Moved into new property and I owe previous tenants bill, why?

Yes OVO have received all the evidence it requested twice as on the first occasion it mysteriously went missing. The manager of the complex where I now live took a meter reading and supplied me with the tenancy agreement I signed as evidence going forward.

It's been a frustrating experience dealing with OVO as this bill keeps coming back to me, I'm 71 and retired so can really do without all the hassle, the facts are all there and I won't be impressed if I get bad things happening on my credit score 😬

I’m sorry to hear this, I’ll get forum_support to reach out & take a look into this for you. Please keep an eye on your private messages. 

Trying to find a way to stop this useless company sending threatening letters to my elderly mother for a previous tenants bill!!!

My mother bought a property that was rented out previously, the tenants were evicted and owe ovo money. We have supplied this useless company with the solicitors letter to confirm date of purchase as we were told to do but this has not stopped the letters!

I have spoken to customers services but they they can't stop the letters ! Never heard such a ridiculous procedure ever! 

The letters are now threatening bailiff action, so my next step is to take legal action against this company for breach of the 1998 malicious communication act!

So to save me the agro of doing this and taking them to court anyone had this issue and managed to get it sorted?

The solicitors letter is registered on ovos system the customer service can see it and agree it's not her bill !

Any help appreciated! 

FRom what you say then these letters are comming from Debt Collection agencies.
(Not from OVO).

There is a particular way that you need to use to successfully deal with, and stop, such letters from Debt Collectors.

You appear to be making a common mistake of assuming that if you sort things out with OVO then that will stop the Debt Collectors letters, unfortunately it doesn’t work like that because the Debt Collector is a seperate company.
(And a company’s Customer Service cannot ‘call off’ the debt collectors).

See my advice here about what to do to stop the letters from Debt Collectors, if you follow it then it works:
 

PS Their threats of bailiff action are just empty threats.
You have to get a Court Order for recovery of the alleged debt before you can even apply to appoint court bailiffs (which then takes a second court order to actually appoint them) - and if this matter got anywhere near a court then on the circumstances as give no judge is going to rule in the Debt Collectors favour.
The Debt Collectors know that and wouldn’t waste their own time/money going to court, but writting on a letter that they “may” do it costs them nothing.

Thanks for the reply 

No the letters are coming from ovo them self! 

So I just need to find away to stop these letters as it is giving my elderly mother stress ! It appears that this is a usual mo for this useless company! 

Never had to deal with a company with this ineptitude and it appears I'm not alone! 

Bought and sold multiple houses just normally send off the contract  purchase  agreement of the property and that is the end of it!

But it appears with these clowns they can't even manage the system they work with complete joke of a company.

Never mind first stop ombidsman I guess!

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!