SSE prepay voucher October still missing

borderline

I'm still waiting for my prepayment meter voucher for October.
Last time they told me it was reissued on the 28th but I still haven't got anything. 
Yesterday they told me someone would call me back.. I won't hold my breath

they keep blaming the postal strikes but that's nothing to with it, strikes were just a few days and I have received all mail I supposed to receive except the vouchers

where can I officially complain? considering that the vouchers are only valid for 90 days, I already lost more than 30 days waiting and I'm not confident either I will get the November one

ariarnia

for an official complaint you have to first complain (in writing preferably but that can be by email) to ovo/sse. then wait 8 weeks. then you can escalate your complaint to the ombudsman. 

in the mean time some people have been saying they would write to there mp but i'm not sure if that would make much real difference to you as i don't know if they will contact your supplier for you or just make a stink in government about the scheme in general. 

good news is tho that if you dont get the voutcher and it expires then it can be reissued as long as you redeem it by the end of june next year. and if you end up at the ombudsman and they find in your favour (that ovo did something wrong and it wasnt the postal strikes or outside of there control) then they can order ovo to give you compensation (probably £30 is the service standard amount) 

ariarnia

i thought i'd seen something from mse about this recently and just found it. 

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2022/11/energy-prepay-voucher-ebss-claim/ 

martin confirms they can be reissued until the 30th june (so i guess that actually means they could be cashed in until the end of september? dont know about that)

the article also says you might be able to get it issued by text or email if you ask the supplier which might be helpful? 

paulwalker82

i am with british gas and in the same boat , not any of the government help at all yet , they blame postal strikes , they gave me 3 diff dates it was posted and believe it or not yesterday they said mine had not been posted because they did not have a picture of my meter , you could not make this crap up , british gas facebook page is awash with people not recieved any help yet so you are not alone

borderline

paulwalker82 said:

i am with british gas and in the same boat , not any of the government help at all yet , they blame postal strikes , they gave me 3 diff dates it was posted and believe it or not yesterday they said mine had not been posted because they did not have a picture of my meter , you could not make this crap up , british gas facebook page is awash with people not recieved any help yet so you are not alone

I contacted them again today and they told me they had re-issue the voucher on Nov 1st..  on Friday they told me it was re-issue on October 28th .. so yeah they are lying, nothing has arrived.. they also told me the November one has been issued on the 8th... I told them nothing will arrive and they can re-issue all they want but they are not sending anything and that I'm gonna complain to omdusman and tell the the media and my MP

ariarnia

have you both asked if the voutcher can be issued by email or text?

borderline

ariarnia said:

have you both asked if the voutcher can be issued by email or text?

no, is that an option with SSE ? they haven't mention it to me

ariarnia

it was in martins article i linked to as a suggestion. i can't see it hurts to ask?

borderline

ariarnia said:

it was in martins article i linked to as a suggestion. i can't see it hurts to ask?

I have asked but getting a reply from them it's gold dust

doesntnotcompute

ariarnia said:

i thought i'd seen something from mse about this recently and just found it. 

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2022/11/energy-prepay-voucher-ebss-claim/ 

martin confirms they can be reissued until the 30th june (so i guess that actually means they could be cashed in until the end of september? dont know about that)

the article also says you might be able to get it issued by text or email if you ask the supplier which might be helpful? 

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1105770/energy-bills-support-scheme-guidance-electricity-suppliers.pdf

5.49 Vouchers should be issued with a 3-month validity period as standard, beginning on the date the voucher is issued, with an expiry date of 30 June 2023 at the latest. Any voucher issued after 31 March 2023 must have an expiry of 23:59 on 30 June 2023, which may result in a voucher having a validity period of less than 3 months.

5.50 In all cases payments provided must be redeemed by the scheme closing date of 30 June 2023 as no payments can be made after this date. Payments for unredeemed or expired vouchers must be returned by the voucher provider to suppliers as soon as possible after the scheme closing date, and subsequently returned to BEIS in full through the reconciliation process.

ariarnia

doesntnotcompute said:

ariarnia said:

i thought i'd seen something from mse about this recently and just found it. 

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2022/11/energy-prepay-voucher-ebss-claim/ 

martin confirms they can be reissued until the 30th june (so i guess that actually means they could be cashed in until the end of september? dont know about that)

the article also says you might be able to get it issued by text or email if you ask the supplier which might be helpful? 

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1105770/energy-bills-support-scheme-guidance-electricity-suppliers.pdf

5.49 Vouchers should be issued with a 3-month validity period as standard, beginning on the date the voucher is issued, with an expiry date of 30 June 2023 at the latest. Any voucher issued after 31 March 2023 must have an expiry of 23:59 on 30 June 2023, which may result in a voucher having a validity period of less than 3 months.

5.50 In all cases payments provided must be redeemed by the scheme closing date of 30 June 2023 as no payments can be made after this date. Payments for unredeemed or expired vouchers must be returned by the voucher provider to suppliers as soon as possible after the scheme closing date, and subsequently returned to BEIS in full through the reconciliation process.

great thanks for finding that. then my first post was right. voutchers can be reissued as long as there redeamed by the end of june. i'll email the mse team on the off chance they'll add a line to the article to make it clear. 

but anyone who can't redeem before then becayse of a problem with the supplier (that they have been chasing) would hopefully have gone to the ombudsman well before that deadline. worst case scenario i can see the ombusman ordering the supplier pay the amount out of pocket if there the reason the customer would otherwise miss out. hopefully no one (or not many people) will end up having to take it that far tho.