Lumo Energy

prydey · 14-10-2011, 01:11 PM

in brief - if you are with them ->

, if you get a call from them, hang up!

i'm not normally one to get sucked in by telemarketers, but they garaunteed 10% off every bill (i thought compared to what i already pay - wrong) and a 10day cooling off, so i thought ok, i'll say yes, then when the docs come in the post, i'll look through it and decide then.

in the meantime, i hopped online and boy,talk about a flood of unhappy reviews.

i sent the cooling off form off straight away. heard nothing until today when agl ring to say they have a request from lumo to change accounts.

i rang lumo and was very blunt because they were still trying to tell me that i was meant to call. i had to read the letter i had in front of me back to him where it clearly stated to post in the cooling off form. he then says, ok, we won't charge you the cancellation fee. damn straight pal, have a nice day.

there's my rant. obviously i wasn't 100% well when they phoned the first time 'cause normally i hang up.

**Polyal** · 14-10-2011, 01:14 PM

ORLY..bugger I passed them onto mum because Tru is hopeless.

They came to our door and my god, the amount of times she mentioned that they are based in Melb, you dont want your money going to Singapore etc was driving me mad.

prydey · 14-10-2011, 01:30 PM

they may be ok, but from my point of view, their rates were dearer than AGL (even though they promised to be cheaper) and the way they went about getting business was very unprofessional. just my opinion.

ch33z1l · 14-10-2011, 01:41 PM

Funniest story was with my sis in Melbourne, when she was renting with her partner, and our cousin and her partner. Some energy company knocked on the door when it was only cousins partner at home, and he got talking to them. Without accepting anything, they left.

A few weeks later AGL called, and asked why they had entered a contract with this new gas company. My sister called this company, and they said her husband had agreed to the contract, and they had a voice recording. My sister requested the recording, and besides getting her name wrong and naming cousins partner as her husband, the voice didnt even sound like him.

Some of the lengths these companies go to is extreme!

**Polyal** · 14-10-2011, 01:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ch33z1l

Funniest story was with my sis in Melbourne, when she was renting with her partner, and our cousin and her partner. Some energy company knocked on the door when it was only cousins partner at home, and he got talking to them. Without accepting anything, they left.

A few weeks later AGL called, and asked why they had entered a contract with this new gas company. My sister called this company, and they said her husband had agreed to the contract, and they had a voice recording. My sister requested the recording, and besides getting her name wrong and naming cousins partner as her husband, the voice didnt even sound like him.

Some of the lengths these companies go to is extreme!

Serious? Id be taking them to the cleaners, is that not fraud?

mik · 14-10-2011, 04:54 PM

lumo, victoria energy, green energy, we get these mobs ringing us all the time , also dudes come to the door and in a really clever salesman like way try to get you to change to their vendor, but apparently agl are the dudes that actually supply the gas, these other mobs are just like agents, if it hits the fan with the gas supply, guess who comes to the rescue........ agl.

TheSneakiness · 14-10-2011, 05:22 PM

Had only just moved into our place and two days later had a rep from AGL at my door. After telling him three times to **** off, our onsite manager came up and said to me do you know this guy? I said no. He then asked the guy do you have an appointment with me? He then no. So he then said well, this is private property and you're trespassing, leave now.

I first thought finally he's gone, then holy crap, our manager doesn't take crap from anyone.

I'm glad I had no calls from AGL saying we are now your energy provider cause I would've exploded at the first person who got me on the other end.

FYI from what I've seen in comparison sites the majority of AGL products are the dearest in QLD, and I've heard nothing but issues with them from other people who use them.

mik · 14-10-2011, 05:50 PM

i can only say i rarely get pestered by agl, one other thing i was also told, the agents don`t actually come and read your meter, they take a guesstimate and charge you on that, maybe someone else can confirm.

LTDHO · 14-10-2011, 06:51 PM

My folks changed over and are saving on their current bills to what they were paying.

xisled · 15-10-2011, 03:24 PM

This post is funny.

I can help a few people out.

The sales people that come to the door or call for sales do not work for the power retailer, the power retailers employee sales companies to come and sell the product.

Now there is 2 parts of the power industry, a Distributor and a retailer. The Distributor is the owner of all the infrastructure and does the meter reads, the retailers are the companies that bill you. A distributor may also be a retailer, but that does not mean it will be cheaper.

z80 · 15-10-2011, 10:36 PM

Try calling Lumo energy by phone.

The on hold message will drive you insane....after 20 minutes it still keeps telling you that for you convenience their call center is open till 8pm every night, for your benefit.

Little mention that it takes them that long to answer your call.....

GreenR · 16-10-2011, 01:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xisled

distributor may also be a retailer, but that does not mean it will be cheaper.

Not in states that are privatized. So not VIC, NSW and QLD (half). Not sure about the rest

onfire · 16-10-2011, 04:49 PM

I've been with Lumo Energy for years now, they were previously known as Victoria Electricity, New South Wales Electricity, South Australia Electricity and Queensland Electricity until 5 July 2010.

Never really had a problem with them. In fact, they came to my rescue one hot Friday evening. A few months after moving into my unit, the previous owner had organized a final reading, why at that point in time, I don't know.. he was half an idiot to begin with. I still receive his random bills, invoices and bank statements nearly 4 years later, so it says a lot about him.

Whichever company he was with, came out & switched off the power on a 45 degree day while I was at work, thinking they were doing the right thing.

