What a difference can the ombudsman make?

elsien

Ongoing saga with Eonnext about a dead gas smart meter. It is now past the eight weeks original complaint after which we can go to the ombudsman.
All we want is for them to stop cancelling appointments sort the meter out and discuss what we do owe given that the meter hasn’t been working since January.
Is going the ombudsman likely to speed this process up at all, or as I suspect will it be sitting in the ombudsman queue for equally as long or longer? 

The frustration is one hand not seeming to know what the other one is doing. So a photo of the dead meter was sent in August. It’s taken them till this week to come back and say that isn’t sufficient they need a video of it not working. I have no problem sending a video, I just don’t understand why we couldn’t have had that message in August instead of leaving it over two months. 

[Deleted User]

The simple answer is that it will cost the supplier over £500 in referral fees. The EO investigation can initially take 4 weeks. 

Has your meter actually failed or is it a communications fault?

elsien

It’s failed. They’ve tried the remote re-setting and were talking about taking it back to the warehouse to check it. That’s what the cancelled appointments were for. 

They said the meter company are a third party contractor who don’t want their time wasted by coming out to a meter that just needs some buttons pressing. 
Which would be fair enough if they’d not waited so long to tell us that and request the video. 

Every time I phone we go round in the same circles as I explain what’s been tried so far yet again. 

[Deleted User]

elsien said:

It’s failed. They’ve tried the remote re-setting and were talking about taking it back to the warehouse to check it. That’s what the cancelled appointments were for. 

They said the meter company are a third party contractor who don’t want their time wasted by coming out to a meter that just needs some buttons pressing. 
Which would be fair enough if they’d not waited so long to tell us that and request the video. 

Every time I phone we go round in the same circles as I explain what’s been tried so far yet again. 

What are you seeing on the comms hub LEDs? Gas meter displays are usually blank to protect battery life and the meter needs to be woken up. What meter model do you have?

ariarnia

an ombudsman case has a fixed timescale for each stage of the process which starts when you submit the case. dolor has already said theres a cost to the company for you escalating and more of a cost if the ombusman finds against them but im not sure if thats really an incentive. the more important thing for me is that there will be someone assigned to the case and the energy company will have to respond to the ombusman within a fixed timescale so you can see and feel progress.

but the important thing is evidence. the ombudsman will only rule on the evidence you give and wont ask you for missing evidence so you really have to think about what evidence you can provide and what exactly you want as resolution.

they wouldn't ask you for a video but if you show the supplier didn't tell you a photo wasn't enough might find the energy company hasn't done enough to investigate the problem in a timely manner and give you compensation/give the supplier a deadline to investigate. they probably wont say what you owe but if you can give any evidence of how much you use (maybe last years readings during the period or if you can prove your usage has changed) maybe they might set out the supplier has to estimate usage based on that period/taking that into account.  

you could always phone the ombusman service and talk to them (i have used the ombusman for complaints about broadband and found the team really helpful)

https://www.ombudsman-services.org/about-us/contact-us 

elsien

One of these. They just said to press the buttons to check nothing happens so that's what we did. 
ETA it's  my mother's meter so I have to hoof it over to hers anytime they want us to check something else. 

Estimated usage would be fine except parent has made a real effort to use less heating this year as compared to last year although proving that may be an issue. 

[Deleted User]

The instructions on the front of the meter couldn't be clearer. My 'guess' is that the battery has failed. Next time that you visit, check the following and take a video if you see anything out-of-the-ordinary.

CSP Region - Central & South

SW - Software

This shows the status of the hub's software.

WAN - Wide Area Network

Shows your communication hub's ability to communicate with the DCC and your supplier.

MESH - Mesh Communications Network

This light will be on if your meter is communicating through the Mesh network. It will be off if your meter is only using the normal WAN to communicate. The Mesh network has been built to allow more meters to communicate in areas with poor or no WAN signal.

HAN - Home Area Network

This light shows the connection status of your electricity meter, gas meter and IHD with your communications hub on the HAN.

