Where's my final refund?

Hi Tim

I spoke to the support team this morning.  As always, they seem very friendly and understanding, and genuinely seem to want to help, but are hampered by Ovo systems and processes.  The support team tried to get an update but couldn’t speak to the person who is handling my complaint as they were on another call.  They told me they would send a message to the complaint handler asking that person to give me a call, but I haven’t heard anything this afternoon.

When I first raised the complaint, I was assured that I would be contacted in 3 working days, but 4 weeks later and still nothing, so I’m not sure whether Ovo will be keen to avoid me raising this with the Ombudsman?  There is certainly no evidence of this yet.

Any help you can give to get the Forum Support team to chase up the complaint handler would be gratefully received.

One more point.  I was told that this has gone to the ops team, whatever that means, so is the complaints handler now stuck at the mercy of the ops team, and as unable to do anything about this as either myself or the support team?

Hey @edandsuet,

I’m sorry to hear this, i’ll ask Forum_Support to reach out to you. Please keep an eye on your private messages. 

https://forum.ovoenergy.com/inbox/overview

Thank you.  I have replied to the private message.

Well another week has gone by with absolutely nothing from Ovo.

Forum support have provided me with an explanation that there was a gap in the billing for gas which is very odd as Ovo continued to take the monthly direct debit each month and there was a very healthy credit balance on the account.

And if this is the reason, then why can’t Ovo just work out what the small amount of missing charge is, put that on a final bill and send the credit?  Surely it doesn’t take 4 months and counting to complete this simple task?

I think I am resigned to having to take this to the ombudsman.

Have forum support given any idea when they will be able to provide the final bill? 

I recently went through the Ombudsman procedure for a completely different reason (an account problem that didn’t involve money), but the process seems to be well designed and should lead to a satisfactory resolution in time.

It’s a ping-pong game that you have to keep an eye on so you don’t drop the ball: your complaint is copied to OVO, who have a few days to respond. You then have a few days to react and so on until both sides have said everything there is to be said, at which point the case handler makes his decision. Both sides can appeal if they disagree with the decision and so it goes on, but in my case from my initial approach to the Ombudsman service to their final decision (in my favour) took in all less than four weeks.  Energy Ombudsman (ombudsman-services.org) 

I chose from the very beginning of this saga to do everything in writing, however hard OVO staff tried to engage with me by telephone. This may have helped my case along, because it made it so much simpler to submit the supporting evidence. I can’t imagine how difficult it would be to document what was allegedly said by either party during a phone call.  

@edandsuet yep drop another private message into the Forum_Support inbox, so they can support you in chasing up that complaint. 

I am having a god awful time with ovo energy. I have ombudsman involved , which remedies set out from ombudsman were accepted by ovo. I received a letter from Lisa Walsh advanced resolution adviser! I have a credit of over £1, 000. I have asked for a refund , because I am key meter , it be a cheque, which be 10 working days. I have fought for nearly 2 weeks to get what's rightfully mine!   I have gave every reading on the display of my meter!  Each request for refund has been declined, as need validation!  Which it's been validated!   Lisa Walsh will not converse with me atall, passed from piller to post!  I have been  fighting with ovonsince August 23.  They are absolutely disgusting to deal with, will not pass me to relevant department to resolve the matter.   I have emailed the ceo department of ovo, and emailed daily record! I've had enough of this company,and how it treats customers