Octopus vs Ovo Customer service ?? 2 February at 5:42PM in Energy 23 replies 817 views

propnut

I have had it up to my neck with Ovo Energy's absolutely appalling customer service so am looking at Octopus. However I don't want to jump from the frying pan into the fire.
As such I would like to know if anyone has done the same and if so what your experience has been ?

Thanks

EssexHebridean

i went from Green energy UK (Who I was very happy with) & EDF (who I wasn't) to Octopus and the switch was seamless. I've been very pleased with them since.

Remember if instigating a switch to Octopus to ask someone you know who is supplied by them for their referral code - this will get both you and them £50 bill credit, and all Octopus customers have their own code. 

vic_sf49

I'm loving Octopus.

I moved from British Gas, who kept on with versions of "we're looking into why your smart meters don't work" rinse, and repeat. Ugh.

I'd get the benefit of the £50 referral, and Octopus' standing charges were cheaper, and I'd had it with BG, so switched in October.

I have since asked (via email at 10pm) to change from their SVR to their Tracker and it was sorted just after noon the next day.

Oh, and my smart meters became smart again.

Have I raved enough about Octopus yet? I love having customer services, who actually answer and help their customers.

The_Green_Hornet

Following the acquisition of Bulb, Octopus Energy are now 3rd in customer numbers behind British Gas and E.On.

I suspect it won't take them that long to overhaul them both. Quite impressive considering they have only been around for 7 years.

moneywow1

I just switched from OVO to Octopus, mostly for the pricing with their tracker plan. Never actually experienced OVO's customer support and the smart meter did work.

Since switching to Octopus, I haven't been able to submit an electric meter reading. Using the app and website constantly give me error messages.

I spoke to support yesterday (on hold maybe 5-6 minutes) who told me that since I went live today, I should wait and it would work today. Also gave me a link to switch to the tracker plan (today, when I went live).

Today I still can't submit a meter reading, and the tracker link gives me an error like everything else. I called up (same wait time) and the girl tried to submit my meter reading but not only could she not do it, she submitted it as a gas meter reading (so from ~2000 yesterday to 3000+ today)

Glad I noticed and could submit a real reading before I got billed for it.

She also said that I should wait until monday and try again, but to be fair she did switch me to the Tracker plan (I think, I still can't see much info on the app and I get errors everywhere)

So not great, but as long as it ends up working and ends up being cheaper I don't care.

MikeJXE

OVO don't have customer service to my knowledge, I tried email call and letter, no response 

I start with Octopus tomorrow 

macman

The_Green_Hornet said:

Following the acquisition of Bulb, Octopus Energy are now 3rd in customer numbers behind British Gas and E.On.

I suspect it won't take them that long to overhaul them both. Quite impressive considering they have only been around for 7 years.

i thought EDF were second or third behind BG?

propnut

MikeJXE said:

OVO don't have customer service to my knowledge, I tried email call and letter, no response 

I start with Octopus tomorrow 

So not just my experience then. Absolute muppets. When you do get through 9/10  you get routed to a South African call centre and they couldn't be more disinterested if they tried. I have also heard them moaning about customers in the background in Afrikaans which is one of the many South African languages assuming, naively, that if you are calling from the UK you can't understand them. Very unprofessional.

MikeJXE

propnut said:

MikeJXE said:

OVO don't have customer service to my knowledge, I tried email call and letter, no response 

I start with Octopus tomorrow 

So not just my experience then. Absolute muppets. When you do get through 9/10  you get routed to a South African call centre and they couldn't be more disinterested if they tried. I have also heard them moaning about customers in the background in Afrikaans which is one of the many South African languages assuming, naively, that if you are calling from the UK you can't understand them. Very unprofessional.

If you manage to talk to them they don't take any notice what you say and can't be swayed from their calculations

I was pushed into OVO by SSE in October, my DD was £91 a month, OVO increased it to £153 and stated I am a new customer and deemed to be an average user for the next 8 weeks at least

I knew what my average was from SSE and it worked out at £91-£100 a month, I have a large credit and none of my bills from OVO have exceeded £90 and now because I have put in a moving h0me  date of the 14th my DD has been reduced to £5 

You're wasting your time with OVO 

ariarnia

we havent had a bad experience with ovo. tho we do mostly contact by email if theres a problem. always been able to adjust our dd, sorted a smart meter problem and also got help for the mil this recent winter and got her a free thermostat electric throw and boiler service. 

but if you arent happy and have had a bad experience then moving is easy enough and octopus were recently found to only have 'low' customer service problems by ofgem compared to ovo 'moderate' so hopefully you'll have a better time there

Green_garnet

Nothing less than excellent customer service from Octopus. I cant recommend them highly enough.