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Terrible Customer Service at Shell Energy: Feb 16, 2022

“Terrible customer service – I wanted to clarify few items about my bill, but staff doesn’t understand or speak English.”

16 Feb 2022

The content above and below is sourced from current customer reviews of Shell Energy published on Trustpilot.

Worst customer service

Worst customer service. Phoned to ask for some assistance and received nothing but rude comments and no help. I used the online complaint form to report but was never contacted so I contacted them and was told they did not have the complaint on file. Repeated the complaint and heard nothing again, have reported to the ombudsman now. Shell did find time to pester me daily for payments including some pushy “credit file will be affected” emails but not to sort their awful customer service.

Terrible customer service

Terrible customer service – I wanted to clarify few items about my bill, but staff doesn’t understand or speak English. I got a sense that I disturbed persons lunch, they were talking mouth full! After wasting 10 min on a call, representative said they are sending me a breakdown of my bill, but no attachments arrived.

Poor service customer for elderly

I’d give ÷5 if it’ll let me my mother’s phone died. not the phone the connection tried over and over customer service to no avail shes depending on contact from us her children for her needs. shes 82 lives on her own and a insulin dependant diabetic. She’s been with out any phone for 2 days and the customer service is a shambles don’t bother with this usless service they’re take your money but there is no customer service. And probably working from home. Or should I say not!!!!!!!

Horrendous, data errors and can’t reach customer service

Absolutely awful experience.
I keep getting threatening emails about an outstanding balance almost daily, although I’ve moved house months ago. I’ve informed Shell multiple times and don’t have an outstanding balance, but they keep harassing me. My emails are ignored. Customer Service is impossible to reach via phone. Payment hotline only allows me to do callbacks, but then nobody calls. It’s a horrendous case of customer abuse

Very deceptive way of billing folks

Very deceptive way of billing folks. You can’t understand yet they just charge u and mind u, in case you refuse to pay, then they threaten to put it on ur credit and give u a bad credit and make u look like a bad person.

NON-TRANSPARENT ENERGY BILLING

Shell energy billing is terrible and far from transparent. Even the billing department don’t understand their own billing system. I have pursued same wrong billing issue for 2 months to no avail. Shell Energy is a NO NO…switching provider immediately

Steer well clear of Shell Energy.

Steer well clear of Shell Energy.
I had an account with them up until I moved house.
I settled my final bill and closed my account with them and found a new supplier.
But….Shell don’t seem to want to let go.
They’re harassing me on a daily basis either by text, emails or phone calls.
I have called them 3 times to clarify that I do not owe them money and my account is closed. They have emailed me this clarification….And yet they still insist on chasing me for money I do NOT owe.
My current landlord is selling my home so I’m having to move house, but Shell Energy have made it impossible for me to find anywhere as my credit score is through the floor due to “missed payments”.
I’m about to be made homeless in 4 weeks time, solely thanks to Shell Energy.
Big round of applause for your incompetent staff Shell Energy!!!!!!!!

Very Poor Customer Service + Inaccurate…

Very Poor Customer Service + Inaccurate Billing Systems

Like many others, I was forced to switch to Shell Energy following the bankruptcy of my previous energy supplier. Several months after the switch I received inaccurate bills based on estimated energy readings. After numerous telephone calls (often waiting for 30-40 minutes to speak to a human) and many emails about inaccurate billing systems and complaints about the ongoing poor customer service, I terminated the contract and joined a far more professional, customer oriented energy company recommended by Which?

I initiated a formal customer complaint which took over a year to satisfactorily resolve, during which time the Shell financial department sent me outrageous, disgraceful and distressing demands via a debt collection agency.

A series of different Customer Service representatives failed to answer my many questions about the billing systems which clearly had IT errors at a time when Shell Energy also failed to comply with their billing policies. The right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing. The invoicing, accounts payable/debt collection and customer service departments do not seem to communicate effectively.

After a very distressing and avoidable saga, I was eventually awarded substantial compensation for the hassle and stress caused by extremely poor customer service.

4 months, no bill, and won’t speak to me on the phone

I was transferred to Shell by Ofgem when my supplier went bust. It has been 4 months and I still have not received a bill. I keep getting e-mails saying it will be ‘coming soon’ with the most recent date passed by with zero acknowledgement from Shell.

