“If I needed to write a review in my first 10 months with them I'd have written a 5 star review probably because I had no problems at all, reminders of meter readings, easy to provide online, same as every other provider I had. It only when it came up to £500 credit building up in my account that I found out how difficult it was to get them to lower my DD or get my refund back. Also discovered that they are using coronavirus as an excuse not to man the phone lines, though obviously the real reason is that the phone would be ringing off the hook with people trying to get their money back!
They can't have people sitting at home answering phones or engaging in online chat because of Covid? It doesn't make any sense. Because of lack of customer service and this situation with credit building up I decided to leave.
Anyway, I've had a different supplier(which actually pays good interest rate on any credit in the account) since 12 May, more than 7 weeks now, and still waiting for my £500+ refund, no final bill, no communication from Avro whatsoever.
I wish I read these reviews before switching to them, I'd have nevver done it then.”
“Switched to Avro through U-Switch worst mistake had nothing but problems. They have no contact by phone unless it’s an “emergency” and their support team take over 3 weeks to respond. All helpful until you get a problem then they go missing.”
“Beware Avro will dangle a golden carrot infront of you until you leave.Absolutely non existant customer service even in pandemic - call center shuts at 4pm - email support takes 3 days + to respond if at all !! and when you leave their services and try to get your credit balance back after 4-6 weeks is similar to trying to sqeeze blood out of a stone absolutely abismal won't be returning no matter how cheap their tariffs are.”
“Reluctant to refund my credit balance of nearly £300. Battled for months so I cancelled my direct debit . They then advised they could not refund me as I was in ‘breach of contract ‘ for cancelling d debit !!! My view is they were in breach for holding into my money !!!!!”
“Exceptionally poor customer service
I joined Avro due to the better rates and glowing reviews but I have found their customer service to be abysmal at best.
Over 9 months passed and not one bill issued but they simply just took a monthly direct debit sum despite me requesting a bill after the second month. When I enquired about this they stated it is because they hasn’t receive my last reading before I switched. This is false as I showed them evidence highlighting this was provided. They then blamed by previous supplier for not sending it which again was false and I provided evidence showing they had. After all this, they stated my bill would be produced by a certain date and it never was.
They have not once messaged me on this matter and I am having to constantly chase them to be given false hope and timeframes, promises which they never adhere to!
Update: Low rating justified, called for them to move my tariff coming to it's end and they said I had to email. They said they'd respond in 3-5 days. Over two weeks have passed and no response despite chasing them up and on a call they say I will just have to wait.”
“As with other users initially good price but then went up so switched but unable to get a refund or contact them. Exceptionally poor customer service.”
“Across have been great for my Dad for 2 years but the renewal due this month increases the cost by £100 per month. My dad lives alone in a small 3 bed semi with no central heating. They are asking £245 per month. Ridiculous!
Tried to get them to look at this again and have to wait up to 4 weeks for a response! Is this a case of another company still having loads of staff on furlough and not enough working to offer a decent customer service? NOT GOOD ENOUGH!”
“We have been with Avro for over 9 months now and have already got our account in credit to the tune of £600 over the winter period.
We have been phoning and emailing them for over 2 months to reduce our direct debit as clearly we are over paying hugely.
We have also asked for a refund…. No luck on either scenarios.
Eventually when you do get through on the emergency line 18 mins to an hour, you give your account number and they say just a minute…. Then the line goes dead as they’ve just hung up on you.
It’s like they’ve noticed you are in credit. Please read reviews all over the place and everyone who is in credit never gets paid back until they go through the long drawn out process of the ombudsman.
Avoid…. They are cheap …. But at a cost as soon as you are in credit you are stuffed… pay a little more and use somewhere else.
They are forcing us into cancelling our direct debit.”
“In a word communication was dire. It has taken me three months to swap to my new provider. Avro dragged their heels all the way, they objected to my new supplier three times. I wrote numerous emails. I had to get their form for change of supplier gave them a meter reading and they did not action this still objecting to the switch. I finally got my emails together and looked into OFGEM complaints. I had an email this week giving me a bill to pay from mid March I went back with my wishes to complain to OFGEM surprisingly it’s now all going through quickly! I hate using complaints processes but I had no choice. No point ringing customer service as it’s not ‘an emergency’. COVID seems to have been a common get out for pretty shoddy service. I was always happy to pay them off but they were not happy to part with me!!!!!”
“Customer service and company a utter disgrace, over 3 months to answer an email, costs of power kept increasing every month and quotes for renewals a joke. Had me install smart meters and the only estimated reading. In my opinion NO one should use them.”
“You cannot speak to anyone, lines are closed. They don’t reply to emails. They owe me money since I sold my flat months ago,I’m in credit for £400.
They have not given it back.
No customer service. Terrible. Avoid.
Fraudulent.”
“Avoid this company at all costs!!!
This is a terrible company with terrible customer service. I joined them because they were the cheapest provider but after 3 months they increased my direct debit by two and a half times. I gave them accurate meter readings and my usage has remained consistent over the past 3 years (across several companies), so there was nothing to justify this exorbitant increase in the direct debit. I completely understand that direct debits can fluctuate in the summer/winter months but never by this much.
They then shifted me onto a more expensive tariff, take ages to respond to emails, and make promises of phone calls but then dont call. In the meantime, as I've been trying to resolve this dispute my bill has continued to rise at an extreme rate.
AVRO missold the policy to me with a low intial teaser rate, have used threatening behaviour, and their slow customer service means that my bill continues to rise as the dispute it being resolved.
Absolutely unacceptable. The worst service I have had with any company.”
“It's company policy not to refund credits and then not to speak to their customers. They've owed me £740.01 for over two months on a final bill and they refuse to refund. You can't call them or live chat and I have emailed countless times. They have called back on a couple of occasions when I haven't been able to accept the call, but they don't leave a number to call them back on. I strongly suspect this company is in deep financial trouble, so please don't be drawn in by their pricing.”
“Told us everything went smoothly and we had switched over to them on the 22.4.21 but when I checked my bank account they had taken a months payment out before we’d even switched to them!! They don’t reply to emails and you can’t ring them. Have now been told the switch never happened and British Gas are still our supplier. They stated avro tried to switch us but thank god it failed and British Gas took us back on without us knowing. Avro don’t respond to us but we have spoken to my bank and they completed an indemnity form for an unauthorised direct debit and have refunded both Avro payments into my account. Lloyd’s have been fantastic just wish other companies were the same. Avoid Avro at all costs as they take money for something they’re not even supplying!!!”
“im having a nightmare dealing with avro trying to get my credit back they owe me about £300, they have refused for a month to refund any of it back, im now changing companies , due to being so annoyed with them, its very difficult to get hold of anyone in this company, they have told me i will have to wait at least 6 weeks, not happy as they have no right to hold onto anyones money, im a single parent with an autistic daughter i need this refund quickly. i wish i had read these reviews before i went with them. disgusting company to deal with, AVOID they do not care 1 bit”
“Switched away from AVRO months ago. Still waiting for a refund of my balance. This seems a common complaint, suggesting the company has cash-flow problems or just a chaotic and inadequate support structure. Avoid.”
