Any request received by the Ombudsman for the ENGIE Group is reviewed to determine its eligibility, i.e., whether it qualifies as a mediation case.
1
A consumer submits a request for mediation.
2
The Mediation team identifies the relevant ENGIE department(s) and assesses the admissibility of the request based on the information provided by the consumer and the relevant ENGIE department(s).
3
| Inadmissible case | Case to be re-examined by ENGIE | Admissible case for mediation |
| The consumer did not submit a written complaint through the available remedies of the relevant ENGIE entity (customer and consumer service) before submitting the request to the Ombudsman for the ENGIE Group, or any other procedure provided for under article L611-3 and L612-3 of the French Consumer Code. | The written complaint is less than two months old and the consumer did not go through the available remedies of the relevant ENGIE entity (customer service and consumer service). | The consumer submitted a written complaint to the customer service and then to the consumer service of ENGIE and is dissatisfied with the latter’s response. |
A written notice from the Ombudsman is sent to the consumer confirming the handling procedures for their case (target: 80% of cases acknowledged within two working days).
4
Inadmissible case | Case to be Re-examined by ENGIE | Accepted Case for Mediation |
The consumer is informed | The consumer is informed | The consumer is informed that their request is admissible and enters the mediation process. |
Request submission and eligibility verification
Any request submitted to the Ombudsman for the ENGIE Group must be made either via the online form or by postal mail.
Each request is analyzed to:
- Verify whether the dispute concerns an entity of the ENGIE Group. If not, the Ombudsman informs the applicant and, with their consent, forwards the request to the appropriate mediator when possible.
- Ensure that all eligibility conditions under Article L612-2 of the French Consumer Code are met, particularly whether the applicant has already contacted the appropriate service within the relevant ENGIE entity, as outlined in point
- Check if the applicant meets the following conditions:
- He submitted a written complaint to the Customer service and then to the Consumer service of ENGIE and is dissatisfied with the latter’s response.
OR - He submitted a written complaint more than two months ago to ENGIE, regardles of the department contacted, and meets one of the following conditions:
– have received no response from ENGIE;
– or is dissatisfied with the response received.
The applicant’s file is therefore eligible for consumer mediation within the Ombudsman for the ENGIE Group.
Where the applicant has not contacted the ENGIE entity concerned, before referring the matter to the Ombudsman, the latter shall return the application to the appropriate department, unless the applicant disagrees, and inform the applicant in writing of the procedure which will be applied to process his/her application:
- it is ENGIE that will provide an answer.
- if this response is not deemed satisfactory, the applicant may either refer the matter to the higher claim body within the company in question, as provided for in the contract, or, if applicable, refer it again to Ombudsman (either by the Internet form or by postal mail), according to the conditions mentioned above. This higher authority, if any, will then be mentioned in the response provided as well as its contact details.
Requests That Cannot Be Handled by the Ombudsman for ENGIE Group (Article L.612-2)
The following requests are not eligible for mediation:
- Requests where the consumer has not attempted to resolve the issue directly with the company or relevant service via a written complaint.
- Requests that are clearly unfounded or abusive.
- Requests already being handled or previously handled by another mediator, such as the National Energy Mediator.
- Requests where the last complaint to the supplier was made more than one year ago.
- Requests already being handled or previously handled by a court.
- Requests outside the Ombudsman’s scope of competence. In such cases, the Ombudsman will redirect the request to the appropriate mediator, with the applicant’s consent.
Note: As provided by the French Consumer Code, a formal agreement has been signed between the Ombudsman for ENGIE Group and the National Energy Mediator.