Why am I still getting charged for gas? - My faulty gas meter was removed!
Hi for the last two months I have been getting billed for gas I could not have used as I no longer have a gas meter, how do I go about having this extra charge removed from my bill.
I have tried contacting ovo several times of the last couple of months due to errors in ym bill but have heard nothing from them, it took 3 months for them to accept that my meters are faulty and agree to replace them.
this error is costing my at least 40 pounds per month just now in gas charges and my electrictiy chrages range from 92p to over 10 pounds per day, this i kind of expect as I am all electric including my heating, however i have been charged 10 pounds on two sepecrate days this week when i was not in my home to use energy and my heating is manuel controlled by myself.
this is becoming more and more distressing I am not looking forward to see what they will be charging me next month.
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I've had an ombudsman ruling in my favour over this issue. I'm now waiting for OVO to comply with the ruling.
Surely it would be cheaper and less hassle for OVO to fix the problem, rather than deal with endless complaints and ombudsman rulings?
I have tried to contact OVO but they don’t seem interested the bill today 9th May risen to £1900 I just give up perhaps when they come to disconnect me or take me to court they will see I HAVE NOT GOT GAS
Is the Energy Ombudsman involved in your complaint @caroline Rose
Hi Jeffus yes I have just involved them today I hope someone can sort this mess out OVO don’t seem to understand
Hi @LAB18
Yes, once the system had finally accepted that the gas meter had gone, they recalculated all my charges back to the date of the meter removal, removing all the gas standing charges, and added them back onto my credit balance. As they had previously asked for a ridiculously high DD and their system wouldn't let me reduce it until it finally realised that there was no gas supply, I am now slowly working through a credit balance of more than £700! I figured that,as I'd already paid it over to them, I might as well leave it there as a buffer in case of further energy price shocks.
Can you tell me who at OVO dealt with your issue, I’m at a complete dead end now having exhausted the complaints procedure & the Ombudsman intervention still hasn’t stopped the gas standing charges, many thanks
Hi @caroline Rose
I’m really sorry that you’re not getting any further forward with all of this.
It’s a shame that it’s had to go to the Ombudsman, rather than it being resolved by the Support Team. Keep us updated on how you get on with this as any update you provide may be helpful for other users.
Hi Abby my case worker has left OVO so I have to wait for a new one to be assigned before anything came move forward but in the meantime more letters keep coming and price keeps going up bloody joke I think
Hi @LAB18 ,
I seemed to get passed between a number of so called “Advanced Resolution Specialists” who all seemed to be more concerned with furthering the “complaints process” than actually solving the problem that had begun it!
The one person I eventually dealt with, who actually seemed to realise that “resolving” a complaint was perhaps best dealt with by “solving” the problem, was a lady called *edited by mod*. I don’t know whether she is still there, she was clearly destined for higher things! The first time I spoke with her on the phone I was conscious that here was somebody who was actually listening to what i was saying and thinking about a solution, and then she actually achieved it. I hope you can find her.
Hi @LAB18 ,
I seemed to get passed between a number of so called “Advanced Resolution Specialists” who all seemed to be more concerned with furthering the “complaints process” than actually solving the problem that had begun it!
The one person I eventually dealt with, who actually seemed to realise that “resolving” a complaint was perhaps best dealt with by “solving” the problem, was a lady called *edited by mod*. I don’t know whether she is still there, she was clearly destined for higher things! The first time I spoke with her on the phone I was conscious that here was somebody who was actually listening to what i was saying and thinking about a solution, and then she actually achieved it. I hope you can find her.
Many thanks for your response. Your experience with the Advanced Resolution Team is exactly the same as mine, I’ll try & request contact with *Edited by Mod* & see how I get on. What I don’t understand is, there’s a number of us customers with the same problem, why can’t they just rectify it for all of us!
Hi @LAB18 ,
I seemed to get passed between a number of so called “Advanced Resolution Specialists” who all seemed to be more concerned with furthering the “complaints process” than actually solving the problem that had begun it!
