Confusion over nature of Octopus account

pochase

Shouldn't you have had a price increase already in October with the October CAP rise? 

Ultrasonic

pjmendip said:

Thanks for all the comments and links to other conversations that have occurred on this issue.

Looking back at last summer, I was a new customer for Octopus so I would have phoned them to conclude the deal because I generally find that a good way to assess what a company will be like to deal with. I was previously with EDF with whom, at best, I had mixed communication experiences with. I had run comparisons prior to my call through various comparison sites which highlighted Octopus and this deal as having potential. I did think it was a fixed tariff deal at that time and of course the welcome pack and the terms and conditions that were sent with it seemed to confirm this.

Since the original welcome e.mail and attachments (referred to above) the only communications I have had with Octopus are the monthly bills in response to my meter readings. If my tariff rates were to vary greatly I would have hoped that I would have received a couple of weeks notice of this from Octopus once the energy cap revisions were known. 

I have e.mailed Octopus about this matter and will attempt to phone them when their lines are open next week. I might be prepared to take this to the ombudsman but I will need to see what is involved in doing so.

Thanks again for the input from all  

Did your prices not change in October?

pjmendip

Ultrasonic said:

pjmendip said:

Thanks for all the comments and links to other conversations that have occurred on this issue.

Looking back at last summer, I was a new customer for Octopus so I would have phoned them to conclude the deal because I generally find that a good way to assess what a company will be like to deal with. I was previously with EDF with whom, at best, I had mixed communication experiences with. I had run comparisons prior to my call through various comparison sites which highlighted Octopus and this deal as having potential. I did think it was a fixed tariff deal at that time and of course the welcome pack and the terms and conditions that were sent with it seemed to confirm this.

Since the original welcome e.mail and attachments (referred to above) the only communications I have had with Octopus are the monthly bills in response to my meter readings. If my tariff rates were to vary greatly I would have hoped that I would have received a couple of weeks notice of this from Octopus once the energy cap revisions were known. 

I have e.mailed Octopus about this matter and will attempt to phone them when their lines are open next week. I might be prepared to take this to the ombudsman but I will need to see what is involved in doing so.

Thanks again for the input from all  

Did your prices not change in October?

Looking back at my bills, the unit rates charged were actually a little lower than my contract stated for the first 4 months of supply then there was a small increase from 1 December which I thought was an adjustment for undercharging for the first 4 months. It was not explained by Octopus either on the bill or separately and with hindsight I should have queried it. But the usage and costs were working out pretty much as expected overall and following my poor experiences with my previous suppler Octopus seemed to work quite well so I was content and like everyone, had other priorities in life of course.

I guess the lessons here are never take your eye off the ball with any financial matter and never assume that you have something sorted out just be cause it seems to look OK superficially. You need to maintain constant detailed scrutiny at all times and to question everything even if it seems a trivial detail.

 

  

savers_united

Octopus still need to give you notice of any changes to your tariff rate, and you would have seen a change in November for the October increase, so an email or letter would have been sent in October informing you of the November increase, Price promise seems to change a month after the cap is adjusted as its a variable tariff that is fixed until Sept 2023 to be at least £50 cheaper than the cap across both fuels. The fix element you refer is the period this deal runs for. 

pjmendip

Update: I phoned Octopus Energy this morning, got through to a person within 10 minutes, and they confirmed that I am currently on a fixed tariff for fuel units and standing charges that expires on 30 September 2023. I made careful notes of who I was talking to, the exact time of the call and what was said. They record their calls apparently so the record should be clear for future reference. The test will come when I submit this months meter readings and get their next bill of course

Thanks to all who responded to my query

MWT

pjmendip said:

Update: I phoned Octopus Energy this morning, got through to a person within 10 minutes, and they confirmed that I am currently on a fixed tariff for fuel units and standing charges that expires on 30 September 2023

I regret you have been misinformed, I suspect the front page of your online account will be showing the new prices if you take a look...

This is the Eastern region pricing from the Octopus tariff list...

pjmendip

MWT said:

pjmendip said:

Update: I phoned Octopus Energy this morning, got through to a person within 10 minutes, and they confirmed that I am currently on a fixed tariff for fuel units and standing charges that expires on 30 September 2023

I regret you have been misinformed, I suspect the front page of your online account will be showing the new prices if you take a look...

This is the Eastern region pricing from the Octopus tariff list...

I'll need to make another call to Octopus then. Why on earth can they not a) get their contract and terms and conditions right and b) get their advice right when you speak to them ?. I went through the full ID process with them and gave them the account reference before the advisor could answer my query !.

It seems as if the supplier can make numerous mistakes and misinform the customer about their products and still it is the customer that has to carry the cost.

I wonder if it is worth referring to the ombudsman ?

MWT

pjmendip said:

It seems as if the supplier can make numerous mistakes and misinform the customer about their products and still it is the customer that has to carry the cost.

I wonder if it is worth referring to the ombudsman ?

Check your online account information first, does that show the updated prices?

You'll need to go through the complaint process with Octopus first before going to the Ombudsman and it wouldn't surprise me if they come up with a solution for you during that process.

This particular tariff has caused issues from the start unfortunately as a good number of people didn't read the marketing information on the web, or the full description of some of the sites that compile new tariff information, they just heard about it and phoned up and asked for it, or were offered it by CS staff, but without the full explanation about how it worked.

Then sending out the wrong confirmation email afterwards just made things worse.

It is properly described on line now though, not that it is much help of course.

 

pjmendip

Then sending out the wrong confirmation email afterwards just made things worse.....

 

It certainly did. Especially as the covering welcome e.mail included the statement "... It's important that you

understand us and that we understand you, so let us know if you spot any details that aren’t right"

So I did check the account that was being offered in the welcome pack carefully. More carefully than Octopus Energy did themselves apparently

I will have a further telephone conversation with Octopus and if that leaves me feeling unhappy, I will follow their complaints procedure and see where that leads.

Chrysalis

Only Saturday I had a longer wait than usual, usually its 5-10 minutes.  So ring they should answer fairly quickly.

The parts of the service that seem affected is backend stuff, meter issues, IHD issues, and also their email service on their hello@ is pretty much non existent now.