Anyone with meridian for power?

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richms

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#130638 22-Sep-2013 20:57

Ive had enough of genesis and their retarded billing system, and it looks like meridian would knock a few 100 off the bill over a whole year.

So can they do the following?

Allow a _partial_ payment of the bill online before the due date via credit card and take that off the amount that will be taken off the saved automatic card on the due date, as in let me pay a portion of the bill from a card connected to a business account, and then the remainder pay off from my personal card.

Alert me if the saved card fails _on the day_ via email or sms so I can arrange to use an alternate one and keep the discount.

Actually charge the saved card when it says it will, not at some random earlier time, while still showing it as paid on the online accounts only to have the payment disappear 4 days later?

Genesis's systems seem to be quite ghetto all around. They have no means to send an email if the account is overdue or anything. I do not expect any letters to be sent, ever.

Richard rich.ms

timmmay

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#900856 22-Sep-2013 21:01

Anyone with meridian for power? Yes.

Partial payment - no idea.
Alerting - no idea.
Charging when they say they will - no idea.

So, really, I've been no use at all, other than saying I've had no problems with them. Same power, same lines, the only difference is who sends you the bill and the size of the bill.

I pay my bills with direct debit and I pay little attention other than checking I wasn't double charged or overcharged.

richms

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#900857 22-Sep-2013 21:05

Yeah, its the who sends the bill that annoys me.

Plus genesis have really P'd me off when the old metering I had with dumb meters was 2 meters, they put in the advanced meter, configured it wrong, changed the config to one where I paid more, and then I had to pay to get them to change me back to a single meter because they would not put the advanced meter onto a plan where they bill the 2 registers at the same rate because their braindead CSR's insisted that the second register was for my water heater and there was no way it could be for the shed and garage since it was in their system as a hot water meter.

So $63 for them to change the meter for a single register one so I am not being overcharged on the power to the house by 1.7c/unit, and then the cost of getting a check meter for the shed and garage to let me split the bill, which I am yet to do.

Richard rich.ms

Nety

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#901126 23-Sep-2013 11:35

Also with Meridian and also cannot really help you although I can say they finally see to have recovered from the Christchurch quake. They lost their main data center in that is my understanding and for a very long time they struggled to get any sort of billing out. Their online account web site has only been replaced in the last few months.

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Hammerer

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#901140 23-Sep-2013 11:53

Ask Meridian the questions by contacting them through their website.

Whether you move or not, if you ring your power company they may credit you the discount particularly if the problem is not your fault. They want to keep customers who normally pay on time.

Have you looked at Meridian's off-shoot PowerShop? You don't lose your prompt payment discount if there is a problem as they don't use them.

I've stopped using my credit card for paying power bills because the credit card payment cycle is not as transparent and consistent as paying from my bank account by either direct credit or direct debit.X

richms

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#901253 23-Sep-2013 14:32

Powershop relys on having to micromanage a commodity. Its like paying metrowater for 2 buckets worth at a special rate, these specials are how they get so high up the savings chart at powerswitch. If you just leave it on the standard rate since its a basic utility you shouldnt have to manage, then they are quite a bit more expensive when I have compared my rates to what other people pay. I have no idea what I would pay because with powershop it is a big mystery they wont tell you.

Richard rich.ms

Klipspringer

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#901257 23-Sep-2013 14:39

That sure seems like a complicated way to pay your account.

I'm with Contact Energy, they don't allow you to pay with a credit card, but they do give you the option to pay in advance.
Why not just do transfers in advanced instead of relying on them to charge your card (and the bank charge you interest)?

richms

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#901260 23-Sep-2013 14:44

No interest if you pay the card off in time, and it accumulates rewards. Want the rewards for me for my share etc.

Richard rich.ms

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Klipspringer

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#901263 23-Sep-2013 14:48

Fare enough.
Powershop allows you to pay by credit card. You only buy when you need it.

But. I found that contact energy was in my case the cheapest option and I switched to them from powershop about a year ago.

timmmay

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#901286 23-Sep-2013 15:16

It does seem like a lot of work for a utility. Just pay it direct debit and be done with it. The more people pay with credit card the more expensive it is for all, though hopefully they charge those fees only to customers paying with credit card.

pctek

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#901392 23-Sep-2013 18:43

Used to be.

They lost me when I moved here, power was off and I arranged a time for them to come do it...as apparently I had to be present as new owner....they refused to specify, insisted I had to lurk around between 8am and 5pm....we had not actually moved in as such then and this did not work well with jobs and so on......I was meant to stand around an empty house so they could flick the meter switch???

Genesis nicely said they could send their guy at a specified time instead, and txted me 20 mins beforehand so I could leave work and get here.

I changed to Energy ONline after that, mainly for the 20% discount, better pricing...

I look at both price AND customer service these days....there is a rating for both on Consumer......no point in having cheap if they're a******s.

Meridian had done something else I wasn't overly thrilled about too.....at a business premises I had previously, so the unbendingness of their time to hook me up was the last straw really.

Niel

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#903224 26-Sep-2013 17:38

Can't help either other than I'm with Mercury as I've been for the almost 13 years we've been in NZ. Never had an issue, line repairs were done as needed, we built a new house on the same section and the meter install is tidy. Not the cheapest and GEM is not that great (though useful), but bill is automatically paid off my credit card and the account is easy to manage on-line.

Either Meridian or Genesis knock on our door almost weekly and I always chase them away, there is a reason why they need to send people door knocking while others don't.

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