AVOID SHELL ENERGY at all costs. The most shocking customer service ever

11 August 2022

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

AVOID at all costs

AVOID at all costs. The most shocking customer service ever. Never answer phone, online help payments, help etc all unavailable. Will change ASAP

CHARGING CUSTOMERS TO PHONE THEM

Phoned there Free Phone after nearly 40 min phoned another number which transferred me and now there charging me £7 to get my broadband working, the attitude from call centre is shocking

Avoid at all costs absolutely terrible…

Avoid at all costs absolutely terrible service. Nothing but problems since day 1 charged for things that was a fault of shells then disconnected because not paid. 1 hour waiting time to customer services to never get an issue resolved unfortunately had to give 1 star as minus stars not available

Appalling customer service since transfer from PO

I have a Shell telephone following being moved from the Post Office. The service has deteriorated considerably since the transfer. The line when down and numerous deadlines to restored it were missed and we had no connection for 3weeks.
I raised a complaint but it was cancelled by Shell without satisfying any of their own criteria for doing so. I am now applying to the ombudsman .

Can’t speak to them, when you do nothing happens

You cannot get hold of them no matter how hard you try, they are always ‘busier than normal’ on the phone which begs the question, what is normal. When you do get through to them despite them saying they will solve the problem, it never does get sorted.

My phone is dead for the 2nd time in…

My phone is dead for the 2nd time in two weeks. They tried to blame me the first time and it came out it was their fault. Now they try to blame me again and this time they do really insist on to coming inside to waste more of my time though it was stated the fault was in their line. Mind, today is Monday but they say they will come Thu and I am without phone all this time. They demand i have to provide them times on Wed and Thu. Wed whole day and Thu half a day. They think people have nothing to do but waiting for them to serve their faulty lines. For Shell is not enough they provide me with non- service and lots of disaster because of that, they also want to waste my time possibly more – waiting for them from Mon to Thu and also me not going to work. Mind, both times they insisted i have to get into the socket and check if it works for myself, in other words – do their job. For those who did not know – Shell became an american owned company. I did not know it until today but this explains their poor service. Run away!

Disappointing customer service

Disappointing customer service – would not recommend to anyone. My experience of Shell over the past few years is that it take ages to sort any issue whether it relates to a refund or resolving internet issue. Unless you want to keep calling in order to resolve anything, I’d recommend you stay well clear. They don’t seem to read the notes so you have to explain and ask for the same things again and their billing method is made highly confusing if you have any discount added. I just called regarding my energy credit and they didn’t seem to have any record of it. Everything seems complicated for them to resolve.

Sad times ahead

This review is in no way directed at the very helpful agent I have just dealt with (Emra V). This is solely directed towards Shell Energy as a whole. I’m from the industry and fully understand how and why it works, and provide meter readings every month without fail. The reason for the 1 star is a combination of 2 key things.
1) Shell’s recently reported PROFITS are eye-wateringly heartbreaking for so many of us. I don’t even know what to say about the fact you think this is acceptable.
2) I’m currently paying £100 a month, using (on average) £83 per month, and currently have a credit balance (based on actual reads) of £168, so I’m frustrated to have been emailed advising my DD will be increasing to £142 this month because this is what I ‘may use’.
This is not how it works Shell, I don’t pay £80 for £60 worth of groceries at Tesco ‘just in case’ the price might go up.
Although I was placed 171 in the chat queue, the hour wait was worth it. Your agents are wonderfully helpful, and kindly set my DD back down to the realistic £100. I think I speak for every one of your customers, that if we are in genuine credit, we are not going to be paying you anymore each month until it is actually owed.

Absolute JOKE of a company

Absolute JOKE of a company. Avoid if you can. I’ve been put on to a prepayment metre because the previous tenant has debt with them, so I am being penalised. I’ve topped up my gas (yesterday). The top up has gone on to my smart meter, but they have disconneted it. Its 30° here today, and I can’t have a shower to cool off. I have called several times but keep getting cut off.

