We never received the outstanding bill after we moved to a new address. We actually did change the address with [AGL]. We also checked the old address for bills regularly. Now they have sent it to a collection agency who are charging more than $50 in fees. Also we have no idea who the collection agency is. They called at 10PM asking us to give our credit card number over the phone and that they will charge less fees. How do we trust them? Also, AGL [...] said they are not sure if our account has gone to a collection agency. How do we trust the collection agency and pay them? It is actually a mistake of AGL.

If AGL don’t even know if the account has gone to a mercantile agent, how *can* you trust that if you pay the agent, it will be credited to your account accurately, if at all?

“I think AGL is trying to commit corporate suicide,” the 75-year-old said.
“I think they’re in a panic.
“They must be losing so many customers they’re becoming desperate.”

Read more at the original article. The reader’s comments below the article are revealing too.

I believe all of you need to sit back and think about your complaints.

Firstly, if you have been billed for the wrong address, this is a clerical error and is usually resolved quickly as I have experienced the same issue. Patience is a quality that the creator of this website should look at employing. Did you get disconnected? Did it affect your credit at all? The answer to this would be no, therefore a more reasonable person would understand people make errors.

Secondly, if you haven’t received a bill for some time, WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU COMPLAIN?????? Is there something wrong with you? If you had any sense at all, you would put money aside based on your average cost per quarter, and I know for a fact that if AGL haven’t issued a bill for 1 year, they are obliged to give you 1 YEAR to pay it off.

Thirdly, why is it AGL’s responsibility to chase people who DON’T PAY THEIR BILLS?? It is your responsibility to ensure your bills are paid and if you don’t pay them for a SUBSTANTIAL amount of time, the details are passed onto a collection agency. If you FORGOT to pay your last bill, how is AGL at fault??

I would like to summarise by saying there are much more important things to worry about than your gas and electricity bills. If this is what consumes your thoughts, then you all need to have serious think about the quality of your lives…

Now, I actually agree with some of what Nate is saying here. If you forgot to pay your bill, it is your responsibility, not the suppliers. I also understand clerical errors and believe that I was quite reasonable about it for 9 months.

What I do have a problem with is when there seems to be a systemic lack of accountability on behalf of AGL to many of their customers.

• If I have been incorrectly charged for the wrong meter for several months, I should be able to get a statement of payments and charges incurred during that period, but AGL will not do this.
• If I make a payment, it should be credited to the correct account, but it isn’t.
• If I spend 15 minutes waiting to have my call answered, explain my situation, then get transferred, explain again, get transferred again, explain again, and then ask for something in writing reflecting what they have promised me on the phone, I don’t think this is unreasonable, but they won’t do this.
• If I call a further time to chase on on action that is supposed to have happened, I don’t expect to explain myself all over again, but they need me to.
• If they send me 4 different bills on the same day with 4 different amounts, how do I know what I owe them?
• If I don’t feel comfortable sending more money their way because of all of these problems, I don’t expect disconnection notices, and yet they arrive in my letterbox.
• If I request to change electricity retailers, I don’t expect to continue to be billed by AGL and not be changed over at all, and yet I am.

Nate, if you’ve had nothing but great service and support from AGL, I envy you. It’s pretty blinkered to dismiss our complaints based on your own experiences though. In general, we want to pay for services we’ve received, and want to have a positive relationship with our suppliers. If they don’t come up to scratch however, we have a right to complain, and since AGL doesn’t seem to be listening, maybe we can save someone else the pain we’ve gone through.

I’ve learned things by having this website, and maybe other people have too. Maybe they’ve learned they actually have a choice as to who their retailer is. Maybe they’ve learned there are legal limits to backcharging by utilities.

AGL has the lowest customer satisfaction levels of any retailer as of March this year. According to the Energy and Water Ombudsman of Victoria, over $1.1 million of adjustments and waivers were made by utilities in the second half of last year to resolve customer complaints, of which there were 16,762 in Victoria alone. This isn’t just an isolated case of a few haters out to get a company. This is a big problem affecting thousands. So to anyone else that thinks we’re just a few whiners, I suggest you sit back and think about that.

We’ve been waiting for a bill from AGL for 17 months now… here’s the story.

Joined AGL in March 08 and received a nice welcome letter from them.

After a few months of no bill we rang and was told it was coming. Checked address was correct.

After another quarter still no bill and they said they would fix it. Problem with computer probably.

More time passes…… no bill, no bill, no bill… told by AGL don’t worry when you get the bill you have extended time to pay. Admit they haven’t been getting readings but they’ll fix it.

13/7/09 – Still no bill – rang again and told our account was cancelled. Why? Because they couldn’t transfer our address from the last provider. Also admit that this information was listed on the notes on file last time we called!!! They gave us Energex number to ring and find out who our biller is…. thanks AGL

Rang Energex but that wasn’t the right number either – got onto someone that could tell us that we are registered with Intergral.

Rang Intergral and joined them …. officially… and are expecting a bill within days….. we hope.

14/7/09 Received a letter at my parent’s house – addressed to us – letting us know that our charges would be going up and thanks for our business. AAAHHHHHHH!

Question 1 – Why did we not get one call from AGL to tell us what their problems were with our account?

Question 2 – How can they not inform a client that they cannot transfer a property to their billing service?

Question 3 – Who polices all this? – we have been getting regular readings done and 17 months of electricity without paying anybody… who was going to chase us?

Question 4 – Are we on some bad debt list we don’t know about regardless of trying to pay someone for 17 months? Wouldn’t put it past AGL to suddenly decide we owe them money.

