Energy customers of one of the UK’s largest providers have expressed their disappointment over the company’s revised rewards offer. Energy providers often provide rewards to customers as an incentive to start a contract or remain a customer. However, these rewards are often reviewed and changed, sometimes to attract more customers or sometimes because partnerships come to an end.
Octopus Energy is the latest UK energy provider to change the way ot offers rewards to customers. Although it said it will make the chance of gaining a reward fairer for all customers, some people have complained about the change. Octopus Energy previously released codes every Monday morning at 6am, allowing customers to nab a free coffee at either Greggs or Cafe Nero. The scheme proved popular, and customers had to be quick to nab one of the codes.
As a replacement, Octopus Energy has launched the Monday Scratchcard. Every Monday morning, instead of simply releasing codes for free coffee, Octopus Energy will release scratchcards on its smartphone app for customers to scratch and see if they have won a prize. However, some customers said they still prefer the old reward offer.
Free coffee will still be available to lucky customers, but other prizes will also be available. The company has said that the move will mean hundreds of thousands of customers will now be able to win instead of a few thousand.
That hasn’t stopped some customers from complaining. One disappointed person said: “Very disappointed to hear we will no longer get our coffees, it stopped me from looking at other energy suppliers, but as my fixed deal is coming to an end next month, there is no reason not to change supplier now.”
Another said: “Think it’s time to get off the Octopus train, last decent thing was the free coffee.”
However, others are a fan of the new rewards scheme. One Reddit user wrote: “Seems preferable to always finding there are none available.”
In response to some of the complaints, Octopus Energy wrote on social media: “We wanted to make things fairer so every Octoplus member gets an equal chance to win throughout the day, without the morning rush.”
It received one of the highest customer scores, and it was named a recommended provider by the consumer champions.