OVO have treated their customers who are on their legacy on-line portal very badly. OVO decided not to inform customers by email that their on-line access had been suspended and have failed to pro-actively keep us informed of when our on-line access will be restored. Despite being assured on multiple occasions that on-line access would be restored by the end of 2023 this is now promised in Q1 2024.
Customers need to let OVO know that they need to keep us regularly informed and make it a priority to restore our on-line access by the end of January not the end of March 2024.
A selection of my recent correspondence with OVO is below.
9th December
“I am afraid I have no infinitive date on when you will be migrated over to our upgraded system, where you will be able to use the app. When we spoke some time ago, we said end of the year However, let me take this away and see if I can get an update.”
11th December
“We are currently working towards getting a defined date for when you would be able to get back into the App, as currently the working time frame for this internally is End of this year into the beginning of 2024, however we will see what we can do to find you a defined date on this.”
13th December
“We are currently working towards getting a defined date for when you would be able to get back into the App, as currently the working time frame for this internally is End of this year into the beginning of 2024, however we will see what we can do to find you a defined date on this.”
22nd December
“I have been asking around to find out more information on the migration, and I have been told it will all be done by end of Q1.”
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We’re also not talking about a simple calculator either. The web portal for the legacy billing system was shut down last year due to a security flaw. However, I am absolutely forbidden from revealing the details of that flaw even if I knew what they were - which I don’t. All I can say is that it was not myself who reported it, but someone else. I do not know who made the report either.
The Apollo billing system corrupted thousands of accounts which is one of the reasons OVO is getting rid of it, but they cannot move yours if it’s still in a bad state - it needs to be cleaned up first and that takes time because there’s still a few thousand to go through. Each one takes a LOT of manual action and a lot of man hours to fix in order to prepare it for transfer - and then you have to convert the data to the new system, you can’t just Dump N Go as it doesn’t work that way.
That is why I asked the question. Do you really want your entire account to just work even if it takes longer to get access to online services, or be completely messed up from the word go but have it immediately? This is NOT just about the web portal!
Have you seen anyone on this forum saying that they have been successfully moved to the new billing platform?
Well of course anyone who has sucessfully moved will not be logging on to the forum to complain. so you won’t see them.
Satisfied/happy people don’t usually log onto support fora to shout about it.
It’s something to bear in mind with any/all support fora - they are mainly there for people to post their problems and complaints and get whatever answers and solutions are available..
So that’s mainly what you see on support fora - lots of problems and complaints.
It can tend to make things look somewhat one-sided
Have you seen anyone on this forum saying that they have been successfully moved to the new billing platform?
Well of course anyone who has sucessfully moved will not be logging on to the forum to complain. so you won’t see them.
Satisfied/happy people don’t usually log onto fora to shout about it.
It’s something to bear in mind with any/all support fora - they are mainly there for people to post their problems and complaints and get whatever answers are available..
So that’s mainly what you see on support fora - lots of problems and complaints.
It can tend to make things look somewhat one-sided
Maybe most people don’t bother, but surely some of the satisfied customers should be reporting back here. I did that when I successfully received my final bill and compensation (after epic delays).
As Nukecad just mentioned, 99% of happy customers never come here at all and many of those who found our solutions helpful don’t come back to tell us - we only get a handful who ever do.
Myself and Nukecad are part of the 0.1% of visitors who choose to stick around and actively help out, which is why we have the Forum Volunteer status that we hold. Anyone can earn it, but very few choose to do so.
Folks often come here to ask their one question and then vanish into the shadows until the end of time. That’s just how these forums work.
Just to note that at the moment I wouldn’t include myself in that 99% happy group.
I do have my own issues with OVO.
Currently account access online is one of them, I did have access to my account online since moving from SSE to OVO, but lost it a month ago. It’s a different, (and somewhat unusual), issue to the one that you ‘legacy’ customers are facing, but with the same frustration of losing online access - so I know what it’s like when you can’t see/handle your acount online anymore,
Any updates we get internally about the progress of the online account access issues, we’ll update all relevant topics.
I appreciate how frustrating it must be. We’re working on fixing things and will be back in touch in the near future with an update. In the meantime, you’ll continue to get your bill every month by email or post as usual. If you have any questions or need help with anything, please chat, call, or email our support team.
Is anyone else experiencing problems with not being given access to new app/website. It was supposed to be done by 1st of January but I still can't get access. July.
They have told me there are issues but I don't believe them. It's just a fob off because they don't want to deal with it.
Actually, OVO does want to get this done. However, this isn’t about giving you a new app or website - it’s actually about moving you off of the legacy billing system Apollo and onto the new billing platform Orion.
It’s not as easy as it sounds and there’s a lot of data corruption to fix - this is why it’s taking so long.
Why has no one I have spoken to mentioned that? This is the first time I have heard of it being a billing issue.
This has been an ongoing project since around 2017 - and there’s been discussions about it here ever since. If you ask your questions in the right places, you can get answers much faster.
Not everyone at OVO has access to the same stuff.
If you ask your questions in the right places, you can get answers much faster.
Of course the problem there is knowing just where that ‘right place’ might be.
You could be forgiven if you expect your first contact to be able to direct you to ‘the right place’.
OK, while posting this message I have learned that this is indeed a serious issue that has been going on since at least December 2023
Nathan was not honest when I asked him about the issue and I am regretting not staying with Octopus and switching to their fixed deal.
So my question now is what is the best way to submit my monthly meter readings?
Can’t log on to my OVO account at https://paym.ovoenergy.com/ I am not given the option of inputting my credentials, I just get the message below:
We're working on a new website for you
We're very sorry that you can't log in to your account at the moment. We're working on fixing things and will be back in touch in the near future with an update.