The one person I eventually dealt with, who actually seemed to realise that “resolving” a complaint was perhaps best dealt with by “solving” the problem, was a lady called *edited by mod* I don’t know whether she is still there, she was clearly destined for higher things! The first time I spoke with her on the phone I was conscious that here was somebody who was actually listening to what i was saying and thinking about a solution, and then she actually achieved it. I hope you can find her.
Many thanks for your response. Your experience with the Advanced Resolution Team is exactly the same as mine, I’ll try & request contact with *edited by mod* & see how I get on. What I don’t understand is, there’s a number of us customers with the same problem, why can’t they just rectify it for all of us!
Hello again @Johnd1949 , well no joy in tracking *edited by mod*, I’ve tried online chat, they have found someone with that name but refused to give me her email address for me to contact her, then they terminated the chat, very helpful! Do you happen to have *Edited by Mod* email please ?
I do understand your frustration with the OVO Energy support team. I agree that since they worked out how to correct my account, it should be straightforward to apply the same solution to all the other similar cases. Not only straightforward but also the sensible and correct thing to do, as soon as possible, not only morally and legally but also from their own customer relations point of view.
Unfortunately *Edited by Mod* emailed me from the general “feedback@OVOenergy.com” address, so I don’t have a direct email address for her.
I do understand your frustration with the OVO Energy support team. I agree that since they worked out how to correct my account, it should be straightforward to apply the same solution to all the other similar cases. Not only straightforward but also the sensible and correct thing to do, as soon as possible, not only morally and legally but also from their own customer relations point of view.
Unfortunately *Edited by Mod* emailed me from the general “feedback@OVOenergy.com” address, so I don’t have a direct email address for her.
Thanks, I’ll try another formal letter of complaint to Head Office, this just needs to be sorted, I’ve waited 13 months so I don’t think I’m being unreasonable to expect a resolution now.
I do understand your frustration with the OVO Energy support team. I agree that since they worked out how to correct my account, it should be straightforward to apply the same solution to all the other similar cases. Not only straightforward but also the sensible and correct thing to do, as soon as possible, not only morally and legally but also from their own customer relations point of view.
Unfortunately *Edited by Mod* emailed me from the general “feedback@OVOenergy.com” address, so I don’t have a direct email address for her.
Thanks, I’ll try another formal letter of complaint to Head Office, this just needs to be sorted, I’ve waited 13 months so I don’t think I’m being unreasonable to expect a resolution now.
If you haven't already you could try sending a letter to the ovo ceo to highlight what is going on, some posters have reported some success doing that for different issues
I do understand your frustration with the OVO Energy support team. I agree that since they worked out how to correct my account, it should be straightforward to apply the same solution to all the other similar cases. Not only straightforward but also the sensible and correct thing to do, as soon as possible, not only morally and legally but also from their own customer relations point of view.
Unfortunately *Edited by Mod* emailed me from the general “feedback@OVOenergy.com” address, so I don’t have a direct email address for her.
Thanks, I’ll try another formal letter of complaint to Head Office, this just needs to be sorted, I’ve waited 13 months so I don’t think I’m being unreasonable to expect a resolution now.
If you haven't already you could try sending a letter to the ovo ceo to highlight what is going on, some posters have reported some success doing that for different issues
Thanks, yes I thought about this last night as I’ve got nowhere with OVO Customer Service & the so called Advanced Resolution Team , will keep you posted if I get a resolution
Hey @caroline Rose
I’m really sorry to hear that Caroline, it’s a shame that’s slowing things down even more.
I know it must be very frustrating trying to get this resolved, and that it is very much a case of waiting for Support to get everything fixed, so we do understand it must be annoying for you to still be chasing this up.
I think, while this is ongoing and you await this being fixed, the Support Team should be able to place the account on hold for you until they are able to get the meter removed from the account and then rebill the account without any of the gas charges. This will stop them from trying to claim back that balance that may be incorrect due to the additional gas charges, and they should hopefully be able to hold your Direct Debit at the same amount if you currently have one active.
