What is OVO’s complaints procedure?

Whaaat ?? That’s not very ‘OVO’ !!

Thank you for getting back to me. That’s helpful information.

Yes, I was quite taken aback by the whole thing to be honest!

Is it possible to be gaslighted by a company? 
 

made a complaint yesterday and spoke to someone in the resolutions team. Received a call today whilst at work (which I couldn’t answer) and then an email asking me to call the resolutions team to discuss the resolution to my complaint. Spent another hour on the phone tonight to be told I haven’t made a complaint. Huh?! 

Hey @KatyL 

I’m really sorry to hear about your recent calls with OVO and how they’ve made you feel. That’s definitely not the kind service we aim for and I want to help as much as I can to help get this sorted for you.

The best thing to do next will be to contact the number they’ve provided to you again if they did leave a number to contact, as this would suggest the complaint has been raised and escalated.

Otherwise, if they’ve not left a number for you to call back, I would suggest contacting our Support Team, and they can make sure that this is escalated correctly for you, part of your complaint can be that it wasn’t escalated correctly when you first requested it. As Jeffus mentioned, you can also go to the energy Ombudsman if your complaint hasn’t been resolved within 8 weeks, but hopefully we can get it resolved before then.

You can see all open contact channels via our Help Centre

We don’t have access to accounts here, so we wouldn’t be able to check for any complaints on the account. I would recommend asking for a note of the complaint reference number as well when you speak with someone.

Hi again @KatyL

So did they finally log a formal complaint when you spoke last night?

Did they give you a complaint case number?

Not a lot else i can suggest, probably worth highlighting your experience on the OVO Trustpilot site

https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.ovoenergy.com

Thanks both for getting back to me. 
 

I spent an hour and a half last night talking to someone in Resolutions who said that because there is an issue with my account, complaints can’t actually be logged against it. He helped me to raise an “off…something” complaint and linked it to my account so it will eventually be linked to my account. I now have a number for my complaint. My account seems to be having issues with the migration process and is still stuck which means I’m getting no bills, no updates on charges and nobody can help because they can’t get into my account. Smart meters are now working and sending readings but still no bill info. 
 

in the meantime I’ve received a further call asking if they’ve resolved my complaint because they want to close it 🤦🏻‍♀️

Hey @KatyL , I hope you’ve had a good weekend.

I’m glad you’ve got a complaint logged and a note of the complaint reference now. I know it must be really frustrating to have to wait for the account to be sorted, but you are more than entitled to keep the complaint open until you know that your billing etc, is working for you as it should be.

Have they given you any timeframe to expect the account to be ‘unstuck’ by?

Hi @Abby_OVO 

they’ve said it could take up to 30 working days

Hi @KatyL 

If it does not get resolved in 30 days to your satisfaction. 

I would ask the Ombudsman to get  involved 8 weeks after you first raised a complaint. 

https://www.ombudsman-services.org/sectors/energy

It is not your issue that OVO didn't log your complaint properly in the first place. 

Hi I’m not a customer ,nor never will be after my experience with this company, somebody with same name as me,who lives in a different part of the country ran up a big debt with ovo and for some reason I received an email which I queried as I wondered what was going on,and they started chasing me for this debt,I went to the energy ombudsman and ovo agreed this wasn’t my debt,and awarded me £200 compensation and I received a letter saying as much, fast forward nearly 12 months and I’m again receiving letters saying I owe money,and threatening me with court action,I’ve rang them that many times now and all I get is the same scripted let me escalate it for you and nothing ever happens,I am now at my wits end with this company and just don’t know which way to turn 

Hi,

I’ve flagged this for Moderator attention. Please wait for a response

This kind of issue with debt thankfully happens very rarely. It is of course not limited to energy companies and hopefully OVO will resolve it for you. Sounds like they never recovered the debt from the party owing and hence the case has been reopened.

I suspect OVO will be able to resolve this as the ultimate outcome would be going to court. Sounds like you have evidence to prove you are not responsible so could be costly for OVO if they were to pursue this route.

I would recommend that you check your credit rating just in case a bad debt has been registered in your name. My suggestion would be to contact the Citizens Advice Bureau with the details of your case and let them help you clear up this mess and prevent any collateral damage to you. Don't delay in doing this.

Always be polite to the people on the phone.

You should say to them, or preferably say by email or in writing, that the ombudsman has already resioved the matter in your favour. Quote your previous ombudsman case number. (It's on your account at the Ombudsman portal).

That should immediately stop any more demands being sent.

I would then give time for any already sent by post demands to be delivered and if any are received after that take legal advice/action for ‘harrasment’.

PS. I have been in a similar situation and advise that you also stop talking to people on the phone, they do not have all the facts and will just give standard answers.

Instead insist that any further contact is by email or letter (where you also have a record of exactly what was said). It also gives you time to calm down after reading it.

if anyone should then phone you, and you answer them, then politely insist again that all contact is in writing and not by phone and politely hang up.

