Shell customers warned to check bills after firm fined £1.4m for breaking rules

Regulator raps broadband and home phone giant for not reminding people when contracts were ending and giving wrong information

Bookmark
Share

News

Catherine FurzeConsumer Reporter

16:35, 28 NOV 2023

Woman at laptop — Shell has already refunded affected customers a total of nearly £400,000 after the errors (Image: Shared Content Unit)

Shell Energy broadband and home phone customers have been warned to check that they are not overpaying for their services after Ofcom fined the company £1.4 million for failing to notify around 65,000 customers that their contracts were ending.

The energy and utilities giant was rapped by the regulator for breaking the regulator's customer protection rules by not informing customers that their contract was coming to an end or reminding customers already out of contract that they free to leave or change their deal.

Under Ofcom rules, broadband firms must let their customers know between 10 and 40 days before that their contract is due to end and those out of contract should be contacted by their provider every year reminding them that they are free to leave or change their deal. These notifications must include information on the best deals available and should also say they may be able to get a better deal from another provider.

However, between March 26, 2020 and June 14, 2022, Shell broke these rules, affecting around 65,000 customers. The broadband supplier also sent end-of-contract notifications with incorrect information, affecting around 7,750 customers. Of those, some 6,054 went on to pay more for their broadband and home phone than they were originally quoted. The firm has refunded more than 6,000 customers who were overcharged after being quoted the wrong price in their end-of-contract notifications.

If you're still a customer of Shell, and had a contract that was due to expire between March 2020 and June 2022, you may not have been told your deal was coming to an end, however Shell's 'no price rise guarantee' active at the time means that you shouldn't have been charged any more after your contract expired, so will not be due any refund.

Ofcom confirmed that Shell has made changes to help prevent this happening again. The rule breaches were caused by "a combination of manual errors and systems and process failures", which Shell says have now been rectified.

Shell has already refunded affected customers a total of £398,417.67 in amounts overcharged between March 2020 and June 2022. The firm would not confirm how and when these were paid, although according to Money Saving Expert, the money is likely to have been refunded as credit to your broadband or phone account.

If you've since switched to another provider, you may get the money by cheque or into your bank account, if Shell still holds those details. Shell is required to repay ex-customers if they request it If you think you're owed but haven't heard from Shell, contact it using the details on Shell's website.

Where refunds of less than £3 are due to those who are no longer customers of the company, Shell has instead donated the amount to charity.

Join our WhatsApp communities

WhatsApp has made a change to its group chats

ChronicleLive is now on WhatsApp and we want you to join our communities.

We have a number of communities to join, so you can choose which one you want to be part of and we'll send you the latest news direct to your phone. You could even join them all!

To join you need to have WhatsApp on your device. All you need to do is choose which community you want to join, click on the link and press 'join community'.

No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the ChronicleLive team.

We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners.

If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'.