Octopus Tracker

stripling

@tlcgrantham

I was on V2 from April 2022 until very recently when I was moved to the current version.

Yes, this was what happened to me (and I think everyone on the early tariffs) - I've now got a 'senior customer happiness specialist' implying it was only me and somehow illicit and I've thus benefited from things unfairly.. 

She fails to notice the times Tracker went above SVR.  

But then the same person thought December 2023 tariff ended in..... December.  She's jumping through every hoop she can find rather than just accept that the December 2023 tariff ran from December to April 3rd and that Octopus is all over the place with information both for customers and staff.  

Their renewal notices are naughty too. They don't tell people that they now review the Tracker standing charges and formulas quarterly when the price cap numbers are issued  - thus if your renewal falls in the middle of this you may be better off cutting short your 12 months deal and accepting a new one before they increase things. 

I'm fairly sure they want to slowly kill Tracker off in favour of Agile... Octopus is definitely losing its shine. 

tlcgrantham

I renewed a few days early on the Dec 23 tariff to avoid the new increased formula.

bristolleedsfan

stripling said:

stripling said:

I need some help from longer term Tracker people please.

Last year when it came to renewal did people have Tracker V1/V2 or whatever tariffs rolled over for another year?  

Please keep these coming - I remember a few people being rolled over - it would help to hear if others were either a) rolled over; or b) put on a new tariff that was current at the time. 

Electricity was subsequently rolled over as well 

stripling

tlcgrantham said:

I renewed a few days early on the Dec 23 tariff to avoid the new increased formula.

I didn't know they were doing this. My deal ends May1st & in March they sent me the renewal and asked if I wanted to renew that day.

I thought it was odd to cut the 12 months short so said only if the price is going up. The CS person said she didn't know and we could discuss nearer the date.  I emailed again April 3rd the day it went up....  Boom... too late.  

I think they should include the information about quarterly changes in the renewal email. And maybe mention it to staff - not one single member of staff, including senior staff, knew about it. 

masonic

stripling said:

I think they should include the information about quarterly changes in the renewal email. And maybe mention it to staff - not one single member of staff, including senior staff, knew about it. 

The right way to do it is notify all customers of relevant tariffs about any changes to the T&Cs before they come into force. If renewals are taking place without the customer explicitly agreeing to the new T&Cs or being told about the changes when they are updated, then that is a recipe for customers not making informed decisions. Though I can't find any evidence that they are only allowed to change the formula quarterly. The T&Cs still allow them to do it at any time, with existing customers protected for the duration of their fixed term. Have the T&Cs around this been updated since January 2024?

stripling

@masonic said
The right way to do it is notify all customers of relevant tariffs about any changes to the T&Cs before they come into force. If renewals are taking place without the customer explicitly agreeing to the new T&Cs or being told about the changes when they are updated, then that is a recipe for customers not making informed decisions. Though I can't find any evidence that they are only allowed to change the formula quarterly. The T&Cs still allow them to do it at any time, with existing customers protected for the duration of their fixed term. Have the T&Cs around this been updated since January 2024?

It's not in the T&Cs it's in a series of drop downs under an FAQ - I'd never seen it before and neither had any of the staff I've been dealing with.  I specifically asked if there would be increases before my year's contract was up. I would've cut my contract short if I'd known. I had to hunt all over their messy, often undated website the other day to find it.  

They offered me renewal on March 17th on December 2023 tariff - I said yes, my contract ends May 1st. They changed the tariff on April 3rd - I emailed the same day but they've refused it. 

Here: 

stripling

Thank you @bristolleedsfan that's exactly what happened to me too. Both electric and gas were rolled over I was on V2 but there were only 16 of us on V2 so they called it V2 but put us on V1 terms.

I remember both here and in the Tracker Facebook group numerous V1/V2 people saying they were rolled over.   It was enough to make me assume it was policy not accident. 

I think the combination of the massive influx of customers onto Tracker in late 2023, plus the onslaught of multiple changes, company expansion on multiple fronts too plus future policy moves towards prioritising time-of-use tariffs means Octopus are killing Tracker off. 

Meanwhile, there's some really nice CS staff but the majority, even at senior level don't understand Tracker - past or present. 

bristolleedsfan

stripling said:

I remember both here and in the Tracker Facebook group numerous V1/V2 people saying they were rolled over.   It was enough to make me assume it was policy not accident. 

Always rolled over unless another tariff was chosen.( was policy until policy changed sometime during 2023 to default to flexible unless ask to stay on tracker)

stripling

Griffindog said:

I fought to stay on Nov 22 until the end of my term (June). I no longer receive a daily rate and haven’t had a bill for 2 months. It has also backfired somewhat because I will have to go on the April 2024 tariff when it ends. I wish they had offered me December 2023 plus compensation as they did for some.

It's really gone downhill I think.  Have a look at that new policy offering I have added as a screen shot above and make sure you don't land on another 'price cap' upgrade like I did otherwise it won't even be April 2024. When I ran a search for alternative tariffs, Tracker April 2024 was not much cheaper than Octopus SVT or Eon's tracker. 
As I keep saying, I think they're moving towards promoting Agile and other time-of-use tariffs. It's a government push and Mr Greg is fully onboard. 

masonic

stripling said:

@masonic said
The right way to do it is notify all customers of relevant tariffs about any changes to the T&Cs before they come into force. If renewals are taking place without the customer explicitly agreeing to the new T&Cs or being told about the changes when they are updated, then that is a recipe for customers not making informed decisions. Though I can't find any evidence that they are only allowed to change the formula quarterly. The T&Cs still allow them to do it at any time, with existing customers protected for the duration of their fixed term. Have the T&Cs around this been updated since January 2024?

It's not in the T&Cs it's in a series of drop downs under an FAQ - I'd never seen it before and neither had any of the staff I've been dealing with.  I specifically asked if there would be increases before my year's contract was up. I would've cut my contract short if I'd known. I had to hunt all over their messy, often undated website the other day to find it.  

They offered me renewal on March 17th on December 2023 tariff - I said yes, my contract ends May 1st. They changed the tariff on April 3rd - I emailed the same day but they've refused it. 

Here: 

It was mentioned in this thread a while back that it would be reviewed quarterly, but it wasn't clear whether this was official or unofficial. It seems the latter. They've always had the option to change it at will, that used to include for existing customers, though they never exercised this.

I prefer "every 3 months" to at any time, but this seems more of a guide than a rule. It is not particularly helpful if your renewal coincides with review times. Ofgem seem to like meddling with what goes into the standing charges and unit rates, so I suppose it is a consequence of that. It would be preferable for them to make any offer sent by email available for a reasonable amount of time (e.g. a couple of weeks from the date of the email). It would be a bit silly if someone receives an email with one tariff offer on 1st July, and it gets changed again on 2nd July.

So, if I understand correctly, 

1. They offered you the Dec 23 version on 17th March 
2. You replied to discuss options and didn't action anything at that time
3. The conversation did not include accepting a renewal on Dec 23 to start at the expiry of your existing fixed term
   
4. You saw the Dec 23 tariff had been pulled and emailed the same day to renew and they refused to honour the offer made a couple of weeks or so earlier?

I wonder what happens if it goes down in July. Will they be inundated with people on Apr 24 trying to renew onto Jul 24?