Hello OVO,

Seeing this post is like seeing my future. I am also switching from Iresa to OVO . Iresa completely screwed up my account . I have been requesting a bill for 2 months . They told me they were going to increase my DD , when my account showed £200 in credit . I told them not to , and checked their Facebook page . Comments really scary , others complaining of DD increases when in credit and worse , not getting money back. I cancelled my DD and told them I will pay when I get a bill , if I owe them money . According to FB comments if you phone you are on hold for an hour. I expect they will make problems with the switch , but I simply cannot contact them . I am hoping OVO will have better ways to talk to them then their customers.

If OVO see this and there are problems , please contact me straight away .

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Hi there - what an awful situation to be in, Iresa are SUPPOSED to be cheap but in review after review they are renowned for being amongst the worst of all energy suppliers.



Ovo have consistently won awards and have the highest approval rating in the country, your making a good choice!



Little tip if I may, when choosing a company of any sort or type, try Revoo site or Trustpilot, literally hundreds and hundreds of reviews, I dare you to type in Iresa!



Once again sorry to hear your situation, I realy hope you get it sorted soon.



All the best,



Tris 🙂

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Just to follow up, I've just been on Trustpiolt reviews, Iresa have a 78% BAD rating. That could well be the worst in the UK. 😢

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Updated on 20/07/23 by Abby_OVO

 

Sorry to hear about the delay to your switch to OVO.

 

When you requested to join us, we have to send the request back to your current supplier. This gives them the chance to ‘object’ to the switch for a number of reasons. This could be associated with the details listed on your property (such as address or meter detail errors) or an account specific issue, such as an outstanding balance on your account with them.

 

If we receive an objection to your switch, it will be cancelled. If you’ve resolved the problems with your current supplier and would still like to change suppliers, you’ll need to reapply for the switch, choosing from the plans we have available at that point.

 

There’s more great advice on what to expect when joining us on this great guide. We can’t wait to have you onboard! 

 

Interested in joining OVO? - Check out our plans!

 

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Tim , as you probably know , getting anything from Iresa other than a no-reply automated response is impossible. I have asked them for a bill repeatedly for over six weeks. I have "spoken" to their reps on messenger , i have sent an email directly to their CEO , I have asked them for bank and reference numbers to pay them when i get my bill . I am in Greece right now , returning to the UK on Wednesday when I will attempt to phone . Sometimes there are over 100 in the queue when calling. Perhaps , with clout of your company , you can ask them to send a bill . You have my name address and phone number . I was a customer of yours in the past . My post code is (hidden by Moderator) which should be enough to find me in your system.

Jonathan Smith

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I'm in the process of moving from Iresa (I know, god help me!) and after some teething troubles it looked like it was all going through and OVO asked me to submit meter readings. When I logged on to the site today though I could only submit electricity and not gas. Is this indicative of something going wrong?

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Tim , as you probably know , getting anything from Iresa other than a no-reply automated response is impossible. I have asked them for a bill repeatedly for over six weeks. I have "spoken" to their reps on messenger , i have sent an email directly to their CEO , I have asked them for bank and reference numbers to pay them when i get my bill . I am in Greece right now , returning to the UK on Wednesday when I will attempt to phone . Sometimes there are over 100 in the queue when calling. Perhaps , with clout of your company , you can ask them to send a bill . You have my name address and phone number . I was a customer of yours in the past . My post code is (hidden by Moderator) which should be enough to find me in your system.

Jonathan Smith

For Data Protection purposes, we won’t be able to request this from Iresa. Even if we tried, they wouldn’t do it.



Good luck with pursuing this!



Lucy

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Hi @hcjling,

Sorry to hear of your plight.

I've had similar problems with two previous energy suppliers, so I've gleaned a bit of useful experience.



The Energy Ombudsman will take on your case so long as you have evidence that you've followed the advertised Complaints Procedure of that Supplier. Most have two stages:

• Contact Customer Services and identify it's a complaint you're making
  
• If the response is adequate/unsatisfactory, contact Complaints Dept
  

Sometimes a Supplier's Procedure includes a third step

• Contact Complaints Manager/Director
  

Provided you can demonstrate that you've done those 2 or 3 steps, then the Ombudsman can intervene. I always use email for complaints, so I retain a copy of what I said with a time/date stamp on it.

