Why am I still getting charged for gas? - my faulty gas meter was removed!

That really doesn’t bode well, does it?  Are you any closer to a resolution? 

On the 21st of Dec 2022 we contacted OVO to inform them that we have converted to 100% electric and no longer need gas . Therefore wanted to cancel the contract. On the 30th Dec 2022 we received confirmation from OVO that the meter would be removed within 45 days. It has not yet been removed and OVO are still taking the Direct Debit of £23 per month from my bank account. We no longer consume any gas and therefore, do not understand why we are still being debited and are paying the service charge of £8.83 per month.

We have tried, unsuccessfully, to contact OVO by phone, email to the complaints department and chat line.

Out of desperation and frustration we have asked OVO if we should refer this matter to the Ombudsman and have had no reponse.

Below is how OVO claim to resolve issues:

“Let us know if you have an issue

Our expert team will try to resolve it straight away wherever possible. We’ll say sorry if we’ve made a mistake, explain what went wrong, and fix any issues.”

The desirable outcome would be for OVO to resolve this immediately by having the meter removed, stop taking our money and refund any money they have taken since we gave them notice.

If for whatever reason this is not possible we would be happy get in touch with anybody else who finds themselves in this unacceptable situation and go to the Ombudsman together.

If you want my advice I'd suggest you cancel the request for OVO to remove your meter. Then change supplier (I'd recommend Octopus) and get them to remove your meter. If you stick with OVO you'll end up in the same situation as those of us on the thread I've linked to... still paying the standing charge months later and with complaints raised with the ombudsman.

OVO boast 30,000 5 star Truspilot Reviews. Impressive.

However, I wonder what the other 99.4% of the 5 million UK customers think?

Two questions come to mind:

How many of their 5 million customers (and ex customers) are paying for gas and or electricity that they are no longer being supplied, 

How many are still paying a service charge for a meter that has either been removed or has still not been removed despite the customers best endeavours?

• We installed an ASHP so no longer needed Gas and having solar panel as well we were also not using gas during the summer months for hot water.
• Our gas supply was disconnected through Ovo in September 2022 at a cost of £160 taken from our online account which we pay by DD (gas & electricity).
• In December I received our statement and we had been charged for using Gas, estimated reading even though I gave a final reading (I also have a photograph of the removed meter).
• I call Ovo to inform them but as a long standing customer I am on their old system (Apollo) and so the automated account recognition to the call centre does not work and when connected to an agent I am then transferred, put on hold, transferred again until someone can eventually access my account.
• In December the service agent told me that there was nothing that they could do about the charges and that “a case” needed to be raised which would take 32 days to be responded to regarding my account charges for gas. I queried this and they were insistent, I highlighted that I would then be charged for gas again for the next month and the advice given by them was to cancel my DD payment. I ignored this as it would affect my credit rating but took a note of the case number raised.
• On the same day as the above I made a formal complaint to Ovo by email with the case number and account number clearly called out recapping the above and have never received a response.
• In January since I had heard nothing I raised this issue on the Ovo forum and quickly got replies that other customers had similar issues, after several posts an Ovo representative replied and said they would help.
• I then received a direct message (DM) from the Ovo representative stating that they would looking in to this, they asked for more information so I provide everything, cut and pasted the complaint emails into the chat. I was then contact by another representative stating that they would cancel my gas so no further charges would occur apart from the standing charge whilst they investigated and resolved the issue.
• Since then I have heard nothing back and have chased again last week as I received my latest statement where Ovo have charged myself another £257 for gas I have not used.
• I raised this by DM on the forum to the representative and informed them that I would be contacting 3rd parties but have heard nothing back.,
• My account also seems to now be locked in some way as I am unable to provide meter readings for electricity or reconfirm again my final gas meter reading either on the app or on a browser, chrome etc.

The irony is that I join Ovo nearly 10 years ago because of their great customer service when they were a small team based in Brighton.

Are there any small claims cases in progress with Ovo?

Did you take your complaint to the Ombudsman after the 8 weeks since you put the complaint in sometime in December? I would do that if they haven't replied. 

A ruling by the Ombudsman creates a civil liability that you could take through the courts if you absolutely had to (i was involved in a Financial Ombudsman case nothing to do with OVO), but that really was a last resort.

I have flagged the OVO moderators as you were offered support via DM that hasn't worked. @Tim_OVO @Emmanuelle_OVO 

You can add a review on Trustpilot to highlight the issues if you haven't already

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

I've directed two more people to this thread so the problem clearly hasn't been solved and is only getting worse.

@Tim_OVO @Emmanuelle_OVO  You can see this is a recurring issue and it seems obvious that OVO have a problem with removing gas meters from accounts. Wouldn't it make sense for it to be fixed and for OVO to be communicating with these customers? If the company I worked for had a recurring issue like this we'd have people working on it.

Including link for future cross reference

The charge for gas and gas meter has been removed from my account for about 5 days! 
 

however the electricity readings have disappeared,OVO relying on a reading from September 2022 which has replicated itself every month through my account, which leaves my account with a very positive balance but they’ve deleted reading submitted 18 days ago, it won’t accept the readings I’ve sent each day for the last 3 days

( because it says out of kilter with historical readings!)

cannot see where/ how or if they’re refunding the daily charges for gas that have been

“ taken “ over the last 10 months.

it’s still a mess.

Hey @MattatWhitstable,

Really sorry you’ve been experiencing this issue, it seems to be one we’ve seen a few times on the Forum.

@Jeffus has provided some helpful advice here:

You can find out more about our Complaints Procedure on the website. 

I hope this gets sorted for you as soon as possible.