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Does OVO return security depisits? 5 months and counting...

  • 26 May 2023
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Hi OVO community 👋 When I joined OVO I did not have any credit history for experian to pull a credit score on. This meant that I was asked to provide a £530 security deposit.

I then found out that the only way for me to see that money again was to close my account and find another supplier. I did this with my final bill sent 19th of December and paid for.

Over 5 months later, I have not received any information from their team about the status or timeline to expect the deposit to be returned. I have called many times throughout the months to parse out information from the customer support team but most of them are not familiar with returnig security deposits. They did mention that after the account is closed it goes to a payments team to review if there are any charges outstanding. It's important to stress that my account was with OVO for only 14 months and every bill was paid on time through direct debit. This should be a fairly simple thing to review. 

I have lodged a complaint but that has gone unanswered and passed their 8 working day turnaround. Is the next step Ofgem? Has anyone else had similar issues with security deposits?

The OVO T&Cs have a few lines about the deposits process but with no timeframes [3.11]. I'm starting to wonder if this is intentional. Is OVO able to hold security deposits for as long as they wish as long as they are able to prove there is some vague review process ongoing. 

It's one thing to delay the repayment, but the most frustrating part is the complete lack of communication from OVO. I have received no messages acknowledging the that they still have the deposit. It could arrive tomorrow, it could arrive next month, it could arrive long after we're all gone 💀. It means there is no way for me to rely on that money to financially plan during difficult times.

I'd love to hear your thoughts going forward. I genuinely liked OVO for their green values but this seems predatory towards people without good credit scores.

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Best answer by Emmanuelle_OVO 30 May 2023, 10:47

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8 replies

Blastoise186
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You should be able to get it back. Try 0330 303 5063.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
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You should be able to get it back. Try 0330 303 5063.

Sorry Blastoise, I know its a long post but I cover that in the 3rd paragraph. The customer support team on the phones do not seem to be given any training on security deposits. I have called that general line many times and I've been told lots of different things but without ever getting close to returning the deposit. 

From your friendly neighbourhood Bulbasaur

🦖🥬

Blastoise186
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Blastoise used Ice Beam! It’s Super Effective against the opposing Bulbasaur! XD

In that case, try 0800 069 9831 as that team may have more access to the right system than the general support team can do.

As long as you didn’t use up any of the security deposit and your account was all paid off, it should be possible for the deposit to get refunded.

Ofgem is not your next step. Only the Ombudsman once you reach deadlock.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
Emmanuelle_OVO
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Updated on 12/09/23 by Emmanuelle_OVO

Hey @Devin,

 

Sorry for the issues you’re having,

 

As far as I’m aware if you haven’t had this money refunded automatically, it would be raised to our payments team as a ‘payment allocation’ case. This can be raised through the Support Team, I’m not sure if they’re maybe confused by what is meant by ‘security deposit’.

 

The specific instructions can be found when they look up ‘credit check’ into our knowledge base. Or you can contact the number provided by @Blastoise186, this is our Collections Team. 

 

Hope this helps. 

Renewable Energy? Big Fan.
Jeffus
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Hi @Devin

The OVO complaint process is detailed here

https://www.ovoenergy.com/feedback

Basically OVO have 8 weeks to resolve, or issue a deadlock letter before that. 

Then you can ask the Energy Ombudsman for help. 

https://www.ombudsman-services.org/sectors/energy

In theory OVO should return any money 10 working days after the final bill. I would have thought this should include this deposit looking at the definition. 

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/energy/energy-supply/claim-back-credit/check-if-a-previous-energy-supplier-owes-you-money/#:~:text=When%20you%20switch%20energy%20supplier,you%20didn't%20eventually%20use.
As OVO haven't met deadline i would put in a claim for the £30, plus another £30 as the first £30 was not paid within 10 days automatically.

​

 

 

 

 

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Hi @Emmanuelle_OVO ,

With respect, I think it is incorrect for you to mark your own reply as the answer and label this post as solved. 

Your answer is that it goes through to the payments team as allocation case. I was told this information back in March when I first started requesting the deposit back after waiting 2 months after the final bill. 

 

In the 2+ months since being told that it was going through the payment allocation process with the payments team I have:

● called OVO around 10 times

● logded an official complaint detailing the issue

● convinced customer service to raise this as a ticketed case with the opps team

● convinced customer service to increase this case from a medium to high priority

 

What I have not been able to do is:

● Receive any sort of timeline for when the deposit would be paid back or any message from the payments team about when this allocation process will be completed. 

 

We are beyond a reasonable amount of time to wait for a £530 deposit to be returned and I haven't yet received any real evidence that OVO will be honoring the process set out in their terms and conditions. 

 

@Jeffus  thank you for your reply with advice and resources. That Citizens Advice page is a great starting block. After a quick call with Citizens Advice today I found out that this £30 + £30 is usually for outstanding balances from an account. This case with a full security deposit being withheld for nearly half a year is different and the amount of money offered back may depend on the reason/error given by OVO. 

 

I will make sure to update this thread with any resolutions but until that time. Please could the moderators take the 'solved' label off?

 

One last thing, I want to check. @Blastoise186 @Jeffus @Emmanuelle_OVO 

My final bill statement pdf does not have any reference to this security deposit. Citizens Advice thought that was unusual for an energy company. Is that normal for an OVO final bill to make no note of a deposit on a final bill, or could this be the heart of the issue that I'm having?

Blastoise186
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I’m afraid the Solved label probably won’t be removed. The Solved status isn’t related to your original problem, but more for when there’s a good answer that helps the community as a whole. We rarely know if the original problem was solved and doing it that way would result in potentially no solutions ever being marked.

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

Hey @Devin,

 

Really sorry for the issues you’re having, and that this is still on-going. 

 

We don’t have access to your account, but I’ll get Forum_Support to reach out to you.

 

I would advise requesting customer support escalate your complaint and the payments allocation case as high priority. 

 

Hope this helps. 

Renewable Energy? Big Fan.

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