If they insist of telephoning me with their answer, then I write back to them by email with what I think we've just agreed.



Once you've done that, the Ombudsman has considerable clout. In a lengthy dispute I had with Extra Energy, I was awarded the difference in price from what they were charging me compared with what I could've enjoyed by switching.



Since they had actually failed to properly take over one of my two fuels in the first place, they had to pay me almost a year's worth of bills plus an amount equivalent to me not being able to enjoy a dual-fuel discount. There's also a discretionary amount that can be awarded by the ombudsman, which is usually around £75.



So don't waste time on other courses of action. Get the evidence that you've followed their Complaints Procedure, and then copy those emails to the Ombudsman.



Finally, just remember that there are a number of reasons why an Objection to Transfer can be raised apart from a disputed outstanding bill. Incorrect Address or Incorrect Meter Number are two possibilities. But it's up to your Supplier to have clearly informed you of the reason. If not, then the Ombudsman will sort it for you.

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I’ve moved your comment to on here @veato as it’s possible Iresa objected to your switch.



I’d suggest contacting them to query this further as they’ll be able to provide more concrete information on your switch.



Lucy

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Hi @veato,

@Lucy_OVO is correct. This is what happened to me with Extra Energy. One fuel-type transferred ok and the other one didn't.



In my case the original problem turned out to be a Meter Number that didn't match my address... but Extra Energy continued to take my DD, as did my other supplier. Hence I was paying twice for one of my fuels.



In your case, OVO have (correctly) stopped the Transfer Process whilst this is resolved.

You now need to write to Iresa as I've explained above.



I also recommend that you email your Meter Reading in to OVO today. If it turns out to be Iresa's fault then both parties can still agree to use today's figures and Iresa will need to compensate you for not being able to move to OVO on the agreed date.



Keep us updated here on the Forum. There's help and advice available.

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There were teething problems with Iresa as they put my account into debit with an errornous estimated reading but that was resolved some time back. I have since had a message from them to say it's no longer on hold ans they estimate the switch to be complete on 22nd Feb. It was actually after this that OVO requested my readings but only let me input the electric one. I did contact OVO via email and they said they've added the gas reading themselves.



Good news though! If I log on to my account today I get full access to my account and can see the progress of the switch. Looks like everything is going through now.

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Glad to hear that @veato,

It will still take another fortnight after 22nd Feb for Iresa to send you a Final Bill, which will be based on the readings which OVO send to the National Register.



There's no point in Iresa acting sooner than that because you still have a 14-day cooling-off period once your OVO account goes "live" under the Consumer Contracts Regulations.

If you were paying by Direct Debit, you'll need to leave this open to Iresa so that they can credit/debit your bank account with the total on that Final Bill.



Welcome to OVO!

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Hi @veato,



Well another month has gone by.

Would you like to tell us how you resolved matters with Iresa?



Are you aware that Ofgem has just sanctioned them for non-compliance?

Have a look at this BBC News story yesterday.

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I am still waiting on my final bill (6 weeks since they added the final readings to my account) so whilst fully live with OVO I still have an open account with Iresa. I've had to cancel the direct debit with them otherwise I'd be paying 2 lots of energy bills which might complicate getting my refund (when they finally DO generate a final bill) but what choice do I have!

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Hi @veato,



Well, I'm not surprised. After all, Iresa are under Ofgem sanctions - a stage beyond investigation.



You need to follow Iresa's published Complaints Procedure. This page suggests that there is only one stage, after which you can take the matter straight to the Office of the Energy Ombudsman. However, I can't be certain because you will notice that the first "box" ends with a half-completed sentence!



In order to proceed to the Ombudsman, you would have to demonstrate that you have already followed the Iresa Procedure, so I always recommend that you use email so you have time/date stamps on the correspondence.



Their email address is complaints@iresa.co.uk, and note that you must include your Customer ID and the address of the property.



According to the website you should receive a response within 5 days.

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Ive switched to OVO but my current supplier stopped it due to outstanding payment. This has now been paid so can you please tell me how to get this back on track, thanks?

