Failed smart meter installation, what next?

Did you speak to the Collections Team on 0800 069 9831?

If you are on the variable rate plan you can simply ask the team to return your credit.

If you are on a fixed rate you have to leave one month direct debit credit.

have been in contact with collections team no joy am on fix and have almost 3 months direct debit  in credit

Did you want to have a refund to just leave one month’s credit in the account @taxijim33 ? If you do, and there isn’t some factor not yet mentioned, I can’t understand why the Collections team weren’t able to assist with this. 

If you want this done leave a quick reply and I’ll get the Forum_Support team to take some details via a private message and we’ll get the refunded sorted. As mentioned if there’s something affecting the account that we don’t yet know about, it may not be possible. 

Tim

my issue started when my direct debit was increased and my point was that there was no reason for you to increase it as i was so much in credit i want to be in credit but would like to do it my way no forced by an increase in my direct debit payment  

@taxijim33 

You can also ask the collections Team to freeze your direct debit at lower level for 3 months while you are away. 

You will still have standing charges and VAT to pay when your house is empty. Am curious. Will you turn off everything like the fridge etc? Will you have any heating on to stop anything freezing? 

fridge is being defrosted heating on lowest if gets too cold neighbour checks house and would turn up one light on with a timer so i have taken everything into account thanks

Hello there fellow OVO customers.

So I have been trying to get a smart meter fitted since march of this year. 

However SMS or Ovo have constantly cancelled my appointments or just failed to attend, am I the only one or are there other people like me??

Hi Steve29R,

I have been asking OVO to fit a Smart Meter for more than 2 years now. I’ve been a customer for 5 years. They have NEVER offered me an appointment in all that time. Meanwhile they send me repeated invitation emails to have one fitted and to book an appointment. When I do, they say “high demand in your area, no engineers available”. It is stretching credulity to believe that they could not offer a single appointment in all that time. I can’t find any way to progress this with OVO Management. 

There’s only a finite number of engineers available. OVO’s own engineers also handle SSE customers and SSE engineers now also handle OVO members as well.

SMS doesn’t just do jobs for OVO - it’s worth bearing in mind that SMS is a contractor that works for LOTS of suppliers. You just need to get in there before anyone else does, especially when demand is high.

If they take my booking then they should honour it, even when I explain it to both OVO and SMS they agree, but recently say it is due to a fault on my account rather than their own inability. Also at the time of booking SMS confirm to OVO that they can attend, then just fail to arrive or cancel. On my last complaint, the OVO person said that rather than retype it, he would just copy and paste my last 3 complaints in as it was the same each time.

Both companies represent the worst service I have ever received, and it is physically impossible to discuss it with anyone who holds a position of seniority. 

I’m really sorry that you’re both finding it impossible to get a smart meter, @Steve29R @Chris43 - different experiences, both bad. 

It’s true that we have a finite number of engineers. We rotate these across the country to ensure that everywhere at some point, appointments are available. It’s for this reason that I’m not sure why @Chris43 never gets any luck. The only thing I can suggest is to keep using the smart booking form. A complaint is also an option. 

@Steve29R if your appointment gets cancelled or the engineer doesn’t show without giving you at least 24 hours notice, you’ll be owed £30 compensation. If that’s owed and not paid promptly, it gets doubled. Our Support team can help you get that sorted if you think you’re eligible. I can’t comment on the reasons for the cancellations, they may be unrelated.

I know that OVO is recruiting more smart meter engineers as I had an add show up on my Instagram. I also know OVO are really keen to get smart meters fitted in as many homes as possible. It can be an operational challenge to make this a reality but that’s no excuse for a bad customer experience… 

I know how much the compensation is, as I am receiving it each time, but that is not the point. 

I would like for the engineers to honour the booking, and have what is promised to me each time I book. Not be cancelled each time, of someone needs to be cancelled can't it be someone else for a change, or of you are incapable of installing it just say I am sorry but we are incompetent. 

Hey @Steve29R,

Really sorry to hear this,

If you’ve already received compensation for the missed appointments, but are unhappy about the service you’ve received a complaint may be the best option.

Hope this helps. 

As suggested by Tim_OVO, I put in a complaint email. Received a polite response from the complaints department saying they understood my frustration about a 2 year wait but that there was nothing that could be done. I just have to wait.

I did put a complaint in, I put a complaint in each time I have my appointment cancelled. The last person I spoke to said ,and I shall quote him directly. I will just copy and past the details from your last 3 complaints, and submit as this complaint. 

Putting in a complaint doesn't mean that you will get an appointment, or that the engineer will attend. 

All I want is for OVO to deliver what they said they would 

my first appointment no one turned up and i got £30.00 compensation next appointment was fine gas and electric metres fitted . just got my first billed since fitted electric ok but not charged for gas from the smart metre only the old metre

Interesting, thanks for flagging, @taxijim33. Usually the account goes on a ‘billing suspension’ whilst the details about your old meter and the new meter are swapped over on the account. Then when this is complete (usually within 6 weeks of the meter exchange), the billing suspension is lifted. What may have happened in your case is that the info for the electricity smart meter is all updated, and the billing suspension was incorrectly lifted for both gas and electricity. We actually might still be waiting for all the details of the gas meter exchange. 

