On 9 Oct 17 I cancelled our Origin Energy gas hot water system (gone solar). Today (7/11/17) we are still waiting for the refund / credit from the unused gas plus compensation for the 3 days when we only had cold water for showers (in winter). Have spoken to them 3 x now and can’t get over the info I’ve received: They will (eventually) send me a cheque! It should have arrived today, I was told last Friday…
Origin Gas is unable to deposit the refund into a bank account! It has to be a cheque!!! Any cheque will probably take another 3-5 days to clear. I wonder how much extra Origin makes out of delaying such small payments to all the customers who decide to switch? And WHY they can’t make a Direct Debit into my account or use PayPal? I’ve paid them electronically for the last 15 years and they had no problem with that.
When I have large enough credits with them I have requested some of it refunded and they do it via EFT so takes between 1 and 3 days. Ring your State Energy Ombudsman and make a complaint, then ring Origin and ask for I think they are called “Resolutions Team”, but I could be wrong on that part, and advise them of the complaint. That should speed things up for you.
If you wish to read it I have linked to Origin’s “STANDARD COMPLAINTS AND DISPUTE RESOLUTION PROCEDURE” pdf here:
Also consider using Choices Help Service if you are a member of Choice https://www.choice.com.au/choice-help-form
Keep us informed how you go and I’m sure @BrendanMays will keep an eye on your replies with regards to supporting you.
How annoying. Unnecessarily difficult behaviour from Origin, thanks for letting us know @gowinter.
Origin can do direct deposits for refunds associated with solar feed in and would be very surprised if they can’t do direct deposits for other refunds they need to make.
It sounds like delay tactics or excuses why it hasn’t been processed yet.
Thanks for that, grahroll! I’ll give them a few more days, but one of the issues I have with them is that I was only offered a cheque! Total owed to me is only approx. $140 — but their procedures seem so ‘last century’; I do write cheques occasionally - one or two per year nowadays!!! This is a large company, one would think they could provide refunds in a timely manner.
I am a member of Choice, so if I have further problems I’ll know whom to contact!
Rang them again today: response was that a cheque had been sent last Tuesday (today is Wed. 15/11/17). No cheque received yet - blame Australia Post, the man on the phone said. I told him I’d complain again if I had not received it by this Friday. That might be the time to contact CHOICE …
Definitely unacceptable @gowinter. I would encourage you to make a complaint to the Energy Ombudsmen and your local fair trading body either way.
Cheque arrived today! Took 9 days via Australia Post. They took their tank on 11th Oct. or so – I don’t want to deal with them any more – glad I’ve got Solar hot water now!
Well, at least it came eventually. Thanks for sharing your experience with the Community @gowinter, hopefully it will provide some useful info for others.
Adding to my previous comment about EFT refunds from Origin I would like to relate my latest experience. We moved house just a day or two before Christmas. We had a credit of over $900 after the final read (done on the 22nd December). I asked on the 28th of December for the Credit to be refunded by EFT to our Account, they had offered payment by either Chq or EFT as a choice of methods. Considering the holidays and the disruption to normal business we received our refund by EFT early the next week. I still can’t understand why they insisted on paying @gowinter by Cheque.
