SSE (OVO) – End or Variable Direct Debit?

Bill568

Ms_Chocaholic said:

Therefore it appears your account won't be in credit as the £400 will be back in your account.

Thanks Ms Chocaholic. I learned this was the case today. See my post above at 8.59pm which has the detail.

t0rt0ise

ariarnia said:

t0rt0ise said:

I think what would annoy me is not that they are doing it. I can understand that it's easier and better for them etc but that they lie about the reasons. Saying that they are thinking of helping their customers as if their customers can't manage their own affairs. Oh yuck!

how are they lying? they say most customers pay by annualised dd. that's probably true. they say most people find it easier to pay this way as it keeps the payments the same all year. that's also probably true. there will be a minority that prefer a different way to pay but ovo (or any business) is not required to cater to everyone's preferences if they don't want to. especially when doing so probably involves more systems and cost than requiring everyone to be on the same system. 

They say "we're always working to make things simpler for our customers". Rubbish. They are doing it because it suits them better, not their customers. That's fine, but say so and don't pretend it's for the customers' benefit.

[Deleted User]

t0rt0ise said:

ariarnia said:

t0rt0ise said:

I think what would annoy me is not that they are doing it. I can understand that it's easier and better for them etc but that they lie about the reasons. Saying that they are thinking of helping their customers as if their customers can't manage their own affairs. Oh yuck!

how are they lying? they say most customers pay by annualised dd. that's probably true. they say most people find it easier to pay this way as it keeps the payments the same all year. that's also probably true. there will be a minority that prefer a different way to pay but ovo (or any business) is not required to cater to everyone's preferences if they don't want to. especially when doing so probably involves more systems and cost than requiring everyone to be on the same system. 

They say "we're always working to make things simpler for our customers". Rubbish. They are doing it because it suits them better, not their customers. That's fine, but say so and don't pretend it's for the customers' benefit.

You could say that reducing the number of options makes it cheaper to run the business, which could be passed on in the form of lower charges in the future.

You could also say that having limited options means its more likely that customer services representatives can understand the entire process and provide more accurate assistance to customers.

You could even say that having less options means it's less likely that things will go wrong, resulting in a more stable system and less chance of  a customer needing to complain.

I'm not actually saying any of these things, but you could.

Bill568

In my case, leaving me with variable direct debits and letting the EBSS payments remain as a credit to my account would results in Zero direct debits being taken over 6 months. Modifying to monthly direct debits, as they propose, will result in 12 direct debits/credits over 6 months. This is not increasing efficiency for me, the banks or SSE(OVO).

[Deleted User]

Bill568 said:

Iletting the EBSS payments remain as a credit to my account 

They're not allowed to do that for Direct Debit customers.

Bill568 said:

Modifying to monthly direct debits, as they propose, will result in 12 direct debits/credits over 6 months. This is not increasing efficiency for me, the banks or SSE(OVO).

It is if that means (eventually) they only have to maintain one system for calculation of Direct Debits and only train their customer service agents to understand one method of calculation and payment.