To say I’m angry is an understatement. Why is nobody willing to help!?!?!

TRIED TO CHARGE £35 FOR A ROUTER THAT HAD BEEN RETURNED

KEEP YOUR PROOF OF POSTAGE WHEN YOU RETURN YOUR ROUTER OR THEY WILL TRY AND SCAM YOU.

I signed up to shell energy broadband in March 2021 on a one year contract and simply couldn’t wait to get rid of them due to the download speed being well below the advertised speed.

At the end of the contract was where the real issue started. I returned my router to them in the pre-paid envelope they provided on 29 April and they received it the following day.

Nearly a week later they emailed to say they had not received it back and that a charge of £35 had been added to my next bill.

I immediately called to complain and without even investigating they immediately refunded the £35 fee which I found very suspicious, almost as if the charge was levied by default but refunded without question for customers who call in.

Oddly enough my elderly parents had exactly the same problem with Shell Broadband at the end of their contract, however they had lost their proof of postage and therefore did not even call in and contest the charge meaning Shell pocketed £35 of their pension through this sharp practice.

Shell Broadband know that most customers will not keep their proof of postage and will not call in to contest the charge and therefore they get the router back and click an extra £35.00.

After the charge was refunded to me I asked for an investigation as to how this had happened as a refund on its own simply was not good enough. I received an email over a month later closing my complaint without the explanation.

I therefore called in and was promised a call back which never happened, over the course of two days I then spent over 5 hours on hold to Shell Energy and on 16 occasions the call dropped.

After nearly a week a complaints advisor called me back and offered £50 compensation for the inconvenience. I explained that this was not acceptable and that I would not settle for less than £100, and threatened them with Offcom for the level of dropped calls and their Ombudsman. She spoke to a manager and called back later that day to say £100 compensation would only be agreed if I agreed to close the complaint, oddly enough at no point did she contest or challenge the allegation that they had clearly lied about not receiving the router in an attempt to charge an extra £35.

I was promised the compensation within ten days, however when it did not materialise I emailed back and was told it had been sent that day. Two days later two payments hit my account for £100 each, I then received a further email saying they had now compensated me £200 and the complaint was closed.

Overall I feel the lack of any defence from Shell Energy and the level of compensation Shell Energy were willing to pay to close this complaint infers that they are operating a profitable little scam that they do not want investigating by either their ombudsman or OFCOM.

Router returns label

All i want is a pre-paid returns label to send back the router for my elderly Dad who has dementia and has recently cancelled his contract. Called the customer service line to be told to put it in a bag with account name and number and take it to the Post Office where they will accept it and send it back. We did this and they don’t accept it! Wrong information given. I have emailed the address on the website requesting a label to receive a response saying they don’t recognise my email address… Well of course they don’t because i am trying to do this on behalf of my Dad who no longer has an email address. I have tried calling the customer care line again, spent 15 minutes in a queue to then be cut off. All i want is a label emailed to me, it is not difficult Shell and no GDPR rules are broken!!! If my Dad receives a bill for £35 for the non return of the router as they threaten on their website, it will not be paid!!!

WARNING! Most incompetent company

I have been trying to leave since 10th of June when my switch to Ovo completed. I’ve had nothing but issues with shell. Last month I received a bill on 19th of July finally confirming I was £280 in credit (within a space of a month they issued 4 incorrect bills and charging me £1300 and they’ve had to refund me once already) no refund what so ever in my account though. They just like to keep holding onto your money you see. I had to call yet AGAIN to arrange a refund even though my account is inactive! I just cannot believe the incompetence of shell. It should not be trading. Out of 5 stars I’d give them -5 if I could! I can’t wait to be rid of them completely. Has caused me lots of stress and anxiety. It is easily THE worst energy company I have had to deal with.

On 13th july I stopped my broadband I…

On 13th july I stopped my broadband I called Shell to notify them that I was moving. On the 26th july they collected a full month s payment with no services rendered for 2 weeks.customer care advises they will call me back from 26th July.
I am disappointed by their service.(is Shell broadband stealing by tricks?)

