Are Octopus customer service standards starting to slip a bit?

mmmmikey

Hi all - I get the impression from recent posts that Octopus customer service standards are starting to slip a bit. Maybe just growing pains? Any thoughts on this? Do we all (including me!) just sing their praises because we've put them on a pedestal and haven't really reflected on how they compare now? How long will they retain their "forum's favorite energy supplier" status?

Strange thing is that I was with EDF for several years as they were consistently the best price and always found their customer service excellent and on a par with the service I get from Octopus. But I think I may be in a minority there judging by comments on this forum

MikeJXE

I joined Octopus in February this year and my first bill was generated the day after I gave them my readings

I have not had to deal with customer services so I cannot comment on that

What has changed for me is the time it takes to produce a bill has got longer, this month was 6 days 

Shell joining may extend that time I suspect 

UncleK

I'd say yes. My SMETS2 smart meter hasn't been communicating since 30th May. I have had various communication with them (mainly email, plus one phone call from them) when they say they are going to do things which quite clearly they then don't do, or if they do, they don't achieve anything. I appreciate they have to deal with other organisations but they could at least keep me informed.
I thus have to read my own meter (which okay, is hardly a massive burden) but what happened to all that useful half-hourly information?
Before all this, when my smart meter was working they kept sending me emails asking for meter readings and when I emailed them about that they said they would fix that a few times and in the end said they didn't know what to do!
So I've given up following up until something urgent or financially serious needs action.

[Deleted User]

In the 5+ years that I have been with Octopus, CS response times have fallen from minutes to days. This is undoubtedly due to Octopus’ growth and its policy of taking on CS staff from suppliers that it has gained under SoLR or through buyouts. Also the use of AI isn’t helping. For example, recently I asked for a modest credit refund. The AI response which came in minutes informed me that there was an ongoing supplier dispute on my account and they needed an up to date meter reading. I responded by pointing out that their system had generated a statement based on smart meter readings that very day, and there could not possibility be any ongoing supplier dispute. After 10 days, I got a manual response to say that there was no dispute and my account readings were up to date.

When someone in Octopus does take ownership of a problem they usually do come to a fair resolution. All that said, CS team leaders do need address some shortcomings in their service.

born_again

As they grow, so do the complaints. New C/S staff may not be as receptive to the issue in the same way as older C/S staff. Certainly know that from experience.
End of the day bigger customer base = more complaints. No matter how good they are at dealing with them. 

MultiFuelBurner

So far so good two months in.

Transfer - seem less
Move to Agile - slow but compensated for it without having to kick up a fuss
Move from Agile to Tracker - next day
Two referrals plus the £75 goodwill gesture means three months free electricity for our all electric household.

Let's see how the move to Cosy goes should tracker go over my benchmark and then following that back to Agile.

Billing I don't overly worry about I keep my own spreadsheet and figures and on variable DD

Rustin

It is an issue. As similar to the above poster, no smart meter reading for gas, communication has been slow and unsatisfactory, issue still unresolved.

Also, have silly amount of credit in my account, should have sorted it earlier but after a recent bank change, it is refusing to refund online stating I have not set up a new direct debit, which I have and which is represented in the account details.

Contacted them last weekend but no reply as of yet. 

None of these issues are urgent but caused me to reassess Octopus, and they are now 'Bog Standard'.

inspectorperez

Personally I don't have a problem with Octopus slowing down a bit (which I have also noticed).

My own experience tells me that they are still the best out there and I like everything about their service offering. Just hope they can sustain a decent level of performance with all their recent acquisitions.

DougMLancs

I always phone them or dm them on Twitter and I’ve never had an issue that hasn’t been resolved the same day in 5 years- 2 house moves, two sets of smart meter installations and setting up export. Asked them for an appointment to remove gas meter 3 weeks ago, got a call back arranging it for Wednesday this week, they called the day before to check all was well for the appointment. No hassle at all. I’ll be switching tariff for the winter in a few weeks or so so I’ll see how that goes.
 

In contrast, my mum has been getting debt collection letters from BG for 6 months despite paying bills and she couldn’t get a resolution until yesterday when BG finally worked out that they owed her £480 🤦‍♂️. I’m not saying 🐙 is perfect but you only have to look at this forum and others to see the grass is browner elsewhere. 

vic_sf49

Not needed to contact them since January, when I emailed them to move me onto Tracker (emailed at 2200ish, actioned by noon the next day), but I still rave about them. 

Billing is always correct. App and website work. Handy Mini Octopus gadget. Requested a refund of my credit, which is pending its usual review, so no problems there.

There are a few more posts on this forum complaining about them of late, but most are still resolved "quickly", rather than the 6 month, 1 year, 2 year sagas we see with other companies.

Although "quickly" might now be a week or three, vs a day or two. 

la531983

Their recent replies to be have been useless, as per the OCtopus Tracker thread.