Fixed price deal tariff being increased

savers_united

My parents have also received their email of price increase from mid November.

Once anyone gets a response to this can we have some feedback so I can let them know of the next steps to take, I am assuming Octopus are quite hard to get hold of at the minute with all the Avro transfers.

As I previously said they did their transfer as existing customers over the phone, no welcome pack, no email to acknowledge the transfer, just a change to their online portal to reflect the new tariff. 

AJohnston9999

Ok I've got exactly the same problem. A Welcome Pack which clearly states its fixed. I've scanned all emails/pdf's I received and there is no mention of the word variable, having lost count of the number of times I've change suppliers I NEVER choose anything other than a fixed tariff. I was cold called by Octopus in July of this year (I had previously been a customer) and was offered this tariff and I moved to it in August.  Last week I got the notification of increase an I rang Octopus and queried the increase (and followed it up with an email) but was told it was sold as a variable rate tariff. I suggested that they replay the recording of the cold call to confirm that no mention was made of the fact that it was a variable tariff. I waited for 3 working days without reply so I rang them again and got the same response. However I was offered a number of deals

1.  They could retrospectively change my tariff to what would have been their best 2 year fixed deal when I moved in August (but would increase my monthly payment by £20),
2.  I could stay with my current deal.
3.  I could move to their current variable deal with a £50 credit to my account.

I did say that I would consider the options but that I was actively considering contacting the Ombudsman at which point was told that whilst that was my right it would take 8 weeks for the Ombudsman to respond and that the "deal(s)"  offered may not be available to me at the end of the process.  

MWT

Interesting set of options, and given the way the Ombudsman usually responds I'd guess they would probably not offer much more than one of those choices, but they wouldn't necessarily give you the choice, they would propose one of them as a resolution.

The tricky bit for those offered or 'sold' this tariff over the phone is the way it was explained in the phone call, and yes it would be interesting to review that call, so one option for you would be a Subject Access Request (SAR) to get whatever they have available so you can form a judgement on how successful a compliant might be...

bristolleedsfan

AJohnston9999 said:

1.  They could retrospectively change my tariff to what would have been their best 2 year fixed deal when I moved in August (but would increase my monthly payment by £20),

Just for info this is best 2 year fixed deal they were offering early part of August, rates subject to regional variation

HAJ9

AJohnston9999 said:

Ok I've got exactly the same problem. A Welcome Pack which clearly states its fixed. I've scanned all emails/pdf's I received and there is no mention of the word variable, having lost count of the number of times I've change suppliers I NEVER choose anything other than a fixed tariff. I was cold called by Octopus in July of this year (I had previously been a customer) and was offered this tariff and I moved to it in August.  Last week I got the notification of increase an I rang Octopus and queried the increase (and followed it up with an email) but was told it was sold as a variable rate tariff. I suggested that they replay the recording of the cold call to confirm that no mention was made of the fact that it was a variable tariff. I waited for 3 working days without reply so I rang them again and got the same response. However I was offered a number of deals

1.  They could retrospectively change my tariff to what would have been their best 2 year fixed deal when I moved in August (but would increase my monthly payment by £20),
2.  I could stay with my current deal.
3.  I could move to their current variable deal with a £50 credit to my account.

I did say that I would consider the options but that I was actively considering contacting the Ombudsman at which point was told that whilst that was my right it would take 8 weeks for the Ombudsman to respond and that the "deal(s)"  offered may not be available to me at the end of the process.  

Same issue here. They are supposed to get back to me today with their comments. No solution offered as yet. There seem to be quite a few people on here with the same problem ....is there anyway we can pursue something like this as a group rather than individuals I wonder? 

HAJ9

MWT said:

HAJ9 said:

I have exactly the same issue with Octopus Price Promise July 2021 v1. All my welcome emails say unit price is fixed yet I have an email saying prices are increasing in November. I have emailed them and phoned them but cannot get an answer. How many others are affected I wonder? Please keep me updated with any progress you make and I will do the same.

Just to add to the collective knowledge here, how did you end up on that tariff in the first place?

Was it suggested to you during a phone call, or did you find it on the Octopus website?

