Pay As You Go Final Bill claiming I owe £1000 and OVO refuse to let me complain

​@pitchris ,

Yep, I soon came to realise that.

At the beginning of most calls, they asked me to confirm I was on their PSR.. so every agent was aware I was on their PSR and the reasons I was on their PSR if I saw that I would think “I need to handle this sensitively”…. 
 

To say I was bullied by them was an understatement.

And since the debt they falsely claimed I owed them was so high, when I was trying to change supplier, they blocked it.

I’m almost speechless, but here are a couple of points:

1. Anyone who has a vulnerability that qualifies for inclusion on the PSR should not be on a PAYG contract. A prepayment meter is designed to cut off the supply if it detects no credit. This state isn’t always the customer’s fault, but being off-supply is not only inconvenient - it’s potentially dangerous. Credit customers are much less likely to end up in this situation.
2. I too have repeatedly asked if communication between me and OVO can always be conducted in writing. I understand that there are some transactions that have to be carried out orally, for reasons that I just don’t understand, but that’s the way it is.
3. This experience of yours was almost a year ago. I’m told that OVO have been trying hard to improve their complaint handling, so I’d like to think that if your journey were to start today, your experience would be less harrowing.  Sadly, ​@pitchris’s saga doesn’t suggest anything of the sort. For a customer on the PSR to feel bullied by service personnel is unforgiveable. I’ll ask the forum moderators if there’s anything they can do to ease his journey through the system. 

​@Firedog , I’d really rather the forum mods didn’t involve themselves with this.

They tried to assist before, it still had to go to the Ombudsman.

My case is done and dusted, no thanks to OVO.. it was the Ombudsman who saw sense and was able to see straight away what went wrong.

You are more than welcome to if ​@pitchris would like their assistance.

I’m no longer with OVO energy, as soon as I had my “so called debt” below a certain amount, I changed supplier.

I couldn’t wait to get away from them. 
 

My case was actually not finalised until June.. it took that long.

Id say, it’s clear to see, OVO have not changed whatsoever.

Having telephoned on 18 January - when I was given a complaint number and told that they would get back to me the following Monday or Turesday - having heard nothing by the 24th, I emailed the complaints department directly.

A week later and still nothing, though I have received yet another “final bill”.

​@pitchris ,

Im afraid to say, I’m really not surprised.

Well the clock is ticking on the 8 weeks.

If I don’t hear anything in that time I will go directly to the Ombudsman

​@pitchris , I got to the point where I was glad for

It to go the Ombudsman. 
 

If there is one thing OVO are good at, it’s missing deadlines.. and then lying through their teeth about it. 

@ RW1987

As I said before, I’m a journalist… I’m strict *edited by moderator* when it comes to facts and keeping note of absolutely everything. Every call to my phone is automatically reorced and I own my own domain name so emails cannot ‘get lost’, ‘missed’ or ‘diverted to my junk folder’.

​@pitchris , do you still actively publish things as a journalist?

I think how OVO treat their customers would make a fantastic piece!

I would happily forward you the convo on a WebChat which I screenshot where I am clearly told “you can’t complain as it’s debt you owe” and my outcome letter from the Ombudsman stating actually, they was wrong, they owed me money!

Let’s wait and see.

My previous post was removed and edited, because I used a certain word to describe myself as  being “extremely precise in terms of facts and details”.