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I’ve taken over the account of a relative that’s passed away. Do I get their credit refunded into my account?

  • August 7, 2023
  • 11 replies
  • 998 views

Can someone please tell me where I go from here ?

  My sisters died  ( 7th June) leaving her account  £500 in credit,  so I phoned ovoid up to explain this they said " we will move the direct debit into your name then we will move the refund into your account, its the 7th of August now so for the second time I've been on the phone to ovo and they have sent my refund into my dead sisters account and there is nothing they can do  !! There must be something they can do?

Best answer by Emmanuelle_OVO

Updated on 19/08/25 by Abby_OVO

We know these things can be difficult sometimes, but we’re here to help. We’ve got a helpful topic on the things we can do to help in the event of a Bereavement, see that below:

 

 

The OVO website also has some really helpful information, as well as some additional links to other organisations who me be able to offer help and free advice: https://www.ovoenergy.com/help/article/bereavement.

Hey @Dale12,

 

I’m really sorry for your loss, this sounds like a very stressful situation to be in. 

 

We appreciate that calling us might not be something you want to do right now so instead, you can follow this link to fill out an online form. You can also contact our dedicated team via webchat, or send an email to bereavement@ovoenergy.com.

 

If you would like to speak with one of the team on the phone, you can call 0330 175 9683 Monday - Friday from 9am to 5pm.

11 replies

Blastoise186
Plan Zero Hero
Forum|alt.badge.img+1
  • Plan Zero Hero
  • August 7, 2023

Good afternoon @Dale12 ,

Please accept my condolences for your loss. As a forum volunteer I can’t take any actions myself. However, to try and help you towards a solution, I’ve asked the forum moderators to check this thread. They’ll be along as soon as they can.


  • Author
  • Carbon Cutter***
  • August 7, 2023

Thank you. 


Abby_OVO
Community Manager
  • Community Manager
  • August 8, 2023

Hey @Dale12 

 

I’m really sorry to hear about this, you should have a Private Message from the Forum Support Team, so look out here for a PM: 

https://forum.ovoenergy.com/inbox/overview 

 


  • Author
  • Carbon Cutter***
  • August 9, 2023

It looks like they sent my refund into my late sisters account  ( they wrote to me as her executor so why ??) and I have destroyed all the paper work so I've lost that £500+  yet they still take my direct debit out, it just doesn't make sense  ???

 Stay safe all


Jeffus
Plan Zero Hero
Forum|alt.badge.img+2
  • Plan Zero Hero
  • August 9, 2023

It looks like they sent my refund into my late sisters account  ( they wrote to me as her executor so why ??) and I have destroyed all the paper work so I've lost that £500+  yet they still take my direct debit out, it just doesn't make sense  ???

 Stay safe all

Obviously I don't know all the details. 

You could put in a complaint. 

https://www.ovoenergy.com/feedback

If you are not happy after ovo reply to that then you can ask the energy ombudsman for help. 

https://www.energyombudsman.org/


Emmanuelle_OVO
Community Manager
  • Community Manager
  • Answer
  • August 10, 2023

Updated on 19/08/25 by Abby_OVO

We know these things can be difficult sometimes, but we’re here to help. We’ve got a helpful topic on the things we can do to help in the event of a Bereavement, see that below:

 

 

The OVO website also has some really helpful information, as well as some additional links to other organisations who me be able to offer help and free advice: https://www.ovoenergy.com/help/article/bereavement.

Hey @Dale12,

 

I’m really sorry for your loss, this sounds like a very stressful situation to be in. 

 

We appreciate that calling us might not be something you want to do right now so instead, you can follow this link to fill out an online form. You can also contact our dedicated team via webchat, or send an email to bereavement@ovoenergy.com.

 

If you would like to speak with one of the team on the phone, you can call 0330 175 9683 Monday - Friday from 9am to 5pm.


  • Author
  • Carbon Cutter***
  • August 17, 2023

Thanks for your thoughts and time.


Abby_OVO
Community Manager
  • Community Manager
  • August 18, 2023

Hey @Dale12 welcome back.

 

Did you get things sorted out with the refund?


  • Author
  • Carbon Cutter***
  • August 18, 2023

Hello. 

No, what they have done is send the credit  (£ 500+) back into my sisters account even though they wrote to me as her executor saying they would send the refund into my account  or send a cheque to the house and they already had take a direct debit out of my account so why they would send it back to the person they know is no longer with us just makes no sense and all my sisters paper work has long gone,  we lost her on the 7th June.  I was on the phone to ovo with in a week and a few times since and really they are saying it's down to me or its lost. 

Dale 


Emmanuelle_OVO
Community Manager
  • Community Manager
  • August 21, 2023

Hey @Dale12,

 

I’m really sorry to hear this,

 

It sounds like you may have been misadvised by the first agent you spoke to. OVO's system will automatically attempt to refund the bank account initially (if there has been a direct debit attached to the customer account) if there's a final credit balance. There is no way to halt that process currently. Even if we know the bank account has been closed for months, it will still try and will also send automated communications detailing the attempt. If it can't reach the bank account and is returned to us, bounces back, we'll send a cheque to ‘the executor’, however if it can reach the bank account successfully, it will go there.

 

And it varies from bank to bank, some still allow incoming refunds but freeze outgoing payments only. Once the estate is settled the refund will be returned to you as the executor so the refund shouldn’t be lost. Have you spoken to the bank? 

 

If the issue is that the bank account has been closed, the refund will bounce and be re-issued via cheque. 

 

I hope this helps. 


Emmanuelle_OVO
Community Manager
  • Community Manager
  • August 21, 2023

Hey @Dale12,

 

Just wanted to add, 

 

If you’ve spoken to the bereavement team (and not just customer care), we'll have taken your details and noted them for a refund cheque when the funds bounce back. If the refund went to the bank more than two weeks ago and hasn't been returned, it's very likely the refund was successful in reaching the bank and you will have to speak to the bank about it. We categorically cannot re-issue the refund until the funds are returned.

 

I’d advise contacting our bereavement team directly, they’ll be able to provide the best advice to you for this scenario.

 

 

Call our dedicated team on 0330 175 9683 or email bereavement@ovoenergy.com, this team deal with bereavements and should be able to assist you. Forum Support have also reached out view private message. 

 

 

Keep us posted with how you get on.