Electric PAYG meter not working !!

MeteredOut

Have you been advised that you can go to the Ombudsman? I assume you do have an official complaint open?

coffeeplease

I am adding this last post for a final update to my long saga with a faulty traditional PAYG meter and interacting with Boost, if anyone might find any of this useful or helpful.

After 5 long months and many engineer appointment cancellations, I finally took matters into my own hands and arranged an appointment with SMS myself. Apparently, my electricity provider was offering me appointment dates without verifying them with the engineers at SMS, and then they would be 'cancelled'. 
So, on 01 Sept I finally had the old traditional PAYG meter switched out. I would have preferred to have an identical  one, but only smart meters were available. Still, it's been a long hard slog, and I can finally settle the -what I hope is not mountainous- bill for 31 Mar to 01 Sept. 
I also got a GSOP payment, but the 2nd goodwill payment offer for my pains never materialised. I may still get a replacement voucher for the £67 Government Energy payment still languishing on my useless top up key since March, but after so many calls to customer service and getting so many differing answers to many questions, maybe not. When the dust settles and the numbers are all at 0, I'm signing up elsewhere. 

QrizB

coffeeplease said:

I am adding this last post for a final update to my long saga with a faulty traditional PAYG meter and interacting with Boost, if anyone might find any of this useful or helpful.

Thank you for coming back with an update. I hope your problems are now behind you!

coffeeplease

I return to post again that the saga is yet unfinished. The most aspirational aspect is that I have almost enough material for a dystopian novel, but hope to find a non-fiction niche for dystopia before approaching a publisher.

On 03 October SMS informed me by text mssg that they canceled the October 30 engineer appointment because they were able to recommission the meter remotely, as that was what Boost had asked them to do by an engineer attending. The meter was commissioned at installation on 01 September; Boost could not communicate with it then, hence the new engineer appointment. 

Today, new problems became evident straight away. The in-home display shows no info, no account info, no kWh usage, nothing, nada, zip. The meter itself is unresponsive except for a lit screen showing 421 kwh usage (= +£125 charges) -which seems impossible because the meter was not working at all between installation 01 Sept and 03 October when SMS remotely commissioned it a second time. 

Today, another call to Boost was unproductive. I was told that their equipment is not communicating or cannot communicate with the meter. Despite it being commissioned twice. Obviously, the problem is with Boost. When they asked me for a screenshot of the appointment cancellation, I stressed they should be in communication with SMS, and should have done since 30 March, besides my older Android struggles with internet connection and it's not possible. I was told that the 421 kwh is not mine, but it will not be removed so as "to not cause problems"  ????.

The on-going ineptitude is stunning. Much like a curious email from Boost mid-September that it was critical that my meter be replaced and I should contact them to make an SMS appointment for an engineer to attend. I responded to that email that my past experience with their making engineer appointments has only resulted in cancellations (as they were not confirmed with SMS before telling me), and that left me to actually confirm the 30 October SMS appointment. As before, SMS had no appointment by Boost scheduled, so I made the arrangement myself. I duly sent my email reply. A week or so later Boost called me to say that my email reply had gone to the wrong department, and would I write down a phone number and speak to a Boost employee to get the correct email address to re-send my reply?
!!NO!!. I'm not calling anyone or doing anything, not my problem. Forward the thing in-house! 

Today, I have told Boost that they have two weeks to get this up and running or I will escalate it to the Ombudsman. My current complaint (#3) is now escalated. It's already been 6 months and 4 days, so I consider my redline deadline to be generous. I will say she worked hard and conferred with other departments, but the problems I've had are not being resolved. Finally, with my inability to send a cancellation screenshot, she said she would call SMS herself and call me back in 15 minutes to carry on with assisting me with my problem. Of course it's not MY problem, it's theirs. And no, two hours later, I still have not received a call back. Several CS employees have also promised call backs that never happened.

I desperately want to change suppliers. I am unsure how that would work out, and dread to think of the 421 kwh currently on the meter to pay in addition to 7+ months of back usage. I'm exhausted with trying to navigate a broken utility system. 

Edit for typo

coffeeplease

So, I have received an email from Boost, a questionnaire that seems to be something of a healthy meter check type, a lot of questions to respond to and an closing statement that after I answer them they will begin an investigation and be in contact again within (another) FORTY FIVE days. 
The email was sent from a no-reply Boost email address, so of course my response email was returned to me. helloboost has not responded to two emails asking for the correct email address for returning the questionnaire.

Now, three days into composing a letter and gathering attachments for a help request to Ovo CEO... and ruminating between sending an email or a fat envelope of paper.
As they say, I'm quickly 'losing the will to live'.