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Opened a new account in error when trying to renew

  • 24 October 2023
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A month ago I tried to sign up for fixed rate energy but accidentally opened a new account, no problem I thought, I'll just contact customer support explain what happened and get them to close this accidentally opened account.

Support assistant assured me it was all fine and the account was closed, yet a week later I have money unlawfully deducted from my bank as they had not closed it at all. Repeatedly complained telling them this was an issue and have been given nothing but lies, lies and more lies regarding the missing money (in one case they even replied to the wrong customer complaint and gave me someone else's account details).

 

If there is no other way to resolve what should have been a really simple matter it seems like there is no other choice but to take the matter to claims court and sue OVO for the money, but I thought I might post my experiences here to see if anyone else has had similar issues and if there are any other available resolutions available?

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Best answer by Emmanuelle_OVO 25 October 2023, 10:44

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Jeffus
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A month ago I tried to sign up for fixed rate energy but accidentally opened a new account, no problem I thought, I'll just contact customer support explain what happened and get them to close this accidentally opened account.

Support assistant assured me it was all fine and the account was closed, yet a week later I have money unlawfully deducted from my bank as they had not closed it at all. Repeatedly complained telling them this was an issue and have been given nothing but lies, lies and more lies regarding the missing money (in one case they even replied to the wrong customer complaint and gave me someone else's account details).

 

If there is no other way to resolve what should have been a really simple matter it seems like there is no other choice but to take the matter to claims court and sue OVO for the money, but I thought I might post my experiences here to see if anyone else has had similar issues and if there are any other available resolutions available?

Hi @Tchexovo

Sorry to hear about your issues. 

8 weeks after you first submitted a complaint you can go to the Energy Ombudsman

https://www.energyombudsman.org/

This will be quicker, cheaper and more effective in my experience than ever taking legal action through the courts. 

Has 8 weeks passed yet?

The complaint process is described here

https://www.ovoenergy.com/feedback

Blastoise186
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The Small Claims Court is not the correct solution - it’ll take months to get anywhere.

Try https://ovoenergy.com/feedback instead.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
Emmanuelle_OVO
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Userlevel 7

Hey @Tchexovo,

 

Sorry to hear this,

 

You should be able to file an indemnity claim with your back and get the money immediately refunded, you can then cancel the direct debit for the new account that was incorrectly created. If that’s not been done so already. 

 

It sounds like they closed the new account but the direct debit had already been requested from the bank. The timeframe to cancel a direct debit is 10 days. 

 

Or you can wait for the direct debit to be refunded to your account by OVO, but again the refund timeframe is longer. Another option is to get the payment ‘balance transferred’ to the account that was closed in error when you set up a new one. 

 

The quickest, easiest way to get the direct debit back is through the bank.

 

Hope this helps. 

 

 

Renewable Energy? Big Fan.
Jeffus
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Userlevel 7
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A month ago I tried to sign up for fixed rate energy but accidentally opened a new account, no problem I thought, I'll just contact customer support explain what happened and get them to close this accidentally opened account.

Support assistant assured me it was all fine and the account was closed, yet a week later I have money unlawfully deducted from my bank as they had not closed it at all. Repeatedly complained telling them this was an issue and have been given nothing but lies, lies and more lies regarding the missing money (in one case they even replied to the wrong customer complaint and gave me someone else's account details).

 

If there is no other way to resolve what should have been a really simple matter it seems like there is no other choice but to take the matter to claims court and sue OVO for the money, but I thought I might post my experiences here to see if anyone else has had similar issues and if there are any other available resolutions available?

Hi @Tchexovo Did you get your issue sorted? 

P
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I have three months to go on my fixed term, so decided to switch to 2 year fixed account, as the exit fee dosent charge if you swap to another Ovo fixed term.

Anyway. Didnt allow me to do it when logged into App so did it externally on web.

Result is I now have 2 Ovo Accounts for the same address. Will this resolve itself or will I need to contact them?

Blastoise186
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Hi @Paul_Bedfordshire ,

You should talk to OVO Support about this - they’ll need to fix it.

With that being said, you should NOT use https://switch.ovoenergy.com for renewals - you must go via MyOVO.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
P
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Userlevel 2

Hi @Paul_Bedfordshire ,

You should talk to OVO Support about this - they’ll need to fix it.

With that being said, you should NOT use https://switch.ovoenergy.com for renewals - you must go via MyOVO.

Take you point but My Ovo dosent offer other fixed rate plans and when I went via the website it said I could get better deals via My Ovo as I was an existing customer (it recognised my address) but didn't tell me not to proceed.

