EDF Energy has been fined £3 million for breaching complaint-handling rules.
The move follows an Ofgem review into a rise in the level of complaints to the supplier. Complaints increased by over 30% between May 2011 and January 2012.
New IT system
A new IT system installed in 2011 is said to have been the problem. The company did not have appropriate procedures in place to properly receive, record and process all customer complaints in accordance with complaint-handling rules.
EDF encountered many technical issues, resulting in customers having unacceptably high call waiting times with many deciding to hang up before they got through.
Those that did speak to an operator didn’t always have their full complaint recorded. The energy supplier sometimes failed to note important details including date of receipt, summary of the complaint and the action taken. This led to difficulties in tracking customer complaints.
Compare gas and electricity tariffs with lovemoney.com
More money for vulnerable customers
EDF acted quickly to correct the problems and minimise the effect on customers.
It was fully compliant with the investigation, acknowledged its mistakes and publically apologised for them.
It will pay money to the Citizen’s Advice ‘Energy Best Deal Extra’ scheme and a debt helpline to benefit vulnerable customers.
Compare gas and electricity tariffs with lovemoney.com
Have you experienced poor complaints handling from EDF Energy? Tell us about it in the comments below.