Hassled for Debt even after Payment Plan in place
Hassled for Debt even after payment plan agreed
Having received a bill for just short of £400, I asked to set up Fuel Direct payments to be deducted from my Benefits. SSE had done this previously, with no issue.
The advisor stated that they would take no less than £40 per week from my benefit , which is over 20% of my income, but as I felt I had no choice, I agreed to this.
Even though this has been set up, and I've received confirmation from the DWP, OVO still hassle me for the debt and have threatened to send the bill to the Debt Collectors.
Their colleague stated on the phone previously that it would be "normal" to still receive a demand for the amount even after setting up Benefit Deductions (which is peculiar), but I didn't expect it to be to this degree.
My monthly bill is around £60 a month, so I do not see how they can justify an ongoing payment of £160 per month towards my account; note that the deductions do not cease once the bill is in credit, but merely continue, so my OVO bill is looking to be in credit by an additional £90 a month, after the monthly charges have been paid. (Obviously, after the debt has been paid, but that’ll be paid in no time at this rate) That's over a £1000 a year. OVO said I can "claim back any credit due" but that is not the point. SSE never took more than around £10 a week from me so I do not se how OVO can justify over 4 times that amount.
Also, they failed to pay me my Warm home discount this year, which would have helped with the bill.
Once the debt is paid, I'm definately leaving OVO. Their business practices are questionable and their call centres are a joke, with inadequate staff on the phones.
It’s only fair to inform you dear readers that:
The above was placed on TrustPilot, thinking that OVO would make a public response to the issue. However, having read the standard cut and paste answer to all compaints on the site of “Please contact us at *edited by moderator* (i.e. the OVO forum, OVO obviously too shy to talk outdoors)”, I thought I’d save OVO the trouble of the invitation to the Forum and beat them to it by posting this here today. 🤓