Pushed to breaking point by harrassment despite a low balance

So I left a review in May about the same problem after numerous complaints did nothing to stop Shell harrassing me to pay more despite them owing me money. I’ve kept a balance of a few hundred pounds under zero. There was still a warning message whenever I logged in telling me to pay much more by DD. I have PTSD following medical negligence and just using the app became a massive trigger. I’m currently following steps to reduce debilitating panic attacks and it got too much for me to login. I waited for my August bill to see how much I need to pay off as I regularly do and I just got my cost of living payment. I wasn’t sent a bill. Instead I was sent another email saying my direct debit has been increased to £142. I’m disabled, I’m trying to stay calm for my health as I live alone and don’t have a carer. I honestly can’t take any more of the constant harrassment for more money. It’s never enough for them.
I’ve just paid another £500 off. My DD is £91.
I’ll be refusing to pay the £142 a month and continuing to pay lump-sums off my account.
Complaint ref 11623057 was 24 March. Complaint ref 10844836 was February and May was 12734288. Can you see a pattern here?
I’ve known some bullies in my time but this is literally bullying on a national scale. Hounding of the vulnerable, pushing families to destitution. Profiteering from a global crisis. We all know it’s happening too. Raking in massive profits and crushing this country during one of it’s lowest periods. Absolutely no humanity.

Edit: I sent a copy of this to Shell and they responded to say they have put my DD back to what it was again. Yet again profuse apologies and can they do anything else for me? Well, yes…stop doing this to me every couple of months because this merry-go-round is making me absolutely ill!!! My only strategy now is to guesstimate my bills and pay a lump sum in advance before it’s produced to try and stop them arbitrarily increasing my DD again. I can pay my bills on time, I shouldn’t be made to feel so panicked by any email that says it’s from Shell and neither should any other customers!!!

Useless calling Shells helpline – incompetent company

We tried calling Shell and was mainly put on hold for 60 minutes before they hung up on us. When we rang back the line was blank and we couldn’t get through so I tried Facebook messenger.

I was in contact with several members of staff during my contact with Shell – Matty, Pooja, Liam and Kayleigh. They were all polite when responding to my enquiries. However, I felt that on the whole the Shell company were rather incompetent in dealing with my problem.

They kept asking me to reset the router which was supposed to take 5mins but actually took 45mins. They also kept saying that the lines were working, yet we didn’t have Wi-Fi which could have been an indication that the router is faulty, yet for some reason a new router was not offered.

They instead just kept saying they were waiting for updates from OpenReach. They said the lines were working and closed my case without waiting for confirmation from me. Then said they would contact me before 4pm, they didn’t.

By day 5 they were experiencing technical difficulties and couldn’t do anything. I asked them to send a new router, they said they were still waiting for an update from OpenReach and not to worry as a new router can be sent in 24hrs.

They then informed me that an engineer was due at the property between 1-6 at 1:30; 30mins over…I had to leave the city centre and rush home to make sure I wasn’t charged £65 for not being at home when they arrived. I waited in only to be informed that the engineer did not need to attend the property and they are still waiting for an update (!)

Day 6 I asked again if they could send a router and I finally get a msg saying they will and it will take up to 3 days, despite them previously saying it would take 24hrs.

Day 7 router finally arrived and low and behold the internet worked in under 2 mins after set up. They said they will reimburse us £6! Only after asking did I get an extra £22. I asked for my case to be sent to the complaints department several times and I still have not heard anything back from them.

To conclude… It was a unnecessarily long and arduous amount of communication for a simple router problem. If lines are okay then it’s pretty obvious it’s a router issue, but for some reason it took 7 days for them to work it out.

