer it is usually below £90 for DUAL FUEL THE LATEST BILL WAS FOR £336.88 I AM NOT PAYING THAT I look forward to a swift response to resolve the matter. Kind Regards Yours sincerely ROB MILES”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“My tenant was using this company for gas and electric. She moved out and my one bed flat was empty for one month. I received a bill for £74. I was on the phone for 1 hour and 8 minutes in total. Customer service is very poor and I certainly would not recommend this company to anyone. They are prompt to get your business and payments, but are at a snails speed to rectify any problem.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Changed to Shell on a promise of them saving me £20 plus per month. They also said that my existing meter would work with them. The meter I have been told now is not compatible. My fuel prices after 3 months has also gone up by £30 per month. I feel like I have been mugged by this lying company. AVOID at all cost. Shell Energy are crooked. I am going to the Ombudsman!”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“**Ripped off, manipulated and scammed by shell energy posting to hopefully prevent this happening to others** Today we were in court with our (now previous) energy provider #shellenergy formerly known as First utility. To start at the beginning, First Utility supplied our energy for a full year hastle free. We moved house, switched back to them in the new property, sent reads, set up a direct debit, everything you are meant to do. Almost 2 years later in March 2017 our direct debit increased by £280 per month! Without any notification or prior warning or even a reason. Obviously we queried this at the first opportunity and froze my direct debits, continuing to put my payments into savings until they rectified the issue. The events that followed have consumed our life for 2 and a half years. They claimed that we were using excess of 20 units of electricity per day and that when they assessed our account 14 months after signing up they realised this but only increased the direct debit by £10. Two months later they realised it wasn't enough and put the account up for reassessment and a further 3 months after that they decided we owed them back pay of almost 2 years and we were using twice the electricity that we have PROVED we were using! We contacted the ombudsman services who ruled in our favour initially, instructing a deduction in the money they were asking for as they had not handled our account correctly and the accumulation of a bill was their fault. #shellenergy agreed to apply initially, and we waited for them to contact us with a new bill. 2 days before christmas 2017 they decided to appeal the OS decision on the grounds that we had apparently stolen a SMART meter and had not issued them with final readings (I have all the documentation that proves #shellenergy arranged the SMART meter AND supplied the codes to activate it - they also took the final reads and generated an invoice that they later tried to hide. (In addition to this, once the SMART meter was installed the imperial meter was meant to be held for a max period of 6 months so it could be tested for faults. #shellenergy scrapped our imperial meter to avoid it being tested. To give you a picture our SMART meter shows average daily use of about 15 units per day PEAK. The imperial was showing 20 units per day in summer. It was clearly faulty). We challenged the Ombudsman services and had their original decision reinstated!!! However #shellenergy managed to appeal once again and had the case shut down. At a complete loss we went to them personally and offered to pay the bill minus the back bill that the OS stated they should deduct. They refused. They threatened us with collection procedures that would include CCJs or Bailiffs. I have a business and 3 young children, I can't afford CCJs against my name and certainly dont want my children to experience bailiffs turning up at the door! and so the only option left to avoid that from happening was for us to take them to court as the claimant or pay what they were asking, well in excess of what we owed. What we didn't realise in all of this, and we found out today that although #shellenergy have proven they are a liability in the sense that, in more ways than 1, they are reckless and complacent with customers accounts, in the eyes of the law we can only claim back from money they are seeking from us on top of the bill. So to put into context what they have done, is allowed us to accumulate a huge debt (luckily for us the money was put aside), threatened us with bailiffs and CCJs knowing the only way out was to take them to court, knowing all they would have to do is sit back and allow it to play out! Morally and on principle we won! The judge made it clear he was unimpressed by the way they have handled this and allowed it to drag out. Unfortunately the law doesn't run on morals and this time they had the knowledge and the upper hand! To add to this, to make matters worse, in the process of trying to resolve this we have had members of #shellenergy staff laugh at us, we have been accused of being bill Dodgers, in transcripts we have been described as "super awkward people" we have been accused of being aggressive and were even told by one member of staff he would personally make sure the back bill deduction was NOT applied. They have caused so much stress to our family and consumed so much of our time I want to put this put there to warn everyone to steer clear! Read the reviews online about #firstutility. It isn't surprising they have tried to re brand.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Utter rubish and scammers! I hve Shell energy on my back at the moment trying to get money out of me that I paid months ago with FU. Seems like ShellEnergy are trying to double bill people!”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“I am absolutely disgusted with this supplier. Billed ridiculous amounts for a detached one bedroom house, and they always come back with it's their error weeks after we have argued it. I have just had a notification to say that we now owe £133.00 pcm as we never build enough credit with them, when it was only last week I had an email to say we were back in credit after being overcharged, AGAIN. Switching as of today - they've had enough chances from us. Still on hold to them after 45 minutes! Disgusting customer service.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“All I can say is I’m glad I switched when moving into this property as I have had itching but trouble trying to clear and end the previous tenants bills. Rang and cleared accounts only to receive a ridiculous bill I couldn’t even physically haveused in two months both me and landlord have rang and paid various fantasy bills . We are now going to the ombudsman because they just lie and threaten with their own dodgy bailiff.stay away from this company”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“It hurts me to even select a star It hurts me to even select a star, if I could I wouldn’t put any. I am now 4 months into a complaint. Which quite frankly hasn’t progressed at all due to this companies lack of competency. They tell you what will be done on the phone and then dont actually do it. I was only with this company for 2 weeks when I moved into our new home they were supplying, stay well clear! If you want a proactive supplier use EDF. (Now our supplier) The same complaint was logged with them as I have been caught in the middle and they have been excellent throughout the whole process.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Dodgy energy provider. It's only good for pay as you go. Opening a direct debit with monthly payment will give you a set back. Your Direct debit paid without default, once you leave first utility they will bring up some funny bill. They're cowboy outfit. Avoid setting account with them.