Anyone had dealing with Bionic?
Anyone had dealing with Bionic?
Author
Discussion

mickytruelove

Original Poster:

426 posts

130 months

Wednesday 19th June 2024
quotequote all
Short story, i didnt read a contract and 3 years later i am pissed off.

When moving my business to a new building i used Bionic to find a energy supplier (electric) and signed up for a 3 year deal with EDF.

I did not notice that they reserved the right to renew our contract on our behalf. So fast forward to this month and me looking to renew with EDF i find our supply is being swapped over to Yü Energy (google their reviews). Daily standing charges changing from 25p to 225p ect.

It looks like im stuffed as i requested the contract i signed, and right enough i had signed it. At the time i was trying to convert a car garage to office space and print shop and it must have got past me.

Is there a way out of this? i do not fancy going anywhere near "Yu Energy" and they are asking when they can come change the meter. It seems like Bionic have pulled this with lots of businesses and all seem to be getting put on to Yu energy.

any experience / advice would greatly appreciated.

Mr Overheads

2,559 posts

195 months

Thursday 20th June 2024
quotequote all
mickytruelove said:
Short story, i didnt read a contract and 3 years later i am pissed off.

When moving my business to a new building i used Bionic to find a energy supplier (electric) and signed up for a 3 year deal with EDF.

I did not notice that they reserved the right to renew our contract on our behalf. So fast forward to this month and me looking to renew with EDF i find our supply is being swapped over to Yü Energy (google their reviews). Daily standing charges changing from 25p to 225p ect.

It looks like im stuffed as i requested the contract i signed, and right enough i had signed it. At the time i was trying to convert a car garage to office space and print shop and it must have got past me.

Is there a way out of this? i do not fancy going anywhere near "Yu Energy" and they are asking when they can come change the meter. It seems like Bionic have pulled this with lots of businesses and all seem to be getting put on to Yu energy.

any experience / advice would greatly appreciated.
Bionic are so bad that we have an internal bulletin board thread on solutions for them. Previously known as makeitcheaper.com

Short version: If the switch hasn't happened yet and you kick up a polite fuss then you can stop the switch happening. Once switched, and if they are pushed they'll refund their commission to in effect reduce your cost. In one case we got the new supplier to agree it was an unwanted unfair switch and they released it allowing our client to leave.


For a ray of positivity, your decision to lock in for 3 years means you've missed the energy crisis and the sky high costs many business's got hit with.

22

2,648 posts

156 months

Thursday 20th June 2024
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Thankfully noticed the extent of what I was being asked to sign - and it was absolutely presented to me as if it was a natural part of the initial sign-up.

Even moving premises during the early stages of a contract was a pain - they thought we were just trying to squirm out of a contract.

Was gobsmacked when I logged on to Santander (business banking) recently and saw them being promoted as a provider.

MustangGT

13,557 posts

299 months

Thursday 20th June 2024
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Surely they would need your permission each time they wanted to switch you?

Mr Overheads

2,559 posts

195 months

Thursday 20th June 2024
quotequote all
They call it the "Do it for you" and/or "Make it Easy Guarantee" service. They email you to say these are the options, then anotehr email to say we're going to lock you in unless we hear back by 5pm today, then another to say you're now locked in. As stated above the original contract gives them permission to do this.

Whether it would stand up in court I'm not a lawyer.

The LoA signed allegedly contains the following, the OP should check theirs to see if wording is the same:

"What is the Make It Easy Guarantee?

MIC promises to make it easy for Customers to use the Do It For You service. If, for whatever reason, the Customer feels MIC have not delivered to this promise, the Customer may choose to claim against the ‘Make It Easy Guarantee’.

This guarantee entitles the Customer to receive any commission earned by MIC for that Supply Contract. The request should be sent to MIC via email at doitforyou@makeitcheaper.com or in writing to Make It Cheaper Ltd, 5th Floor, Lloyds Chambers, 1 Portsoken Street, London E1 8BT or to such other email address or address as MIC may from time to time notify to the Customer via the Customer’s designated email address"

WCZ

11,220 posts

213 months

my business has just been shafted by this also, we were signed up a long time ago when they were called 'make it cheaper', I didn't realise they had control of the energy contract as our consumption was low and I had never even looked at it

now we have company EV's that are charged in the office I took a look at it a month before the contract was due to expire and found out our rates were terribly uncompetitive

changed it over to a new supplier but they informed me it was constantly getting rejected, in total I think 10 attempts were made and no reason was given

eventually I found out bionic controls the contract and there's nothing I can do about it so looking into taking legal action

Geoffcapes

1,029 posts

183 months

Yesterday (10:04)
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Bionic are, better watch what I say here as I could get in trouble. Difficult.

However, there is an easy way to get out of them renewing your next contract. Get someone else to get you a new one, way before the contract expires.
Then give Bionic notice.

We've done this for a few clients, and so far so good.

If you think Bionic are bad, you should try dealing with Laser!

biggiles

1,998 posts

244 months

Yesterday (15:11)
quotequote all
Had/have one contract with them - I spotted those clauses and demanded they be removed at signing time - which they were happy to do. I'm happy for them to suggest options, but I don't want them to give them carte-blanche to sign on my behalf. The clauses weren't hugely obvious.

Geoffcapes

1,029 posts

183 months

biggiles said:
Had/have one contract with them - I spotted those clauses and demanded they be removed at signing time - which they were happy to do. I'm happy for them to suggest options, but I don't want them to give them carte-blanche to sign on my behalf. The clauses weren't hugely obvious.
They never are, and insist they are doing you a favour. Which they rarely are.