OVO refusing to refund when I'm in credit - why?

Hi @Cordelia

The ovo website says 5 working days via your bank account or 7 to 10 days by cheque.

Have you had your refund now? 

The refund built up so much mainly because I didn’t understand the way that the account was reported by OVO. Also I was used to a much closer scrutiny of amounts owing and debit amounts by my previous supplier SSE.  Despite building up such a large credit OVO continued to take large debit amounts and at one point apologised for under charging! 

They are not good at communicating!

I checked my account last week and it wasn’t there, will check again today. The person I spoke to on the phone assured me it would be refunded to the account that the debit is taken from. I also sent a photo of my meter.

I’m at pensionable age and receive my state pension so this is a stressful and alarming position to be in.

Thanks for your responses all.

Hi @Cordelia

I would definitely recommend signing up for the priority service register if you haven't already as you are of pensionable age. It should help generally with issues when ovo staff see you are on the register. 

https://www.ovoenergy.com/help/article/priority-services-register

https://www.ovoenergy.com/register-for-priority-services

Thanks so much, will register 😊

Since OVO changed its policy on credit rewards, it has sunken to levels of what I see as gross profiteering by expecting customers to be 3 months in credit based on not the usage but the direct debit to guage refunds. This is outrageous and given the fact they've made it difficult to request a refund by having to phone at my expense and or enter into a time consuming chat with a machine before being put on to a real live advisor, it's even worse. My Direct debits are set to cover my winter bills. Given it's summer time, I've left them at this level rather than constantly adjust them and request refunds as OVO no longer give rewards. The refunds process was excellent until now and I've commented to people how easy it was in leaving my account a month in DD credit even though my bills are much lower. This moving of the goal posts by OVO is not on. The question everyone should be asking is... *Why are OVO asking for 3 months credit based on Direct Debits that are way higher than the actual bills?* 

Below is the final chat to an advisor. 

*Thank you and as this is being recorded let it be entered into your records that I disagree strongly with OVOs policy of expecting to hold back 3 months payments based on direct debits without considering the actual bills. Given there are no rewards now for being in credit, I see this as profiteering. The need to enter chats or use a phone line that's chargeable to me is also appalling. It's an obvious attempt to make refunds more difficult and I will be lobbying my local MP and contacting the ombudsman over this new stance along with an online presence.*

There seems to be a misunderstanding here, either on your part or the part of the advisor. OVO’s policy on refunds is clear on this point: “You can ask for a refund if your balance is in credit with at least a month’s Direct Debit amount”. The three-months’-DD threshold applies only to online applications; this is a safety measure, requiring the customer to contact Support if the credit on the account is less than three months’ DD so the implications of the refund can be explained. You should have been able to order a refund that would leave only one month’s DD on the account. 

If the advisor said something different and refused to action your refund, you should submit a complaint pointing out that the advisor got it wrong and asking for the full refund you’re eligible for. 

If your current DD is above the minimum it needs to be, you can always adjust it down, which would allow you to take a bigger refund. The DD is a constant monthly payment calculated to leave the account at zero at the end of winter (31 March) or the end of a fixed-price contract. This is how the recommended minimum is arrived at.

I tried to get a refund on the app as normal but it refused which meant I had to go to chat or phone them. If you read my post again you'll see why you need not have gone into DDs.

OK, I’m still not sure what the problem is. Were you not able to order the refund you wanted?

There is no ‘OVO policy of expecting to hold back 3 months payments’, regardless of how they’re arrived at. The most they insist on is holding one month’s DD against the next bill, which is fair enough since you’re contracted to keep your account in credit by paying for the supply in advance. If your DD is well above the recommended level, you’re at liberty to lower it yourself. I don’t know where you get the idea that OVO have moved the goalposts, as you put it - what has changed?

Look at other posts regarding this. 

Yes I got my refund but not without having to fight for it which is not on.

So you're a volunteer then? 😄

That’s a recommendation, not a requirement. As I wrote earlier, “The three-months’-DD threshold applies only to online applications; this is a safety measure, requiring the customer to contact Support if the credit on the account is less than three months’ DD so the implications of the refund can be explained.” 

You say you had to fight for your refund. I’ll ask again - did the advisor refuse to order the refund until you’d ‘fought for it’? That isn’t supposed to happen.