Who are these letters addressed to?
Your mother, someone else, or just ‘The Occupant’?

You should be aware that often for a company to chase an outstanding debt through the courts they legally have to send the defaulter a number of letters to their ‘last known address’. (Even if/when they know that the person no longer lives there).
Which could be what is happening here, but those should then be addressed to the defaulter by name and they should only send the minimun that are legally required.

Of course if they do have someone elses name then you don’t open them.
Just write “No longer at this address” on them in big letters and stick them in any post box for return.
(I also realise that elderly relatives might not do that).

Before going to the Ombudsman you must raise an official complaint with the company and let their disputes process attempt to resolve things.

Personally I would always make such a complaint by emai (or letter) and not by phone or webchat.
I’ve had to do a few complaints to various companies in my time.
I usually put “Official Complaint” in the email subject line, and repeat it in bold and underlined at the top of my email centred on the page just above the ‘Dear ###’ line.

You should try and keep your complaint short and to the point; that gives the best chance of a quick resolution.
Give them the dates etc. that they need to know what has happened, but don’t go off into side issues because doing that can just confuse things.

Yours should be simple enough, something along the lines of -

Dear {company name},
My mother bought the property at such an address on such a date and is not responsible for any debts originating at/from that address before that date.
We require that you immediately cease sending her payment demands intended for the previous owners/tenants.
If you fail to cease such action then we intend making an official complaint of Harassment to the industry and/or Financial regulators.
Regards,

- says it all with no chance of being misunderstood.

Here is OVO’s complaints procedure: https://www.ovoenergy.com/feedback

The Ombudsman won’t take a case unless the company’s own dispute/compalint procedure has been tried first

If that procedure can’t resolve that complaint to your satisfaction within 8 weeks, or if you get a ‘Deadlock Letter’ before 8 weeks, you can then go to the Ombudsman.
Here’s the Ombudsman page about complaining to them: https://www.energyombudsman.org/how-we-can-help/energy-suppliers

Thank you for your help and info!

The first 5 or so letters were addressed to the previous tenant. She sent all these back with not at this address on them.

She now has them addressed to the occupier and probably 5 of those as well!  

We contacted them them months ago and they said we needed to provide evidence that the bill was not hers so sent off the purchase letter from the solicitor they have re received it and say the bill is not hers!, Approximately there was a 8 day change over time from her changing over to octopus energy so obviously we are happy to pay the 8 days of charges but they seem unable to provide the figure for these 8 days ! This was one reason sending the purchase document so they could do a bill for the 8 days but even this simple thing they appear not to be able to do!

So I guess got to contact them again as you say or just send a solicitors letter don't have time to keep contacting them .

Many thanks for the help

I have been known to send back letters addressed  to “The Occupier” after writing “Not known at this address” on them.

If they can't be bothered to find my name, I can't be bothered to read their  cr*p.

Hi @Useless ovo 

Sorry to hear about this.

If your mother has set up her own account since buying the property, she’d only be responsible for usage from the date she became liable as we’d have set up her account from that date.

‘The Occupier’ accounts tend to be in place when there hasn’t been an account set up since the last tenant moved out. If your mum does have her own account set up, it sounds like there might be a problem with the account that the Support Team would need to address.

As Nukecad has already suggested, anything not addressed to your mum can be redirected as she isn’t liable for these. If an account hasn’t been set up since the property was bought, she’ll need to do that so we can get the bills in her name from the date she became liable.

Sounds great if only it was that simple! 

She has never been a ovo customer as the provider was changed immediately on property completion to octopus but it took 8 days for the switch .

We were informed ovo would send out a bill for the 8 days once we submitted the purchase agreement never heard back from ovo but it's on your system and we had the automated reply that ovo had received it!

This has been going on for 22 months since we returned the first letter ! I'm not sure bar taking legal action what to do , your support team can't stop the letters and have not even started the trace on the old tenants!  This has now turned into harassment so unless I can actually get someone to do something then getting a solicitor involved is the next step ,obviously ovo will be billed for the solicitors costs as it is your incompetence that has lead to this situation! 

Just pm me a number or email of someone that is higher up and not the support team as they can't do anything!

So Abby_ ovo

I can't sign up normally as the" details don't match"

I can register but then you become the supplier (what a horrible thought) on a 1 year contract !

So what now ?

We already know support can't stop the letters so who can ?

I’m afraid we don’t supply those details here on the Forum - even via PM.

Try 0800 069 9831 for the Collections Team - they can usually fix this.

Otherwise, your options are listed at https://ovoenergy.com/feedback 

Well already spoken to them before they can't do anything either!

So you can't fix the problem nor can you supply me with the details of some one that might be able to!

Ok solicitors letter coming your way and will contact the guardian newspaper as I'm sure they would love to hear how you are still using your harassment tactics 2 years on from when they last got involved! 

Horrendous company to deal with !

Your issue is not with me as I’m not OVO Staff.

I have given you the details you requested, I usually recommend you try the https://ovoenergy.com/feedback link before doing anything else. It has multiple options for this.

Sorry did not know normal people would be lurking on this forum.

Well tried everything else over 22 months so lost my patience with them now!

Just easier to start a harassment case against them as they are blatantly in breach of the standards!

Luckily for me my best friend is a business law solicitor so should be pretty easy ! 

Hi @Useless 

Blastoise186 has left some good advice about raising a complaint if that’s not already in process.

I’m going to have our Forum Support reach out to you to help look into this, they can raise a complaint too if it’s not already been done. 

Look out for a private message here soon: https://forum.ovoenergy.com/inbox/overview.

I am getting bills from OVO in some others name and with correct address.Eventhough my energy is on credit,I am receiving letters to pay the outstanding balance.Why is it happening so?

Could you give give some more details please?

To start with:

Have you recently moved into this property, or have you been there for a while?

Are your own bills with OVO?