EDF Energy customer service

There was a power cut on our side of the street yesterday evening at about 5.30pm. In the old days we would have just gone out for dinner but with a baby we had a mad dash for food supplies and sterilising tablets. I've written before about how EDF provide a decent service, but the customer care could be better. This time, EDF dealt with it ok, but a bit of customer service would have been nice.

When the power went off, I stepped outside to find out the extent of the problem. I was reassured to see an EDF Energy van parked on our street - although on reflection, it was surprising that it was already there. Unfortunately, there was no telephone number on the van as far as I could see.

Eventually we got through to customer services on the phone who said that it was being treated as an emergency and should be fixed by 9.30pm. I was delighted when the power came back on shortly after 7pm.

What would have been even better is if EDF Energy had called us to explain what was happening. Instead, angry residents gathered around the van hoping to get some news and becoming more agitated the less visible the engineers were.

Had the engineers had knocked on every door (or every other and asked us to tell a neighbour) we would have been able to plan accordingly - and known who to thank when the problem was sorted.