Ovo Energy Reviews: Give your feedback

Dird

I've been with them since November (Better Energy Online). CS has all been good so far, fast replies to emails (within 48 hours as suggested except for 1 email which they later apologised for via Twitter)/tweets & helpful people on the phones with not terrible wait times.

Only problem I have is with the limitations on the website. No idea whether BG has the same limitations or as helpful phone line which is making me think twice about switching even though it works out cheaper.

footyguy

victor2 wrote: »

Not the first reported problem from a returning customer. As an ex-customer, it makes me wonder if I should contemplate going back, even if they have an attractive tariff.

As an ex-Ovo customer, I certainly would not have any concerns about going back to them ... if they could offer me a nice cheap tariff.

Sadly since those early days with them, they have not been able to re-match the competitive tariff they then offered.

Having said that, their prices are not overly expensive (just not the cheapest for me), which is why I have questioned the poster you refer to as to the details of how they think they can save £170 a year by switching to SSE. :huh:

I do look forward to their response.

System

PCH wrote: »

Be warned, if you were a previous customer and you return to OVO things can go wrong. My switch back to OVO was far from a success.

I had been with them up until about March 2014 when I moved to Cooperative Energy. Coop were all right but had become slow at issuing bills. I decided to move back to OVO as they had previously been very good. I wasn't going to save any money by switching, so it was going to be all down to a better customer service. That wasn't to be though.

I initiated the switch on 01/10/2016 and all seemed well at first. But when the switch was completed there were two problems. First, my gas hadn't gone across, and secondly OVO charged me for all the electricity I had used between March 2014 & October 2015 when I wasn't their customer. As I was a returning customer OVO systems messed up.

Bugs in their system meant that "When we [OVO] apply to take over an energy supply, technical files are sent to the industry with the transfer information to allow the switch to go ahead. As we had already supplied the gas at your property, this file was not generated as it should have been. Our systems still recognised the supply as with Ovo, even though your gas supply had already left us." This meant that my gas remained with Cooperative Energy and by now I was on an expensive standard tariff. OVO promised to make up the difference once my switch was complete 5 weeks late.

Regarding the electricity, they had done a similar thing only they had generated the transfer files so the switch went ahead but the first bill assumed I had never been away and in effect charged me arrears for all the electricity I had used while with Cooperative Energy. This was sorted out relatively painlessly via email.

Come the new transfer date for my gas, I had an email asking me to supply meter readings on-line. However the on-line system would only take my electricity reading, not my gas; likewise their automated telephone meter reading service. I gave up trying to speak to someone on the phone as the queue was too long so I submitted by email instead - they accepted this while saying that initial readings couldn't be given on-line - but then why ask for them on-line? And they had accepted my previous 20/10/2015 initial readings on-line!

At this point the only thing outstanding was supposed cashback for switching, and the refund of my excess Cooperative Energy charges. I have an email from Cheap Energy Club saying "cashback has just been paid - though it'll take a couple of days to reach you". I never saw this money, and I also never got sufficient documentation to chase it up.

Then, my next regular statement (December) didn't turn up. On 07/01/2016 I sent an email asking for the Coop Energy refund, to see what had happened to the cashback, and to get a statement. I got the automated response to this email but the promised response within 48 hours never happened. I sent a new email on 12/01/2016 but again had no response apart from the automated one. After 48 hours I phoned them. This phone call lasted 33 minutes - they couldn't find my emails and asked me to send yet again. They couldn't explain why I hadn't received my December statement & manually generated a combined gas & electricity one. I was promised the refund for the excess gas charges once my emails got to them and, I thought, a promise of compensation for all the hassles. The email I sent (while still on the phone to them) generated an automated response, but no other action.

On 22/02/2016 I got my regular January statement - for electricity only, no gas, and no refund of the Coop charges.

I sent yet another email on 25/01/2016. This time I got a reply the next day. This generated a gas only statement which at last included the refund of the excess gas charges because of the delayed switch. Regarding compensation, they said that the gas excess charge refund is what they meant by compensation, nothing for all the time on the phone to them or writing emails. Another email to them pointing out that I had had to send 7 emails (3 of which were totally unanswered) and many phone calls, the last lasting 33 minutes, and asking for recompense for that. This was refused.

So, after three and a half months with OVO I've only received one combined gas & electricity bill, and that was manually generated. I've wasted hours on the phone & writing emails. Oh, and did I say that I've found their new website not a patch on their previous one - I find the new one difficult to navigate; half the information is only in 'pop-ups' and there's no easy way of downloading or copying my payments record to put into a spreadsheet.

I'm off to SSE - I hope that works, At least this time I'll be saving about £170.

I cannot believe that this is still happening months on from me having the exact same problem. When you sign up with Ovo for a second time, the only difference between the old and new accounts is the Customer Number: the meter numbers, address etc are the same. Clearly, a different customer number doesn't stop the two accounts from becoming merged with the concomitant problems of erroneous bills for energy supplied by another energy company, and failed switches.

It may be a while before Ovo gets my business again.

Anthorn

Hengus wrote: »

Hi. Let's try and get this into some form of order. Your new contract starts on the day that you apply to switch. This is followed by a 14 day cooling off period. If you decide to cancel within the cooling off period then you will remain with your present supplier.

