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How do I make a formal complaint about SSE energy?

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I recently had to make a complaint about SSE energy and found that OVO had taken them over. Attempts to get SSE to respond result in getting through to Phillipine and South African call centres who do not appear to have the capability to handle my complaint or numbers being unobtainable Contacting OVO by telephone resulted in staff saying I had to go back to SSE as they could not access the account. A registered letter was sent to Bristol on the 3rd June 2021 and delivered on 4th June at 10-23 am. 

I just wondered as I have sent this to the registered office why have OVO not even responded. For info I do not use social media and sent a copy of the letter yesterday on the online form.  I was not informed that OVO had taken over SSE and therefore have no contract with them.

 

 

 

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Best answer by Blastoise186 16 June 2021, 13:24

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Blastoise186
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Updated on 17/05/22 by Jess_OVO


You might have already heard that over time, all SSE Energy customers will be moving to OVO Energy. We’ve made FAQs on this here. To make this as smooth as possible, we’re looking to move everyone across gradually. We’ll provide updates every step of the way. The move won’t interrupt supply, or affect prices.

 

If you haven’t heard from us yet, it means you’re staying with SSE for the foreseeable, so you’ll still need to contact them to discuss your account and raise any issues or complaints with them directly - find out more here.

 

If you’ve got a complaint about your move to OVO, we’re very sorry and we’d like to hear about it. Take a look at our feedback page, and get in touch with us by email, post or over the phone. We’re happy to help and improve.

 

 

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
W
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Perhaps I should have posted this under worst experience. Just a point is that OVO specifically say DO NOT contact  SSE energy contact them instead

Blastoise186
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Thanks for bringing this up. I’ve just spotted that so I’ve asked Jess to reach out to the teams at SSE to see if they’re able to clarify that reference. Sorry for any confusion there!

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
W
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Thanks Blastoise, I have forwarded  copy of the complaint letter to SSE energy at Reading.

Blastoise186
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No worries, my understanding is that SSE customers will be moved to OVO eventually, but it’s happening slowly so as to avoid overloading the migration processes and the teams involved.

You’ll receive either an email or a letter when your account begins to migrate and it should have all the details, but we’ll be here if you need more help or advice on that. After your account is migrated and you’re with OVO completely, you’ll be able to contact OVO’s Support Team for help and the assistance that forum volunteers can provide you will massively increase too.

I hope things get sorted out soon! I’ll be here if you need me.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
Jess_OVO
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Really sorry to hear you’re not happy and would like to make a complaint about your SSE account, @wighthope666.

 

Our community volunteer @Blastoise186 has given great advice in directing you to contact SSE about this directly. As we’re still very much at the start of migrating SSE members over to OVO - we’re operating for the most part as separate suppliers for the time being,

 

The contact information for SSE complaints are on this page - the mention of SSE PLC is referring to the non-retail part of SSE which isn’t part of the OVO group and doesn’t deal with home energy customers. Sorry for the confusion that might have caused - and hope you resolve things with SSE quickly.

 

Hope this helps.

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W
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Thank you Jess,  Still slightly confused however. I used SSE complaints page as per link to send a copy of the letter originally sent to OVO and awaitng reply. on the same pa ge it states

We're part of the OVO family so please don't contact SSE PLC who are a seperate company.

So whom do I complain to about threatening letters regarding my not supplying meter readings and threatening to remove me from their contractual obligation to check the meter on a regular basis. I use the word check as I believe it refers to electrical safety rather than meter reading but can be used when the technician arrives.

Blastoise186
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You're welcome. 

At the moment, SSE would be best for this one. I've provided the relevant contact details in my answer above. The page I linked to should be the right one. They're further down the page though. 

I'll probably start reading up on the migration stuff over the next few days and I'll aim to chat with the moderators and the other volunteers about the best way to help out with this sort of thing. It might be possible to have that reference tweaked a little to reduce any confusion as well. 

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
W
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Thanks Blastoise, but as I have  mentioned I can not get a responce from SSE.  I am seriously considering going directly with OVO pointing out the total lack of customer service as the reason.

Blastoise186
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I can understand you there and I’m sorry to hear of the trouble.

It may be worth considering switching to OVO directly now rather than waiting for SSE to migrate you over. The entire Support Team at OVO is fully UK based (mostly around Bristol actually!) and you’ll never get through to foreign call centres. If you fancy doing that, please double check for any exit fees SSE might charge first, just in case. The rates with OVO can be slightly cheaper than SSE as well.

If you’d like to go ahead, you can get started over here. But I can understand if you’d rather not do that.