My Ovo also recognised the new acccount without me having to log in for it

P
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The old account now has plan deleted so it looks like it will just change over. Will lose my history but got it downloaded

Abby_OVO
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Userlevel 6

Hi @Paul_Bedfordshire 

 

Sorry to hear you’ve been having trouble.

 

If everything has resolved itself then that’s great, but if you’re still unsure or having issues with the plan or account, please do reach out to the Support Team so they can help with that.

 

 

Hope this helps.

Location: Electric Avenue
P
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Userlevel 2

Hi @Paul_Bedfordshire 

 

Sorry to hear you’ve been having trouble.

 

If everything has resolved itself then that’s great, but if you’re still unsure or having issues with the plan or account, please do reach out to the Support Team so they can help with that.

 

 

Hope this helps.

Thanks Abby. Just had a final bill for my "Old" account with no exit fees so it looks like it will sort. Also smart meter monitor seems to be charging at the new rate. 

Just a shame it set up a new account so usage history no longer available on it. 

Abby_OVO
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Userlevel 6

Hey @Paul_Bedfordshire 

 

Does sound like it’s all worked itself out in the end.

 

Just a shame it set up a new account so usage history no longer available on it. 

 

Yeah this is a bit of a shame about that, but we’ll have the history on record so for things like calculating Direct Debit, we’ll still use that usage data for calculating on the new account.

 

If you do stumble across any issues in future, always feel free to pop back to the Forum.🙂

Location: Electric Avenue
P
Rank
Userlevel 2

Hey @Paul_Bedfordshire 

 

Does sound like it’s all worked itself out in the end.

 

Just a shame it set up a new account so usage history no longer available on it. 

 

Yeah this is a bit of a shame about that, but we’ll have the history on record so for things like calculating Direct Debit, we’ll still use that usage data for calculating on the new account.

 

If you do stumble across any issues in future, always feel free to pop back to the Forum.🙂

Thanks Abby. Gave them a ring this morning and they have closed the new account and are going to activate the new 2 year fix on my existing account tomorrow.

 

Pau,

Abby_OVO
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Userlevel 6

Hey @Paul_Bedfordshire 

 

Thanks for coming back with that update, I’m really glad to hear that’s all been sorted out for you!🙂

Location: Electric Avenue
P
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Userlevel 2

Due to an error renewing I ended up with a duplicate account. It has been sorted. The duplicate account is now showing "No supply points found" and inaccessible and my electricity is now back on my old account.

However I had a direct debit of over £100 to the new account. I contacted the call centre and asked for a refund. They said that during the chaos about £6 of electricity was used on the new account so I would get a refund less that £6.

This will take about 4 weeks apparently but they hoped it would be quicker. I'm a bit nervous that by not cancelling the direct debit so the refund can go in I am leaving myself open to another direct debit next month if the system is at all buggy?

 

ChristopherS_OVO
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Hi @Paul_Bedfordshire,

 

I recommend speaking with our support team about this so they can review the situation. Generally, for a refund, we just return this to the account from which the direct debit is drawn, which needs to be live. If you cancel the direct debit, we can still issue the refund as a cheque. They would need to ensure the account is set up to do this process and get the subsequent direct debit cancelled for you. 

 

If you reach out to them, they can work on resolving this for you, but keep us updated!

 

P
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Userlevel 2

Thanks @ChristopherS_OVO 

I will leave it for now to let the refund take its course as promised when I phoned them.

If it dosent materialise and another direct debit comes out I will cancel the direct debit and take up the cudgels.

The duplicate account now states "No Supply Points Found" so hopefully it should be set up ok

 

 

 

ChristopherS_OVO
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Hi @Paul_Bedfordshire, 

 

I agree we will let the refund run the course. The standard timescale for a refund is five working days from when it’s issued, so hopefully, it’ll be with you shortly. It sounds like they are closing the duplicate account, so you wouldn’t need to do anything else. 

If you need it, our refund policy can be found here.

 

Keep us updated when this is resolved, and if you need anything, please reach out!

 

P
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Userlevel 2

Hi @ChristopherS_OVO 

Update. Rang today and spoke with Debbie in your Glasgow call Centre.

She said as the duplicate account has no meter point the direct debit has not gone in and it is frozen with an outstanding balance of £6.95. 

She asked me to email hello@ovo.com with a copy of statement (screenshotted) and the accout number in the title and they would sort a refund.

I have sent the following from the email address registered to the account and got an auto acknowledgement.

"Please find confirmation (attacher) that £133.59 was debited to Ovo Account number 2578**** on 9th April.

This acount no longer has a meter point. Please would you refund me £133.59 less the outstanding balance on the account which is £6.95.

Reference telephone call with Debbie, 19th April 2024 at 10.30AM."

Paul

 

 

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