Vulnerable neighbour charged £1154 for gas by SSE

Robin9

Well done for sticking it out.  

Hargreaves1910

A dramatic update!

As you know I have been forwarding info to the ombudsman and also sending more emails to OVO about this. A couple of days ago I was once again looking at the received bills and noticed the gas bill has the wrong address!!

I couldn't believe my eyes, I checked other bills and they also had the wrong address. I was shocked and passed the information straight to the ombudsman. Then on Friday I received an email from OVO stating they wanted immediate payment for £6000+ or they would send debt collectors to recover the costs. At the same time my neighbour received a similar letter through the post. He was nearly in tears talking to me and said he was thinking of just paying the 6 grand just to get them off his back. I wonder how many frustrated people have done that?

Luckily there was an 0800 number on the letter and while in my neighbour's house yesterday I rang up. As usual with these companies it was an Asian call centre but luck was on our side as I got through to an understanding young man who listened to all our issues and agreed that something was seriously wrong. First he put a stop on any account activity, he put the issue into the hands of an investigation team, he noted all problems down, e.g. wrong address, incorrect meter readings etc. He also said there would be no debt collectors visiting and most importantly he gave us a Complaint Reference Number. He also actually apologised for all the problems. He did ask if my friend could make a payment at that time and he agreed to pay £500. The young man on the phone was stressing not to be short of cash and only pay what he could. Also I gave him a meter reading and he agreed that the difference in the real and estimated readings was huge. He also changed the billing format to postal which I have been asking for months.

I really hope we are now at a positive watershed, but the ombudsman case will go on as I think that is the least I can do. This has given me renewed vigour to see this through.

These companies have and make £billions and yes they supply a service but the the way they have bullied and hounded this old gent in their pursuit of huge amounts of money is an absolute disgrace. I hope and pray that the ombudsman comes down on them swift and hard.

elsien

Hargreaves1910 said:

A dramatic update!

As you know I have been forwarding info to the ombudsman and also sending more emails to OVO about this. A couple of days ago I was once again looking at the received bills and noticed the gas bill has the wrong address!!

I couldn't believe my eyes, I checked other bills and they also had the wrong address. I was shocked and passed the information straight to the ombudsman. Then on Friday I received an email from OVO stating they wanted immediate payment for £6000+ or they would send debt collectors to recover the costs. At the same time my neighbour received a similar letter through the post. He was nearly in tears talking to me and said he was thinking of just paying the 6 grand just to get them off his back. I wonder how many frustrated people have done that?

Luckily there was an 0800 number on the letter and while in my neighbour's house yesterday I rang up. As usual with these companies it was an Asian call centre but luck was on our side as I got through to an understanding young man who listened to all our issues and agreed that something was seriously wrong. First he put a stop on any account activity, he put the issue into the hands of an investigation team, he noted all problems down, e.g. wrong address, incorrect meter readings etc. He also said there would be no debt collectors visiting and most importantly he gave us a Complaint Reference Number. He also actually apologised for all the problems. He did ask if my friend could make a payment at that time and he agreed to pay £500. The young man on the phone was stressing not to be short of cash and only pay what he could. Also I gave him a meter reading and he agreed that the difference in the real and estimated readings was huge. He also changed the billing format to postal which I have been asking for months.

I really hope we are now at a positive watershed, but the ombudsman case will go on as I think that is the least I can do. This has given me renewed vigour to see this through.

These companies have and make £billions and yes they supply a service but the the way they have bullied and hounded this old gent in their pursuit of huge amounts of money is an absolute disgrace. I hope and pray that the ombudsman comes down on them swift and hard.

Well done on your progress so far. Just checking but is your neighbour registered with them as a vulnerable customer?
It may also be worth sharing this with him - debt collectors (as opposed to baillifs) have no legal powers. They bully and they lie to get people to pay up but they cannot enter the property and he can just not open to the door to them with no fear of repercussions if that puts his mind at rest. 

They may pretend to be baillifs - baillifs would only attend as and when they got a CCJ against him and I'm pretty sure the judge would wipe the floor with the utility company if they tried. 

Bailiffs & Debt Collectors. The Difference? StepChange

Fact Sheet - Harassment by creditors | National Debtline | National Debtline

yippeekiay

Just saw this & read it all - what a complete disgrace!!

I applaud you for helping this poor chap out. I dread to think how many other vulnerable people might be in the same position with no help available.

I hope the ombudsman throws the book at these useless swines & your friend gets a nice big refund & hopefully a decent amount of compensation for the obvious distress he is, and has been subjected to.

I'm against smart meters myself (that's another matter) but in this case I would seriously consider it so that meter readings are sent regularly - I would also hasten to add that I'd be inclined to record & check those reading regularly too.

Well done, hope everything is resolved soon

Hargreaves1910

Just a very quick update as it's nearly bedtime. I checked the online account tonight and all the old dodgy meter readings and charges have disappeared from the account. The £500 payment is showing and also the meter reading I gave over the phone.

Shockingly his gas charges from 5th March to 4th April using genuine readings supplied by me are £60.51 And they could have sent him to his grave the way they were chasing him for thousands of pounds!

My God they are ruthless animals.

Robin9

yippeekiay said:

Just saw this & read it all - what a complete disgrace!!

I applaud you for helping this poor chap out. I dread to think how many other vulnerable people might be in the same position with no help available.

I hope the ombudsman throws the book at these useless swines & your friend gets a nice big refund & hopefully a decent amount of compensation for the obvious distress he is, and has been subjected to.

I'm against smart meters myself (that's another matter) but in this case I would seriously consider it so that meter readings are sent regularly - I would also hasten to add that I'd be inclined to record & check those reading regularly too.

Well done, hope everything is resolved soon

I agree 100% - an absolute disgrace.

It shouldn't be necessary to go to The Guardian, the MP             .............    to make such organisations listen. .......... but their frontline customer service is not capable at handling anything other than the very basic change of supplier (others will question even that) as they are targeted in handling so many calls a minute when half an hour is required. Their complaints services can be better.

In days gone by when there was just one supplier in your area personal contact was an option .    But now it has to be systems and some poor computer systems at that.   

Hargreaves1910

Robin9 yes we were so lucky in talking to that young man on Saturday who listened intently and finally got the ball rolling at the OVO end. Targets targets targets, everyone has to meet targets. When this is all over I will send an email to OVO praising this young man and his efforts sorting this out.

So this is the news I have been waiting for. I had an email from the ombudsman today, OVO have admitted their mistake. They were billing for the wrong gas meter. They are going to correct the account, send a letter of apology and offer financial compensation. I was allowed to comment on this and said the apology and letter were very welcome. But the compensation was nowhere near enough considering the stress we have all been through.

Having never done anything like this before I was of the opinion that was it, but no it's not. The ombudsman will now deliberate on the case taking all the evidence into account and come to a final decision. What that will be I have absolutely no idea but it could take up to 8 weeks.

Once again thanks to everyone who commented and egged me on because I could have so easily given up on this.

markin

Is the number on the meter matching the bill? Is the other address paying his bill?

EssexHebridean

So glad that you're now approaching resolution on this. It does sound like a genuine error, but also underlines that suppliers really should be more proactive when potential errors of this type are flagged up to them. 

poppellerant

I remember the days when OVO was decent and you could phone them up and speak with somebody within the UK whose usage and understanding were decent.  Going by this thread, it seems as though that these days are sadly long gone and the UK energy companies take advantage of offshore call centres to maximise their profits.