What is OVO’s complaints procedure?

Hi @martin123 

I’m really sorry to hear about all of this.

I’ve replied already on the thread below, but our Forum_Support should have sent a message over to you:

I’m really sorry for the negative experience you’ve had @richard45, it’s a very frustrating experience.

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

This comment was left by a Forum Volunteer

The Forum_Support method is manned exclusively by UK based staff. As it happens, I’ve actually met pretty much all of them - three of them in-person - and they all know me well. They’re considered the A-Team when it comes to getting stuff resolved and have a pretty high success rate.

They only respond to Forum members who have been referred their way. If you try to talk to them for any other reason, chances are they won’t reply.

Hey @richard45 

Glad to hear that’s all been resolved now.🙂

Feel free to pop back to the Forum anytime if you’ve ever got any other questions or tips to share with our community.😊

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 

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.

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.

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. 
 

Thank 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

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 :(

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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