First Utility and Ovo - any thoughts?

Charlton_King

I'm being pushed by Moneysupermarket towards these two. Anything I should be aware of?

macman

Do a forum search on FU and that should decide it for you. Lots of CS and billing issues.

Charlton_King

Wow, they do seem to be an accident in slow motion.

How about Ovo..?

jamesperrett

Charlton_King wrote: »

How about Ovo..?

Fine... until you want to leave.

greyteam1959

I think all the energy companies are the same...........
Nearly at meltdown.....!!
I am moving to First Utility their lower standing charge suits my usage.
HTH

*Jane*

First utility are terrible. I have been with them since november and they have only took one dd payment. They dont answer the phone they dont reply to emails. You cant submit meter readings. The only way to get an answer from them is to join twitter and tweet the customer service team. To be honest if I had known I would have paid a bit more and gone with someone else.

JIL

Jane,
After a year of some of the worst customer service I have ever experienced I too made the decision to leave and pay a little bit more for better customer service.
I just did not know where I was with FU. No bills for three months, direct debits not taken on the due date, bills with estimates although readings had been submitted. No replies to emails, and if they did reply it did not answer the query asked.

Anyone who moves to them because of their cheaper prices, I wish you the very best of luck.

[Deleted User]

JIL wrote: »

Jane,
After a year of some of the worst customer service I have ever experienced I too made the decision to leave and pay a little bit more for better customer service.
I just did not know where I was with FU. No bills for three months, direct debits not taken on the due date, bills with estimates although readings had been submitted. No replies to emails, and if they did reply it did not answer the query asked.

Anyone who moves to them because of their cheaper prices, I wish you the very best of luck.

Daligas seem to beat First Utility on tariff price, Gas only 3.150 p/kwhr plus Vat and 17p a day, anyone had a go with them ?

RedDwarf82

All of you are actually lucky.
After waiting something like 6 months for First Utility to change my pre-payment meter for a credit meter (they sent an engineer with the wrong meter serial number like 3 times), they registered it in the National Database with the wrong address.

The funny thing about the National Database of gas meters is that only your current supplier can modify it. Now I have been asking FU to correctly register the meter they installed into the correct address for around 3 months. They have been "unable" to change it. And since my meter is not registered to my address, I can't change to a different company. Basically I am forced to stay with FU until they decide to fix the database.

It goes without saying, but this is now in hands of the Ombudsman. And this is the good thing with FU... if you don't care fighting a bit with them, they !!!! it up so often that half your bill is paid with the compensations you get from them. :rotfl:

JIL

RedDwarf82 wrote: »

All of you are actually lucky.
:rotfl:

I dont feel lucky:sad:

Christian_Pilgrim

Found Ovo via MoneySavingExpert quote. Brilliant. Thought it was great. Then thought it would be a good idea to ring Ovo direct to see what they charged without the MSE connection. WRONG MOVE. POTENTIAL BUYER BEWARE!!! They quoted a higher figure so told them that I would be signing up with them via MSE site. The lady I was speaking to said that they now had my details and would charge their own higher prices when they received my application. Didn't take it too seriously as thought this site would intervene.

Signed up with Ovo via MSE connection. Contract agreement dated 7 April 2014. Unbelievable!!! Apart from expected blurb, the only figures mentioned on this legally binding contract are:

Monthly Direct Debit payment of £61 payable on 8 April 2014

YOUR ELECTRICITY SUPPLY DETAILS

Electricity meter type - unrestricted (don't understand that)
Electricity standing charge £0.2740 per day excl VAT
Electricity Unit charge £0.1269 per kWh excl VAT

YOUR GAS SUPPLY DETAILS

Gas standing charge(£/days) £0.2599 excl VAT
Gas unit charge (rates £/kWh) £0.0347 per kWh excl VAT

My husband who knows about figures says these don't make the least bit of sense. But that's all I've got. If this is how they treat a new customer then I dread to think how our relationship will improve!

Have quickly sent e-mail today cancelling for free before 19 March deadline when it will cost £60 to cancel.

Will definitely be staying with present supplier E.on When I signed up with them they sent full details of previous supplier and what I'd spent with them for a year and how much. Then their projected figures for the coming year. All clearly stated in writing.

Have written 2 other posts and replying to this thread to help others. Guess the problem arose because I dared to ring Ovo direct.

Wish you well and this site.