Outfox the market. Back billing. Total mess

dcreager

I am just emerging from a terrible mess caused by Outfox.   The nightmare started on 9th Feb 2021 when I noticed all my statements had been wiped (three years worth)   I received an explanation on 12th Feb nthat indicated they had a cosmetic template problem  (This explanation must have been an unkind joke),   On 1st April (nice...april fools) they explained that they had not taken account of the fact that my meter was reporting imperial units, and therefore they had failed to include a factor of 2.83 in the calculation of the gas charges,   They proceeded to recalculate my bills (including electricity) for the period Aug 18 onwards and applied my direct debits against these charges and the net impact on my account was a debit of around £2,000.    I tried to understand their calculation but the fact that they simply re-issued the bills for both gas and electricity made the whole exercise incomprehesible.   As a last resort I calculated the effecct of their error on the gas I had used in the last 12 months.   This came out to be approx £700

 From April until Sep I tried to get them to explain with no luck and eventually raised this with the ombudsman on 30/9/2021.    On 19th November the Ombudsman found in my favour and around 19th November, however Outfox appealed and on 16th December the appeal was upheld.  (Merry Xmas!!!)  

It appears that because I paid by direct debits the full amount of those direct debits can be taken against the recalculated charges  (ie imho Outfox are effectively reclaiming for a mistake in charges over a year ago).  To be honest, I still do not understand what is actually going on.  but appear to have exhausted all avenues of investigation

Has anyone managed to get anywhere following an unhelpful Ombudsman decision?

[Deleted User]

dcreager said:

I am just emerging from a terrible mess caused by Outfox.   The nightmare started on 9th Feb 2021 when I noticed all my statements had been wiped (three years worth)   I received an explanation on 12th Feb nthat indicated they had a cosmetic template problem  (This explanation must have been an unkind joke),   On 1st April (nice...april fools) they explained that they had not taken account of the fact that my meter was reporting imperial units, and therefore they had failed to include a factor of 2.83 in the calculation of the gas charges,   They proceeded to recalculate my bills (including electricity) for the period Aug 18 onwards and applied my direct debits against these charges and the net impact on my account was a debit of around £2,000.    I tried to understand their calculation but the fact that they simply re-issued the bills for both gas and electricity made the whole exercise incomprehesible.   As a last resort I calculated the effecct of their error on the gas I had used in the last 12 months.   This came out to be approx £700

 From April until Sep I tried to get them to explain with no luck and eventually raised this with the ombudsman on 30/9/2021.    On 19th November the Ombudsman found in my favour and around 19th November, however Outfox appealed and on 16th December the appeal was upheld.  (Merry Xmas!!!)  

It appears that because I paid by direct debits the full amount of those direct debits can be taken against the recalculated charges  (ie imho Outfox are effectively reclaiming for a mistake in charges over a year ago).  To be honest, I still do not understand what is actually going on.  but appear to have exhausted all avenues of investigation

Has anyone managed to get anywhere following an unhelpful Ombudsman decision?

To answer your final question the answer is no. You have the right to reject the Decision but that isn’t going to aid your cause. The rationale for BackBilling is the avoidance of bill shock. If for example, the charges for 2020 had been written off under BackBilling and this, say, came to £1000 but you had paid £60 per month for 12 months (ie; £720) then the total amount written off would be £1000-720 or £280.

Yes, the supplier is at fault but under the BackBilling Code you are better off than had the Code not been in place. You would probably have ended up paying the £280 minus a small amount for poor customer service.

dcreager

[Deleted User] said:

dcreager said:

I am just emerging from a terrible mess caused by Outfox.   The nightmare started on 9th Feb 2021 when I noticed all my statements had been wiped (three years worth)   I received an explanation on 12th Feb nthat indicated they had a cosmetic template problem  (This explanation must have been an unkind joke),   On 1st April (nice...april fools) they explained that they had not taken account of the fact that my meter was reporting imperial units, and therefore they had failed to include a factor of 2.83 in the calculation of the gas charges,   They proceeded to recalculate my bills (including electricity) for the period Aug 18 onwards and applied my direct debits against these charges and the net impact on my account was a debit of around £2,000.    I tried to understand their calculation but the fact that they simply re-issued the bills for both gas and electricity made the whole exercise incomprehesible.   As a last resort I calculated the effecct of their error on the gas I had used in the last 12 months.   This came out to be approx £700

 From April until Sep I tried to get them to explain with no luck and eventually raised this with the ombudsman on 30/9/2021.    On 19th November the Ombudsman found in my favour and around 19th November, however Outfox appealed and on 16th December the appeal was upheld.  (Merry Xmas!!!)  

