Shell Broadband ‘a complete joke’

27 Sept 2022

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

DO NOT USE

DO NOT USE! I can’t begin to go intro the nightmare of this company. Save your self a lot of money hassle and headache and never use shell energy for anything including broadband.

Date of experience: 26 September 2022

Still not got broadband should have…

Still not got broadband should have started the 5 September and still not got it is the 26 September at 20 -10 it a complete joke

Date of experience: 26 September 2022

Shell Energy….just DON’T you will regret it!

I was transferred from the Post Office Broadband to Shell Energy, what a nightmare. Firstly, no billing for first couple of months, as soon as they sort out the billing, they sent an email increasing their prices, decided after 5 years with Post Office these cowboys were not for me, decided to go with Plusnet, brilliant so far and no regrets. Shell on the other hand then started sending me emails stating I would need to pay contract cancellation charges, after numerous phone calls and emails, I finally received confirmation that no cancellation fee applies, then the router needed to be returned otherwise I would be charged £35, the router was provided by the Post Office and was 5 years old. Okay, happy to do this if a returns label would be provided, 3 or 4 emails later I finally receive the returns label. The router was promptly returned 4th August 2022 and proof of postage retained. Today, received another email from Shell (pain in the backside) Energy requesting me to return router or be charged. Today sent email with scanned copy of proof of posting. Hopefully, this will be the last I hear of them, but I am not holding my breath. If you are thinking of switching to Shell, in my opinion DON’T…….vent over. Shell is interested only in £££££££’s customer service is very far down their priority list

Date of experience: 24 September 2022

incompetent staff at Shell energy – 11 weeks and no fix

just finished a telephone call with inadequately trained staff to rebook a broken appointment by there contractor to replace/ fix my current broken dual electric meter

This was originally reported late July and shell did nothing about it then

it was ony when I placed in writing that I was to stop my DD payments that someone at shell phoned me directly and arranged for a repair engineer to make a visit

how odd that is that threatening to stop payments and curtailing your £9.5Bn profits got peoples arses off their seats ( or are they all snowflakes and working from home still) ?

The appointment was unfortunately made for the day of the Queens funeral, agreeably this was cancelled but rebooked the next day for Tuesady 20th September in the morning, with clear understanding that it had to be in the morning as I was flying that early evening for an holiday

a few days later, your contractor cancelled the appointment – the engineer had to attend a meeting thta MORNING

SINCE WHEN DID A BUSINESS CANCEL A CUSTOMERS APPOINTMENT FOR A MEETING ?????????????????
I returned from holiday saturday 24th September, today was my earliest to phone your offices once more
the **************** on the end of the line is inadequately trained

she simply did not comprehend I originally reported this issue late july – records wil verify, then she didnt accpet that SMS canclled my appointment because of an urgent meeting ( really, cancelled an appointment folr a meeting !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!- is that how they make £9.5Bn profits ?)

This lady wanted to excuse herslef by stating their is an energy crisis on – really, that urgent meeting must have warranted the service engineers attention to solve such crisis , does Liz Truss know about him/her ?????????????????

Lastly, she refused to put me through to a manager with who I could have a sensible discussion and resolve my urgent crisis of fixing a meter and why my claim of being an ongoing issue, for a broken appointment of a third party

their are some managers I was told but only there to deliver a management function of organising staff – not solve problems with customer issues

Its clear that what ever managers you employ bring no added value and should be made redundant with effective date – why squander your £9.5 Bn on wasteful maangers with nop purpose or job role accoring to your demonstrably untrained first line call centre staff

So, in short,
1) why do they not have managers who can be referred to a say a level 2 call centre route where the demonstrable incompetent cannot cope

2) why do they not see that their contractor by way of cancelling a service engineers visit because of a meeting,. is unprofessional and that a new appointment should be offered asap, I did not break the appointment

3) why am I seen as a fresh customer complaint, when Im on your books with a failing meter since the end of July, which your level 1 confirmed – and being offered a fix on the 17th October which came to the 10th October when challanged – ie almost 12 weeks with an over priced tarif consumption

4) why did Shell take me as the source of the problem and otherwise have it out with your contractor and instruct them to fix now not when they please themselves

5) what are they to do with the incompetent – whose get out was a statement that she was only following procedure ( as if I were an original custoimer complaint) and not recognise that this is ongoing caused by another 3rd party to try to fit me in asap

6) explain to me why I should not stop my DD payments until you become pro active, employ competent persons, change your procedueres and train staff to push up to level 2 management when things are above there level of skills

are you a customer of Shell energy ? – why ?

Date of experience: 26 September 2022

Dreadful treatment of a vulnerable pensioner

My 88 year old mother-in-law was nearing the end of her contract. She received a letter stating that if she wanted to continue with Shell she need do nothing. Furthermore it was clearly stated that the rates she would pay would be the same as on her current contract. Her first bill of the new term arrived with numerous additional charges. We queried this on her behalf and eventually got them to agree to amend the new contract details to reflect the old charges. They said they would call her (within an hour) to talk through the changes and implement the new contract terms. In the mean time my MIL paid the regular amount to Shell. Three days later, having received no communication whatsoever, Shell cut off her broadband. Four days after that, her landline. All for a £15 debt they had agreed she didn’t owe. She’s 88 and relies entirely on her broadband to communicate with family, friends etc. I’m appalled at Shell’s heavy handed response and appalling customer service. If I could rate the service as zero I would. They should be ashamed.

Date of experience: 26 September 2022

The worst company in existence.

Would give 0 if it was possible.

This company is absolutely terrible in every way possible. Let me explain how.

– The fast broadband is horrendous. 11Mbps download (rarely achieved this), barely nothing upload.

