What is OVO’s complaints procedure?

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

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Hi Blastoise186

It seems the payment has gone to an older joint account that was previously switched a couple of times, I can confirm that the payment has been received at an old account that I wasn’t aware of.

I will update CS by phone in the morning

Final Update:

This has now been resolved, I received the funds a week ago to an older closed account but no notification from the bank was sent to me.

When on calls with CS I was told the money was going to the bank details that were stored for the Direct Debit details, as the ex paid via DD (until they defaulted) so naturally assumed that payment was going to their bank account.

Turns out, when I made the payment over the phone, OVO had then linked that card to the Direct Debit details (for some reason) but this was a Cardholder Not Present payment, not a DD.

Checking old banking apps on my phone last night I found an account that had the payment in it.

So the payment had been sent to an older Halifax account which was closed, but had been switched to another bank: First Direct (seems like the banks keep some kind or redirect in place for such cases which is good to know for the future).

I still have issues with the suggestions from the representative to contact my ex, and contact their bank (Just as well I wasn’t going to do either as that would have caused drama)

I also have issues with the fact that after numerous calls and email requests, a cheque was never sent.

J

@JShannon I’m happy to hear that you’ve managed to get this resolved. Please feel free to pop back to us if you have any further issues.