Just so you know, if you do make the switch, your complaint with SSE may be closed out automatically, but I’ll ask @Jess_OVO about that to make sure.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
W
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Hi Blastoise,  finally manged to (partially) sort the problem.  The only way to make contact with SSE is at their headquarters in Perth, Scotland. The phone number is only on one page on the entire internet (?). this should get you to the Head of Customer Complaints. Yet again they are saying that the transistion is taking time and they are not responsible. 

Have demanded an email explaining their descision to cancel my formal complaint without answer or explanation.  Good luck all SSE customers

Blastoise186
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Thanks for the update! I’m glad to hear you’re at least making some progress.

Yeah, I just realised that some of the SSE contact options are a bit obscure. Not sure I can do much about it though I’m afraid.

I can understand that it might be a bit shaky for a while, but puzzle solving is something that this forum specialises in. While I can’t help out with account specific issues directly, there’s always a very good chance that we can at least help you out somehow, even if it means we can only offer advice that gets you closer to a solution.

While SSE have now posted public info about what’s happening next, we don’t yet have anything “official” here on the forum. I’ve been reading up on the details this week and I’ve added this to my ideas list as a high priority one. At the moment, I’m working on an unrelated smart meter guide, but I think I can get that one finished today and then get it reviewed by the moderators. Most likely, the SSE to OVO Migration one will be next.

The teams at both SSE and OVO are working extremely hard to make sure all the migrations go through as smoothly as possible. Trust me, it won’t be anywhere near as rocky as certain other suppliers… :wink:

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
F
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Hi I’m disgusted with the service and don’t seem to want to help. I was moved over to ovo from sse unfortunately! I receive a Fuel Grant every year from a charity, since the move. I should of received £260.00 to gas and further £260.00 to electric, apparently they seem to of lost! 11 customers all from sse. Had terrible customer service hence talking to me like an idiot to being on phone over an hour sometimes only to get cut off. Really thought I was getting somewhere with an actual nice operator. Put me on hold several times, when she return to me she gave more information from a phone call to the charity news was negative and not true, asked her if she could ring them back as I asked to get the name of staff at the charity, she says yes I will do it now. On hold again for a good while when I was cut off again. Rang straight back to be told the person I spoke to was at lunch , well definitely even more furious now , she said I’ve sent an email to her to get her to ring me bk when finished her lunch. She did not phone me back ! I’m really ready to make formal complaint. Fustreted

Jess_OVO
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I’m so sorry to hear about the difficulty you’ve had when contacting the team about your missing energy grant, @Fustrated.

 

If the call drops for any reason then we’d usually expect the agent to give you a call back. They should leave a voicemail or send an email if they’re not able to reach you.

 

As you mention not receiving the promised callback, I’d like to investigate this further for you. I’ve arranged for us to collect some account details via a Private Message here. You can respond to this message by heading to the menu in the top right-hand corner of any forum page.

 

I hope we can help get things sorted.

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Having a credit balance of almost 7 times my monthly payment, I requested a refund via customer service. Refund was processed or so I was led to believe. When no money arrived I called again and since initial request, I have called, emailed, used WhatsApp messages and each time I am told that the previous advisor completed the refund request incorrectly and finance dept rejected it. No one from SSE advised me of this, I had to call and be told every time. Completely incompetent call centre staff who simply don’t care and are happy to pay lip service each time. The only upside is that I have received £70 so far in compensation, and I will keep requesting compensation each time I call. 
 

D
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Having a credit balance of almost 7 times my monthly payment, I requested a refund via customer service. Refund was processed or so I was led to believe. When no money arrived I called again and since initial request, I have called, emailed, used WhatsApp messages and each time I am told that the previous advisor completed the refund request incorrectly and finance dept rejected it. No one from SSE advised me of this, I had to call and be told every time. Completely incompetent call centre staff who simply don’t care and are happy to pay lip service each time. The only upside is that I have received £70 so far in compensation, and I will keep requesting compensation each time I call. 
 

Interested if anyone here can offer suggestions or advice please

Blastoise186
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Hiya!

I’m afraid this issue sounds account specific, so there’s unfortunately not much we can advise here as forum volunteers I’m afraid.

All I can recommend is that if you still don’t get any luck, try https://sse.co.uk/about-us/sse-and-you/making-a-complaint .

I would recommend against trying to ask for compensation every single call however, as that may start to sound like blackmail or harassment in some cases.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
D
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Thank you Blastoise 186. You’re right, this is account specific but I am at my wits end. The credit balance in my account is so needed right now ( I am a pensioner in my 80s) and SSE seem to be doing everything in their power to keep my money, and nothing to help me. 
I have tried the contact details on the link you posted, however this just goes directly to the same call centre. 
 
