Why can't I request a refund when my account is closed?

Hi @tttt ,

It is very fair and standard procedure across the industry.

You will get that money back at the end of the account closure process after the final bill is paid off. If you literally just switched away, any pending Direct Debits that were already in-flight cannot be stopped - that’s just how banks work and it’s beyond OVO’s control.

If you have any spare credit left once the Final Bill is paid off, it’ll be returned to you automatically. The £88 that was just collected will be factored in and likewise will be returned automatically if it’s no longer needed. You won’t be charged again after the Final Bill is processed.

This may take up to six weeks as both OVO and your new supplier need to sort things out in the background to enable your Final Bill to be generated and allow the outgoing OVO account to be closed down properly.

I’m sorry, but you cannot request a refund at this time while that process is ongoing.

Any payment taken from my account after you have recorded switching away should be refunded immediately. There is no excuse as banks can take your transfer to send me my £88 back you just do not want to. That is the shameful part.

I’m afraid that’s not how it works though. As a Forum Volunteer, I don’t have access to your account, but what I do know - and this is common across ALL suppliers - is that it takes roughly six weeks after switching away to fully close down the old account. The old supplier is entitled to take Direct Debits as needed to clear the remaining balance owed during this time.

Once the Final Bill is generated, one last Direct Debit may be taken to clear whatever’s left to pay, but only if the account credit doesn’t cover it. If there’s enough credit on the account to clear the outstanding balance, then it - and the entire account - gets marked as Settled automatically (and also on ALL Credit Reference Agencies!) and the closure process can just continue smoothly. Any spare credit after that triggers an automatic refund of ALL remaining credit. In this situation, the status of Settled is a good thing - it tells everyone that you paid the balance off on-time and cleared it without issue. If you let this happen, it keeps your credit files with Experian, TransUnion and Equifax in good order.

That’s just how it works. It’s better than getting into debt right as you’re moving away.

Either way, whatever the Final Bill is needs to be paid off regardless. If you were to pull money out now, you’d only end up having to pay it back in later to clear that bill. That’s why you’re generally better off leaving it in the OVO account for now - it’ll reduce what you need to pay off later to close the account down.

Your comments are not helpful mate and you do not understand the problem MODERATOR please I do not need these unhelpful comments on my question.

@tttt be aware that this is a ‘self-help’ forum mainly supported by volunteers. It is not a direct route to OVO as being a public forum, no one has access to your account. 
You will need to get in touch with customer support to get a direct response. Please also be thoughtful to replies are generally trying to help you

Yes I knew that. So happy everybody considers this procedure from OVO as fair. I could use 300 quid right now but they do not care. I cannot tell in the shop that it is a fair procedure and I will pay for milk 6 weeks later.

But as we did mention, your account balance is frozen during an account closure to protect you from accidentally putting yourself into debt. That’s why you won’t be able to pull a refund right now.

You can ask you bank to do a direct debit indemnity, if you feel.you want that money back now!

Ovo can't stop a direct debit when it's in a billing window to collect money, as others say it will be refunded.

@alinbongo54 The giving of ANY kind of advice that could put someone into debt is frowned upon here. We ask that you use extreme caution in future before doing so. For this reason, I cannot allow your answer to be marked as the Best Answer against this thread, so I’m afraid I’ll be force-marking one of the other comments here for now.

The Direct Debit Guarantee and the Indemnity Claim system ARE NOT Magic Bullets and this specific use case of it would be considered invalid and possible fraud. The reasons I say that are because it’s pretty clear the DD payment that was collected, was collected appropriately and within the rules, you’re not entitled to claw those back via that system.

The reason of “I just want my £88 back before OVO finishes closing the account down” is NOT on the list of valid reasons to file an Indemnity Claim under the Direct Debit Guarantee. If you still owe that money, you still have to pay it - and the risk is you’d end up having to pay OVO back anyway if it resulted in your account credit being insufficient to clear the outstanding balance.

We have already said that OVO would refund all spare credit upon account closure. The safest option is ALWAYS to allow that to happen gracefully without messing with the account in the meantime. We stand by our word in that regard.

The rules are clear as well - you MUST repay any refund you’re not entitled when the provider asks you to. Additionally, it does NOT release you from the need to pay for stuff you actually used - and forcing unauthorised refunds like this can put you into debt with the provider. Don’t risk it unless you have an actually valid reason to trigger it.

Apologies,  I work fir a bank and understand how they both work. Feel free to delete my comment and Apologies.

It’s ok, just remember to be careful - there’s often far more to the story than what you can see on the surface. It’s those extra details that can change the game in unexpected ways.

We just ask that you take that extra time before posting to make sure you’re not going off-track.

@alinbongo54 No need to apologise, I don’t think you were suggesting any sort of illegal or fraudulent behaviour in your comment - most customers try this avenue in this type of situation, however as @Blastoise186 mentions, it can usually mean OVO (or another company) would be in their right to request any outstanding balances back (which would just lengthen the issue and process).

If your account was well within credit and a payment was taken, where you desperately needed the money back in your bank account, you can speak with us at OVO and we, in most cases, as long as we have correct readings, can potentially work out some form of partial or full refund of the difference. We’d just make the customer aware that, depending on the final bill,  we may need a further final payment depending on the final balance and statement.

@Blastoise186 Lets not be too heavy handed with our users, I appreciate what you’re saying and doing, but we could’ve maybe framed that in a more friendly and guiding way! 😊