Hi, please can you advise how to make a complaint about FIT payments.

Thanks

I would have thought the same route as published 

https://www.ovoenergy.com/feedback

Thanks, but it’s not!  I found out after I posted you have to ring the FIT team and ask to log a complaint.  I’ve “emailed Raman“ to suggest they update their website!

Hope you get somewhere. 
I looked through what I could see in the T’s & C’s and there’s no mention of a different route. 
OVO is a mandatory FIT licensee and they even mention this at the bottom of their standard complaints form. 

Thanks 

Seven weeks in and I feel like I’m banging my head against a brick wall!

Ovo have been paying me FITs since 2015.  Around June someone decided my system had an export meter and despite emailing several times they insist I must send them a picture of this non existent export meter.  Of course my payments are stopped in the mean time…

Spoke to a manager on the FIT line seven weeks ago and he agreed I don’t have an export meter; he would talk to the “back office” etc.  Phone them again yesterday because this quarter’s payments are now due and was told it would take “at least” another two weeks for the back office to remove the export meter from my account!!  Asked to speak to a manager and was told “they are not taking calls” !!!!!

Chatted with the complaints department who logged a case and advised someone would contact me withing three working days...

This morning I get a ”You’ve just been in touch with one of our Customer Care Advisors, how was the service?” text, but no one had spoken to me!!!

Chatted with Complaints again and they now say only the FIT number can take complaints on FIT issues, so my complaint with them has been closed!!!

Phone the FIT line again and log a complaint and allegedly someone will contact me in three working days….

Useless.

If complaints have closed your complaint I would go straight to the Energy Ombudsman and see what they say

https://www.energyombudsman.org/

That is unlawful.

There is only one complaint process under the ofgem legislation which includes FIT

This FIT customer recently used the standard complaint page and email address 

@Tim_OVO this isn't allowed under the legislation. OVO can't just close complaints.

I have similar issues with OVO. I was supposedly having my account transferred from SSE to OVO according to a letter dated Aug 23. Since then nothing has happened. All my emails to the fit team result in an automated reply to the effect that are too busy to respond. Phone call response is that I just have to wait. But they cannot say for how long or what the next step will be. I complained following their website process but that was not even acknowledged! I have now sent the details on to the contact Raman address but suspect that will not get any answer either. 

Am I able to switch to, say, Octopus, while my account is in limbo with OVO?

Hi sijulien, useless aren’t they! 

The only things I’d suggest are 1) phone the FIT team (0330 303 5063, wait for the IVR then choose option 4) and log a complaint if you haven’t phoned in already.  2) Contact the energy ombudsman… that’s going to be my next step if either the FIT complaints people don’t contact me in the next three business days or give me a sensible update.

I’d already started the process to switch my FIT payments to Octopus!  They emailed me on 19th October to confirm they would start the move process. I haven’t heard anything from them since then so emailed for an update last Friday!  Maybe Octopus are waiting for Ovo too..!

Jeffus, thanks for the link to the ombudsman

Thanks elljay.  At last I have had a more promising (they are full of promises!) talk with them. My utility account with Shell is going to Octopus (not by my choice) so I will probably change to them for fits if I can ever get up to date first. The hours I have spent chasing this are ridiculous. Hopefully Octopus who have a good reputation are better than these rogues.

Hope you get somewhere, sijulien!  I’m with Shell for utilities and heading to Octopus too!

Has anyone else been suffering with the same appalling customer service I’ve been getting, primarily from the FiT team?

They seem unable to complete simple tasks such as making FiT payments on time, and changing generation meter details.

And their response to query time has gone from 2 weeks (which was poor) to 4-6 weeks!

Total incompetence!

Sorry to hear about this, @Chris D. Just to make sure you have the correct details, you can get in touch with the right team via their contact email of either; fits@ovoenergy.com or seg@ovoenergy.com.

Alternatively, you can speak to our Team by calling 0330 303 5063 and selecting ‘4’ when the IVR instructs you to do so.

Please bear in mind that there will be a skeleton team this week due to the time of year. 

Can you share a bit more detail on your FiT payment delay, just in case you’re not aware of the process for payments and what happens when a reading isn’t submitted in time?

Hi Tom, I have sent many emails to fits@ovoenergy.com over the past few months, many of which are still outstanding for response, and action by the FiT’s dept.

What does the ‘seg’ prefix stand for on the other address you suggest?

As far as I can tell, you only ever have a skeleton team in your FiT helpdesk! I’m fed-up with hearing about staff shortages. If it’s not Covid it’s Christmas! Ben Blake should do something about it & employ more people!