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Ive switched to OVO but my current supplier stopped it due to outstanding payment. This has now been paid so can you please tell me how to get this back on track, thanks?



Hey @Gordon,



I've moved your topic over here where you'll be able to find the information you need! Check out Tim's best answer at the top.



Nancy

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Hi @Gordon,

I don't know the timings behind this abortive switch, so I'm having to guess a bit. Let's assume that OVO have already done both of the attempts to acquire your supplies.

You should now phone or email OVO Customer Support: 0330 303 5063. Request that they restart the acquisition using the personal information which have already provided.

They will issue a fresh Acquisition Notification to ECOES, the National Meter Database. Your "old" Supplier will be notified again, but this time will allow the process to continue. You will be given a new Switch-date by OVO, probably about 4 weeks ahead.

It is the responsibility of the Receiving Supplier to handle all aspect of the switch. You should not be communicating anything to the Old/Current Supplier.

On or about the agreed Switch date you will be able to send your meter reading(s) to OVO using their website link to My OVO where your account details are held.

Your Old Supplier will send you a Final Bill about 2-3 weeks after that. Make sure you keep your Direct Debit "live" until the last transfer has occurred. If they've just taken a whole month's payment, then you'll be credited the unused days.

If you are unclear about any of this process, please post here again. Us Forum Members can usually advise.

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DD already cancelled. Im at 2nd attempt stage.

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I applied to switch gas&electricity supply. But why was only electricity switched?

The customer service said OVO sent the request to my old supplier and my old supplier said they didn’t receive. It must the OVO’s responsibility to ensure that they request has received feedback. Otherwise they cannot make sure that the request is successful and it can be very frustrating to customers!!!

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I’ve moved your post here, @Kang Ma, it sounds like your current supplier has object to our switch request, check out the above info!

Objections are put in place for many reasons when a switch is in progress.

These include if there is an outstanding balance on the account or if you are still in contract when requesting a switch. It might be worth checking that we have applied for the correct address, or that there's not also a switch request coming in from a third supplier, which can happen if you sign up with two different companies very close together.

I hope this helps! 

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And may I also please point out @Kang Ma that switching gas and electricity are two separate processes. The electricity switch is handled by ECOES which is the National database for electric meters, whilst the equivalent for gas is Xoserve.

If you’re no longer within contract with your Old Supplier, you still have the right to use the Complaints Procedure of the New Supplier, which in your case is OVO.

I have checked this with the Office of the Energy Ombudsman several times. It does not imply that the New Supplier is at fault. It’s just that this is the correct route to ensure your consumer rights are protected.

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Hi Ovo

 

On 30 August 2021 I received a ‘Welcome to Ovo’ notification following my application to switch my account for dual fuel from Eon Energy to Ovo.

On 1 October 2021 I emailed as I had received no further contact despite the assurance that switching should take 21 days.

On 25 October I received a phone call from one of your staff regarding my enquiry as you could find no record of my switch application. I forwarded the ‘Welcome’ notification at 15:38 on that date to you and that chap confirmed receipt and advised me that he would begin the switch process. At 17:02 an email confirming this was sent to me.

At that stage my online account showed the plan for both gas and electricity and I submitted meter readings to both Ovo and Eon Energy on an ongoing basis - including photos of both meters at your request on 15 December 2021. I started paying by direct debit on 12 November 2021 at a rate higher than the predicted monthly payment under the agreed plan - as advised by the chap who called on 25 October - with the understanding that that would be reduced at a later date.

On 10/01/2022 you emailed me to advise of a meter reading dispute with Eon.

Another was received 24 February 2022. I replied to the latter with photos of both meters, plus the photos taken and sent 15 December 2021. On the same date Eon advised that they had no dispute for the gas and had transferred the service to Ovo. They stated that the issue with the electricity was down to the fact that I had an outstanding balance despite the fact there was a direct debit mandate in place that would have cleared any final balance owing]. I paid the balance on that date. Receipt of the photos was confirmed on 24 Feb and I was informed you would contact me within 47 working days.

On 28 February you contacted me to tate that the gas was all in order and advised of my balance.

On  18 March your emailed to advise that the meter reading dispute had been sorted and an opening reading had been agreed for gas.

