Handling of bereavement by energy company

emma203

74jax said:

All bills for my mam's account were changed to be addressed to The Executor of {name of mam}.
I called and said a date (about 6 months in the future) when I expected to be able to settle the accounts. 
It turned out to be around 12 months later due to covid, but I kept them updated the whole way through.
It was passed to a debt company and was much easier to be sorted then as they were used to probate properties. 

I did wonder if it might be easier to just let Ovo pass it to the debt collectors who might have a better grip on what they're doing, but I'm in the fortunate position of never having to deal with any before so it felt like rather a drastic step and a bit of a failure to deal with things properly on my part. 

emma203

SevenOfNine said:

As already said, you must ask for bereavement teams for pretty much everything.

My dealings 3 times for empty property following bereavements with assorted energy companies has always been fine (though doesn't include Ovo). Each time I've been given the choice of paying bills as they come in, taking over the account altogether, or just ignoring the bills & give an accurate reading when the house was sold & pay all outstanding usage then. 

The latter was always the recommended route & if I recall correctly I've had to send the death certificates. I've had a quick look at the Ovo bereavement site, & they don't make their process look particularly helpful!  "Take you through the options", why don't they just put them on the webpage.

That's good to know as it meets my experience with other suppliers and makes me think I'm not being totally unreasonable. 

In all my other dealings I have been able to deal with a bereavement team on the phone, but the agent I was put straight through to without any of the usual "press 1 for ...." options assured me he could deal with it. In hindsight I wish I'd pressed him on the issue but I'm not entirely convinced a separate team actually exists. 

Wyndham

emma203 said:

Maybe I'm expecting too much - it's my first time as an executor and I'm still feeling my way, but it feels like harassment at this stage and it's left me doubting whether I know what I'm doing in general. 

First of all, I'm so sorry for your loss.

I don't really have any practical advice for you. But I'm horrified by your story, this is not acceptable and any company should treat the situation in a compassionate and understanding way.

You are NOT expecting too much. You DO know what you are doing - as much as any of us could, we're not really taught how to do these things are we? And, if all the other companies you are dealing with are getting it right, then this shows that Ovo are the ones getting it wrong, and need to do better.

I know you will be dealing with a range of emotions, and just want to get it sorted. But, have you thought about a letter to the Managing Director (or equivalent?) Appreciate that you may not feel able at the moment though.

Brie

Sorry for your loss and hopefully this won't seem like a nasty suggestion....why not leave the account in you mom's name?  It's not like the debt collection agency will be able to get mean with her.  

Meanwhile I'd certainly be keeping a record in order to smack them with a fat complaint in the not too distant future.

shiraz99

emma203 said:

shiraz99 said:

I'm in the same process with OVO and followed their online advice to email their bereavement department with all the details and wait to hear back (within 4 working days), guess what still haven't heard anything. I'll be calling them myself on Monday but not expected much given the experiences of others with this company. They're definitely not the same since they were taken over.

my understanding is that there's two options available, 1, you can take over the existing account, or 2, you can close the account and then when you decide to sell the house or whatever you take a meter reading and they will bill you anything you've used in the meantime. What I'd personally like to know is if you take over the account can you keep the existing tariff in place, in my case, my late dad has a fixed tariff in place until August so it may be cheaper to keep running this rather than close the account.

Be aware that the phone number takes you to a general agent rather than a dedicated bereavement team, which they don't seem to have, and they will probably ask you lots of confusing ID questions - this morning I had to clarify several times whether she wanted my information eg name and date of birth or my late mother's. 

As soon as they answer the phone I would state why you are ringing to avoid them swinging into robot mode and asking if it's possible to speak to the account holder (yes, that really happened). 

Yeah, I know which was why I emailed them after wasting about over an hour on the phone to not get through to the correct team in the first place 😉

shiraz99

SevenOfNine said:

As already said, you must ask for bereavement teams for pretty much everything.

My dealings 3 times for empty property following bereavements with assorted energy companies has always been fine (though doesn't include Ovo). Each time I've been given the choice of paying bills as they come in, taking over the account altogether, or just ignoring the bills & give an accurate reading when the house was sold & pay all outstanding usage then. 

The latter was always the recommended route & if I recall correctly I've had to send the death certificates. I've had a quick look at the Ovo bereavement site, & they don't make their process look particularly helpful!  "Take you through the options", why don't they just put them on the webpage.

Exactly, I'm still waiting for them to do this.

kipsterno1

Sorry for your loss and the unnecessary additional worry this is causing you.

As an Ovo customer I feel their CS has gone downhill. 

To give you an idea how other companies deal with this here is my experience of dealing with my late fathers affairs in the last six months. His gas and electric accounts are with British Gas. I initially informed them of his death the day after he passed and provided meter readings. They put the account on hold telling me that bills would now be sent to me as executor but I should ignore them and recontact in six months. I provided a copy of the death certificate.

Recontacted last week and informed them that probate had been granted and the house sale was now proceeding. They again confirmed to ignore any bill I received and on sale provide them a final meter reading at which point they would raise a final bill.

I have also received mail informing me of rate changes.

Hope it resolves itself.

74jax

emma203 said:

74jax said:

All bills for my mam's account were changed to be addressed to The Executor of {name of mam}.
I called and said a date (about 6 months in the future) when I expected to be able to settle the accounts. 
It turned out to be around 12 months later due to covid, but I kept them updated the whole way through.
It was passed to a debt company and was much easier to be sorted then as they were used to probate properties. 

I did wonder if it might be easier to just let Ovo pass it to the debt collectors who might have a better grip on what they're doing, but I'm in the fortunate position of never having to deal with any before so it felt like rather a drastic step and a bit of a failure to deal with things properly on my part. 

Our accounts weren't settled until after the 'executor year' due to covid, so most things weren't dealt with in the way we deal with our 'usual bills'.

It's not a failure at all, don't feel that way. Eon automatically on notification of death passed to the debt agency. They outsource their bereavement (or did) so it was just their usual. We didn't think anything of it. However I had been executor before so it wasn't unusual.

You can only do so much. I'm a control freak, so liked to have a folder with everything in, it's how I work. I knew where I was with everything, what I could/couldn't do. Would that maybe help?  That way your mind isn't full of information, but all down on paper? 

It's good when it all falls into place and you will get there. It just takes time. 

emma203

An update in case it helps others in future: a Bereavement Agent has responded to my complaint and confirmed that the account is correctly marked as a bereavement account so that, although bills will continue to be issued, there is no expectation to pay them whilst I am going through probate and the outstanding balance can be settled once the estate is finalised and funds are available.

I’m relieved it’s resolved, but all of the upset could so easily have been avoided with just a few changes to their written communications and the script their agents follow. I have made a number of suggestions to help them improve their service in future, but in the meantime I would advise anyone needing to contact Ovo regarding a bereavement to stick to emailing the bereavement team, to ignore any suggestions to telephone anyone in the organisation and to resist any pressure to open a new account in your own name.

Thank you so much for all your encouragement and suggestions - I’m feeling a lot more positive now so it’s on to chasing pensions and the bank, who have all been very professional in their communications if rather slow …

shiraz99

I too received an email from OVO's bereavement team pretty much saying the same thing but still haven't replied to say whether the account will stay on it's current fixed tariff until it runs out or goes immediately to the much higher variable capped tariff.