Most suppliers will send out 'you can't be serious about switching messages'. I confess that I have never seen a 7 day deadline before and it is not covered in the supplier's licence.

The new supplier is responsible for managing all aspects of the switch, and whilst some aspects of Ovo's customer service are pretty ordinary, I have always received a Welcome Pack by post within a few days of applying to switch - and well within the cooling off period. Ovo will also send you an email 5 days before the switch date asking for a meter reading. My advice is to give them one on the day of the switch. This avoids the problem of you getting a closing reading which is industry-estimated.

Sorry - I should have added that the current voluntary target is for your new supplier to switch you on the 17th day after application - cooling off period plus 3 days. The supply licence obligation is 35 days - cooling off period plus 21 days.

Got to the bottom of it after I gained access to my online account through the reset password link: They have omitted the first line of my address. So the welcome pack they allegedly sent to me will likely be returned to them as will the direct debit arrangement they may have already sent to my bank. Everyone makes mistakes but really not a good start and doesn't promote future confidence.

PCH_2

footyguy wrote: »

I'd be very interested to hear what your usage details (& region, tariffs, etc) are that makes you think you will be saving £170 per year from SSE compared to the Ovo deal you signed up for last October

... assuming the deal you opted for last October was the cheapest at the time based on the same usage data.

Southampton.

OVO were not the cheapest when I decided to move back to them, I did it on the expectation of the same good customer & systems service that I had previously. For my energy usage the OVO tariff available on 01/10/15 or just before was £1091 per year, the current SSE tariff promises £917 per year. Tariffs are still dropping! 22,000kWh per year gas, 2,200kWh per year electricity.

PCH_2

footyguy wrote: »

Having said that, their [OVO] prices are not overly expensive (just not the cheapest for me), which is why I have questioned the poster you refer to as to the details of how they think they can save £170 a year by switching to SSE. :huh:

I do look forward to their response.

If moving to them (and if the switch works) yes, OVO are not overly expensive. But once on one of their fixed contracts, if you move to a new fixed contract with them you lose the 'online only' discount which adds an extra £60 per year, and the new contract has early termination fees (to be fair, so does SSE). So the current headline £965 rate from OVO would be £1025 for me, still £108 more than SSE. My £170 saving is from my current OVO contract to my new SSE one. Of course, had waited a week there are deals at £874, another £40 cheaper - if you'd trust them.

System

PCH wrote: »

If moving to them (and if the switch works) yes, OVO are not overly expensive. But once on one of their fixed contracts, if you move to a new fixed contract with them you lose the 'online only' discount which adds an extra £60 per year, and the new contract has early termination fees (to be fair, so does SSE). So the current headline £965 rate from OVO would be £1025 for me, still £108 more than SSE. My £170 saving is from my current OVO contract to my new SSE one. Of course, had waited a week there are deals at £874, another £40 cheaper - if you'd trust them.

They have changed the 'rules' and now dropped the loss of online discount in favour of a termination fee. It probably dawned on them that they could only take away the online discount once but a termination fee applies each time a customer wants to tariff hop.

PCH_2

Hengus wrote: »

They have changed the 'rules' and now dropped the loss of online discount in favour of a termination fee. It probably dawned on them that they could only take away the online discount once but a termination fee applies each time a customer wants to tariff hop.

Interesting. That change must have happened very recently as this is not what OVO told me on 26/01/2016, just 12 days ago: "[FONT=Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif]With regards to the new Better Energy rates, I can confirm that you are able to switch to these rates on a new 12 month contract. However, by doing so you will no longer be eligible to receive the online management discount."


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System

PCH wrote: »

Interesting. That change must have happened very recently as this is not what OVO told me on 26/01/2016, just 10 days ago: "[FONT=Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif]With regards to the new Better Energy rates, I can confirm that you are able to switch to these rates on a new 12 month contract. However, by doing so you will no longer be eligible to receive the online management discount."


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It's been in place for a month or so for NEW contracts. They clearly couldn't make it retrospective:

10. Cancelling your contract early

10.1. You do not have to pay us a Termination Fee if:

10.1.1 you are leaving OVO (which means you don’t initiate a switch back to OVO within 3 months of initiating the switch away);

10.1.2 you are moving from a Variable Plan to a Fixed Plan;

10.1.3 you are moving from one Variable Plan to another; or

10.1.3 you are moving from Better Energy to Greener Energy.

In all other circumstances, OVO reserves the right to charge a Termination Fee, and this clause 10.1 will survive termination of your contract.

PCH_2

Hengus wrote: »

It's been in place for a month or so for NEW contracts. They clearly couldn't make it retrospective:

10. Cancelling your contract early

10.1. You do not have to pay us a Termination Fee if:

10.1.1 you are leaving OVO (which means you don’t initiate a switch back to OVO within 3 months of initiating the switch away);

10.1.2 you are moving from a Variable Plan to a Fixed Plan;

10.1.3 you are moving from one Variable Plan to another; or

10.1.3 you are moving from Better Energy to Greener Energy.

In all other circumstances, OVO reserves the right to charge a Termination Fee, and this clause 10.1 will survive termination of your contract.

Yes, I know that, that's in my T&Cs for my older contract as well. But that says nothing about the removal of the £60 per year online discount which is what they said they would do in an email dated 26/01/16 as quoted above.