Octopus Tracker

bristolleedsfan

savers_united said:

Dolor said:

savers_united said:

milo_2020 said:

I can’t believe we are still discussing this, it’s over lol

I will not discuss it anymore as its probably best now the complaint is in and I have forwarded all correspondences I received stating the cap will not remain fixed for the initial 12mths.  At this stage I am still not being given a straight yes or no that Information provided to me was accurate. So we will see. 

A complaint. That is a bit un-necessary in my opinion. Front-line CS staff are not well informed when it comes to Tracker and other specialist tariffs such as Agile and Go/Go Faster. These tariffs are handled by separate teams. 

All these tariffs are fixed term and the Cap remains in place until the end of the fixed term - based on 4 year’s experience of Tracker; Agile, and Go/Go Faster. I am currently on Tracker Gas v1 which remains at its original Capped level.

I still think Octopus regardless of tariff have a duty to advertise accurately and with transparency and their CS team to give correct up to date information when requested. 

They have done, Product cap when voluntarily introduced applied to Octopus Tracker, higher product cap subsequently introduced applied to Octopus Tracker.

Not applying higher product cap to earlier versions is goodwill from Octopus (at least up until now)

I think it has been mentioned many times. various elements to Octopus Tracker none of which are fixed with exception of tariff being 12 month fixed term with no exit fees.

savers_united

bristolleedsfan said:

savers_united said:

Dolor said:

savers_united said:

milo_2020 said:

I can’t believe we are still discussing this, it’s over lol

I will not discuss it anymore as its probably best now the complaint is in and I have forwarded all correspondences I received stating the cap will not remain fixed for the initial 12mths.  At this stage I am still not being given a straight yes or no that Information provided to me was accurate. So we will see. 

A complaint. That is a bit un-necessary in my opinion. Front-line CS staff are not well informed when it comes to Tracker and other specialist tariffs such as Agile and Go/Go Faster. These tariffs are handled by separate teams. 

All these tariffs are fixed term and the Cap remains in place until the end of the fixed term - based on 4 year’s experience of Tracker; Agile, and Go/Go Faster. I am currently on Tracker Gas v1 which remains at its original Capped level.

I still think Octopus regardless of tariff have a duty to advertise accurately and with transparency and their CS team to give correct up to date information when requested. 

They have done, Product cap when voluntarily introduced applied to Octopus Tracker, higher product cap subsequently introduced applied to Octopus Tracker.

Not applying higher product cap to earlier versions is goodwill from Octopus (at least up until now)

I think it has been mentioned many times. various elements to Octopus Tracker none of which are fixed with exception of tariff being 12 month fixed term with no exit fees.

Is Goodwill a way to run a tariff long term though, they keep bringing out new versions with goodwill, their CS agents don't seem to be aware of this goodwill as their understanding when the cap changes everyone on Tracker gets changed and we know that's not been the case so far.

Why can't goodwill be turned into upfront and clear detail of how the tariff caps will work so an informed choice can be made. 

MWT

bristolleedsfan said:

savers_united said:

Dolor said:

savers_united said:

milo_2020 said:

I can’t believe we are still discussing this, it’s over lol

I will not discuss it anymore as its probably best now the complaint is in and I have forwarded all correspondences I received stating the cap will not remain fixed for the initial 12mths.  At this stage I am still not being given a straight yes or no that Information provided to me was accurate. So we will see. 

A complaint. That is a bit un-necessary in my opinion. Front-line CS staff are not well informed when it comes to Tracker and other specialist tariffs such as Agile and Go/Go Faster. These tariffs are handled by separate teams. 

All these tariffs are fixed term and the Cap remains in place until the end of the fixed term - based on 4 year’s experience of Tracker; Agile, and Go/Go Faster. I am currently on Tracker Gas v1 which remains at its original Capped level.

I still think Octopus regardless of tariff have a duty to advertise accurately and with transparency and their CS team to give correct up to date information when requested. 

They have done, Product cap when voluntarily introduced applied to Octopus Tracker, higher product cap subsequently introduced applied to Octopus Tracker.

Not applying higher product cap to earlier versions is goodwill from Octopus (at least up until now)

The complaint seems to be that Octopus would not formally confirm that they wouldn't raise the cap on the earlier versions, and some CS reps said they would and then they didn't...

So the compliant is that they were too lenient, but wouldn't promise to be lenient...

I'm not sure Octopus can do much to satisfy this complaint other than raise the cap for everyone on the earlier products...

Phlik

MWT said:

bristolleedsfan said:

savers_united said:

Dolor said:

savers_united said:

milo_2020 said:

I can’t believe we are still discussing this, it’s over lol

I will not discuss it anymore as its probably best now the complaint is in and I have forwarded all correspondences I received stating the cap will not remain fixed for the initial 12mths.  At this stage I am still not being given a straight yes or no that Information provided to me was accurate. So we will see. 

