Failed smart meter installation, what next?

Make sure you put in for compensation for any missing appointments

£30 for each one.

Then another £30 for each one if the payment is not made within 10 days of the appointment

Given the phones etc seem to be busy i would simply ask via a complaint which can be done via email so hopefully simple

https://www.ovoenergy.com/feedback

So sorry to hear about this, @Scotia121. You’re not the first one this week to call it out, so I’m wondering if this is a wider issue. Of course there are unexpected events which can prevent an engineer sticking to their schedule, but these should be rare and you should be notified...

As Jeffus has mentioned, you’re owed £30 compensation if you weren’t given at least 24 hours notice of the cancellation. If that isn’t sent within 10 working days it gets doubled. This should happen automatically, you don’t need to request it. Worst case scenario is you get twice the compensation. Of course if you wanted to rebook or find out why the engineer failed, our Support team can help.

I rang them and the call handler called it a ‘goodwill payment’ which of course it’s not.  They are legally obliged to pay it. Anyway my question now: supposed to turn up on 15th March and of course didn’t .  Rang them that day.  New appointment booked.  My billing period ends on 27th of the month and as yet no sign of the payment on the bill.  Also since my gas meter no longer shows a reading at all, what do I do about them asking for a reading which I can’t give.  They will estimate the bill and I’m not happy about that.  I am not at fault because their meter has not worked properly since it was installed more than a year ago.  

You could try calling ovo collections and see if they will freeze your readings until the new meter or see if they will agree an estimate that is acceptable to you. I think the latter is more likely. 

0800 0699 831

When was the last working smart meter reading? It will have the word smart next to it. 

https://account.ovoenergy.com/meter-readings/history/gas

Last smart meter readi g for gas was last September!   Been trying to get them to fix it ever since.  When the meter went dark, 8t was pretty much the last straw.  Absolutely terrible customer service  from Ovo.

Hopefully this won't be needed....

If you haven't already i would put in a complaint about the whole thing now

https://www.ovoenergy.com/feedback

Then if they don't turn up for the next appointment, ask for a deadlock letter rather than waiting the 8 weeks and ask the Energy Ombudsman to intervene. 7 months from the last smart meter reading is a painful amount of time to wait to get things fixed. 

Keeping threads like this updated can sometimes help. 

You can always link to this thread if it helps

https://forum.ovoenergy.com/smart-meters-136/engineer-no-show-14400

Some customers have written to the CEO of OVO when cases have gone on a long time, with some success. So if things continue to drag on this is something to think about. 

https://www.ovoenergy.com/ovo-newsroom/press-releases/2022/february/new-ceo-announcement

1 star reviews on Trustpilot sometimes get picked up and escalated

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

Expecting an OVO Engineer today after a 5 week lead time for a job (for all of which time you had my money), Engineer didn’t show, no explanation, no apology and no capability to give me a new date from your support team for up to 5 days.

Sorry but this is really poor service, damn right I’ll claim the compensation but that's not what I’m here for, I want a new date and an engineer to actually turn up this time.

As your support staff said, its “out of our hands”, which is amazing when I look to see who has my money in their hands already!

Hi @paulhoad sorry to hear that.

I am just a customer like you. 

It can be useful to highlight issues on this customer forum, but no one here including the OVO moderators can access your account, book appointments etc. 

This is primarily a forum for customers to chat together and help each other out. 

You could try posting on the official OVO Facebook or twitter feed. The OVO staff there have access to your account unlike this customer forum. Although i don't know what access they have regarding appointments. 

https://www.facebook.com/ovoenergy

Jeffus I did send them a written complaint but not expecting them to action it any time soon.  I'm pretty raging at their treatment of their customers.  And to top it off they sent me an email today telling me how much more of my hard earned they are going to help themselves too.  

If the next appointment is also a no show I will request a deadlock letter.  Thanl you for that.

I have been so fed up with unkept promises so have transferred to Octopus who replaced the Gas meter within week. Nothing more to say.