 

All bills emailed to me up to and including the one received 16 March 2022 included entries for both gas and electricity. Thereafter you have dropped all mention of electricity and my online account plan did the same at roughly the same time.

On 12 April i called you to chase the switch for the electricity supply. One of your CSAs showed a level of concern and investigated further and advised me that the issue was due to the supply being associated with the account number I had when I was previously with you, prior to moving to Eon. That CSA emailed to confirm this and that my “account has been sent to the relevant team to have the old electricity details removed from when you were supplied by OVO previously. Once this has been done, you will be able to ring us so we can go through a quote and request your electricity supply again. You will need to agree to a tariff when bringing your electricity over, then once your electricity is on supply with us, our billing team will be able to backdate your tariff to the plan you are currently on”.

That email was followed shortly afterwards by one from one of your Transfer Agents, who stated:

“Due to a fault that occurred at the time the switch was attempted, we were not able to gain the supply.

I can confirm that I have removed the contract for you for the electric, this can me added on in the future to line up when we gain the supply.

To confirm, I have raised this issue with our tech team and they will work on this as soon as possible, but there is no timeframe for when this will be resolved.”

I made a call to follow the above suggestion of ‘going through a quote and request request your electricity supply again’ and subsequently received an email on 27 June 2022 from one of your Transfers Agents stating that you were ready to take over the electricity supply and that I needed to call you again, which I did and signed-up to one of your current deals on the undertanding that that would be back-dated to the agreed deal from my original switch request.

On 19 July you emailed to confim that agreed plan and on 23 July you emailed again to advise that all I needed to do was send a meter reading and all would be set. I have submitted reading on 23 and 25 July and again on 1 August but only the latter is showing against my meter reading history - presumably due to an error on your website.

Subsequent phonecalls on 1 and 4 August to check progress have resulted in me being advised that the supply is still with Eon Energy confirmed via the UK Power Networks website on 14 August]. On both of these calls I was cut-off for no apparent reason. When calling Eon on 4 August I was advised that they had received no application to switch my account from you.

This account misses out a number of phone calls that I have made to both Ovo and Eon, which have been ever-increasingly frustrating as your CSAs I have spoken to since April have shown no interest in coming off-script and actually trying to get to the bottom of the problem. In particular, there appears to be no escalation process so that a senior member of staff can take over and case-hold until the problem is sorted out.

As an example, I asked the first CSA I spoke to on 4 August to put me straight through to your Switch Team, which she did. The person who I then spoke to advised that you do not have a Switch Team! On clarifying that, given I had had emails from Transfer Agents, they may be known as the Transfer Team, I was cut off.

Given the length of time this has taken I finally gave in and submitted a complaint via your website on 4 August. Your complaints process states that someone should contact me in around 5 days. I have neither received an email confirmation of the fact I had made a complaint, nor a call from your Complaints Team.

Please could someone advise why a switch that should take 21 days has still not been completed after almost a year?

Thanks

Lee

 

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Hi @L-E-E and thanks for taking the time to outline this experience. It really helps to save you having to explain it any more times to anyone else. I’m sorry to learn about it though. 

 

You’ve described gas reading disputes, electricity objections from Eon due to debt, all sorts of issues with the electric supply on OVO’s side. A real mess. 

 

I’ve asked our Forum_Support team to reach out to you via a private message, in order to either get this resolved there and then, or to escalate your complaint to our dedicated Complaints team. That’s the highest point of escalation within OVO. 

 

Look out for that private message,

Tim

 

 

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Dear Ovo

STILL no resolution to my issue mentioned above.

NO response to my complaint made via your online form 4 August.

NO repsonse to my follow-up email to your complaints team [sent 1 December].

NO response from your team in relation to Subject Access Requests made 6 & 15 December [I resubmitted as I couldn’t remember whether I clicked the confirmation link for the first one].

NO reply to my last query to Forum Support 3 months ago

What is happening with my switch request for electricity, which should have started 12 November 2021 in line with the gas supply that you have switched?

Failure to resolve this soon will regrettably mean I will have to waste more of my time submitting a complaint to the ombudsman.

Thanks

Lee

 

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