My then current energy provider couldn't give two ***** till Monday 9am, it being after 5pm on Friday. When I contacted Lumo ( Vic Energy at the time ) they organized every thing over the phone in minutes including the transfer, had a tech out within 30mins with the power back on, a discount for being screwed around ( must have felt sorry for me ) and even chased the previous owner's service provider and hit them up with a request for $200.00 to cover any lose of food. Which I received.

Oh, and to follow up the original posters query. They do give a discount on every bill, if said bill is paid x amount of days before the due date.

The mistake these companies make is outsourcing to telemarketers & the idiots that knock on your door and basically aggressively scam their way into a deal.

xisled · 16-10-2011, 04:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by plarazza

Not in states that are privatized. So not VIC, NSW and QLD (half). Not sure about the rest

In Vic, Origin for example is Citipower and Powercore. AGL is both in QLD some areas, Energy Australia is also both in New South Wales, well known as Ausgrid now.

xisled · 16-10-2011, 04:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by onfire

I've been with Lumo Energy for years now, they were previously known as Victoria Electricity, New South Wales Electricity, South Australia Electricity and Queensland Electricity until 5 July 2010.

Never really had a problem with them. In fact, they came to my rescue one hot Friday evening. A few months after moving into my unit, the previous owner had organized a final reading, why at that point in time, I don't know.. he was half an idiot to begin with. I still receive his random bills, invoices and bank statements nearly 4 years later, so it says a lot about him.

Whichever company he was with, came out & switched off the power on a 45 degree day while I was at work, thinking they were doing the right thing.

My then current energy provider couldn't give two ***** till Monday 9am, it being after 5pm on Friday. When I contacted Lumo ( Vic Energy at the time ) they organized every thing over the phone in minutes including the transfer, had a tech out within 30mins with the power back on, a discount for being screwed around ( must have felt sorry for me ) and even chased the previous owner's service provider and hit them up with a request for $200.00 to cover any lose of food. Which I received.

Oh, and to follow up the original posters query. They do give a discount on every bill, if said bill is paid x amount of days before the due date.

The mistake these companies make is outsourcing to telemarketers & the idiots that knock on your door and basically aggressively scam their way into a deal.

Noting could be done on weekend as most of the retailers operations do not work on weekends. Its not as simple as flicking a switch. But it is good that you could get your power reconected on monday. I know it can be bad when people get disconnected in wrongly.

prydey · 16-10-2011, 07:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by onfire

Oh, and to follow up the original posters query. They do give a discount on every bill, if said bill is paid x amount of days before the due date.

they seemed to indicate that i would save up to 10% on what i was currently paying. thats a little bit different to what the actual deal is, where you pay 10% less than their full price if you pay on time.

GreenR · 16-10-2011, 09:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xisled

In Vic, Origin for example is Citipower and Powercore. AGL is both in QLD some areas, Energy Australia is also both in New South Wales, well known as Ausgrid now.

The retailer is not the distributor. Origin is not Citipower etc. Certain retailers have the contracts to be the default retailer in each distribution area. Distributor and retailer are two different things.

IN VIC
Citipower/Powercor - goes to Origin
United Energy/Jemena - goes to AGL
SP Ausnet - goes to Tru Energy

In QLD Energex area is divided up and goes to either AGL or Origin.
Ergon I think is still yet to go all private I think.

Anyone with Lumo is taking a risk. If you are getting billed every 1 month you are already getting ripped.

onfire · 16-10-2011, 10:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by prydey

they seemed to indicate that i would save up to 10% on what i was currently paying. thats a little bit different to what the actual deal is, where you pay 10% less than their full price if you pay on time.

As mentioned, the problem is the people knocking on the doors.

The mistake people make is doing what they are asked of these door-to-door salesmen. Usually they'll introduce themselves as either working for a company such as Powercor or similar rather than a say, in this case for example, Lumo Energy.

They usually follow it up by asking to see a recent bill or statement. Its from here they can begin their pitch. They now know, who you are currently with and how many cents you're paying. Then they manipulate that and begin to sell you on their provider.

Basically don't give them anything to work with unless you're well and truly interested in switching providers. And even then, the dumbest of us would probably seek out the options ourselves.

And heaven forbid don't let them near your power-box or inside the house.

There's a lot of traps, and a lot of things they'll avoid actually saying, and it's fun screaming words like " fraud " at them, and " Police " and demanding to see their ID again with a pen and paper in hand.

At one stage I had them coming around almost weekly. First time, I was nearly done. A gentleman sold me with the idea of " greener electricity ".. and how " I wouldn't be changing providers, just the power supplied would be green " before I knew it, he had handed me a mobile phone and I was speaking to a customer service recording questioning me with " do you agree to the cancellation of your current service provider and the transfer of your account to xxxxxx? " .. words like " fraud " and demanding to see their ID again and other words like " Police " were thrown around quite a lot for the next few minutes.

I was young and stupid and now know they pray on the ill-informed and unsuspecting. It's why you see so many older people get taken for a ride.

Quote:

Originally Posted by xisled

Noting could be done on weekend as most of the retailers operations do not work on weekends. Its not as simple as flicking a switch. But it is good that you could get your power reconected on monday. I know it can be bad when people get disconnected in wrongly.

Well, Lumo/Vic Energy got the power back on after 5pm on a Friday night, and the entire thing sorted out. I guess it is as easy as flicking a switch.