Historical bills changing without explanation?

Hi Emmanuelle_OVO

So let’s look at my issue, you said, looking at your response

What is a Backbill Write-Off? 

So I have not received a backbill or catchup I had to go through all my invoices to find the differences myself as no-one at OVO could tell me what the differences were and I am still waiting 2 weeks later to hear from your accounts department who obviously cannot cope with the mess that has been made. 

I did not have any delay in receiving my original invoices.

I did not supply any readings they were taken from the smart meter by you and they were accurate.

There are no crossed meters here, just the one, yours

Charge Adjustment Write-Off 

Yes you have done this but my issue is that I had to go through all my invoices to find and check the differences between my original and now revised invoices.

12+ Months Write-Off

You were not prevented in sending me an invoice for the periods that were incorrect and I missed that you had brought forward the wrong balance, however the calorific value change I would never have found

If I had bought something from a shop or online and the supplier gets the bill wrong this is their issue and they could not be able to come back 1½ years later and say sorry but I got this wrong. Are you going to come back and tell me that you got my bill wrong back in 2021 next and change all the bills again?

I need a letter from yourselves firstly sincerely and honestly laying out what was wrong with my bills. An explanation as to why this occurred would be good too.

I need a promise that you will never do this again on any previous bills from today without first consulting me and to be open and honest with me and not send an email that says we’ve changed your bills with no detail. 

Also, I have to ask what would have happened if I was no longer a customer?

Regards

Bob

I’ll ask Forum_Support to reach out, please keep an eye on your private messages @bobsheppard 

I recently contacted Ovo for help setting up the app, instead of helping me the assistant informed me of a debt on my account of over £2000 which she demanded I paid in full immediately.  
I moved into my property 10 years ago and requested a top up meter, there was no  outstanding debt at the property and none was put on the meter.  

When I queried how I was in debt? How they came to that figure? Requested a statement to show the dates, usage and anything else relevant to the figure, I was told I would get a call back within 2 days.  I received call backs from the bills department adamant I should pay the £2000+ immediately.  I ignored these jokers and contacted customer service again.   They were pleased to tell me I now only owed £370 and requested immediate payment of this sum. 
I have endured a total of over 7hours call time trying to get an answer to my original question.

What is this money owed on for? And from when?

so far I have had numerous contradictory suggestions as to what it may have been for but no accurate response.  Even the figures they throw at me don’t add up and change each time I ask. They refuse to show me anything in writing or explain how it went from £2000 to £300?? 
The only thing they are certain of is that this debt was allegedly from when I was SSE which I migrated from in around 2021/22. They aren’t even consistent on this date when I ask?! 
 my belief is that whatever they are saying is irrelevant as if this supposed money is owed from well over a year ago, and it’s only now they are verbally telling me I have a debt which has never been presented formally, the Ofgem backfilling rule bans them from charging it to me.

This hasn’t been of concern to Ovo though, despite me raising a complaint which still is not resolved, I was just told they added the debt to my meter a week ago and have already taken money from my recent top ups!! 
 

is this usual practice?
 

How long ago is it since you raised the complaint?

If it’s been more than 8 weeks then you can now escalate things to the Energy Ombudsman.

See “Step 3” of the complaints procedure:

https://www.ovoenergy.com/feedback

If t  isn’t being explained to you  just how the charges being demanded have been arrived at then something doesn’t sound right.
The Ombudsman is good at getting to the bottom of things.

PS. The back-billing rule, which is now in the Standard Conditions of Supply,  is a lot more complicated than simply “no billing from before 12 months ago”.
In some circumstances billing for periods older than 12 months is allowed, like I say it’s complicated.

It’s been 8 weeks, I will contact the ombudsman, just don’t understand why I should have to?  The amount of effort they put in to being difficult, avoiding direct questions, using parliamentary non answers and downright lying to me, far outweighs how easy just sending me a statement, or even articulating where they got their figures from!  

What if I had paid the £2000+ sum they were bullying me into hanging over?  Would they have sent me a cheque a week later when without explanation the sum they were hounding me for became £370?? 