It took ages for my online account to be set up, there is some usage data in the online account screen which I am certain is wrong (I think I used more than £13 of gas in January), no bill but a message telling me that ‘based on my usage’ I should increase my monthly payments. If Shell can deduce my usage enough to ask for more money, then surely, they can bill me? Or is that suggestion based on nothing at all?

I have been trying to get through on the phone (you must hunt for the phone number – I think they don’t want you to phone) and have been on hold for a long long long time (not through yet). Additionally they took a DD last month and not this month, I have made a payment by card but I am paying blind.

So to summarise, £12b profit, can’t produce one energy bill or answer the phone. Good show Shell…

Given the current energy market, customers cannot move, and I think Shell know this, because if they thought there customers were able to leave then I feel like they might be inclined to provide a better service (or any service – I haven’t had any).

Unable to execute the SOLR process correctly

Was moved to Shell from Green via SOLR process. Closed account at end of November with final reads due to the sale of the property. Once Green balance was credited, the final bill was deducted and the remaining credit refunded by cheque. Super smooth and a happy customer.

A few months on they are now demanding the cheque amount back, hassling me with daily emails to make payments and set up direct debits for a closed account. When I speak to Customer Service they tell me I owe nothing, but their collections system keep hassling me. You can’t get through to collections, the call volumes are always too high. No wonder if they’re doing this to other customers, which they are as I can see from the reviews. To top that the emails are now threatening to damage my credit rating unless I pay an amount I do not owe. An absolute disgrace. Automation is no excuse for incompetence or causing distress.

Difficult the leave and unfair ts and cs

1 Difficult the leave at contract end. Cannot do so online; have to call and be put through to Retentions dept… who don’t answer within a reasonable time. Had to complain to leave.

2 Outrageously, they give you 14 days’ notice of contract end… but require you to give them 30 days’ notice, even though contract has ended! Have just been billed for this and am disputing.

NOT RECOMMENDED. Which? reports it’s one of the two worst ISPs for complaints.

Catalogue of failures

Rarely do I feel compelled to write a review to warn people away from a company. Rarely would anyone write a nice review about an energy company, however…..Shell are the worst. Not only did I not choose them, rather got lumbered with them when Green shut, but they have provided every reason why you would never want to have your energy provided by them.
No 1: Bills suddenly shot up
No 2: I had overpaid with Green for some time and had a healthy credit balance on my Green account, this took 4 months to get transferred over.
No 3: My credit balance was then not able to be paid back to me. Numerous customer service agents assured me it was going to be paid in 10 days, and here I am, 2 months after my first request.
No 4: You provide meter readings and you get estimated bills, where is the sense in that?
No 5: Appalling customer service, not only do you have to wait hours but they hardly can understand what you are asking and have very little influence and can provide no answers to your complaints
And finally, when you do give in and choose a direct debit, they are bloated well beyond your usual usage.

The answer, do not sign up with them. For me, once my refund comes, I am gone. I have never known a company like it. I am guessing that they bid to take over the Green contract but never really had the infrastructure in place.

I would suggest you avoid Shell at all costs.

Chasing a Refund

Supply transferred to Shell Oct 2021 from Pure Planet who went bust. Due to ongoing dispute with Pure not billing me for nearly 2 years they owed me £1200 credit on closing bill which was transferred to Shell. I have contacted Shell many times to request this credit, but they insisted I must wait for 1st Bill, even though I was paying £125 a month direct debit to cover my useage!! I have provided photos of meter reads as requested December then again Jan, and the bill has finally produced but despite 3 calls I am still waiting to find out if the billing team will allow me to have the full credit back as despite using my customer reads it included 5 days of estimated charges !! Last week 2 advisors promised to email me same day re outcome of my refund request but nothing! Rang again today, and helpful man transferred my call to Complaints Team, I got through as heard background noise but as soon as I said hello they cut me off. Then called back but the advisor, who was friendly, was unable to transfer me as complaint team were busy and her Manager in a meeting. In the meantime Shell are making billions, helped by the fact they are using delaying tactics to avoid refunding credits for huge sums transferred from Pure Energy.

