Chameleon In Home Display (IHD) 3 stopped receiving Aclara S2 electricity smart meter usage info?

No worries. :)

Once the new IHD arrives, please follow the instructions in the box to get it paired up and activated. Once that’s done, it should start working within five minutes or so.

As for your current IHD3, you’ve got two options and you’re welcome to choose either one and change your mind later. Would you like to either:

• Keep it and use it alongside the new IHD (could be a useful spare!) since you can usually have up to four IHDs paired and connected to the meters at the same time
• Return it to OVO and have it recycled - if you’d like to go down this route, I can provide you the details for OVO’s IHD returns partner and also advise on how to unpair it.

You don’t have to make that choice right now of course. :)

Thank you.  Yes, if you'd let me know the unpairing and recycling info that would be good (although I'll wait to actually do it until I'm sure the new one is working right.)

In fairness, the display on the IHD3 had also become horridly dim even on full brightness, very very hard to see during the day (any idea what tech the IHD3 screens use, looks a bit like OLED but I wouldn't place a high bet on it?)

No worries, in that case here’s what you’ll need to do.

When you’re ready, please ask the Support Team to unpair your IHD3 and give them the GUID so they know which IHD to decommission. They’ll probably give you some instructions to follow in order to wipe the device clean as well - a simple reset from the normal menus won’t do that.

Once that’s all done, box up the device and post it off to the following address:

OVO IHD Return

Dragon RS

Unit 2 Tafarnaubach Industrial Estate
Tredegar

NP22 3AA

You’ll have to pay for postage, but there’s no rush so second class is fine. Once Dragon RS receive it, they’ll take care of the rest. OVO will cover the costs of that service so you won’t have to pay anything yourself.

I think the IHD3 uses LED of some kind but I’m not completely sure. I’m not sure it’s OLED though, as they’re usually completely black in areas where there’s meant to be no colour shown at all.

Now have an IHD7 paired by OVO as of Monday. 

Any idea how long I should wait to start getting data before reaching out again?  Currently seeing only partial gas data, nothing about electricity.  Ironically the old IHD3 gets both electric and gas (albeit lacking the gas tariff details.)

Hmm…

If you’re still not getting data through from the electric meter, that suggests an electric meter problem, not an IHD problem.

The old IHD3 is getting the electric data just fine now though, only the new IHD7 is lacking data!

That’s annoying, @jewelie.

Just to clarify, we’d usually expect an IHD to start showing your data within 48 hours. So if the new device has been placed close to the electricity meter and still isn’t showing your useful usage data, this might be one to report back to the Support Team.

Keep us updated here, hoping it’s a quick fix.

Oh Jess, I wish!  🤣

They’ve done a health check and confirmed it’s all paired with good signal etc, so they’re having to refer it on again… for another up-to-45-day wait time.   😪

So, exactly the same symptoms with this replacement, IHD7, as happened spontaneously with the IHD3, detailed in the first post!   So, no doubt the same pattern will repeat?   This looks awfully like either an account-related problem, which hasn’t been fixed, or a process-related problem, which also hasn’t been fixed?

So, I’m guessing that after another month or so having reported this, the electricity data will start, but the gas tariff details will never display (even though the calculations for gas will be correct, and the gas meter itself does display the correct tarrif info.)  To be honest, if that happens, then fair enough, that’s all the info I really need!

….unless it repeats a 3rd time, come September, when our tariff changes to the capped tarrif.  Loosing ready access to current/now usage data then will be a royal pain in the bottom, and if that happens again, I’ll likely be pretty fed up unwilling to wait for another 45 days on a 3rd occasion, as mine and my wife’s patience is really starting to run thin already as it is. 😩 If that repeats, it’ll be time to escalate as a formal complaint I think; however, maybe that’s maybe me stressed and pessimistic at the moment and we should see what happens first! 🙄

So, I’m back from an impromtu emergency trip away from home.

The good:

1. New IHD7 has both gas and electric on it, and seems to be displaying the correct readings and monetary calculations I think, yay!

The bad:

1. The new IHD7 still doesn’t have the gas tarrif on it, just like the IHD3 didn’t, even though the smart gas meter itself does have the correct tarrif details on it and the meter readings are correct and the calculations the IHD3 and IHD7 are displaying seem to be correct.  I give in, it sounds broken, but that’ll do.
2. OVO sent us an extra IHD7.  No idea why.
3. I’ve called OVO quite a few times now about getting the old device unpaired ready for disposal.  I can’t say it’s gone well, unfortunately.  I’ve been told various incorrect things, including: “The old one unpairs when the new one pairs”, “You can just return it to us.  Which address?  Oh the main one you get if you Google us”.  Sorry, I’m not calling any more, nor am I going to be paying postage for returning it.

I love the online support reps, and really appreciate the help of volunteers such as yourself @Blastoise186, but the telephone support teams don’t seem to know what they’re doing, nor do they seem to know after asking around for advice, nor do they offer to forward the query on to anyone who does know what they’re doing.

So...

I’ve been pretty tolerant until now, but my temper has now “burst”, and I’ve had enough. 

Consider this a complaint, which I would be grateful if you escalated and recorded as such as appropriate, @Jess_OVO 

I do not have either the time or energy or motivation to persist with this all; I’ve the affairs of multiple poorly people to be looking after, including myself.

No more repeated telephone calls to people unable to address the issues, no more being messed around, and I’m not now going to be travelling to the post office to dispose of the IHD3 (which I assume now was probably actually working fine anyway except for the faded display) or the additional, unrequested IHD7 -- no local post office, no car, and I’ve a mobility problem, so I’d have to pay to get a cab to take it to a post office, or pay extra to have Royal Mail collect it.

Unless the online reps can sort these issues out once and for all (either on here or by calling us by telephone) then my current intention is to make the original IHD3 and the unsolicited/unrequested IHD7 available to OVO for collection from the registered account address, otherwise I’ll intend to physically destroy and dispose of the original IHD3 and spare, unrequested IHD7 in 30 days from today.  (Tiny flat, no space.)  

I’m very sad to say, as much as I love the OVO tech and green initiatives (the AI analysis of the electricity usage is quite genius), and as much as I loved the chats about technical issues in these forums, I don’t imagine we’ll stay with OVO now unless there’s a huge improvement in the skillset of the telephone customer service reps or unless the online customer service reps are fully empowered do deal with issues themselves (which I’m sure they once used to be!) 

Julie & Anita Brandon

Hi @jewelie,

Firstly I’m so sorry to hear of the mix-up with the replacement IHD and the difficulty you’ve had trying to resolve this with our Support Team.

As a public forum we can’t usually discuss account-specific issues here, however I appreciate the time you’ve now spent trying to return this faulty device as well as the duplicated replacement. I’ve arranged for us to collect some account details via a Private Message here so we investigate this further for you.

I hope this helps.