Our Support team can make a request for your gas bill to be removed and put back on a billing suspension whilst we get everything we need to update your account. You can see when your gas account is up to date from the meter serial number details showing in the My Plan section matching that of your new gas meter: https://account.ovoenergy.com/plan

Has anyone else experienced the incompetent Ovo customer service. Had cause to contact them  re electricity  smart meter not sending readings. Had numerous emails from Ovo but every one was from a different person…...no continuity. Eventually Boost ( who are incredibly more incompetent than Ovo  with a webchat that hasn’t anybody available to solve my problem; NEVER reply to an email AND it takes an age to get through by phone) did contact me via email and SMS to say an engineer would arrive between 08.00 ans 12.00  on 04/01/23 to replace my GAS yes GAS meter. Again despite numerous attempts at contacting Boost/Ovo, I received a call at 08.40 on 04/01/23 from an engineer to say he was 20 minutes  away and would be there to replace my GAS meter. Explained to him that it was the electric meter that was the problem and he said he would contact the office to see if he could change the job. He rang back a few minutes later stating that he could not change the order and advised me to contact my supplier to re-arrange engineer appointment. This I duly did and after a detailed description of my problem, all I got was maybe the smart meter team MIGHT be able to fix the problem in house and he escalated my complaint to the Advanced Resolution Team. This is all very well but I still have had no contact from this team and my problem remains…….can anyone offer advise/support/valium plEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEase

I have an elderly friend who is an OVO customer and is becoming increasingly anxious about the very poor service she is experiencing. I am writing on her behalf. In brief, my friend had gas and electric smart meters installed on 26.7.21 when she was a customer with SSE. They were both working when installed. However, since switching to OVO the gas meter has not worked and despite numerous attempts to get an engineer out and, apparently being on an ‘escalated list’ there have been four failed appointments made, but then cancelled or no show from an engineer. I understand if you are on an escalated list the work should be completed within 45 days. The latest appointment is for February 6th but we have little faith that she will see an engineer.

My friend has been in touch with Customer Service numerous times, spoken to operatives who have arranged appointments, but then has been let down by engineers.

I have sent two complaints by email and received no acknowledgement of either one.

Could you please advise me who we should contact to discuss this other than Customer Services.

Thank you.

Not a good experience you’ve described here, @yozzer. I’m really sorry to hear about it. 

From the sounds of it, you’re a Boost Power prepayment customer. I can see why a non-communicating smart meter is a problem that needs a quick solution in your case. I’m not sure of the model of smart meter but if it’s either of these, you might be able to self-diagnose the issue:

• First generation (S1) Secure smart meter health check (SMHC) Tutorial

• Second generation (S2) Aclara smart meter health check (SMHC) Tutorial

Either way with your complaint now escalated, you should have a dedicated complaint handler, who will reach out to you directly. 

Hi Tim

You are wrong in your assumption that I am a Boost pre payment customer. I pay £138 per month on dd to Ovo, so your info does not seem to be of much use. Thank you anyway….at least it is a response.

As for a dedicated complaint handler, again I have to disagree…..each time that i do receive an email from Ovo, it is from a different person.

Hi @JudyP and thanks for flagging this experience on behalf of your friend. 

A really bad experience that I’m sorry to learn about. Please make sure they’re aware that if they weren’t given at least 24 hours notice of the appointment not going ahead, they’ll be owed £30 compensation, that would then get doubled if it’s not paid promptly. 

As well as that, if the gas meter isn’t faulty other than the remote communication issues, they’re able to manually submit a meter reading via their online account, just like the pre-smart meter days: https://account.ovoenergy.com/meter-readings

With regards to your complaint emails, it may not be replied to if you contact the Support team inbetween sending the email and it getting picked up by an agent. Or if the email is sent from an address that’s not related to the account (I’d still expect a reply though). Due to data protection (unless you’re a named contact on your friend’s account) we may need the account holder to give verbal permission to discuss the account: 0330 303 5063. 

Hi Tim_OVO , thank you for your quick response.

Can you give details for how my friend goes about claiming the £30 compensation please. From her notes I can see that only the last appointment was cancelled.

As for the gas meter, there are no signs of life, so she is unable to submit a reading. My husband wonders if the battery is dead. We have read that although the batteries have a ten year life span, there are reports of some batteries lasting for a much shorter period.

I appreciate the reasons given for why I may not have received a reply about my complaint emails. However, neither of us have been in touch with the Support team since I sent the emails and I would have hoped that even if they couldn’t speak to me, I would have received an email explaining that. I included my friend’s account number in my letters of complaint; I had hoped that would have prompted OVO to get in touch with her, offering apologies, explanations and action!

Photographs showing the meter were sent to OVO on August 10th 2022 and the response was that there was no guarantee that the problem would be solved in 7 days but should be within 45 days. Customer Services have reported that the photographs are in her account.

My friend is in her mid eighties and is getting weary of this battle which is why I have got involved. The next appointment for an engineer to come out is on February 6th. My last question is, can she have a guarantee that someone will actually come out?

Many thanks for your help.

Judy

@yozzer it does sound like you’ve been round the houses, Boost are a separate arm of OVO so I don’t know why they emailed you at all. Those ‘health checks’ Tim’s linked to are a first step in diagnosing the problem. Have you run one?

Thanks for the reply, @JudyP.

My advice for you is to ask the account holder to call up, and:

1. Get you added as a non-financially-liable contact
2. (optional) Request compensation for each missed appointment where they weren’t given 24 hours+ notice (they’ll raise a back-office case for this to be investigated)
3. (optional) Ask for the agents to speak to the back-office to check the booking is live with our meter operators. 

Once you’re added, you can do action 2 or 3, via a much more convenient channel such as web messaging and WhatsApp.