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Rank 1
May 21, 2022
Solved

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

  • May 21, 2022
  • 64 replies
  • 5757 views

I’m interested to hear from SSE former customers and if it resonates Ovo Energy customers.

I transferred from SSE mid January 2022. My billing cycle was quarterly and bills came not long after the billing period. My bill was paid by a direct payment.

At transfer Ovo Energy placed me on a monthly cycle running 13th of the month to the 12th of the following.

Upon transfer my bill fell at transfer and I paid SSE. The money was transferred to Ovo, however my previous billing and usage with SSE was and still is not visible.

For the period 13th March to the 12th April, I viewed my bill electronically I have smart meters and paid on the 13/4/22 shown on my bank statement as the 14/4/22. I paid modestly over the due amount and was in credit at the start of the billing period. A week later I received a bill from a Ovo indicating a debt.

This debt was imaginary as their system appeared not to acknowledge my payment, even though my account did. For that period and into the next. I was harassed by txt and email.

I tried to contact via chat, that system was not available, I tried to call excessive wait times. Eventually frustrated with their harassing communications. I left a trust pilot review and received some rather pointless communications through that platform. That my experience will be taken up with the billing team.

As the next billing period approached the most recent I paid Ovo on the date my bill appeared in my account. There was no notification that my bill had been issued. Instead I receive a rather harassing text message from collections for a debt that had been over due for more than a month. This was and is not the case.

It is likely I will formally complain through Ovo’s complaints process. They have eight weeks to address my complaint. After that it is the Energy Ombudsman…..all in from a consumer perspective it appears fruitless and time consuming. As there is a clear issue with Ovo’s billing process and procedure.

The other option is to transfer to British Gas.

Thanks for reading and commenting if you do.

 

Oh! a screenshot of my account is attached, yes I’m in debit by a few pounds, I’m in a billing period. Sorry wouldn’t allow the screenshot.

 

 

Best answer by Tim_OVO

Updated on 1706/25 by Emmanuelle_OVO:
 

What can our payment support team offer if I can’t pay my energy bill?

 

Our payment support team has supported lots of people in similar situations, and are trained to do so. 

Some of the ways they can help are:

  • They can create a payment plan that’s suitable for your financial situation. A payment plan can spread the cost of what’s outstanding, you can find out more about them here.
  • They can discuss what other payment schemes you may be eligible for. They can make sure you’re getting the support that’s available to you, such as benefit entitlement checks. 
  • Our team is also trained to give advice on energy debt, and discuss what help is available. 
  • They can show you where you can find free, independent advice.

For more financial support, call the team on 0800 069 9831. We’re open Monday to Friday 9am-5pm, Saturday 9am-2pm.

 

What’s a payment plan & how does it work?

 

Using the information you give us, we’ll come up with a manageable payment plan. These payments can be made on a weekly, fortnightly, or monthly basis. 

 

Some of the payment will go towards the outstanding balance and some of the payment will go towards your current usage. 
 

 

Thanks for flagging, @Kenyon graham 

 

 

For the period 13th March to the 12th April, I viewed my bill electronically I have smart meters and paid on the 13/4/22 shown on my bank statement as the 14/4/22. I paid modestly over the due amount and was in credit at the start of the billing period. A week later I received a bill from a Ovo indicating a debt.

This debt was imaginary as their system appeared not to acknowledge my payment, even though my account did. For that period and into the next. I was harassed by txt and email.

 

It’s very odd to see that the payment seems to have affected your balance, as shown in your screenshot, but hasn’t stopped collections activity for account debt. It may be worth contacting our Collections team by web chat, and by phone. Start a webchat conversations or or call with our Collections team here. Also you can see our page on payment support here.

 

64 replies

Jeffus
Rank 20
Rank 20
July 17, 2023

Asking for a refund, probably was a couple of weeks after I realised it wasn’t my account. As far as I remember ovo, just kept passing me around to different departments and I do vaguely remember them telling me to send the bill to them.

My neighbour, who’s  account it belong to told me the bill was a settled. She was a bit vague and not want to interact too much with me about it. Of course sod’s Law she’s just had chemo and very unwell. So I’m not going to bother her with it certainly for the time being.

thanks everybody for the feedback.

So did you ask ovo for a refund about two years ago? 

Abby_OVO
Community Manager
Community Manager
July 18, 2023

Hey @A.J.Smith 

 

Sorry to hear about this, let me have our Forum Support Team reach out to see if they can help you further with this.

 

Look out for a PM from them here soon: https://forum.ovoenergy.com/inbox/overview

Currently Playing: She's Electric
Newcomer
August 12, 2023

Im having problems too! Credit referncr agency is saying Ovo has listed 2 late/missed payments against me!! I havnt missed any or been late!!!

Im on a quarterly rolling contract! 

Some months I choose to pay some off to avoid a £1000 bill. But I am not on a monthly contract. 

They did this to me before and it was a headache to sort. And cost me a small fortune to sort. They admitted it was their miatake and got the default removed...but again? Oh come on OVO! 

Thank you for now messing up my chance of getting a mortgage. Thank you. 😡

Blastoise186
Super User
Super User
August 12, 2023

You need to discuss this with the Collections Team. 0800 069 9831. Forum volunteers cannot change this.

If you wish to pay quarterly and you're eligible to do so, you'll need to agree to do a payment plan with them. That is the only way to do it.

By default you're still on a monthly contract with monthly billing. The payment plan merely enables alternative payment arrangements. It does NOT change your billing cycle nor place you onto quarterly billing. 

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