Urgent Warning - Avro and Octopus taking the same direct debit. Check your bank account.

helenk1234

My mum was one of those who was switched to Octopus after Avro went bust. Today her direct debit was due. BOTH Avro and Octopus have taken the money from her bank account. We didn't cancel the old direct Avro debit as we were waiting to see who would be taking the payment this month but we didn't expect both to take the money. I have contacted the bank to ask for the Avro direct debit to be refunded via the direct debit guarantee but I would strongly recommend everyone who was with Avro should check their bank accounts carefully.

oliverbrown

When Octopus said the direct debits would be "moved over" I wondered what that would actually mean. It appears Octopus have simply set up new direct debits without doing anything about the old Avro ones. Not good.

wakeupalarm

I left the Avro Energy Direct Debit in place as advised by Octopus Energy and Ofgem as I figured it would be the smoothest option but have now decided to cancel the Avro Energy DD and set up a new one with Octopus Energy instead.

I think that is probably the best way to go for ex-Avro customers and would now advise everyone to cancel their Avro Energy direct debit to prevent similar problems as has happened to the OP above.

MWT

oliverbrown said:

When Octopus said the direct debits would be "moved over" I wondered what that would actually mean. It appears Octopus have simply set up new direct debits without doing anything about the old Avro ones. Not good.

Its not clear art the moment if those getting hit with both had their DD transferred to Octopus or if they set it up themselves on the Octopus account, but either way, only the Administrators of Avro (or the customer) can cancel the Avro DD, it isn't something Octopus can do for you, so if you have both showing on your bank account I would agree that it is time to cancel the one for Avro.

oliverbrown

MWT said:
 but either way, only the Administrators of Avro (or the customer) can cancel the Avro DD, it isn't something Octopus can do for you

Up until Octopus has a mechanism in place to get Avro to stop taking payments they should not take anything themselves. 

[Deleted User]

Pretty much as soon as the news broke I cancelled mine. Been stung in the past. The advice was not clear cut and confusing. Setting up the new direct debit was a doddle.

MWT

oliverbrown said:

MWT said:
 but either way, only the Administrators of Avro (or the customer) can cancel the Avro DD, it isn't something Octopus can do for you

Up until Octopus has a mechanism in place to get Avro to stop taking payments they should not take anything themselves. 

That isn't really an option, Octopus are the current supplier, they are entitled to take the payments and they do not and can never directly control what the Administrators do.

They can certainly make representations to them, and I imagine they already have, but if the administrators don't comply there really is nothing they can do about it so if you have both showing on your account I would say it is quickest and easiest for you to cancel the Avro one and use the DD guaranty with the bank to reclaim any double charging from Avro.

It would be nice if customers didn't have to do anything at all, but sometimes we need to take responsibility for making our own lives a little easier...

oliverbrown

MWT said:

They can certainly make representations to them, and I imagine they already have, but if the administrators don't comply there really is nothing they can do about it

Let's not forget its Octopus themselves who have urged customers not to cancel their Avro DDs, Octopus who will ultimately receive those Avro payments, and Octopus who is now choosing to take money from customers with an active Avro DD.

MWT

The advice not to cancel the Avro DD would make sense if the DD is being transferred, but are the people who are being double charged ones who had their DD transferred, or are they people who have set up their own DD with Octopus?

If people have setup a DD themselves and not waited for their Avro one to transfer then there is no reason not to cancel the Avro DD, and several good reasons to cancel.

As for Octopus 'choosing' to take money from people with an active Avro DD, you are assuming that they can tell the difference and just having a DD in place does not mean that it is being used, so once again we are back to the point that if you have a DD setup with Octopus it is better to cancel the Avro one if it is still showing.

One DD good, two DDs bad.

oliverbrown

MWT said:

As for Octopus 'choosing' to take money from people with an active Avro DD, you are assuming that they can tell the difference

If they can't tell the difference they should hold off taking any payments until they can.

MWT

oliverbrown said:

MWT said:

As for Octopus 'choosing' to take money from people with an active Avro DD, you are assuming that they can tell the difference

If they can't tell the difference they should hold off taking any payments until they can.

Why? They are entitled to charge for usage now, take a little responsibility for your own finances and remove a DD you no longer need if you want to eliminate any risk of this problem.

This is a messy process at best and the objectives of the Administrators have nothing to do with customer satisfaction, only getting the maximum return for the creditors of the business, so if there is something simple you can do to avoid the problem why would you refuse to do it and instead insist that someone else forego the payment they are entitled to just in case something they cannot control happens.. ?