– The broadband connection dropped out 4 or 5 times a day on a daily basis, the router is a security risk and insecure right out of the box and it also has the Royal Mail logo on it… (?)

– Upgrading to Full Fibre was an extreme sport. It took 4 disconnected calls, with wait-times totalling more than 1 hour. I was also asked who my current broadband provider was even though I’d provided account information at the beginning of the call to upgrade… This has happened on various occasions which makes absolutely no sense, even to discuss technical issues…

– Broadband was disconnected two days ahead of the upgrade, so went without broadband. Was advised this was a mistake on their end but nothing could be done and I was ‘at the point of no return’. Was advised for the inconvenience I would receive a £15 voucher off of my data plan and was advised to hotspot in the meantime. This ‘gesture’ was then reduced to £5 in seconds and became £0.00 after the rep spoke with their manager…

– Advised the IP I had paid for would be moved to my new account immediately after my new Full Fibre line was in place. That never happened and still hasn’t happened after countless calls, they have consistently blamed Openreach for these issues, though when I was initially provided with the static IP, it took <24 hours to allocate and put in place.

– Have had countless calls and long waiting times attempting to sort out a standard request such as allocating a static IP. I’ve been provided with lies, violated timeframes and have had technical terms used – being a techie with advanced knowledge in this area – is clear lying.

– The staff are incompetent and have no idea what they are doing or what they are talking about, using technical terms/phrases which don’t make any sense which again is an example of clear lying. It’s always excuses, broken promises or straight up lies.

– The staff hang up on you randomly and don’t call back during calls. It’s almost like it’s a competition on who can cancel the most calls over there.

– No escalation points to speak with managers as they are supposedly always unavailable (I mean, the service is terrible so this might be accurate, who knows?)

– Countless complaints do not get addressed whatsoever.

– Their online dashboard never works and presents ‘Sorry’ errors and it never reports information about the service. The only bit which conveniently works is the payment/billing section…

– The ‘Chat with Us’ button on their site never works and it’s almost a miracle if it works after not working for months, yes, months…

– Received a call from Shell Energy almost 2 weeks after the upgrade took place to ask if my line was active yet as they cannot see it on their end… Was also asked who my provider was before my Full Fibre upgrade… (?) If it wasn’t active, and they didn’t know, I would of had no broadband connection for almost 2 weeks…

I believe companies/people can improve and change, but I don’t have faith in this organisation to do that as they have demonstrated time after time that this extremely poor level of service is something which is to be expected.

Better things: The Full Fibre works as it should after the upgrade (the download speeds are good, the upload speed is terrible for this package though), the router is OK and is not a security risk out of the box like the Fast Broadband router was.

Though the ‘better things’ are OK, this is what you would expect for what you’ve signed a contract for so this cannot be praised. The overall experience has been spoiled by all these incidents and the bottom-tier level of care this company shows to their customers.

Use other providers such as Zen, CityFibre or Hyperoptic (if it is available to you) etc. You might spend a little bit more but it’s worth it.

Avoid Shell Energy Broadband. Even if it was the last option available, I wouldn’t even touch it.

Date of experience: 26 September 2022

Becareful,the other day having a chat…

Becareful,the other day having a chat with a colleague of mine, we both received emails from our suppliers mine being shell, theirs being one of the big 6! I’m on direct debit, they on prepayment. We started to talk about unit rates! And I could not believe my ears! My colleague who is on prepayment meter is paying less than I am per KWH on gas and electric. SHELL who I moved to as a “Community changeover” are ripping us all off! Since when was prepayment cheaper than paying monthly. They are literally abusing the cost of living and ripping us all of!

Date of experience: 25 September 2022

Disappointed

I was due to have my smart meters fitted, but shell supplied the meter fitters SMS plc with the incorrect contract details which led to me not having them fitted and having to wait a further 4 weeks and another day off work. The shell colleague which I spoke to was very rude and unapologetic.

Date of experience: 23 September 2022

I have been trying to get a refund of…

I have been trying to get a refund of credit retained since November 2021. I have been promised with each 1hr+ phone call that it has been resolved, but alas nothing has come through. I have been in contact approximately every 8 weeks since the start of the year. The last person told me they realised the issue, and promised that I will receive a cheque within 10 working days. That has not materialised in the last 4 weeks. I will now have to make a claim through the court.

An absolute shambles of a service

I’ve just spent well over half an hour trying to make a payment via the automated system, without success despite three attempts.
In early August a meter reading was submitted by the tenant of the property we own as the tenants were leaving the property on that particular date. I submitted a further reading meter reading on 2nd September, having been advised to submit readings at the beginning of each month whilst the property remained empty. I was further advised that Shell would send me a total bill when the property was re-occupied. At that time, the customer service was fine.
A very different story today however, as on 23 September I received a small bill dated 8 September stating payment was expected by the 26 September. Having tried but failed to make a payment via the automated system, I spoke to THREE shell customer services staff who all told me they can’t access the automated system. The third member of staff confirmed there was a fault on the automated system, but why aren’t customers being informed of this from the start? All three offered to transfer me to someone who might be able to help! I was left waiting and listening to endless music but no-one answered the phone. The service today was a total shambles and I’ve been unable to either submit a reading OR pay the bill. I would never choose Shell as an energy supplier but because our tenants were transferred to Shell when their chosen supplier could not continue. As a result, I am stuck with Shell until new tenants move in, when I will be advising them to change the energy supplier ASAP.

Date of experience: 23 September 2022

Date of experience: 26 August 2022

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. Shell Plc CEO Ben Van Beurden openly admitted at the Shell AGM held in London on 23 May 2022 that all is not well at Shell Energy. 

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