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Do not, under any circumstances use this Company. Their Customer Service and Accounts Department are absolutely useless!!!! I see that Shell Energy have bought them out - no self respecting Company should put their name to them. We had a property that we rented out and the tenants chose First Utility as their energy supplier. When our tenants vacated the property, we read the meter and informed First Utility that we were responsible for any electric used whilst the property was empty. We subsequently sold the property and gave First Utility the final meter reading. We received a bill for £245.69 which we paid by debit card on 6th June 2017. Since then and to the present date May 2019 - we have received letter upon letter, asking us to pay this outstanding bill or take the consequences I cannot count on one hand how many times, we have telephoned accounts, and customer services over this dispute. They couldn't sort it out, and at their request we sent them our bank statement which clearly shows the transaction (with their name against it) going out of our account. We thought that the problem had been solved, until we received another letter in November 2018, saying the same thing, account outstanding, threatening recovery action. We telephoned again, and finally got through to the investigation team- and was assured that this would be sorted. We heard nothing, and now we have a letter from Shell Energy asking for payment yet again. Another phone call and this time we were informed that a default had been lodged by them against my husband's credit score. This has been the final straw, not only did they not inform us of their action, but they have unjustly damaged my husband's credit rating. What " part of proof of payment" don't they understand. We are now putting it in the hands of our solicitor”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“I applied for First Utility WiFi in January 2019. I thought it would take the standard 10/14 days for my line to be activated. Instead it took 4 weeks. The WiFi didn’t activate on my phone line, instead it for some reason activated on a shop next door to me, leaving the shop without internet and myself. I rang up immediately and cancelled my WiFi, as it was incompatible to my address. All was fine. Then comes April 2019 and an email about a missed payment. I ring up and ask why is there a missed payment the contract was voided the day it was activated. The callers response was simply “if you don’t pay it then we’ll send collections for a £150 cancellation fee.” Was on the phone for hours being told this over and over again, and told I don’t have proof I cancelled. Next morning I rang trading standards who gave me advice. I rang first utility again and said first of all, I don’t need to prove I cancelled it as the burden of proof falls on you, the provider. I requested durable copies of EVERYTHING. I quoted “If a provider can’t or hasn’t provided you with their service” then that’s a breach of contract. And I also raised questions as to why I wasn’t forwarded to Ciff or any other broadband dispute company when I initially rang, and instead told to just pay up. I pointed out that this breach of contract takes my cooling off period goes from 2 weeks to 12 months, and that I am not liable for any cancellation fee. They were adamant I needed to pay the £150 cancellation fee. So then I informed them of my cancellation rights, they have 8 weeks to do the aforementioned and if they failed it would go from a civil matter to a criminal matter and that trading standards were going to help me resolve this. I also questioned the unlawful threats of bailiffs, as they need to at least threaten me with court before the bailiffs who cannot turn up at any joe bloggs house without a county court order. After I railed off these points they rang me back and said they were happy to drop any cancellation fees. I informed them that they’re legally obliged to do that, whether they’re happy to do so or not. It’s really fortunate that I am not a vulnerable person, as clearly this shocking company thrive of exploiting people. All customer service skills I experienced were appalling, the only helpful member of staff was Magda and that’s because I had facts written in front of me. Back to sky WiFi it is.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Queried on simple information on the meter reading so i could submit it in time to pay the difference and go back to my monthly payments! Some questions were answered other were given in a very patronising manner. Advisor wasn't the best with her customer service skills. Forgot to chase up my £50 cash back for referring a family member but doubt any of us 2 will be getting anything from the company! Total rubbish. Will be looking for a new provider!”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“The are now Shell Energy, Don't call back. Don't reply emails, lied twice about calling back the next day in a space of 1 week. The last lie came from a guy named "Andy." They are planning to process my switch in 6 WEEKS! I have asked several times to confirm if the switch would be completed in 3 weeks, otherwise I don't want to proceed with my application, they said all is fine, but here I am waiting aimlessly with no call back or replies to my emails. I am now paying a variable rate with Scottish Power, because of this lying and incompetent thieves!”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“This is the worst energy and telephone provider i have ever used in any European country. They are dishonest. Billed me for a home where there was only one person living for about 5 nights in a month due to working away. They later paid back little pittance after a long drawn back and forth letter. Please do not do business with them. Very dishonest and fraudulent in their practice”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“not to be trusted when i decided to switch suppliers received bills of over £500 on 2 properties having been in credit for past 3 years even though the meters had not been read ? cleaver way of keeping you . DO NOT CHANGE TO THIS COMPANY”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“As long as nothing goes wrong, this company is probably on a par with many other companies. However ....... If something goes wrong, they are completely useless. I had no broadband for 4 weeks. Was advised to buy a bolt on from my mobile phone co. They would consider paying for this. Of course this has not been paid to me (£60). Many hours on the phone and online live chat. No free phone line to contact them. Secondly I gave had no landline phone line for nearly 3weeks. Every time I called them I was told there is no fault - as they did for broadband. I am still out of pocket, and have no phone line. Just written an email to Shell/First Utility to advise that I will be transferring back to BT asap. Do it consider changing to Shell/First Utility.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Started off well but after 3 months wanted to increase payment. After 12 months more than doubled payment without sufficient notice. Moved to New supplier. Now stating we owe them over £400 and asking for immediate payment. Will be seeking full breakdown. Don't use. Will refer to Ombudsman if not happy with response. Complete joke.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Haven't had a bill for ages then they issue one great big one.they did appolgise but to little to late.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“They charge you to leave even outside of contract Terrible service Avoid avoid avoid”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

First Utility is rated 1.2 based on 129 reviews