I really don’t think that I can be accused of harassment or blackmail. I am simply requesting compensation for failed actions by SSE. 

again, thank you for your reply 

Emmanuelle_OVO
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Hey @Dotferg,

 

Sorry for the issues you’re having.

 

Unfortunately as we don’t access customer accounts, and SSE are separate with different processes (until you migrate over) we can only offer general advice here. 

 

If you’ve already been given compensation by SSE, it sounds like you’ve already gone through their complaints process and that was offered as a resolution. 

 

What is the reason they’ve advised that the refund failed? is it because there’s no up to date readings/you haven’t been billed for a while/a tech issue? Have they given a timeframe for the refund? 

 

If the agreed resolution to your initial complaint was to be given a refund by ‘X’ date and compensation, if they’ve failed to upkeep their promise then you’d be within your rights to re-open the existing complaint or raise another.

 

Hope this helps. 

Renewable Energy? Big Fan.
D
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Hi Emmanuelle. 
thank you for taking the time to reply. 

each time I call, the advisor goes through a meter reading ( I have a smart meter) and calculates a refund amount ( each call the amount differs) and they tell me that the payment will be in my account within 5-7 days. When I call back saying I have no refund, a different advisor tells me that the refund has been rejected due to the previous advisor completing the refund request incorrectly. It is at this point that I request a Goodwill payment which they process immediately. 

I emailed the complaints department last week and have received an automated response telling me that it could take up to 10 working days for them to contact me, but considering that it takes up to 10 working days to get a refund payment, this means that it could be another month waiting for money that is rightfully mine.
 

monthly payments = £181

account balance = £1472 credit

I am in financial difficulty which this refund can sort.  

Emmanuelle_OVO
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Hey @Dotferg,

 

That sounds like a really frustrating experience, I wonder if you’d have a better result if you tried escalating the complaint over the phone 0345 070 7373 instead of email? 

Renewable Energy? Big Fan.
D
Rank

Thank you but yes, have tried email, phone and messaging. Get told same story every time. Frustrating isn’t the half of it. 

V
Rank

Jumping on this thread. It has been 6 week since raising a complaint with SSE via their customer servie3s team. Iso far i have not been contacted.

 

SSE, have written to say they owe me £3,519, money they took via direct debit, for estimated metre reading for a metre that they removed some time ago. However, in the same letter, they say due to an admin error they are unable to pay this? Given the cost of living crisis and energy bills, this is putting me in a  very difficult position. As a veteran with complex PTSD, i find these events extremely stressful.

 

I have called a numbed of times and tried to communicated via their WHATS APP messenger, which is a complete joke. I managed to speak to someone last week, who said they could not help me because my complaint was already been assigned... 

 

I am not sure quite what to do, any suggestions would be much appreciated, all i want to do is speak to someone to resolve this, and have my money refunded so i can actually pay my bills!

D
Rank

We finally got it resolved and this is the email address for the man who sorted it out. *Edited by Mod*
 

the other email is executive.complaints@sseenergyservices.com

 

try these. I emailed to advise the actions I would be forced to take if they did not respond within a specified time frame, e.g., councillor, MP, press and all correspondence would be backed up with letter from doctor explaining the impact the issue was having on emotional and physical health. 
 

good luck 

M
Rank
Userlevel 2

I have been with SSE for over 15 years but their standards of customer service are plumetting. Every call now involves at least 40 minutes on hold followed by being cut off after they say they are connecting you to the correct department!

My issues are these:

 

(i)   I had a smart meter installed on the 9th December 22, and as of today,  it is still not linked to or updating my online account. The IHD is showing usage data, so I can at least jot down estimated costs, but I think nearly 3 months without this being sorted is unacceptable

 

(ii)  The tariff showing on my IHD has not been altered to reflect the 01.01.23 price increase despite it being shown on my last bill dated 09.02.23

 

I sent a complaint email to the two addresses linked to fron the website homeservicescomplaints@sseenergyservices.com and complaints@sseenergyservices.com only to get a bounceback email this morning saying

 

In order to improve the service we provide, our contact channels have been updated.

Please visit our Contact Us page to see our range of contact options plus a range of services and information that may also be useful to resolve your enquiry.

Please note that no further actions will be taken following this email

 

Needless to say, if you follow the contact us link and go to complaints, it gives you the same email addresses I had already used…..arrgh!

 

Can someone here please give me a good contact email to get things resolved? Please not a telephone number as like I said before, every call ends up with seemingly endless time on hold

 

Many Thanks

 

 

 

 

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