It appears that because I paid by direct debits the full amount of those direct debits can be taken against the recalculated charges  (ie imho Outfox are effectively reclaiming for a mistake in charges over a year ago).  To be honest, I still do not understand what is actually going on.  but appear to have exhausted all avenues of investigation

Has anyone managed to get anywhere following an unhelpful Ombudsman decision?

To answer your final question the answer is no. You have the right to reject the Decision but that isn’t going to aid your cause. The rationale for BackBilling is the avoidance of bill shock. If for example, the charges for 2020 had been written off under BackBilling and this, say, came to £1000 but you had paid £60 per month for 12 months (ie; £720) then the total amount not charged would be £1000-720 or £280.

Yes, the supplier is at fault but under the BackBilling Code you are better off than had the Code not been in place. You would probably have ended up paying the £280 minus a small amount for poor customer service.

Really?   avoidance of bill shock?  Finding £2000 is quite a shock for me.   I guess I should approach my MP.   No transparency and total lack of protection for the consumer

MWT

Do you still have a gas bill from before you were with OFTM?

With their recalculation, even allowing for the way they are applying the DD, it feels like £2000 should represent more than 12 months usage.

Can you see from the bills where the DD payments were used up?

dcreager

MWT said:

Do you still have a gas bill from before you were with OFTM?

With their recalculation, even allowing for the way they are applying the DD, it feels like £2000 should represent more than 12 months usage.

Can you see from the bills where the DD payments were used up?

Yes   the 2000 arises from charges and direct debits in the prior years.   According to the Ombudsman this is allowed.   The BackBilling code is a mess and not fit for purpose

MWT

Just to be clear if that £2,000 represents more than what was used in the last 12 months then the back-billing rules should still apply.

[Deleted User]

I don’t see how you have calculated the £2000?  If BackBilling is applied as I understand the Regulations then ALL charges from a year ago today backwards are written off. However, all DD payments made in the BackBilling period are still taken into account: in other words, you cannot expect to find all the DD payments made during the BackBilling period suddenly appearing as a credit balance. Clearly, the supplier will want to bill you for the last 12 months at the correct usage and rate but I cannot see how this adjustment would come to £2000. 

If the issue was the gas calculation then why is electricity an issue? Surely, your electricity charges were correct?

QrizB

The OP states:

As a last resort I calculated the effecct of their error on the gas I had used in the last 12 months.   This came out to be approx £700

So the total amount of gas used during the past 12 months is around £1080 (700*2.83/1.83). I'm guessing that the OP has also used around £900-worth of electricity in the past year, and because they're on a dual-fuel tariff OTM have allocated all the payments made to date against the legacy bills. They are in effect being asked to pay for both fuels for the past 12 months.

It would help if the OP could confirm this, or (if I'm wrong) explain exactly what the £2000 relates to.

MWT

QrizB said:

The OP states:

As a last resort I calculated the effecct of their error on the gas I had used in the last 12 months.   This came out to be approx £700

So the total amount of gas used during the past 12 months is around £1080 (700*2.83/1.83). I'm guessing that the OP has also used around £900-worth of electricity in the past year, and because they're on a dual-fuel tariff OTM have allocated all the payments made to date against the legacy bills. They are in effect being asked to pay for both fuels for the past 12 months.

It would help if the OP could confirm this, or (if I'm wrong) explain exactly what the £2000 relates to.

Interesting twist there and if you are right I would say there were good grounds to appeal that back to the ombudsman, the electricity was correctly billed and paid throughout, they should not be allowed to reallocate both the electricity and the gas payments retrospectively to create a debt on the electricity as well..

I would still like to know if the gas was correctly billed at the previous supplier though (assuming there was a previous supplier).

dcreager

QrizB said:

The OP states:

As a last resort I calculated the effecct of their error on the gas I had used in the last 12 months.   This came out to be approx £700

So the total amount of gas used during the past 12 months is around £1080 (700*2.83/1.83). I'm guessing that the OP has also used around £900-worth of electricity in the past year, and because they're on a dual-fuel tariff OTM have allocated all the payments made to date against the legacy bills. They are in effect being asked to pay for both fuels for the past 12 months.

It would help if the OP could confirm this, or (if I'm wrong) explain exactly what the £2000 relates to.

Sigh,  It is a little more complex.....So...they undercharged me for gas for three years,   during those years I kept running a large credit balance and received refunds this appears to be inflating the amount they are charging.   As I have noted, I do not really understand the way this is all being calculated.

dcreager

MWT said:

I would still like to know if the gas was correctly billed at the previous supplier though (assuming there was a previous supplier).

I am pretty sure it was billed correctly.  Why is this relevant?