GAS - Gas Meter
This light tells you if a gas meter is connected to the HAN. If you don't have a gas meter installed this light will be off.

CSP Region - North

WAN - Wide Area Network

Shows your communication hub's ability to communicate with the DCC and your supplier.

HAN - Home Area Network

This light shows the connection status of your electricity meter, gas meter and IHD with your communications hub on the HAN.

What does the flashing rate mean?

The frequency of flashing relates to the status of the function as follows:

  - Power Up

LEDs are shown without flashing for 10 seconds after power up to allow the operator to see that all LEDs are working.

  - Normal

A slow flash rate of 1 flash per 5 seconds means that the process is in its normal state.

  - Transient

A flash rate of 1 flash per 2 seconds means that the process is in a transient state such as making a communications connection.

  - Error

Fast flash rate of 2 flashes per second means that there is an error. Call your supplier if this does not change after 48 hours.

  - Off

The communications hub is powered down.

Read more at: https://www.smartme.co.uk/smets-2.html © SmartMe.co.uk

Chrysalis

I dont know the full process, but for me I had to wait 1-2 weeks for some checks that the ombudsman carry out (I dont know what these checks are).  After that it was raised with my supplier, who then contacted me with an offer to settle my issue.    So for me it did work and most of the waiting was the 8 weeks whilst Octopus were stonewalling me.  The wait on the Ombudsman was comparably short.

Since I accepted the offer, I didnt experience what happens if you decline the offer, but I assume thats when the Ombudsman actually investigate and make their own proposal.

[Deleted User]

Chrysalis said:

I dont know the full process, but for me I had to wait 1-2 weeks for some checks that the ombudsman carry out (I dont know what these checks are).  After that it was raised with my supplier, who then contacted me with an offer to settle my issue.    So for me it did work and most of the waiting was the 8 weeks whilst Octopus were stonewalling me.  The wait on the Ombudsman was comparably short.

Since I accepted the offer, I didnt experience what happens if you decline the offer, but I assume thats when the Ombudsman actually investigate and make their own proposal.

The Energy Ombudsman is a part of Ombudsman Services - a private arbitration company. Ofgem has ruled that its Decisions are mandatory on suppliers but not consumers. EOS has no statutory enforcement powers.

EOS bases its Decisions solely on the complaint submitted by the supplier and the case file forwarded to it by the supplier. 

If a complainant rejects an EOS Decision then the complaint is officially closed: neither the supplier nor EOS will engage in any further discussions.

The consumer still has the right to go to Court. The supplier can use the EOS Decision in defence of any claim made against it.

EssexHebridean

The Ombudsman ruled in our favour in our dispute with Utility Warehouse however due to incorrect information (I suspect deliberately) provided by UW their award essentially means that our own money as owed to us is being returned by way of the compensation granted. This was appealed but unfortunately the senior investigating officer missed a significant point in his decision making process - that the “manual payment” we made was not in lieu of a direct debit, but was in fact additional to our DDs. No way to further appeal so we have had to accept that at least it has got us back the money that UW had failed to apply onto our account when it was paid - I suspect we’d never have seen that otherwise! 

As well as the financial aspect, they also found in our favour in respect of UW’s poor billing processes and poor customer service - UW have been ordered to make a formal apology as well as paying the compensation - I’m not holding my breath for that bit appearing though! 

This is the second time we had used the Ombudsman Service - it can be an extremely useful way to resolve a complaint however the accuracy of that resolution can in our experience depend on the ability of the investigating officer to grasp the fine detail of the situation - in this case our IO absolutely did - the SIO didn’t though - and it was he who had to make the decision on the appeal. First time round also had to go to a appeal due to false information being provided by our then mortgage lender - on that occasion the SIO saw that they had lied and was quite incredibly hacked off about it - it ended up costing Virgin Money an extra £100 in comp over the same sum already awarded, as well as the being ordered to return us to the position we would have been in had they not tried to impose the wrong T’s & C’s on us. Needless to say as the dispute was about the right to overpay on the mortgage, I took great delight in returning their £200 to the account as an immediate further overpayment!