With Ovo, don't want British Gas

Tiger_B

As the contract with Ovo was drawing to an end I used Simply Switch to do a comparison. British Gas came out £115 cheaper so I went for the switch. Should have looked closer. The BG tariff was variable. Contacting BG and asking to go to a fixed tariff was met with reluctance and we were left on the variable. A calculation showed that there would be no advantage of BG fixed over Ovo so an email was sent to BG stating we no longer wished to swap. 5 days later they replied stating "We've delivered on our promise and responded to your enquiry within 24 hours" and saying that we were now outside our 7 day cooling off period.

Contacted Ovo who raised an objection on our behalf. This seemed to put BG off for a month but now receiving emails welcoming us to BG and telling us a start date.

Our contract has been renewed with Ovo and we want to stay with them. They're straightforward charging per kWh. BG make their tariff as difficult as possible to calculate (standing charge plus x up to a certain amout then y above).

Any ideas how to get British Gas of our backs?

Plushchris

BG complaints department, say it was an erroneous transfer and provide proof that you cancelled within your cooling off period (assuming you kept the emails)

dogshome

Hi Tiger B - It's all down to the actual dates that things happened.

Your 7 day cancelletion window runs from the day you Rang/Emailed BG to arrange the switch, which is very tight deadline as you are supposed to use the Cancellation Form that is included in the Welcome Pack that they send to you by post!

However if you tried by phone to change onto a different BG tariff and BG refused to let you, provided this call was within the 7 day window you are on strong ground.
WRITE to BG heading the letter Complaint, setting out the dates of all your communications and stating that so far as you are concerned you had cancelled.

eurmalian

Hi there

There are two important questions involved here:

How long after signing up was each bit of contact?

And by 'met with reluctance' do you mean that they straight out refused to do it or that they managed to disuade you, but didn't say that it couldn't be done?

Tiger_B

The big problem is timing. We have never actually ever received a welcome pack! The first contact was an email from BG about 7-8 days (need to check back carefully) from using simply switch stating that we would be on the variable tariff. We phoned the same day and the problem of going on to a fixed tariff was maybe not impossible but extremely dissuasive.

This means I would probably be out of the ridiculously short 7 day cooling off period by the time I emailed.

I would hope that BG 7 days is longer than most peoples as their 24 hours lasts 5 days!

alleycat`

Not an answer to the question but my recent EDF switch stated 12 days on it.

Is the 7 day period factually correct and in that case why are EDF giving a bit more grace period?

eurmalian

As far as I was aware, it's seven days from when you recieve the contract pack, or 14 days from the point of sign up. It's not something I've looked into recently though so I may be wrong.

On the other part, if the agent you spoke to has not said that you can't change tariff then you will not be able to use that call as your point of contact date, it would have to be the email that you sent. After all, it's an agents job to try to disuade you from changing your mind when you've signed up for something like this...

mervyn2711

Be very careful with ovo after 18months of being with them thay have given me a bill for over 450 pounds because they say they have been charging me too little
not only is this the second time they have done this but also wiped out all the 18 months bills and trackers connected with that account so i can't check what the hell they are talking about bunch of croocks, now i have a long legal battle coming up there is no way they are getting away with it
just to say that i pay monthly direct debit in that account was over 200 pounds they have already taken that i believe they are owned by e-on i think but stay away

ian1969uk

Ovo aren't owned by E-On.

Were you providing them with actual meter readings during this time?

Plushchris

I'm six months into a fixed contract at the moment and have been with them at a previous address and have had no problem with them whatsoever, I keep them provided with readings and my direct debits are almost exactly what they should be, very happy with them so far.

andyrpsmith

In my second year with OVO on fixed rate tariff which has saved me £2000 since I moved from Southern Electric. No problems at all and staff very helpful. I submit a monthly reading and calculate the bill in excel table never been a discrepancy so far.