Can I suggest you access the complaint I raised on 12 December (OVO Complaint Ref No 22255481) and look and the 1st 2 complaint items which are outstanding. Item 1 relates to the outstanding FiT payment. Item 3 is due to be resolved next week.  I sent an additional email to fits@ovoenergy.com yesterday with my email of 12/12/23 embedded.

FYI the Energy Ombudsman has been informed and an account set-up for my complaint.

I suspect OVO are deliberately and cynically targeting FIT only customers with poor service in order to “encourage” them to move to other suppliers.  I can see no other reason for the consistently poor service I have received over two years and am interested in hearing from anyone else on this forum in a similar situation. 

I’m interested in hearing from any FIT only customers who have received consistently poor service from OVO over a number of years and are feeling forced to transfer to another company.

Not sure what Ovo’s service is like on the gas/electricity side - I moved away from them in 2016 because their prices started going up and I found a cheaper supplier (remember those days!).

I’d encourage you to complain to the Energy Ombudsman after you’ve given Ovo eight weeks to resolve your complaint.  Ovo are currently proposing to offer me £90 as a “goodwill gesture for the shortfalls in service”…

You’d hope someone in government/Ofgem monitors the number of complaints and Ovo get financially penalised.

The regulator has identified this and given the company notice to improve.  https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/aug/21/ofgem-orders-ovo-energy-to-improve-customer-service-serious-concerns-complaints Doesn’t seem to have worked so far 

Hey @elljay,

I’m sorry to hear of your frustrating experience, 

If you’re unhappy with the goodwill payment offered by OVO, and they are unable to resolve your complaint within eight weeks, the next step would be the Ombudsman.

If you want us to check how the team has handled your complaint, you can ask for an internal review. You can do this at any stage of the process. Even if you’ve agreed to a solution with OVO, you might then decide it wasn’t the right one. You can contact OVO and ask for an ‘internal review’. 

You can find out about our full complaint procedure on the website. 

Thanks for the reply @Emmanuelle_OVO

I did ask to follow up my complaint with the FIT team and I was told “The managers aren’t taking calls” !!!!!

I have already “emailed Raman’s team” as suggested on the complaints page to suggest the complaints page is updated to say complaints about FIT can, apparently, only be handled by the FIT Team.  I raised a complaint through the Chat team, and it was closed without contact a few days later.  When I phoned and complained they told me the Chat team can’t handle complaints about FIT issues!

Anyway, I just had a call from the Ombudsman this morning and he’s advised he will tell Ovo to fix all the issues and pay me £150 compensation rather than the £90 offered.

It really shouldn’t be so difficult!!

There are the current average compensation amounts from the Ombudsman in the last published quarter specifically for ovo

Interesting report! I summarised all the data…

Ovo is worst in every single category except the average Customer Service Award where Shell beats them by £6!

I have been an Ovo customer for many years.

Last month I didn’t receive my FIT payment.

I emailed but got no response.

I went on the chat and got a bot. It didn’t understand my query so I asked to speak to a human. After a while I spoke to one and was told I had to phone.

I called the number and was on hold for 15 minutes. When I got through I was transferred to the FIT team and waited another 10 minutes. This is par for the course, I know. But when the FIT person answered she said there were no payments outstanding. I explained my issue and she said my payment had been suspended pending meter verification. I had verified the meter by photo months ago and received a confirmation email about it. She said something about timings and said I might get my payment in February. I asked if she thought it was reasonable that the electricity generated between June and September would be paid 5-8 months after the event, at which point she just hung up on me.

This was at about 1:40pm today (4th Jan). Is this how Ovo staff are trained? If not, I recommend she re-takes the customer service training.

Hey @lionise,

I’m really sorry to hear this,

You can email fits@ovoenergy.com or you can speak to the Team by calling 0330 303 5063 and selecting ‘4’ when the IVR instructs you to do so.

If you’ve exhausted these channels, you have the option to raise a complaint. You can find out more about the complaint procedure online. 

Thanks @Emmanuelle_OVO but I’m not interested in raising a complaint.  I’m just trying to get a feel for the numbers of people in my situation - ie FIT only customers that are having an impossible time with OVO customers services: ignored emails, failure to receive statements, relentlessly late fit payments.  I’ve had two years of this and my working hypothesis is that OVO are deliberately looking to shed FIT only customers by “deprioritising” them - as we add nothing to the Company’s balance sheet.  It’s either that of the Company has a personal vendetta against me as I can’t think of any other reason for the unrelenting poor service I have received over 2 years.