In the meantime, you'll continue to get your bill every month by email or post as usual.
Unless the property has been on OVO for a very long time, you shouldn’t be seeing that message. Even then, the ONLY reason you should see that message would be if you’re one of the few remaining customers who are still on the legacy system. That number is dropping on a weekly basis but it’s definitely not the place to attempt logging in from.
By the way, please consider an alternative username just in case you get asked to change it. Only OVO staff are allowed to have OVO at the end of their usernames as it helps to make them stand out.
I’m not sure where you got that “paym” link from? But it is not the one that you should be using. It’s a link and message meant for a certain group of customers who had their accounts transferred from SSE to OVO. If I click on that link then I see the same message, but of course it isn’t meant for me, or for you.
Either of the 2 links that Blastoise186 gives above are what you want to use. Either one will take you to the login page for the OVO portal where you can login to your account (or set it up if you haven’t done that yet). Once you are logged in you can submit meter readings, view you usage and balance, and much more.
Hey @rambo
As a couple of our volunteers have already suggested, you should try a different link than the one you’ve included in the topic.
If you could try these links for us, and let us know how you get on there.
If you’re still met with the same message, the readings can be submitted to the Support Team as already mentioned above by Blastoise186.
This has been an extremely interesting read, I wont pretend Ive read all 7 pages. Its a difficult read, a troublesome topic. This whole situation is unfortunate at best, in reality though this has become a total farce.
"Also, I think you miiiiiiight just find that your services get restored a bit faster than September..." aged especially terribly... The only real answer is, we wait till OVO fix it. Nothing can be done. Can leave if we want.
but comments like;
-" I found traces ranging back to 2017 about the new system being on the way!"
-"you don’t have is the last piece of the puzzle, which is why online access was turned off early. Only OVO and the Forum Volunteers here have access to that information as it’s still under NDA at this time."
are enlightening.
This problem has been ongoing, growing even and mustve hastily worsened. Likely data corruption or security weaknesses were exploited. NDAs, pulling the plug early, Ofgem involvement, avoiding the problem directly are all indicators of serious fault. I can only speculate, of course.
It may have been asked before, how can a company this large struggle so long? Is it at all true that theres a small, couple of thousand accounts affected? What is the plan, if its a small percent than focus on it intensely and it could be resolved efficiently. Or is it really such a small amount of accounts effected, just enough to let them all leave acrimoniously and lock that door behind each customer?
The companies profits have declined by £130 million. Whats that, 75%?
It would be interesting to see the actual newly joined, switched accounts rather compared with inherited accounts and accounts being closed.
Probs an NDA on that too.
Something I want to add, I did finally get a response from OVO regarding thus issue. A phone call from SA. The gentleman said it could be 6 months or something, I set a reminder on my phone. I dont have that phone anymore so cant be more precise.
He mentioned its either 5 a day, that are being fully migrated, or 5 a month. I think he just plucked those numbers out of thin air tbh but again, more cracks to peer into.
Well I am probably still banned from the web site, but I will try anyway.
After 16 months of no access to my account, and an Ombudsman decision in my favour, I moved over to Octopus, who set up my account and transferred in five days.
The Octopus Customer Support is absolutely delightful and couldn’t be more helpful. What a wonderful change.
I am now waiting for OVO to refund my considerable account balance, 7 weeks and waiting. And there is the bounced cheque for £60 still not refunded.
Just a word of advice.
Forum Bans apply to the user, not just the account. If you are permanently Forum Banned on one account, you are permanently Forum Banned on ALL accounts, including future ones you create.
Hey @Hadders53,
I’m sorry you’ve had such a negative experience.
You can find out about our full complaint procedure here.
Here is a link to our forum terms & conditions:
Hope this helps.
Being critical of OVO is allowed here, partially because it creates a balanced view overall.
It's when the criticism turns into abuse is when it becomes a problem - that's where we draw the line.
For example:
I don’t like OVO much because they messed up my bills and (insert super helpful constructive feedback and/or discussion points here) so I want to see them try to fix (insert useful suggestion here). Oh, and they REALLY need to try harder at (insert painful issue here) next time.
Is totally fine because while it’d be critical of OVO, it also throws in some stuff that’d help OVO improve in the future and is respectful. It may still attract a moderation action of a free tow truck to tow it to a better part of the Forum (such as Smart Meters → My Account) but these are “Free” and don’t trigger any kind of infraction on your record as it’s more just housekeeping stuff. And to be totally fair, folks don’t always know which part of the Forum to post in, so they often guess and it might be they didn’t know there was a better spot for it.
However…
I hate OVO because all X are (insert vile comment here)
Will probably result in the ModHammer of Doom smashing the comment to pieces and throwing it in the bin for disrespect.
That’s kinda how it works here in a way - and arguably everywhere else that’s well moderated would probably do the same. It’s worth remembering that regardless of how well (or how badly) moderated social networking sites and individual groups (such as Facebook Pages, Facebook Groups, Twitter Replies and Subreddits or whatever else is out there) are, there are different rules and moderation strategies here than what you may be used to elsewhere as this is ultimately a case of us all being a guest in OVO’s house. And in OVO’s house, OVO gets to set the rules - just like you can set your own rules to be whatever you want (within reason) if you have your own discussion space.
Why has the OVO web site been unavailable this year and when will it be resurrected?
Hi @jvendplunger,
I’m sorry to hear this.
Was your account on our old system? This thread might be helpful if so:
Many thanks, the situation is completely unacceptable, and I’ve lodged a complaint on this matter.
Like Hadders53, I have resolved my growing frustration over account access and lack of bills by finally throwing in the towel and being welcomed with open arms by Octopus. What a breath of fresh air (like Ovo was when I moved to them from Scottish Power years ago).
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