Octopus Tracker

[Deleted User]

Doc_N said:

WBCPB said:

[Deleted User] said:

Doc_N said:

Just a small related comment about Octopus customer service. I rather understood that it was supposed to be good, but that’s certainly not my experience, in that they rarely seem to respond to anything, whether social media or email, and such responses as you get are copy and paste without actually answering questions. British Gas are pretty bad, but I don’t see that Octopus are any better.

I would have to agree that CS response times are not as good as they once were. Octopus has grown exponentially in recent months with the takeovers of Avro; Bulb etc and this has no doubt added to the CS workload.

In my experience Octopus C.S are now on a par with the other "Big 5" monsters.

That’s what I’m finding - actually worse than British Gas. The concern I have is that making a quick getaway from the Tracker tariff, should that be necessary, might in reality prove impossible.

It won’t. You can do it yourself online and it will happen at midnight. Because the tariff transfer is so quick, Octopus brought in a 30 day restriction some years ago to stop people switching back and forth as prices rise and  fall. The restriction applies to smart meter tariffs which I assume now includes Tracker:

1. You can switch away from our Agile Octopus tariff to one of our standard tariffs any time without financial penalty, but you can’t move back to one of our smart tariffs within 30 days.

TheElectricCow

I’ve found Octopus CS to be a little slower than I expected for how they like to boast about their “award winning” service, but I’ve put that down to them being particularly busy with all that’s going on right now. I do also note that they’ve removed the claims on their website stating how fast they typically respond to emails.

I’ve only contacted them by email for two different matters so far, both times have taken over a week for an initial response but after sending a follow up they’ve got back to me the next day both times.

The second matter is still ongoing - initial email on the 25th with a follow up on the 1st. Did get a response on the 2nd, which to their credit is a Sunday, although all they did was ask me what date I’d sent the first email so they could “look into it”. This struck me as a little strange as I had quoted the first email (including the date it was sent) and they surely would also have this contact on record anyway, but I gave them the benefit of the doubt and complied with the request without complaint as there’s no immediate urgency to my query.

It remains to be seen if I get a competent response yet, but they seem like nice enough people so far.

Griffindog

Peco141 said:

[Deleted User] said:

Your smart meters are SMETS1 which are/were supplier dependent. You can check whether your smart meter is connected to the DCC network here:

https://smartmetercheck.citizensadvice.org.uk/

If there is no DCC connection, then Octopus will either update the meters with over the air firmware updates or replace the whole system with SMETS2 meters.

The IHD is a locally connected device. The display suggests that there may be an issue with the HAN - or it could just be the distance between the IHD and the comms hub is too great. Move the IHD closer to your electricity meter and see what happens!

The IHD plays no part in your billing or tariff selection.

"We can't find your meter".

Would you be able to share your thoughts on this.

"I know there's probably not a right or wrong answer here, as nobody really knows, but is the best move for me to sit on the Octopus  flexible until July to see what the EPG Reduction looks like then make a decision then?"

You have nothing to lose by joining the Tracker waiting list. You need to understand how Tracker works, what the caps are and be prepared to follow prices in case you need to leave. By joining the waiting list you are not committing to anything. Tracker prices for the last 3 months have been around 30% less than the flexible rates but last August- September I paid fractionally more than flexible. It’s a gamble but it has paid off this last few months, saving me around £100 per month.

Alnat1

All it would take is a phone call.

I've found they usually answer in around 5 minutes which is a much better response time than I'm hearing from people who are with the other big suppliers.

k_man

[Deleted User] said:

Doc_N said:

WBCPB said:

[Deleted User] said:

Doc_N said:

Just a small related comment about Octopus customer service. I rather understood that it was supposed to be good, but that’s certainly not my experience, in that they rarely seem to respond to anything, whether social media or email, and such responses as you get are copy and paste without actually answering questions. British Gas are pretty bad, but I don’t see that Octopus are any better.

I would have to agree that CS response times are not as good as they once were. Octopus has grown exponentially in recent months with the takeovers of Avro; Bulb etc and this has no doubt added to the CS workload.

In my experience Octopus C.S are now on a par with the other "Big 5" monsters.

That’s what I’m finding - actually worse than British Gas. The concern I have is that making a quick getaway from the Tracker tariff, should that be necessary, might in reality prove impossible.

