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Why was I charged an exit fee after cancelling an accidental renewal?

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  • GG43
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I’ve been charged £30 exit fee after accidentally picking a new plan while checking my bill /usage.  Called OVO straight away but closed.  Emailed 15 mins later to advise it was an error then called the next day.  
 

I was told I wouldn’t be charged for anything ie exit fee and electric would be charged at my normal rate.  Just logged into my account and I’ve been charged the £30 exit fee and electric at the new plan rate.  

Why is this when they clearly said there would be no charges.  Anybody else had the same thing happen?
 

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Best answer by Jess_OVO 7 March 2022, 13:18

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Blastoise186
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Hey there @GG43 ,

This is probably an account specific issue, so I can’t really help out much with this as I’m only a forum volunteer and an OVO member. However, if you got charged an exit fee by mistake, by all means you’ll be able to request a refund. If you don’t get it back soon, please feel free to let the Support Team know again and ask them to take a look. Live Chat is usually the fastest way to do that. They might also be able to switch your plan back, depending on circumstances but I can’t guarantee this.

If you still don’t get any luck, try the Complaints Process. Hopefully you won’t need it, but OVO will try to resolve the issue this way if you end up using it.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
Jess_OVO
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Updated on 18/09/23 by Abby_OVO: 

 

So sorry to hear there’s been some difficulty trying to get an accidental renewal cancelled, @GG43.

 

You shouldn’t be charged an exit fee for cancelling a plan during the first 14 days of the contract so our Support Team can certainly get that reversed for you.

 

Also, please give these related feature ideas a vote:

 

 

 

 

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E
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Same has happened to me. I didn’t sign up, it was a software glitch. 3 days of phone calls to get the tariff put back. Assured no exit fees as it’s 14 days cooling off. Here I am checking my app and notice 2x £30 exit fees. Terrible company

Tim_OVO
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Userlevel 7

Have these exit fees now been taking off the account, @Elaine5678? If not, our Support team can request that this happens via an online chat.

 

Hope it gets sorted for you quickly,
Tim

Carbon neutral - we need a community to get there! My green tech: Aclara SGM 1411-B smart meter, Chameleon IHD6
E
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Hi Tim, thanks for reaching out.
I have had no luck! I have just been on the phone, I don’t think the guy understood me. He has raised a complaint and I might get my money back. He said he couldn’t take them off, I asked to speak to a supervisor or manager as he seemed to have the wrong end of the stick. He said No! 
so frustrated 😞

Tim_OVO
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Userlevel 7

Those exit fees would need to be taken off from someone in the operations team, @Elaine5678 - this will happen and you can refer to this topic thread if you need to. Any delays beyond this week, feel free to send me a private message to chase it up - I’m confident that won’t be necessary.

Carbon neutral - we need a community to get there! My green tech: Aclara SGM 1411-B smart meter, Chameleon IHD6
E
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Thank you. I have since had an email to confirm that the charges have been removed. My account balance confirms it too. 
Thank you 😊 

B
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Same thing for me - clicked once by mistake on an “ change of tariff” on the app, got put on one which was more than twice the previous monthly price,  I didn’t want it, had to call the next day and cancel to revert back . Was told it would revert back and  I would not be charged, but then was charged an exit fee of £30.

Have called and held on and on, no luck, no answer.

Have messaged online chat and been told I am 365th in the queue.

Guys -  there is an energy crisis. Folks are edgy. Taking an extra £30 when you have specifically said you will not, is just not on. As this is happening to so many people , there is either a major glitch in the system or it is set up to happen accidentally on purpose, to boost Ovo’s income for the weeks and months it takes to resolve.

Thinking of changing supplier as you’ve just cancelled my smart meter appointment too.

Sorry to be a bore, usually I am loads more fun. But seriously. So depressing. Can you help?

Blastoise186
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This feels like a prime opportunity to make things less painful in the future. I’ve been sparked to create an idea that’s related to this thread.

If you like the idea, feel free to upvote it. I’m afraid it won’t solve the issues right now, but hopefully might help if it ever happens again.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
Tim_OVO
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Userlevel 7

Hi @bee, yes I’m afraid to say that an accidental renewal has cropped up a few times, and the fees being applied also. But they can get reversed by our Support team. 

 

It’s exceptionally busy at OVO at the moment. On this forum, social channels, phone lines and web chat. You name it, everyone is approaching asking questions. This is understandable given the energy crisis news and price cap changes. 

 

Please bear with us whilst we get to your request. We will remove those exit fee charges. Get us on online chat or by calling via this link.

Carbon neutral - we need a community to get there! My green tech: Aclara SGM 1411-B smart meter, Chameleon IHD6
J
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Has anyone had any problems accidentally signing up to a fixed rate deal? I just clicked on the link for further information and somehow was signed up!! Looking at an offer shouldn’t mean I have signed up! I phoned up within 24 hours, well within the cooling off period, and was assured that it had all been reversed and I was back on my variable plan. However, I got a bill showing the fixed plan and the move back to my variable plan all on the 15th August but I was charged the full £60 exit fees!!!  I’ve tried the online chat - computer bot was useless, raised a complaint online and one by email but no response. Finally just managed to speak to a real human being who said that she would have to raise a case and it would take 10 days for them to get back to me. Not a good customer service experience. 

Blastoise186
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Hi @jillP ,

I’m one of the forum volunteers here. I don’t work for OVO myself.

If a case has been raised to investigate this, you should see a refund within a few weeks at most, but probably sooner. It’s been a bit of a known issue of the system but my understanding is that it is going to be fixed when OVO gets a chance.

In the meantime, I recently suggested an idea that might help make things a bit less painful.

 

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
J
Rank

Thanks for your response Blastoise 186!
 

It’s a very poor service if Ovo don’t even respond to customers when customers get charged for leaving a fixed contract within the 14 days cooling off period, especially when it likes like a glitch in their webpage just seems to mysteriously sign them up!

There should be a very clear statement that customers have to electronically sign to say that they agree that they are signing up to a contract and should not be dragged in to one just because they clicked to get more information!! 

If you cancel the contract within the 14 day cooling off period (my bill shows very clearly that I had cancelled the contract the same day), then you should not be charged the exit fees - if you are, a refund should be done immediately.

Not responding or even acknowledging 2 complaint emails is really not acceptable. No wonder Ovo are not rated highly for Customer Service. I know they are under alot of pressure at the moment, but so are we and other companies do still provide a much more professional service. 

 

 

Blastoise186
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There is a known issue where you can sometimes get enrolled into a new contract with one click. That issue and another one (see below!) is on the radar to be (re-)considered.

As far as the one-click renewal goes, that was an idea OVO’s product teams had which ultimately didn’t work all that well. I think a new experience is going to be developed  over the next few months to replace it that should help prevent the problem - and definitely won’t be a one-click deal.

 

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!

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