The support team have said on many occasions they will put this on hold and each week I just received another letter with a raised amount to pay
Hey @caroline Rose
Sorry to hear that. Are the letters you’re receiving, bills from OVO, or are they letters/texts from the collections team? These are slightly different holds on the account, as it may be that they’ve placed a hold on the collections communications which would stop them from chasing you for any bills. A billing hold would stop the system from producing bills all together.
I’d maybe get in touch with the Support Team to confirm exactly what they’ve placed on hold.
Hi Abby
it’s letters including threatening red letters texts and emails all the time fed up with it now if the ombudsman can’t help me my next step will be the solicitors
In May 2022 we had our gas meter disconnected as we are going all electric. OVO’s agents eventually collected the meter in July 2022 for which they levied a charge of £106. However they continue to bill me a standing charge for my gas meter to this day. I have spent days of time calling OVO and have on 6 occasions been promised they will rectify this - if I speak to Complaints they say it has been resolved and send me an email to that effect but continue to charge. They have (in Feb) given me a goodwill credit to cover the period from disconnection to collection of the meter. To cap it all I have now received 2 emails saying they are sorry to hear I am leaving OVO ( not at my behest) and offering a £30 credit against my final bill - 2 emails and 2 credits! Would you suggest I move to another supplier?
My suggestion is to raise a complaint through OVO's complaint process. Then, when OVO fail to close your gas account and refund the charges you can get the ombudsman involved. OVO will fail to close your gas account because they don't have a process for doing it.
We had our meter removed in April 2022. A few weeks ago the ombudsman ruled in my favour and have given OVO until 24th May to close my account and refund the incorrect charges (and pay me a modest amount of compensation).
Thanks - I will try this again and refer to the ombudsman but on 2 occasions I have registered complaints and they say they will deal with it and send me an email saying my account has been resolved but continue to charge for the meter. But why do they unilaterally send me an email saying they are sorry I am leaving OVO and give me a £30 credit against my final bill - then do the same for a second time!! Perhaps I should leave and get further credit which would just about offset the money overcharged!
Hey @caroline Rose
Sorry to hear those are still being sent out to you.
I understand how frustrating it must be when you are told something will happen, like place the account on hold, and it doesn’t seem to happen. I hope that they do help resolve everything for you, keep us updated with how you get on with this.
Hi Abby
it’s letters including threatening red letters texts and emails all the time fed up with it now if the ombudsman can’t help me my next step will be the solicitors
Hi @caroline Rose
Some posters have reported some success with other issues writing to the OVO CEO
Time for an update, although it's more of a "no update". The ombudsman upheld my complaint against OVO and gave the company 28 days to comply with the ruling. The ruling was to refund the standing charges that have been applied since our gas meter was removed, close our account and give us a modest amount of compensation. The 28 days ran out yesterday and........ nothing. No response from OVO.
I work in a regulated industry. When we make mistakes that harm customers we have to fix them or there are penalties (fines and other penalties). But penalties are only part of the reason we fix the problems. We also do it because it's the right thing to do. Our company culture is about doing the right thing for our customers. OVO's culture appears to be about screwing the customer over and ignoring any problems even when the regulator is pointing them out and telling the company to fix them.
I would be embarrassed to work for a company that behaves like this.
It appears that there's nothing I can do but wait for the ombudsman and OVO to sort out the problem. In the meantime I'm contacting The Guardian as maybe some media exposure will help OVO treat customers a bit better.
Hi M.isterW
if you want any back up if you go to the media I will stand up with you as I am sick of the way OVO are treating their customers, not a company I will ever use again or recommend in the future
@M.isterW@caroline Rose
May be worth an email to OFGEM, highlighting the specifics of your cases to the team undertaking this compliance investigation into OVO that was announced this week on the 23rd May
