What is OVO’s complaints procedure?

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?! 

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

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 @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 @not happy

Welcome to the customer forum, i am just a customer like you.

No one here can access your account or complaint information, including the OVO moderators. 

You can find the complaint process here

https://www.ovoenergy.com/feedback

If you summited an official complaint back in October then after 8 weeks if you are not happy you can ask the  Energy Ombudsman to help

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

Obviously I don't know if an official complaint has ever formally been raised, you would have to confirm that with OVO.

If a formal complaint hasn't been raised then do that now as that will act as the  review you are asking for.

You talk about estimated usage, do you have a smart meter or do you enter readings manually every month? 

When will this shower of a company actually help someone thats still waiting for a response from several complaints including from the CAB and still nothing after over a year of complaining, think it’s time that this so called energy firm either step up to what your online policies are or could some other decent company that offers its customers a lot more help than ovo and they also listen unlike this company, 

just a idea, talk to the wall instead 

Anything that we can help with on the forum, @Fedupcustoner? Have you got an escalated complaint with OVO, with a dedicated complaint handler you can contact? 

I have moved this into the My Account category. 

Hey @JamesArmstrong,

This sounds very frustrating, I’m sorry to hear this. 

We have an Ombudsman team and the phone line is managed at all times with abandon rates at less than 10% on average. They are always in contact with the Ombudsman about cases, new and existing ones. The number is also available for customers with an Ombudsman complaint to contact them directly, usually given when they’re at the final decision stage, when the team issue a letter to the customer their number is on there for them. 

Did you go through the OVO complaint process before contacting the Ombudsman? Has the Ombudsman given a ‘remedy’ to the complaint yet or are they still investigating? 

The following information is taken from our Complaint Process which can be found on our website:

If they think we should have done more than we’ve offered, they’ll tell us what we are required to do.

This can include:

• An explanation
• An apology
• A specific action, including compensation

You don’t have to accept their decision, but we do.

Hope this helps. 

Really sorry to hear this @JamesArmstrong,

I’ll get Forum_Support to reach out to you. Please keep an eye on your private messages.

I’m a forum volunteer. I don’t work for OVO.

If you switch away, most complaints are automatically closed and you lose your ability to make complaints (with the exception of matters related to GDPR, Erroneous Transfers, Final Bills and Final Refunds) - you have to go via your new supplier. It is strongly recommended to resolve ALL complaints before switching suppliers, otherwise you’ll risk either slowing down resolutions or terminating the entire complaint completely.

You can still do GDPR requests after leaving though, such as to request closure/deletion of your online account via GDPR Right to be Forgotten. That and Final Bill/Refund related matters are allowed. But otherwise, the old supplier loses all responsibility and liability once the account is closed and moved to the new supplier, so cannot do anything further with it.

Ultimately, once the account is closed, fully paid off and refunds issued (where appropriate), that’s the end of the relationship.

Hey @Jeffreytspaulding 

I’m really sorry to hear about all of this, I’m quite surprised at the length of time it’s taking to resolve the complaint.

I know we always want to resolve complaints but the Ombudsman are at hand for times when a reasonable resolution cannot be met within 8 weeks of the complaint being raised. You can contact them when your complaint passes the 8 week mark so if they’re not already involved, it may be worth contacting them for some help with this.

What’s the current status of the complaint? Has it been escalated and with a complaint handler? We don’t have access to accounts at the Forum so we can’t offer specific advice to your account but we can try and help steer you in the right direction with some more information.