I can't begin to fathom how stupid this is.
- My mum and I sat down with the energymadeeasy website and a copy of her last bill. We found what looked like a good plan: Sumo Spark SUM874100MRE2 (archived) single-rate at 73.15c/day and 29.70c/kwh.
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My mum rang them up and asked to change to it.
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My mum quoted the exact prices (73.15c/day and 29.70c/kwh) as well as the plan code (SUM874100MRE2). They replied by saying those prices will change on July 1st and quoted us back some numbers a few percent higher than those two. Mum said yes.
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Sumo emailed us the following "Offer Summary":
Wat. That's a completely different plan.
- Mum rang them today and asked them about it, they said it's all they can do because our new smart meter is of that tariff type. We told them we have never been told about a tariff change or agreed to one. They said that because we're in the cooling off period with them we can cancel and we "should" go back to our old provider and old tariff, so my mum did.
We're left feeling dazed, scammed and confused. I've just looked through my mum's emails from the old electricity provider (dodo) and they notified us about the smart meter change, but no mentions have been made about tariff changes. I double checked and our last bill from them was single tariff.
Q1: Who do we complain to about the bait and switch? AER?
Q2: Who actually changes the tariff? The old supplier (silently), the new supplier (silently), the grid operator (ausgrid), someone else?
Q3: How do we work out what tariff we're going to be on? Can I lookup the meter number and find out, or just have to wait for the old supplier to re-enable our account (we can't login today) to find out?
Q4: Do we get to choose what tariff we're on?
Huh? Lost and confused sorry.
My mum had a phonecall with the energy company where they both agreed to what was happening. Then the company put her on a completely different plan.
They told my mum the new July 1 prices over the phone. Then they emailed her to tell her she was put on a completely different plan with completely different prices.
I don't know the specifics of the phone call, if you're trying to look out for other people you could try https://www.sumo.com.au/contact-us/complaint and have them review the call (all calls are recorded for training and verification) and go from there
tbh I'd chalk it up to a plan mixup or miscommunication rather than some malicious intent to secretly get you on a plan you didn't sign up for and then literally email you the plan with all the details on it right after the call