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Why did OVO financial support team contact me despite my recent payment?

  • May 21, 2022
  • 64 replies
  • 5594 views

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64 replies

Blastoise186
Super User
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  • Super User
  • November 4, 2022

Hmm… Ultimately I think the Collections Team are best placed to try and fix this. They have the power to locate lost/missing payments and try to link them back up to your account if memory serves.

If doing so means that any outstanding debts/debits are cleared out completely, they can then arrange to recall and shut down any ongoing debt collection activities.

But you REALLY shouldn’t rely on Standing Orders for this exact reason. I’ve said it until I was blue in the face that OVO does not support Standing Orders and that if you disregard my warning and use them anyway, it’s at your own risk - and it’s technically your fault if the money doesn’t reach your OVO account as a result of using unsupported payment methods.

The only ways to guarantee that payment correctly reaches your account are:

  • Direct Debit
  • Credit/Debit Card (VISA and Mastercard usually work best, AMEX is not recommended)
  • Google Pay
  • Apple Pay
  • Giro Bank Slip
  • Cheque
  • Manual Bank Transfer via Faster Payments - please don’t use CHAPS though!

Use of any other payment method not listed above is either unsupported or prone to failure. For the avoidance of doubt, Standing Orders are officially Unsupported for OVO’s purposes. Use of an unsupported payment method is entirely at your own risk.

For anyone who thinks Standing Orders are treated the same as Faster Payments by the banks, I can tell you they are not. Faster Payments shows up as an instant transfer on a bank statement, usually with the code FPI for incoming or FPO for outgoing. Standing Orders show up as, well, Standing Orders with the code SO. OVO can tell the difference between the two, as can just about everyone else. Remember, they’re not treated the same despite common misconceptions!


juliamc
Rank 20
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  • Rank 20
  • November 4, 2022

Also this is a real illustration of why direct debits are cheaper to process and hence are at a cheaper tariff.


Blastoise186
Super User
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  • Super User
  • November 4, 2022

Yeah, DD is totally automated apart from a tiny bit of human involvement to set it up. After that it’s just chuck enough cash in the bank each month and leave it there.

Card Payments are also mostly automated and fairly quick too, since that can just be hooked up to a payment provider and then take action based on whatever response comes back. If it worked, credit the account, if it failed, do nothing. Same applies to Apple Pay and Google Pay too, just ever so slightly different ways to get there!

Giro Bank Slips, Cheques and Faster Payments (aka manual bank transfer) require human involvement to process, but provided the customer does them correctly, they’re fairly reliable - just REALLY slow compared to the automated options!


  • Newcomer
  • November 4, 2022

Hmm ok, so I'm new to this forum and have not seen warnings about standing orders. I pretty much pay my other bills the same way with no issue. Why is it Ovo does not support them? Genuine question.

I don't really understand why they didn't say something to that effect when I called them and told them I was setting up a standing order. Surely if they didn't support it then their operative should have said? 

Maybe naivety on my part, but they've had the money and my bank can verify it. 


Blastoise186
Super User
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  • Super User
  • November 4, 2022

We have mentioned it to quite a lot of visitors. Here’s a previous answer by @M.isterW .

OVO isn’t alone either. No energy supplier has ever been known to officially support Standing Orders.

I maintain my stance. Proof of sending is not proof of delivery. Proof of delivery is not proof of receipt. If you want automated regular payments to reliably show up every month, you must use Direct Debits, NOT Standing Orders.


  • Newcomer
  • November 4, 2022

Ok well I've learnt something I didn't know today.

How does it process differently their end? Again, genuine question and trying to understand 


Blastoise186
Super User
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  • Super User
  • November 4, 2022

Because if you’re just filtering transactions for Faster Payments Incoming (FPI) for example to get rid of noise from everything else, you may miss other incoming payments from different mechanisms despite only supporting FPI and DD.

And besides that, paying by Standing Order means you’d be on OVO’s Simpler Energy On-Demand tariff, so there’s absolutely no guarantee your SO would ever pay off every single bill in full and stop the Collections Team from chasing you unless you set it to be massively higher than your highest possible bill - and then you’d have to delete and recreate it at least once every three months to account for the next price cap period.


M.isterW
Rank 6
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  • Rank 6
  • November 4, 2022

There's a simple difference - with a standing order you (well, your bank) are sending money. With a direct debit the receiving company (in this case, OVO) are taking the money from your account.

