I moved house and closed my OVO account but my details have been found through 'trace and search' - how can I stop the debt collectors contacting me?

Hi @Thatitan234,

I’m sorry to hear this.

Is the email address that you’ve sent your documents by linked to the account? If not, this may be why you’re struggling to get a response. It may be worth trying to contact the team by phone on 0330 303 5063 (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm). Please let me know how you get on.

This thread might also be helpful - 

Thank you for your response. Customer care told me to call collection team and i have been able to reach them.

They finally found the document i sent via mail since April and i was informed that a trace and search reversal or so would be carried out and the debt cancelled as i am indeed not liable for the bill.

I would likely still follow up with calls to ensure this is fully resolved because tbh this experience made me lose trust in OVO.

many thanks for your help.

That’s good to hear - sounds like this will get resolved then.

Just so you know, please allow a month or two for everything to get fully cleaned up and the records fixed. OVO sends updates such as retractions to Experian only once a month but once done correctly, the debt should permanently disappear from your credit file OR at very least have a giant warning note telling other companies to ignore/disregard it.

Please wait until the end of September and then ask Experian to produce a Statutory Credit Report, which you can generate via https://www.experian.co.uk/consumer/statutory-report.html . There is no charge for this service and you DO NOT need to sign up for Experian CreditExpert to get it - they must give you this report for free at least once a year.

I hope this helps.

Hi @Thatitan234, 

It’s great to hear some progress has been made with this. Please keep us updated.

I have owned my property for 12 years and had SSE/OVO until March 2023 when I cancelled the account, the meter was removed, and replaced by a new meter from British Gas who took over the provision of electricity.  It took me months to get Ovo to cancel my account properly with the correct final meter reading, and for them to actually collect the  meter.  Eventually they did, and it took me too many long calls and a formal complaint for them to calculate the correct final bill.  I thought this was it, but then I started to receive letters “to whoever is living in the property” and trying to bill for a certain amount that was owed.  I ignored these letters because as far as I was concerned I have cancelled the account with the meter removed, and had paid up to the last penny. Also, I had a technician coming to check the meter reading for OVO, which was strange as I clearly am on British Gas now and with a new meter from 18 months ago! Well, last week we received a letter addressed to my son from Ovo…  Ovo basically created a new account to the address and put my son as the account holder!!  I called and they refused to speak to me as I was not the account holder (an account that shouldn’t exist), despite being the property owner.  Then my son called and they asked him for proof of tenancy or something to proof that he should not be the account holder.  This is outrageous and also illegal from a GDPR perspective.  My son had never in his life spoken to Ovo nor authorised them to open an account in his name!  They explained they use a system used “trace and search” by which they link the account to a name.  I assume they got his name from the electoral registry.

So we have two big problems here: 
1) We need to have my son removed from this account which should have never existed.  This is extremely unfair for a 20 year old who can get his credit record affected.  He should not have to provide any information whatsoever.  Who does Ovo think they are to ask for private information to someone who has never spoken to them nor want their services?
2) Ovo needs to realise they don’t provide electricity to this property any more to this property since March 2023, and that they removed the meter, and that I have paid the last penny up to the last meter reading before it was removed.  If they don’t do this, I fear they will come after my daughter next when she turns 18 next year, through their “trace and search” system.

If anyone reading this has children, they will understand that Ovo has crossed a line.  Mistake after mistake, hours of my time… but now jeorpardising my children’s future?? No that wil lnot happen.  I am thinking about taking this story to the Daily Mail, they will love this.

Hi,

Please call 0800 069 9831 to fix this one.

Thanks

I have already spent endless hours on the phone and so did my son.  They are not removing my son’s account as they want private information he should not give, and they are not addressing the core issue that they don’t supply the property in the first place and that the final meter reading was paid by me.

Why do you think that calling that number will make any difference? 

That number is the collection department by the way.  The same people I have spoken to, as well as my son, with no results whatsoever.

The details they requested are required in order to disable the account. Please provide them to speed up the process, otherwise OVO is entitled to dig deeper.

Got a sec @Nukecad ?

That is illegal under GDPR.  They are not entitled to ask for private information from someone they haven’t spoken to before nor has any links to them.  Furthermore, after they remove my son, they will do the same with my daughter, won’t they?  Ovo needs to resolve the root problem, that no electricity has been provided by them to the property since March 2023, when the final bill was paid according to the final meter reading.

Am I saying something that doesn’t make sense?