Awful customer service!

Just wondering how many emails, calls and chats does it takes to close my account?!? I left my previous address which was supplied by Green on 21.09.21, and I emailed them about closing my account and sent all the details needed. Then I received a final statement and I could see that I have about £140 left in credit. Green advised me that Shell is going to honour that.

However, then I emailed shell to chase my refund and ask if I need to provide any sort of information. I also mentioned that I moved and closed my account, and provided them with the same information (last meter readings, date when I moved out, where I moved etc). Then I received a generic email as a response – something like “if you’re waiting for a refund, allow up to … days etc”, and that was it.
That was it until I received a bill for the period Sept – Dec which is over £500, followed by another one for Jan – Feb for about £40 or something like that.

I emailed again – no response. But I was receiving emails and messages about paying my bills.

Then had a chat with someone from the customer service who advised me to call a number, which I did and spoke to someone called Amber. She agreed that they received all of my emails and that there’s a final statement from Green. I’ve been advised that the calls are recorded and you can check that out. Then she advised me to email customer service with a proof of the address I’m leaving at currently and I emailed that. Then someone responded saying that I still have an account with them and no other information.
Then I received another message on my phone to pay my bill.

I’m honestly so annoyed tired to deal with this anymore!

Be prepared…

As a previous customer of PurePlanet that went bust, Shell have been absolutely incompetent when dealing with my account transfer. Their communication is extremely limited and have not really shown any care or compassion when dealing with an issue that has left me out of pocket by an order of hundreds of pounds.

I must say that if you manage to get hold of someone, they are usually extremely polite and are as helpful as they can be with the tools they have at hand. This is not really a people problem though; rather Shell as an organisation will ignore you, stall and hand you off to others in the hope that the problem will go away rather than actually dealing with it, even if they owe you money.

If you decide to go with Shell, I would advise that you’re either confident that you won’t have any issues, or be prepared to strap in for the long haul if you do.

Shell Energy will not accept real meter readings!!

If I could give a minus star award, I would.
I was moved to Shell Energy when my provider Pure Planet went bust. There were two different opening meter readings passed on from Pure Planet to Shell. I do not know how that happened. Shell chose to use the higher (inaccurate) reading and has subsequently refused to accept all my accurate meter readings and photographs of those meter readings. They will not accept that there was an error, even though my first readings were below that opening reading and meters don’t go backwards! So they are billing me on a higher estimate and every time I submit an accurate reading they mark it as ‘Invalid’. I have contacted them by email with all the photographs of the meter readings taken since I became a Shell Energy customer and their reply is that they will do nothing to rectify the situation.
Unbelievable.
I have never had an energy supplier refuse accurate meter readings and photographic evidence. It feels as if they are stealing my money.

produced very high estimate reading and…

produced very high estimate reading and changed my aunties direct debit to £414 from £90.
73 year old pensioner with about £700 income paying £414 for just electricity. and tried to complain on website. and there is no way. try to email and it takes through very selected no use options, and brings you back to the start again. after 4 tries i ve given up. i think this is their aim i suppose. i would avoid it if you are not computer savy.

Very poor billing issues

Very poor billing issues, every month I get sent a email to submit my readings so I will get a bill, I do this and then I get no bill, I get told my bill will follow by the end of the week. Really poor systems I was told last month I would get my bill same date every month. You request my reading same time every month but fair to bill me unless I chase u up. Never has these kinda billing problems with any supplier before. Will be switching as soon as things have settled down. Account 5024318

BROADBAND

I have had their broadband installed…

I have had their broadband installed for two months and it does not work yet. Been charged for months of a service that is not being provided and refused a refund because I had not complained about it straight away.

Terrible!

Re Home Broadband…To say they are inadequate is being kind. Do not deal with Shell for your broadband, you will wait way too long for a call to be answered and be subjected to being cut off multiple times. Awful service

The above are extracts from negative customer reviews about Shell Energy posted during the last few days on Trustpilot.  Visit the Shell Energy page on Trustpilot to view all reviews in their entirety, positive and negative (and Shell Energy responses). Watch out for any fake reviews. Note the reoccurring themes in the negative reviews, including difficulty in communicating with the company

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