Hey @Schoie61,

I’m really sorry for the issues you’re having, 

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

Hi there anyone else have problems changing from pay as you go meter to a pay monthly and getting cut off as it’s not set up!!!! 
my parents have been cut off power twice now as OVO can’t seem to set this up properly for them,my dad always pays everything on time and never been in debt,he’s just simple being told he’s on pay monthly when he’s obviously not!!! 
they keep telling him he’s all set up on pay monthly but when his pay as you go meter runs out they get him off!!! 
 

you try phoning the help line and letting them know they live in a situation where it’s an emergency but they don’t care and are completely useless with operators just repeating themselfs on phone like a robot telling you to press A and B on your meter,even though you tell them it’s not working,they just repeat it 20 more times as that’s all they say until your stressed and upset!!! 
 

im sooo angry that this has happened twice to my parents and my poor dads been on phone 20 times trying to sort it out and make sure things are ok so that there not cut off!!! 
my mum has severe Multiple sclerosis and is bedridden and wheelchair bound,she has all sorts of medical equipment,inflatable mattress and electric roof hoists and this is not acceptable that they continue to tell them over phone that it’s all set up now for pay monthly then once emergency meter runs out they switch off power again!!! 

we’re at our wits end and the stress it’s causing our family we need help as can’t seem to get any over phone,they need power to keep working as they live in an emergency situation I’m soo upset!!! 
 

Diane. 
 

Hi @dizer06 ,

I am flagging to Forum Moderators now. Please bear with me.

Paging @ChristopherS_OVO 

Thank you. 

Hi @dizer06, 

@Blastoise186 has made me aware of your post and I’m really sorry to hear about the experience you and your parents have experienced. You deserve better and we have let you down so far. 

I’m going to ask our Forum_Support team to reach out to you so keep an eye on your messages for more information. 

I will make sure this is raised for you so we can help get things back on track for you. 

Hi all,

I’m having a terrible time getting a refund from OVO.

I took control of the account after my ex defaulted on payments and ignored final notice letters and emails.

Everything was closed down after I moved (I paid over the phone).

OVO recently sent a message to say I owed them £40, I called and they said I owed them nothing and they in fact owed me over £700.

 They said they would send me a cheque for the full amount and confirmed my address.

I received email notification again that payment would be made by BACS, I called them within minutes of receiving the email to say it should be by cheque, they said it was going via BACS to the DD account on record, there was no account registered on the portal. Turns out it was my ex’s bank account.

Told them we were no longer together and there was no contact at all.

 They confirmed they would send the cheque out.

 Rinse and repeat the above a few more times.

I called this Tuesday after receiving another BACS email notice, they said it is being sent to the ex’s account again, I told them to stop it and send a cheque.

I was contacted later the same day by someone in Complaints.

 He told me that they will try to stop the bank transfer and would call me on the 4th or 5th.

I called today and was told if I had called yesterday that they could have stopped the payment going to my ex, I spoke with the Complaints person again, who suggested that I could:

1. contact my ex (we have no contact at all)

2. contact my ex’s bank and ask them to stop the transfer (what kind of advice is that?)

He advised he is running a report and will contact me tomorrow (Friday)

Why am I being punished for a failure of every single person I have spoken to or emailed to follow the information that I provided, the bank account OVO someone has on record is not mine, they have been told this repeatedly and not once did anyone ask me for the correct details even through I offered them, and didn’t send a cheque as suggested initially by them and repeatedly requested by me.

I’ll update following my call tomorrow, this is very stressful.

J

Hi @JShannon 

I’m really sorry to hear about this situation, it does sounds very complicated but not something we’ve not seen before so we should be able to help get things sorted.

I’m going to have our Forum_Support reach out to you about this to get some help with this. Keep an eye out for a private message here soon: https://forum.ovoenergy.com/inbox/overview.

Update:

payment has been made to the Ex’s bank account.

Complaints case manager suggested I get a mutual friend to ask her for the money back.

this is getting beyond ridiculous.

apparently he has escalated it, but only after I asked, otherwise it was for me to contact the ex via a friend, or to contact their bank (yes he suggested that again)

Told them I will be calling back for an update on Monday lunchtime (more hours to waste)

@Abby_OVO thanks, I replied to their private message with the relevant info, awaiting a reponse. I really am concerned about the complaints case manager I have and the suggestions he is making, feels like they had made their mind up from the start that the payment will go ahead to the wrong person :(

 Hi @JShannon,

I’m really sorry to hear that you’ve experienced this. Our Forum_Support team should be in touch as soon as possible to help. Please keep us updated.

Update:

Called at lunchtime, spoke with someone competent who took notes and would pass them on to the Complaints Person assigned to the case, it could take 3-5 days for them to get the notes/review them.

I suggested (which they wrote down their notes) that they make payment to me via cheque as requested many times, once I receive that and deposit it into my account, that’s my issue resolved, they (OVO) can then reclaim the funds from the ex’s account on their own schedule and I have no more dealings with this issue.

Totted up the time spent on phone calls since feb and it’s 13 calls and just over 4 hours with Customer Support! not including the emails and this forum post (19 emails)

Thanks @Shads_OVO, seems like I have to wait, anything that can be done to help resolve (pay me) would be fantastic.

J