Cooling off within 14 days - Why can't I cancel an accidental renewal on my online account?

Hi @mike f ,

You can indeed break contract within the cooling-off period, however this is considered a very powerful change of contract, which requires verbal consent. For security reasons, you can’t make this kind of change via MyOVO but the Support Team can help you out with it.

Please give them a call on 0330 303 5063 in the morning and someone in the team can reverse this change for you. It’ll put you back on Simpler Energy with the currently active rates. You may still be charged for the days you were on the two year fix at those rates, but otherwise you’ll be back to variable.

Now might not be a good time to do that however - the variable rates are likely to rise very, very soon so you may want to consider keeping the two year deal for now and see what happens.

how come it doesn't need verbal consent the other way .ie from variable to fix . one gives me freedom to move any time . the other gives me an immediate price increase and ties me in for 2 years , sorry still cynical !!!

I have emailed in as well saying it was a mistake , that's better than verbal consent , its on the record . don't you agree ? 

sorry still cynical 

regards 

Mike 

Changing from Variable to Fixed means you’re entering a contract, not modifying an existing one. This is possible to do self-service as a convenience thing, so that you don’t have to get held up in a queue. There’s different rules that apply there - and cancelling mid-term is also not as commonly performed. I’m afraid emailing in this request isn’t practical either - it might take too long to be handled and you’d run the risk of the cooling-off period expiring in the meantime. If you try to do it this way, there’s no guarantee that the request can be completed successfully.

OVO isn’t alone here though. Pretty much all energy, mobile phone and broadband providers have similar rules surrounding breaking the contract early. You almost always have to do it by phone.

I can’t change the rules myself as I’m only a forum volunteer rather than an OVO employee. If you think they should be changed, please feel free to suggest this via https://ovoenergy.com/feedback.

I will ring them tomorrow ,i expect ill sit a queue , but legally i have cooled off by email .if its not cancelled i will complain to the regulator . 

emails are recognised in court and Ovo have acknowledged they have it . although it may take 5 days to look at it , this is unreasonable 

the whole point that there is a 14 day cooling off period is so that companies cant tie you into a contract by default . its the regulator that insists on this , why does ovo make me jump through hoops , I'm not going to change my mind , i want to stay on the variable tariff 

no gripe with you , but company is making it difficult to cool off , without good reason.

it was a mistake i pressed the wrong button for goodness sake !!!

why not provide me with am email giving me the right to cool off automatically or put a cancel button somewhere ,? 

got a response saying it takes 5 days to respond to emails !!! . obviously not employing enough people i guess . 

thanks for your assistance thus far , I'm still a cynic 

regards 

Mike 

thanks 

i have been working away today with no time to call . 

Glad you've taken it onboard , perhaps also put a verification step on the switch option as well , ie are you sure you want to opt for this product etc etc .

that would be treating your customers fairly and protecting them .

what do you think ?  

Our Support Team can also be reached via webchat here, @mike f.

If you’ve already sent an email which is dated within the cooling-off period, we’d still be able to make sure that accidental renewal is cancelled without any exit fees applied, so not to worry if you’re not able to give us a call. 

As @Tim_OVO mentions we’ve passed on your feedback about making this a self-serve option and hope you can get this one sorted ASAP. 

Hello, looking at this thread because I am wanting to cancel a fixed plan started 18th May and have had to escalate to complaint because (a) I was misled on the phone to understand the rate on a fixed plan could come down during the term of the contract, just couldn’t increase, i.e. fixed price was maximum amount payable, and (b) that a cancellation charge couldn’t be waived today with the operator I was speaking to - despite it being only 7 days since the started. I have been a loyal supporter of Ovo for many years, but am disappointed and stressed by the situation I find myself in at the moment (plus facing a direct debit increase of something near 150%.) Any advice would be much appreciated. thank you.

I’m really sorry to hear about the confusion surrounding your fixed plan, @Peterfan.

Just to help clear things up, on a fixed plan it’s price you pay per unit of energy as well as your daily standing charges that are guaranteed. These won’t change for the length of your contract. As your monthly charges will still be based on how many units of energy you use, we can’t confirm a maximum or minimum amount you’ll pay - it all depends on how much energy you use. Whilst a variable plan might be cheaper at the moment, it’s worth bearing in mind that the unit rates and standing charges on a variable plan may change over time so your charges may change even if you’re using the same amount of energy. You can read more about the Variable Price Cap which controls the prices on this type on plan over here.

I’m really sorry to hear that the differences between your renewal options weren’t made clear when speaking to a member of the Support Team. As you’re still in the first 14 days of your new plan you can still cancel this renewal without incurring any exit fees. We’d recommend getting in touch with the team via our Live Chat (which you can find here) to request this cancellation.

I hope this helps explain. Do let us know if you’ve got any more questions.

Thanks, Jess. Your explanations are very helpful and much appreciated. I have since spoken to an operator and cancelled the fixed plan without being charged any exit fees. I have gone with a variable plan and will keep an eye on the rates and direct debit charge. The original “mis-selling” of the fixed rate plan has been escalated and I would like this investigated if only to ensure no one else is similarly misled when trying to understand what the best plan is and how they ‘work’. Again thank you for your advice.