It won’t. You can do it yourself online and it will happen at midnight. Because the tariff transfer is so quick, Octopus brought in a 30 day restriction some years ago to stop people switching back and forth as prices rise and  fall. The restriction applies to smart meter tariffs which I assume now includes Tracker:

1. You can switch away from our Agile Octopus tariff to one of our standard tariffs any time without financial penalty, but you can’t move back to one of our smart tariffs within 30 days.

For future reference where is this done online (I couldn't find the option in my account)?

[Deleted User]

Go to this page and get a quote. It will take you to the Sign Up page.

https://octopus.energy/tariffs/

bristolleedsfan

k_man said:

[Deleted User] said:

Doc_N said:

WBCPB said:

[Deleted User] said:

Doc_N said:

Just a small related comment about Octopus customer service. I rather understood that it was supposed to be good, but that’s certainly not my experience, in that they rarely seem to respond to anything, whether social media or email, and such responses as you get are copy and paste without actually answering questions. British Gas are pretty bad, but I don’t see that Octopus are any better.

I would have to agree that CS response times are not as good as they once were. Octopus has grown exponentially in recent months with the takeovers of Avro; Bulb etc and this has no doubt added to the CS workload.

In my experience Octopus C.S are now on a par with the other "Big 5" monsters.

That’s what I’m finding - actually worse than British Gas. The concern I have is that making a quick getaway from the Tracker tariff, should that be necessary, might in reality prove impossible.

It won’t. You can do it yourself online and it will happen at midnight. Because the tariff transfer is so quick, Octopus brought in a 30 day restriction some years ago to stop people switching back and forth as prices rise and  fall. The restriction applies to smart meter tariffs which I assume now includes Tracker:

1. You can switch away from our Agile Octopus tariff to one of our standard tariffs any time without financial penalty, but you can’t move back to one of our smart tariffs within 30 days.

For future reference where is this done online (I couldn't find the option in my account)?

Octopus removed change tariff option within online dashboard when it stopped offering  fixed rates tariffs.

[Deleted User]

bristolleedsfan said:

k_man said:

[Deleted User] said:

Doc_N said:

WBCPB said:

[Deleted User] said:

Doc_N said:

Just a small related comment about Octopus customer service. I rather understood that it was supposed to be good, but that’s certainly not my experience, in that they rarely seem to respond to anything, whether social media or email, and such responses as you get are copy and paste without actually answering questions. British Gas are pretty bad, but I don’t see that Octopus are any better.

I would have to agree that CS response times are not as good as they once were. Octopus has grown exponentially in recent months with the takeovers of Avro; Bulb etc and this has no doubt added to the CS workload.

In my experience Octopus C.S are now on a par with the other "Big 5" monsters.

That’s what I’m finding - actually worse than British Gas. The concern I have is that making a quick getaway from the Tracker tariff, should that be necessary, might in reality prove impossible.

It won’t. You can do it yourself online and it will happen at midnight. Because the tariff transfer is so quick, Octopus brought in a 30 day restriction some years ago to stop people switching back and forth as prices rise and  fall. The restriction applies to smart meter tariffs which I assume now includes Tracker:

1. You can switch away from our Agile Octopus tariff to one of our standard tariffs any time without financial penalty, but you can’t move back to one of our smart tariffs within 30 days.

For future reference where is this done online (I couldn't find the option in my account)?

Octopus removed change tariff option within online dashboard when it stopped offering  fixed rates tariffs.

True  - but I have recently signed up to Flux online. The sign up page usually has a tab for for existing Octopus customers. A phone call usually gets through with no delay.

vic_sf49

"Tracker prices spiked high last summer before EPG reduction came into force, nobody knows what the future will hold."

Many thanks @bristolleedsfan. That's what I was trying to understand.

At least I'll be prepared for the potential spike in prices around that time, should they happen.

SJMALBA

vic_sf49 said:

"Tracker prices spiked high last summer before EPG reduction came into force, nobody knows what the future will hold."

Many thanks @bristolleedsfan. That's what I was trying to understand.

At least I'll be prepared for the potential spike in prices around that time, should they happen.

Be prepared for potential spikes at any time - Tracker requires a continuous 'watching brief'. 

FWIW (nothing in respect of what the future might bring), to date, Tracker URs have been below EPG for the vast majority of the time since EPG's introduction on 1st October 2022, but, 'past performance is no indicator...'