A complaint. That is a bit un-necessary in my opinion. Front-line CS staff are not well informed when it comes to Tracker and other specialist tariffs such as Agile and Go/Go Faster. These tariffs are handled by separate teams. 

All these tariffs are fixed term and the Cap remains in place until the end of the fixed term - based on 4 year’s experience of Tracker; Agile, and Go/Go Faster. I am currently on Tracker Gas v1 which remains at its original Capped level.

I still think Octopus regardless of tariff have a duty to advertise accurately and with transparency and their CS team to give correct up to date information when requested. 

They have done, Product cap when voluntarily introduced applied to Octopus Tracker, higher product cap subsequently introduced applied to Octopus Tracker.

Not applying higher product cap to earlier versions is goodwill from Octopus (at least up until now)

I'm not sure Octopus can do much to satisfy this complaint other than raise the cap for everyone on the earlier products...

To a hurriedly typed flurry of "I told you so!"

I can only assume that Octopus won't formally confirm it because it then prevents them changing it if they really need to. Hopefully they won't have a need to and we can all 'enjoy' our year fix at a less worse rate than current fixes and the upcoming October SVR. 

Making a complaint about it? Seriously? Life's too short for this level of nit picking.

SJMALBA

MWT said:

bristolleedsfan said:

savers_united said:

Dolor said:

savers_united said:

milo_2020 said:

I can’t believe we are still discussing this, it’s over lol

I will not discuss it anymore as its probably best now the complaint is in and I have forwarded all correspondences I received stating the cap will not remain fixed for the initial 12mths.  At this stage I am still not being given a straight yes or no that Information provided to me was accurate. So we will see. 

A complaint. That is a bit un-necessary in my opinion. Front-line CS staff are not well informed when it comes to Tracker and other specialist tariffs such as Agile and Go/Go Faster. These tariffs are handled by separate teams. 

All these tariffs are fixed term and the Cap remains in place until the end of the fixed term - based on 4 year’s experience of Tracker; Agile, and Go/Go Faster. I am currently on Tracker Gas v1 which remains at its original Capped level.

I still think Octopus regardless of tariff have a duty to advertise accurately and with transparency and their CS team to give correct up to date information when requested. 

They have done, Product cap when voluntarily introduced applied to Octopus Tracker, higher product cap subsequently introduced applied to Octopus Tracker.

Not applying higher product cap to earlier versions is goodwill from Octopus (at least up until now)

The complaint seems to be that Octopus would not formally confirm that they wouldn't raise the cap on the earlier versions, and some CS reps said they would and then they didn't...

So the compliant is that they were too lenient, but wouldn't promise to be lenient...

I'm not sure Octopus can do much to satisfy this complaint other than raise the cap for everyone on the earlier products...

The complaint seems to be about CSAs failing to provide correct and consistent information, something I thought would be pretty fundamental to their jobs?

It's difficult enough for consumers to make informed decisions when there are inherent unknowns involved, without it being made even worse by incompetent CSAs; If, as has been suggested, they simply do not know, then why is it not passed onto the 'specialists' who do know? (however, IME, the general cluelessness about these tariffs extends to (some) senior management, so...)

Ultimately, looking beyond the aforementioned incompetence, the bottom line is that the apparent determination of Octopus not to give a guarantee in respect of the voluntary caps (despite some CSAs stating otherwise, and, IIRC, also the official Octopus Twitter feed?) speaks volumes, I would suggest; namely, that they are maintaining the option to change/remove them, if they deem it necessary to do so. While this is in keeping with the voluntary, non-guaranteed nature of the caps, it's something of a 'wing and a prayer' for customers, who may have missed out on fixes earlier in the year on the expectation of past practice continuing, let alone having it guaranteed that they would remain for the fixed-term, as some CSAs have stipulated.

The introduction of July v1 is encouraging, as Octopus now know the maximum number of customers on v1-v3, and it further suggests their intention is to maintain past practice, but if things get even more crazy with wholesale prices, they still have their options open, so it remains a case of Tracker customers keeping everything crossed, hoping for the best.

Who knows, maybe Octopus will come out with a new guarantee applied to the caps, but I'm not holding my breath.

SJMALBA

And in other news, electricity unit rate at the cap again tomorrow (for me, actual would be 43.24p/kWh).

savers_united

MWT said:

bristolleedsfan said:

savers_united said:

Dolor said:

savers_united said:

milo_2020 said:

I can’t believe we are still discussing this, it’s over lol

I will not discuss it anymore as its probably best now the complaint is in and I have forwarded all correspondences I received stating the cap will not remain fixed for the initial 12mths.  At this stage I am still not being given a straight yes or no that Information provided to me was accurate. So we will see. 