How is this behaviour not a criminal offence? 

The ombudsman can only recommend to them what to do, and it’s clear Ovo’s shareholders don’t care how badly they treat customers.   
7 hours on the phone, the time it’s taken to write all this, and just to then have to take it to an independent adjudicator?? If it’s that complicated for them, they shouldn’t be allowed to trade!! 

is there not a way of talking to an executive or someone at a level who can understand what I’m saying, and actually answer a simple question or have authority to take any action to rectify problems?  

 

Morning ​@Daveneill 

I’m sorry to hear of your recent experience - really not good to hear 😣.

If there’s currently a debt balance on the account and you’re calling the normal Customer Services line, then you may be getting redirected through to our Collections team from the sounds of things. My advice is, if you currently have a complaint over eight weeks old then you need to be getting in touch with the Complaints team. If you’ve been sent a complaints reference number then you’ll have a Complaints Handler dedicated to your complaint. You can contact the Complaints team via feedback@ovoenergy.com. More info about our Complaints process can be found here.

If you have traditional Pay as You Go meters and debt has been transferred across onto them from the previous supplier, then this must be assessed. Please do get in touch with our Complaints team about this and ask for the debt to be assessed by the Back Office. 

I hope this is all solved for you soon!

​@Daveneill 

I’m guessing that the people you are talking with cannot explain it because they themselves are just seeing a figure and not where it came from.

The Ombudsman ‘Directions’ are binding on a company, it is not binding on a customer.

I practice either side could ignore the Ombudsman findings/ruling and if they want to then go to court.
Personally I’d regard that as flogging a dead horse, a court is extremely unlikely to overturn an Ombudsman ruling.

It can all take time though, the Ombudsman has to collect evidence from both sides and way up what has probably happened, then rule on/direct how they should put things right.
The parties then have to act on that ruling/direction.

PS. I’ve just been through similar (with a different supplier) from my last flat, a very long story which I won’t repeat here.
The Ombudsman agreed with me and ruled their attempted charges invalid. - However that particular supplier was being extremely awkward, simply ignoring the Ombudsmans ruling/directions for over 18 months.
Each time they (or a debt collection agency) contacted me I simply kept informing the Ombudsman service that their directions were being ignored, and after repeated ‘pokes’ from the Ombudsman they have now eventually complied with the ruling.

PPS. If you are now, or do in future, get Debt Collection agencies contacting you then my advice here tells you how to deal with them effectively and shut them up:

I appreciate what you’re saying ​@Nukecad, it’s just frustrating and also insulting that we are put in the position where we have to go to all this extra effort, pay so much of our time and attention just to end up having to involve 3rd parties, just to avoid these big company’s stealing off us. From my own experiences and what I have read that other Ovo customers have endured, I leads me to believe the refusal to give any straight answers and and lack of any effort to assist and rectify concerns is deliberate.  Every adviser I have spoken too used the same nonsensical rhetoric and seemed to thrive on wasting as much of my time as possible without any furtherance to my query.  
it seems they have been instructed to be as obtuse and belligerent to customers concerns on the hope we just roll over out of frustration and let Mr Buttriss and his board of greedy little piggies, steal from us! 

All telephone customer services are the same, in any organisation, and not just the phones.

(Try dealing with the ‘enquiries’ at the DWP if you really want to waste your time, I never phone them unless I really, really, have to).

It is not because they are being deliberately awkward though.
It certainly isn't personal (unless you start swearing at them), it could not be more impersonal.

They are trained and instructed to never admit that they don't know the answer to your questions.

Which means that when they don’t know then they have to try and come up with some kind of semi-plausible bull**** answer instead.

It frustrates you and it frustrates them.

A simple, clear, "Sorry I don't know and don't know how to find out or who to pass you to" would be better all round, and would let you move on to making a complaint - but they are not allowed to say that to you.
(In some cases they can get a demerit/reprimand for admitting that they don’t know, or even sacked if they do it repeatedly).

Like most things once you realise, and understand the reasons behind, what is going on then it becomes easier to deal with and to work around it.