Octopus Energy takes on Avro customers

Consumerist

lindylootoo said:

. . . But I want to stay in charge of my payments - so don't want a direct debit.............and obviously don't to pay anything which gets lost in their system. Ideas and thoughts please? 

I have an Octopus DD set up which pays far less monthly than my bills are likely to be and then I will make manual debit-card payments to make up the shortfall each month. I am virtually in control of my credit balance but also get the benefit of lower capped rates by paying by monthly DD.

bristolleedsfan

lindylootoo said:

I think I may have posted this before but can't find that post, so here goes again........ I was credit with Avro by £100. I'm perfectly capable of calculating my bills from my meter readings and I'd like to pay whatever I calculate as outstanding on a month by month basis. So I don't want to start a direct debit - which Octopus could increase to suit themselves and create yet another credit balance. Can I make a bank transfer using my name and account number every month to avoid a large bill when Octopus have finally sorted themselves out. If there are differences when I finally get a bill from them, I'll pay any outstanding amount. But I want to stay in charge of my payments - so don't want a direct debit.............and obviously don't to pay anything which gets lost in their system. Ideas and thoughts please? 

You could ask them if you can pay by preferred payment method without setting up a direct debit https://octopus.energy/help-and-faqs/categories/bills-and-payments/what-payment-methods-do-you-offer/

meinnit

lindylootoo said:

I think I may have posted this before but can't find that post, so here goes again........ I was credit with Avro by £100. I'm perfectly capable of calculating my bills from my meter readings and I'd like to pay whatever I calculate as outstanding on a month by month basis. So I don't want to start a direct debit - which Octopus could increase to suit themselves and create yet another credit balance. Can I make a bank transfer using my name and account number every month to avoid a large bill when Octopus have finally sorted themselves out. If there are differences when I finally get a bill from them, I'll pay any outstanding amount. But I want to stay in charge of my payments - so don't want a direct debit.............and obviously don't to pay anything which gets lost in their system. Ideas and thoughts please? 

As mentioned by others Octopus let you set your own direct debit amount via your online account. When you've built up too much credit Octopus will highlight this in your account and a link appears to pay this back to your account. Octopus really aren't like the big 6 energy companies

Ally_E.

QrizB said:

lindylootoo said:

I don't want to start a direct debit - which Octopus could increase to suit themselves and create yet another credit balance. ... Ideas and thoughts please? 

Octopus let you adjust your own DD from month to month. If you think you're building up credit you can reduce your DD. I've adjusted mine down twice from where it started out; from £45 to £40 to £30. If £30 turns out to be too low (and we're going in to the coldest part of the winter) I'll bump it up again.

I tried reducing it, but wasn't allowed. We got rid of an appliance that was eating a lot of electricity, so our usage went down by a lot. I couldn't adjust the DD and had a refund of the credit instead when moved house.

The irony that I moved from Octopus house to another that was with Avro on the day the news broke that Avro went out of business. I just got my account sorted a few days ago, it took them over 2 months and they messed it up a couple of times along the way.

bristolleedsfan

Ally_E. said:

QrizB said:

lindylootoo said:

I don't want to start a direct debit - which Octopus could increase to suit themselves and create yet another credit balance. ... Ideas and thoughts please? 

Octopus let you adjust your own DD from month to month. If you think you're building up credit you can reduce your DD. I've adjusted mine down twice from where it started out; from £45 to £40 to £30. If £30 turns out to be too low (and we're going in to the coldest part of the winter) I'll bump it up again.

I tried reducing it, but wasn't allowed.

I have recently seen a screenshot posted on twitter, customer was not able to reduce direct debit below amount Octopus were trying to set it at despite being in credit and recommended monthly payment ( on reduction request screen) being a lot less than Octopus were trying to change the payment to

Consumerist

So the Octopus DD setting is only a suggestion providing the customer agrees with it.

That said, I am aware that some customers are somewhat irrational.

bristolleedsfan

Consumerist said:

So the Octopus DD setting is only a suggestion providing the customer agrees with it.

That said, I am aware that some customers are somewhat irrational.

Emails Octopus send out re payment changes regarded as a suggestion, customer is invited to reply saying what he/she wants monthly payment to be

Consumerist

bristolleedsfan said:

Consumerist said:

So the Octopus DD setting is only a suggestion providing the customer agrees with it.

That said, I am aware that some customers are somewhat irrational.

Emails Octopus send out re payment changes regarded as a suggestion, customer is invited to reply saying what he/she wants monthly payment to be

It would seem, however, from the twitter post you reported earlier, that Octopus can choose to ignore any such reply.

I accept that we don't know the full details of the twitter exchange you reported but it seems Octopus can ignore the amount 'suggested' by their online system.

Skintsaver

Looks like I'm now with Octopus final bill showing on account ect.. But my last Dd on 1st Dec is showing on avro account but not octopus. Will this transfer at sompoint or should I contact octopus about that? 

Also after putting readings in when. Will a bill generate?

2010

bristolleedsfan said:

Ally_E. said:

QrizB said:

lindylootoo said:

I don't want to start a direct debit - which Octopus could increase to suit themselves and create yet another credit balance. ... Ideas and thoughts please? 

Octopus let you adjust your own DD from month to month. If you think you're building up credit you can reduce your DD. I've adjusted mine down twice from where it started out; from £45 to £40 to £30. If £30 turns out to be too low (and we're going in to the coldest part of the winter) I'll bump it up again.

I tried reducing it, but wasn't allowed.

I have recently seen a screenshot posted on twitter, customer was not able to reduce direct debit below amount Octopus were trying to set it at despite being in credit and recommended monthly payment ( on reduction request screen) being a lot less than Octopus were trying to change the payment to

I was unable to reduce my DD via my account despite being well in credit.
I put it down to Octopus not having enough info on usage.
Also my DD was taken on 3rd Dec. and still not showing in my balance credit.
Furthermore when I entered my readings on 27th Nov. I never received a gas or electric bill.
The only thing that happened was my credit reduced because it showed a gas balance history.
It didn`t show any balance history for electric.

I conclude that Avro accounts are not fully up and running on Octopus yet.
But bearing in mind, switching 580,000 accounts, it`s not surprising.