A complaint. That is a bit un-necessary in my opinion. Front-line CS staff are not well informed when it comes to Tracker and other specialist tariffs such as Agile and Go/Go Faster. These tariffs are handled by separate teams. 

All these tariffs are fixed term and the Cap remains in place until the end of the fixed term - based on 4 year’s experience of Tracker; Agile, and Go/Go Faster. I am currently on Tracker Gas v1 which remains at its original Capped level.

I still think Octopus regardless of tariff have a duty to advertise accurately and with transparency and their CS team to give correct up to date information when requested. 

They have done, Product cap when voluntarily introduced applied to Octopus Tracker, higher product cap subsequently introduced applied to Octopus Tracker.

Not applying higher product cap to earlier versions is goodwill from Octopus (at least up until now)

The complaint seems to be that Octopus would not formally confirm that they wouldn't raise the cap on the earlier versions, and some CS reps said they would and then they didn't...

So the compliant is that they were too lenient, but wouldn't promise to be lenient...

I'm not sure Octopus can do much to satisfy this complaint other than raise the cap for everyone on the earlier products...

Its 2 points really. Lack of CS knowledge when asked about how the caps work, information they are providing seems to contradict what actually happened last week, and there needs to be clear information available on the Octopus website regarding the caps, this to remove any ambiguity especially when CS muddy the water even further. 

Thats the outcome I would like to see going forward.

The problem with being lenient is that can change anytime and leave someone financially worse off. If its being operated on goodwill and being lenient it's probably best that they remove the caps altogether on any new versions so at least then people know what they are signing up for and the risks involved or state the cap will be in place as a safeguard for the duration. 

MWT

SJMALBA said:

While this is in keeping with the voluntary, non-guaranteed nature of the caps, it's something of a 'wing and a prayer' for customers, who may have missed out on fixes earlier in the year on the expectation of past practice continuing, let alone having it guaranteed that they would remain for the fixed-term, as some CSAs have stipulated.

Unfortunately this is all mostly a consequence of the promotion on here, and other places, of these beta tariffs as a safe haven for those who do not necessarily appreciate the experimental nature of these tariffs.

One of the joys of being an Octopus customer is the availability of these fringe products and there has , thus far at least, been a tacit acceptance on both sides that they are experiments and are subject to change...

Once you start requiring normal CS staff to explain these tariffs to customers that just heard about them in a forum, then go asking for them by name without really understanding them, things go wrong...

It happened with the 'Price Promise' cap tracker tariffs and it is happening again now with Tracker and Agile.

I hope it does not discourage Octopus from conducting these experiments, it would be a pity if that happened...

Phlik

It's also worth pointing out that most (possibly all) utility providers are suffering high staff turn over especially customer service departments due to the high levels of abusive/threatening calls. They've been through several months of calls regarding solr accounts (octopus took on 600000 avro customers) and now calls regarding dd/tariff changes due to cap rises.
Staff take time to train and most aren't going to hang around for a minimum wage job where you get verbally abused all day whilst trying to help people.

SJMALBA

MWT said:

SJMALBA said:

While this is in keeping with the voluntary, non-guaranteed nature of the caps, it's something of a 'wing and a prayer' for customers, who may have missed out on fixes earlier in the year on the expectation of past practice continuing, let alone having it guaranteed that they would remain for the fixed-term, as some CSAs have stipulated.

Unfortunately this is all mostly a consequence of the promotion on here, and other places, of these beta tariffs as a safe haven for those who do not necessarily appreciate the experimental nature of these tariffs.

One of the joys of being an Octopus customer is the availability of these fringe products and there has , thus far at least, been a tacit acceptance on both sides that they are experiments and are subject to change...

Once you start requiring normal CS staff to explain these tariffs to customers that just heard about them in a forum, then go asking for them by name without really understanding them, things go wrong...

It happened with the 'Price Promise' cap tracker tariffs and it is happening again now with Tracker and Agile.

I hope it does not discourage Octopus from conducting these experiments, it would be a pity if that happened...

I take your point, and largely agree; however, AFAIK, these tariffs have been been around for a while now (Tracker at least?), so surely it's incumbent upon Octopus to train staff accordingly, or have 'general' CSAs pass enquiries onto those who are trained/knowledgable? Providing inconsistent, contradictory, and incorrect information helps nobody.

FWIW, my experience with Octopus' customer service has been less than impressive from the start, and in general, not just in respect of specialist tariffs, but the ability to pay variable DD without cost penalty, their billing system etc , is of considerable appeal to me, and I would also consider it a pity if the 'innovative' tariffs were not to continue.