Pleeeeeease be over soon. Looking forward to our 17mth old bill for electricity… NOT

The twitter page on this site will track mentions of AGL and post them unedited at http://aglsucks.com/twitter Feel free to link to that page too.

Now, as this is unedited, we get to see what AGL customers are saying for both positive and negative
comments. That said the only positive comment was from @kerrynfields with “Just had a dude rock up to change all our lightbulbs to energy efficient – Go AGL energy. Top notch.” so they are doing something constructive. *All* the remaining posts are at the time of writing this, negative.

A quick message to AGL: If your customers are so angry and disappointed they are telling everyone they know to avoid you, something is broken. All the energy efficient lightbulbs and restored neon signs in the world won’t help you until you fix the basics. If your slogan was more realistic, it might say “Enmity from Inaction“

Electricity is an Essential Service and as such the supply of it is covered by the Essential Services Commission. There is a code of practice (the Energy Retail Code) for disconnections put out by the ESC located here.

If you don’t have a law degree, or just want a simpler breakdown of your rights, I’ve posted some of what the Consumer Action Law Centre has interpreted at http://aglsucks.com/disconnection-rights

AGL is the worst company ever. I’ve never felt so let down by a company in life as I do right now.

The way they treat their customers is disgraceful.

We moved interstate, and had an outstanding bill with them. When we connected the power at our new place we had them set a forwarding address on the old location.

We never received the old account, and forgot about it.

They have since passed it onto a debt collection agency. We only found out when we called up query it later on.

Who’s the debt collection agency? They can’t tell me?

They had TWO mobile numbers linked to the account, but didnt call EITHER! When I asked them why they explained that they dont call us, we have to call them.

Thanks AGL. I’ll be switching ASAP.

The worst part is there is no one at AGL who will listen. They put you through to a “Manager” who just tells you “thats how we operate”.

SOOOO FRUSTRATING!!

If you’ve had problems with AGL (and I know many people have), have your say and share the pain.

If you think you are stuck with them, you do have a choice. Go to http://choiceswitch.com.au/ to compare utility companies for the best deal.

Anyway, if the fact that I was moved to create this website isn’t enough to indicate how irked I am, maybe the following account might be enlightening…

February 2007 – I move into my apartment with a work mate. The electricity is connected in his name. So far so good.

November 2007 – Flatmate moves out due to a family crisis and returns north. New flatmate moves in.

January 2008 – Realise I haven’t taken over the electricity account, and call to get it changed into my name.

March 2008 – I’ll come back to this date in a little bit.

June 2008 – Apartment is sold, so we have new landlords, and new rental agents.

August 2008 – Bill arrives addressed to “Dear Occupant” in addition to a bill for the same period addressed to me. I call AGL customer service and tell them I’m not a new occupant. They ‘fix’ the problem.

November 2008 – Receive a bill to “Dear Occupant” and to me. I call AGL customer service and tell them I’m not a new occupant. They again tell me they will ‘fix’ the problem and tell me to ignore “Dear Occupant” bills.

December 2008 – Overdue account notices sent. I get annoyed and look very closely at the bills. Discover that since February 2008 I have been charged for the wrong service address:
“Dear Occupant” being charged for my apartment, but my name was being charged for a different apartment in the same building. I call customer service and inform them of the error and state that I have been paying the wrong account. They ask me to get the correct meter number (even though they have the correct number on their system). I go downstairs (in the rain) and get the meter number. At this point I state that since they have made an error, I would like my account to be recalculated before I pay any more. I am told this would be done.

January 2009 – I get letters from a credit collection agency addressed to both Dear Customer and me. I call customer service and explain the situation again, and then ask for a supervisor. I’m put through to a supervisor and explain again. I again ask for my account to be fixed. I am told to ignore the collections letters. I’m getting a bit annoyed, and I figure if I change utility companies, at least I can finalise things with AGL. Switch to another company, get free movie tickets and a welcome letter. Things look up.

February 2009 – I get “Final Disconnection Notice” and call again directly asking for a supervisor. Customer service refuses to put me through until I’ve explained why. I do so and get connected. I explain the situation AGAIN and am told it will be fixed. I ask for a statement of my payments and incurred charges dating back to February 2008. I’m told that this cannot be done. I ask for something in writing stating what they will be doing to fix the problem. I’m told this is impossible. I ask to speak to someone higher up and after arguing for a few minutes I am put through to a ’specialist’. I explain again what has happened and ask for something in writing. I’m told this will be fine.

April 2009 – More bills arrive. I call customer service again. I’m put through to supervisor again. Told not to worry.

June 2009 – Receive 4 bills on the same day addressed to me, all with different amounts. After scouring the bills I discover in 6 point type the period the bill is for and realise these are backdated bills. Some payments have been taken into account, but at least $400 has not been accounted for. Call again, ask for supervisor, but I’m not put through. The customer service representative asks how she can help, and again I ask for a statement expecting the usual “sorry, we don’t do that”. Instead she says “no problem”. I state that all I want is a final bill. I’m not trying to avoid paying. I just want to pay the correct amount and settle the issue once and for all.

July 2009 – Today. No statement. No accurate bill. Nothing else from the other electricity company. I register aglsucks.com and begin to spread the word.

Looking around on the web, I’m finding a lot of unhappy AGL customers out there. This website is here to bring these scattered reports into one place in an effort to shame the company into changing its business practices, and maybe save other people from experiencing similar problems.

If you’ve been touched in a bad way by the Australian Gas Light company, have your say and let others know.

Spread the word on twitter with #aglsucks. These posts will be gathered together on this site.