 

Why does that matter? Imagine you're a company with thousands of customers. If each of them is individually sending you money each month it lands in the company bank account and is a massive task to match that up to the correct accounts. Some people will use the correct references but others won't. Some will send it on the wrong day. Some will send the wrong amounts. It's an admin headache.

 

With direct debits OVO simply sends a data file with all the information to BACS. It's fully automated and the only payments the company has to check are failed ones, which is done automatically.

 

But you're worried about OVO being able to take money from your account? There is a set of rules a company must adhere to if they use direct debits. They have to tell you how much they're taking and when they're taking it. You also have a right to claim the money back if you believe it has been taken incorrectly. If a company doesn't stick to these rules they could lose the ability to use direct debits and that would be a disaster for a company.


  • Newcomer
  • November 4, 2022

Ok thanks for the insight. 

 


I have just received a spam email to my spam box which states its come from OVO. It basically says my account is in debt by over £300 I know this not to be true because I paid a Bill last week for January and when logging in to my true account the Balance is cleared. I am just wondering where I can forward this email to as I don’t want anyone falling for this scam. Its scary because they have got my OVO account number in the email. 


juliamc
Rank 20
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  • Rank 20
  • January 9, 2023

Ok thank you for that. 


Blastoise186
Super User
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  • Super User
  • January 9, 2023

I’d also recommend calling 0800 069 9831 to check the status. If you have definitely paid the debt off and/or you are currently NOT in debt to OVO, the Collections Team can sort things out for you.


Thanks for that. OVO sent me an email not long after I had paid the balance to say that it had been paid off and the balance was cleared. 


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  • Newcomer
  • January 9, 2023

OH my god. Do not get me started with balances. My gas meter readings on my bill are for someone else. The meter number is wrong. I am not paying for any electric AGAIN. Check EVERYTHING. Since JULY update last year nothing is right. I HAVE asked for a re build of my account from 11.7.21. Not sure it is going to happen soon!!


Oh my goodness that’s awful. Hope you get that one sorted soon. 


  • Newcomer
  • February 22, 2023

I have received an email this morning saying I missed a payment in October. The amount missed was what they were going to charge me before they changed it back after the freeze in increase. However I didn’t miss a payment in October. 
 

I then received a text saying we have set up a payment plan and you missed your last payment. Again I haven’t missed any payments. I’m on a direct debit. I will call them but wondered if anyone else had this issue? 


Blastoise186
Super User
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  • Super User
  • February 22, 2023

Hey @Chloe !

In this case I’d suggest giving 0800 069 9831 a call to check things with the Collections Team. If this is a mistake, they can fix things up.

Alternatively, you can go via Support on 0330 303 5063.


  • Newcomer
  • February 22, 2023

Thank you, I’ve just called and spoke to someone on the support number and he confirmed I haven’t missed a payment. I think it may be a scam as the way my account number is shown doesn’t look like all my other ovo emails. 


Blastoise186
Super User
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  • Super User
  • February 22, 2023

Please forward it to report@phishing.gov.uk if you think it’s a phishing scam.


Blastoise186
Super User
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  • Super User
  • February 22, 2023

As for the text message? Could you forward it to 7726 for me? It’s free to do and helps to prevent future scams


Does anyone else keep getting emails supposedly from OVO saying that there is outstanding money owed on the bill? I Paid ours last week so I know this to be spam. Is there somewhere to report the spam to?


Jeffus
Rank 20
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  • Rank 20
  • July 12, 2023

@Johnboy412000

Hi, you asked a similar question before. 

Did you report it then given the email provided and did you check with collections if it was from ovo?

Reporting emails 

report@phishing.gov.uk

Collections 0800 0699 831

If you post how you get on I am sure it will help other customers 


I Logged on to my Ovo and the balance is only a couple of quid. That’s what tells me it’s spam. I’ve had these messages before and couldn’t remember the email to report it to. Thanks for providing the link. 


Jeffus
Rank 20
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  • Rank 20
  • July 12, 2023

I Logged on to my Ovo and the balance is only a couple of quid. That’s what tells me it’s spam. I’ve had these messages before and couldn’t remember the email to report it to. Thanks for providing the link. 

Did OVO reply last time when you reported the spam? 


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