Octopus Energy reviews: Give your feedback

Telegraph_Sam

Horses for courses. I seem to remember Avro and Outfox the Market being the closest fixed rate rivals with no exit fees but reviews and feedback didn't motivate me to join either..

masonic

Telegraph_Sam said:

Horses for courses. I seem to remember Avro and Outfox the Market being the closest fixed rate rivals with no exit fees but reviews and feedback didn't motivate me to join either..

The one has been coming out consistently cheapest for me is Symbio, which has bad feedback, mainly because they have a variable direct debit billing system that has a few quirks that seems to upset people, but which I'd prefer over the fixed DD system used by most suppliers. Outfox has had an actual problem with lack of customer service, bad enough that Ofgem took enforcement action, but a lot of bad feedback comes from unreasonable customer expectations. Some of the comments made a while ago about Octopus not responding to emails and having to DM them on Twitter to get a timely response probably precipitated some 1 star Trustpilot reviews.

Telegraph_Sam

I'd go along with the criticism about Octopus's email news blackout but as a result of prompting from this forum I have been able to get acceptable results from Twittering.  Why the difference beats me.

masonic

Telegraph_Sam said:

I'd go along with the criticism about Octopus's email news blackout but as a result of prompting from this forum I have been able to get acceptable results from Twittering.  Why the difference beats me.

Based on their own stats, there were days when response times were very long, but the following day response times were just a few hours. Suggests they weren't dealing with queries in strict chronological order and were instead prioritising messages received that day. I was getting timely email responses on days when others were complaining, and I only had one message that got forgotten about for a week (I was in fairly regular contact with them owing to problems with a switch).

Twitter often gets you the best CS as the initial messages can be in the public domain, for all to see how quickly they are picked up. Different channels have different staff and different levels of customer contact. For something that's really time sensitive, I wouldn't be sending an email.

dcfc67

Octopus customer service has always been spot on for me. Not on smart meters but they send me an email every month and i submit readings, within 20 minutes i get an email with a a PDF attachment showing my usage and costs for the month.
Always been in credit by approx a months DD amount.
Also a great way to boost your credit is their refer and earn scheme
For everyone you refer to Octopus you get to share £100. (£200) if its a business.

I'm coming to the end of my first year and plan to stay with them

niktheguru

nadsat said:

I've just run a couple of comparisons using the Octopus Flexible tariff (obviously you can't compare the tracker) and there are only a few small savings from small suppliers on offer for dual fuel at our London address right now.

You’ll make savings if you avoid dual fuel, and  instead use two separate utility companies for elec and gas. The savings for me in the london region would be elec at 12.48p per unit and gas at 2.825 (with the cheapest companies) as opposed to flex octopus at elec 16.895p and gas at 2.972p....I like you have quite a high consumption (thus making the standing charge comparison less important) there were much better gas deals in the last couple of months but these have all since changed.

Must say emails from octopus I haven’t been too impressed, has been taking 1 week to get replies and usually the replies to my questions were poor or asking me to “email another team”. I’ve found calling them far easier and more efficient, their people are generally helpful and always friendly but sometimes need a bit of a push. Not had to try tweeting them yet.

niktheguru

masonic said:

Telegraph_Sam said:

Horses for courses. I seem to remember Avro and Outfox the Market being the closest fixed rate rivals with no exit fees but reviews and feedback didn't motivate me to join either..

The one has been coming out consistently cheapest for me is Symbio, which has bad feedback, mainly because they have a variable direct debit billing system that has a few quirks that seems to upset people, but which I'd prefer over the fixed DD system used by most suppliers. Outfox has had an actual problem with lack of customer service, bad enough that Ofgem took enforcement action, but a lot of bad feedback comes from unreasonable customer expectations. Some of the comments made a while ago about Octopus not responding to emails and having to DM them on Twitter to get a timely response probably precipitated some 1 star Trustpilot reviews.

I’ve just come from symbio, and they were seriously cheap, unit rate at 10.3p for elec. the problem wasn’t variable direct debits per se, but it was their advanced billing system. Essentially they massively overestimate your next months usage and therefore bill you a high amount for that month. As long as you provide monthly meter readings they credit you back on your bill the extra they estimated on your following months bill but then that month they massively estimate your next month again.....so it continues. This can be avoided by agreeing a fixed direct debit with them and then keeping an eye on bills to make sure they don’t go into too much credit or debit. Their customer service is offshore and very frustrating (and some of them completely inept) but if you speak to the right person and know what you’re talking about you can get reasonable outcomes. Only reason I left really was the prices increased to around 13p so the saving was nor minimal and tou tariffs seemed more interesting to me. If you’re someone who keeps an eye on your bill and usage symbio are absolutely fine. If you’re someone that never looks at bills and never provide meter readings then symbio are a nightmare!

Telegraph_Sam

Strange that I've never come across them in any search engine. Though from what you say it would appear that I'm not missing much.

masonic

niktheguru said:

masonic said:

Telegraph_Sam said:

Horses for courses. I seem to remember Avro and Outfox the Market being the closest fixed rate rivals with no exit fees but reviews and feedback didn't motivate me to join either..

The one has been coming out consistently cheapest for me is Symbio, which has bad feedback, mainly because they have a variable direct debit billing system that has a few quirks that seems to upset people, but which I'd prefer over the fixed DD system used by most suppliers. Outfox has had an actual problem with lack of customer service, bad enough that Ofgem took enforcement action, but a lot of bad feedback comes from unreasonable customer expectations. Some of the comments made a while ago about Octopus not responding to emails and having to DM them on Twitter to get a timely response probably precipitated some 1 star Trustpilot reviews.

I’ve just come from symbio, and they were seriously cheap, unit rate at 10.3p for elec. the problem wasn’t variable direct debits per se, but it was their advanced billing system. Essentially they massively overestimate your next months usage and therefore bill you a high amount for that month. As long as you provide monthly meter readings they credit you back on your bill the extra they estimated on your following months bill but then that month they massively estimate your next month again.....so it continues. This can be avoided by agreeing a fixed direct debit with them and then keeping an eye on bills to make sure they don’t go into too much credit or debit. Their customer service is offshore and very frustrating (and some of them completely inept) but if you speak to the right person and know what you’re talking about you can get reasonable outcomes. Only reason I left really was the prices increased to around 13p so the saving was nor minimal and tou tariffs seemed more interesting to me. If you’re someone who keeps an eye on your bill and usage symbio are absolutely fine. If you’re someone that never looks at bills and never provide meter readings then symbio are a nightmare!

So in essence they adjust your DD to keep your account in credit by an amount that exceeds a month's usage? As opposed to having 3 or 4 month's credit build up over the summer to offset winter usage as happens with a conventional DD. Yes, this would be a non issue for me, and would have ended up with them in January after my previous supplier went bust if it hadn't been for the opportunity to recoup my losses with some Octopus referral credit and the prospect of TOU to make further savings.

masonic

Telegraph_Sam said:

Strange that I've never come across them in any search engine. Though from what you say it would appear that I'm not missing much.

The MSE comparison tool misses out several cheap providers, especially those who change their tariffs regularly (they seem to get pulled each time there is an update and it takes a while for them to be relisted). I tend to use https://energycompare.citizensadvice.org.uk/ as my main tool now.

Symbio are looking cheap again at 11.9p a unit in my region for a 1 year fix. Variable is slightly lower again. I still think TOU can beat that, but doubt the Tracker would.