Disrespectful and disinterested customer services

So far, a really terrible experience. I’ve been querying an amount owed since April relating to a buy to let property which has been sold. The outstanding amount allegedly relates to the 4 month period that the property was vacant and on the market and despite sending meter readings, proof of the date the tenant vacated the property and repeatedly asking for an itemised bill, all emails have been ignored and I’m getting harassed almost daily by Shell for an amount that is seems very high for an empty property. Today I eventually managed to get through to customer services. The representative was patronising, disinterested, kept talking over me saying the same thing -that I was responsible for any outstanding amount – with no effort made to resolve the situation. He then clearly decided it was all too much hassle and hung up on me. Formal complaint raised, lets see how Shell handle this!

Malicious tactics

Firstly, I’m sceptical as to the validity of Shell Energy’s 4-star rating on Trust Pilot, since Google has an average rating of 1 star. Usually, significant discrepancies, as such, are due to falsity. Nevertheless, that’s not the reason why I am rating Shell Energy as 1 star.

I logged a complaint to Shell Energy, on behalf of my 75-year-old mother. To summarise my complaint was due to Shell Energy’s failure to adequately provide clear information, in relation to their Flexible Tariff. Nowhere in the contract terms and conditions does it state that amendments to the Ofgem price cap would lead to a change in TARIFF NAME & EFFECTIVE TERMS. It only states that prices on the flexible tariff are subject to change in line with the Ofgem cap.

Please note, a Flexible contract was the only contract Shell Energy were offering to existing customers at the time my mother’s fixed contract came to an end. When it was clear that general customer services where not capable of handling my concerns my complaint was passed to a lady named Emma.

Emma initially offered £30 presumably as a “goodwill gesture” in response to my complaint. However, she soon became agitated since it was apparent she was not capable of providing a reasonable explanation to account for Shell Energy’s disclosure error. Therefore, she rudely rescinded her initial compensation offer of £30.

To be honest the redacted offer of £30 is meaningless since it such a nominal amount. However, it speaks volumes about the ethics of this organisation and the unprofessional temperament of their employees.

Shell Energy have announced record 2nd quarter profits due to the rise in wholesale oil prices, but will happily quibble over £30 paid to a £75-year-old pensioner.

As soon as this energy crisis is over I will be moving my mother to another provider as I’m sure British Gas, SSE and the other large energy providers would not condone such malicious tactics.

Shame on you Emma and the rest of the customer service team at Shell Energy.

I’ve had the misfortune of being with…

I’ve had the misfortune of being with Shell energy now for nearly 2 years, it started when I moved house in Nov 22, I chose shell for the brand, things didn’t get off to a great start for the first 9 months they were only taking payment for my gas even though I emailed numerous times, I even resorted to Facebook to try to speak to someone as they are not geared up to take phone calls. Anyway after he threatening to leave after my 12 months did I finally receive a phone call, a @hitty one at that basically accusing me of not paying my bill , it gave me great joy to witness the stand down from her righteousness once I forwarded the emails and Facebook messages I had sent over the past 9 months, the only reason I stayed after this point was the impending increases that we were about to endure. So I thought I know I’ll switch to a smart meter, that way they ill receive the data automatically no way we could get this wrong, the first engineer turned up, got on his phone to speak with head office to say he doesn’t know how to switch the meter over. So I said is there a problem, he said yes I’ve never done one of these before, so after taking a day off work and waiting in all morning he left after an hour, next engineer turned up 4 weeks later installed or so I thought and said all done and left, we’ll that was 4 months ago I have a box the shows me how much energy I am using on a daily and monthly bases, but I thought I’d better check my app no electricity showing, so as before I had to resort to Facebook to speak to someone, after 2 hours of back and forth they are telling me I never had my electricity meter switched just the gas, I said yes I had, they apparently have paperwork from the engineer telling me he only switched the gas and that I would have to make some changes to the electrical consumer unit, no such conversation happened, anyway after lots of arguing I thought okay I’ll book another engineer online but no shells app says I have an electrical meter installed, yet their staff say I don’t. They will not listen to their customers even though I have tried to explain multiple times, the only reason I’m still with them is the cost of energy, I will leave at my earliest opportunity please if you are reading this stay away from shell.
I thought (wrongly) that a company that is well established as shell would have the invested in its people to deliver a good customer service for its customers.

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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