Through a recommend a friend link. Probably found the tariff on the website. Emailed welcome pack clearly says tariff type is fixed and in the sectionabout your tariff it states "You have selected our Octopus Price Promise tariff. This means that your energy bill will reflect the amount of energy your use each month, but the price you pay per unit is fixed."  Pretty clear to me....the tariff should not be increasing.

Umiamz

AJohnston9999 said:

Ok I've got exactly the same problem. A Welcome Pack which clearly states its fixed. I've scanned all emails/pdf's I received and there is no mention of the word variable, having lost count of the number of times I've change suppliers I NEVER choose anything other than a fixed tariff. I was cold called by Octopus in July of this year (I had previously been a customer) and was offered this tariff and I moved to it in August.  Last week I got the notification of increase an I rang Octopus and queried the increase (and followed it up with an email) but was told it was sold as a variable rate tariff. I suggested that they replay the recording of the cold call to confirm that no mention was made of the fact that it was a variable tariff. I waited for 3 working days without reply so I rang them again and got the same response. However I was offered a number of deals

1.  They could retrospectively change my tariff to what would have been their best 2 year fixed deal when I moved in August (but would increase my monthly payment by £20),
2.  I could stay with my current deal.
3.  I could move to their current variable deal with a £50 credit to my account.

I did say that I would consider the options but that I was actively considering contacting the Ombudsman at which point was told that whilst that was my right it would take 8 weeks for the Ombudsman to respond and that the "deal(s)"  offered may not be available to me at the end of the process.  

I'd go for option 1. (the fixed deal). It's very good value at the moment, especially if they honour the rest of the 2 years.

You can always adjust the direct debit yourself if you feel that it is excessive for your usage.

MWT

HAJ9 said:

MWT said:

HAJ9 said:

I have exactly the same issue with Octopus Price Promise July 2021 v1. All my welcome emails say unit price is fixed yet I have an email saying prices are increasing in November. I have emailed them and phoned them but cannot get an answer. How many others are affected I wonder? Please keep me updated with any progress you make and I will do the same.

Just to add to the collective knowledge here, how did you end up on that tariff in the first place?

Was it suggested to you during a phone call, or did you find it on the Octopus website?

Through a recommend a friend link. Probably found the tariff on the website. Emailed welcome pack clearly says tariff type is fixed and in the sectionabout your tariff it states "You have selected our Octopus Price Promise tariff. This means that your energy bill will reflect the amount of energy your use each month, but the price you pay per unit is fixed."  Pretty clear to me....the tariff should not be increasing.

There is no doubt that the post-contract information is wrong, but the pre-contract information on the website was correct, just very 'wordy' and I imagine many did not actually read it in full.

Let's see if the options posted above become the standard response, and yes, if they are offering the August fixed tariff shown I'd be tempted to go for that...

AJohnston9999

Umiamz said:

I'd go for option 1. (the fixed deal). It's very good value at the moment, especially if they honour the rest of the 2 years.

You can always adjust the direct debit yourself if you feel that it is excessive for your usage.

I've reluctantly accepted option 1, providing there are no excessive exit fees. Should wholesale prices tumble during the (now 22 month) contract I'll look to moving to a better deal.
I'm certainly not a serial complainer but if I accept their offer and subsequently receive notification of a tariff increase I will be making a complaint to the Ombudsman.

MWT

AJohnston9999 said:

Umiamz said:

I'd go for option 1. (the fixed deal). It's very good value at the moment, especially if they honour the rest of the 2 years.

You can always adjust the direct debit yourself if you feel that it is excessive for your usage.

I've reluctantly accepted option 1, providing there are no excessive exit fees. Should wholesale prices tumble during the (now 22 month) contract I'll look to moving to a better deal.
I'm certainly not a serial complainer but if I accept their offer and subsequently receive notification of a tariff increase I will be making a complaint to the Ombudsman.

Octopus tariffs do not have any exit fees, so that is not a problem.

If you are on a tariff that really is a fixed tariff then no, you will not see any price change during the life of the fix.

... for the sake of fully accuracy, yes, if the Government were to impose a higher rate of VAT for example then that could cause the amount you pay to go up, but the opposite is more likely and with lower VAT you would see the prices going down...