OVO and the Ombudsman (and myself of course) 16 January at 11:59AM in Energy 5 replies 165 views

cheesedoff1717

Hi I need help / suggestions please as I am going nowhere

Short story - I luckily opted for a 2 year Dual Fuel fixed deal with OVO in Sept 2021- so far so good. However they then they screwed up my Electricity switch taking nearly 3 months to get Dual Fuel up and running

Despite OVO assuring me many many times my Dual Fuel deal would be unaffected by them messing up, my first bills were horrendous and I knew something was wrong and I complained by Phone Email and Letter (Signed for). They said I had signed up for a more expensive Tariff , which I refuted because I was a "serial switcher" and after almost a year Sept 22 I got them to give me a Letter on non Agreement

It was then I spotted that my original Agreement with them was way lower than what they were charging me and what they had been charging me for 9 months or more (Yes I should have noticed but have mitigating circumstances lol). I signed for 19p a unit on Electricity and they were charging me 31p a unit. There were differences also in Daily Standing Charges and both the Gas ones were different but much much closer to what I signed for.

Right - so I went to the Ombudsman and they agreed that OVO had overcharged me and effectively they said they could not believe OVO had defended as it was such an open and shut case

They gave OVO till early October to return all my over payments and told them to pay me a goodwill payment of £75 to cover time postage phone calls etc . Almost immediately the £75 was added as credit to my Bill but nothing really happened other than the rates on all my past bills were altered to what we had originally and formally agreed. I hoped they would send me a cheque or , clearly add as they did with the goodwill amount a credit to my Bill.Transparent and simple

I asked the Ombudsman if they could ask OVO to tell me how much they had overcharged me (I think £400 at least) but they said you will have to pursue OVO. So they agreed I was way out of pocket , told OVO to repay me but said they had no power to make them tell me how much the figure was and how they had repaid me if indeed they had. So how can I get closure as even now I have no idea if they think the overcharge was £1 , £10 or £100 and all of those are miles out but if I just accept I have been paid back it might be nowhere near what I should be due to and I simply have no idea as they wont tell me

So then I started back with OVO and their liaison Officer with the Ombudsman was "sympathetic" and said they were understaffed and had problems with getting data from their "old" Billing system whatever that meant. I pointed out all of the points listed above but have got nowhere. The person sent me an email saying they were on Holiday till Dec 3rd 2022 but would report back. I stayed patient but then I came back from a 3 week holiday myself a week ago and fired off a Letter to OVO asking for action by the end of Feb 2023 or if not could they send me a failure to Agree Letter which I will then lodge with the Ombudsman immediately as I should be told surely how much they are giving me back or have given me back

Is there anything else I could do please , has this happened to anyone else and if yes how did it resolve itself. Also do people think it strange that the Ombudsman has the power to make OVO pay back what they owe customers but dont seem to have to power to make them just document it so both parties can agree ??

Sorry , that was supposed to be the "short" story

pochase

You write 

 Almost immediately the £75 was added as credit to my Bill but nothing really happened other than the rates on all my past bills were altered to what we had originally and formally agreed

So you have been rebilled with the correct unit rates and the bills should be lower. Difference between old bill and new bill is what you have been overcharged.

Not sure what more you expect?

macman

The Ombudsman is not a regulator, their role is purely to resolve complaints.
The regulator is Ofgem.

cheesedoff1717

pochase said:

You write 

 Almost immediately the £75 was added as credit to my Bill but nothing really happened other than the rates on all my past bills were altered to what we had originally and formally agreed

So you have been rebilled with the correct unit rates and the bills should be lower. Difference between old bill and new bill is what you have been overcharged.

Not sure what more you expect?

I asked them simply to produce me a "summary" the simpler the better documenting the units I had used up to the point that they corrected the over charge and then the number of days x the different Daily Standing Charge charge for Electricity and Gas.

I know they are simply hiding behind the first few Months were under their old Billing system so it is difficult for me having been agreed by the Ombudsman as the wronged party to know when exactly they started my Electricity supplying and when they corrected the over charging .... ditto for the Gas unit price and Daily Standing Charge

I simply don't know and that is all I was expecting. Actually I hoped they would give me the answer to my question of how much and then return the over charge into my Bank and correct their rates from that point

cheesedoff1717

macman said:

The Ombudsman is not a regulator, their role is purely to resolve complaints.
The regulator is Ofgem.

Thanks v much for that , so would you suggest I get Ofgem to try to get the answer for me ? I cant see Small Claims Court being any good as I cant really say you OVO owe me £ X and I would like it back.

They may have given me "an amount back" but Bills are complicated at the best of time and at my age Im finding them hard to reconcile especially given OVO have altered EVERY parameter from Sept 21 to (I suspect) Oct 2022 or more or less .

MikeJXE

cheesedoff1717 said:

macman said:

The Ombudsman is not a regulator, their role is purely to resolve complaints.
The regulator is Ofgem.

Thanks v much for that , so would you suggest I get Ofgem to try to get the answer for me ? I cant see Small Claims Court being any good as I cant really say you OVO owe me £ X and I would like it back.

They may have given me "an amount back" but Bills are complicated at the best of time and at my age Im finding them hard to reconcile especially given OVO have altered EVERY parameter from Sept 21 to (I suspect) Oct 2022 or more or less .

I wish you luck with OVO and the others, I tried with emails letters and phone calls, my October direct debit was £91 and I got the increase they wanted down to £125. 

I am now £250 in credit and my usage is just under £91 like I told them it would be. 

I am due another £125 DD on the 1st of February but the good news is I am moving home on the 14th February and to another supplier

Can't wait for tomorrow to come so I can click their moving home button and ask for the DD to be cancelled and ask for a part refund