An energy company that is okay to deal with?

AlexaJay

I have inherited accounts on two properties with Octopus and am finding them very difficult to deal with. The communications are relentless - while on holiday they phoned me daily and even though I've now banned them from using my number letters come every few days.

There is no problem with either account. I pay my bills regularly and have an excellent credit rating. I think the issue might be that after two years of being overcharged by energy companies, I am no longer prepared to pay by Direct Debit and suspect that Octopus have a 'maximum hassle' policy if you don't give them access to your bank account.

Anyway, I would like to switch and would appreciate any recommendations of companies that are lower maintenance!

Netexporter

If you're having problems with Octopus you'll be doomed with most of the others.

la531983

Letters about what ?

ArbitraryRandom

Octopus are generally scored one of the best for customer service - I've also had okay experiences with ovo and out fox the market. 

Worst in my experience (not recently) have been Eon, Edf and SSE (since which SSE were bought out and merged with ovo). 

Just checking you're aware that without a direct debit you're paying something like 7% more for your energy than you could (which I would suggest comes under the heading of 'overcharged')? 

Do you have a smart meter? If not, and if this is what octopus are contacting you about, then all of the other companies will be the same as they're all facing significant fines if they don't meet government set targets for installations. 

TheElectricCow

Octopus are generally considered to be the best supplier out there at the moment on the customer service front, you might find it’ll be more worth while trying to resolve whatever issue you’re having with them than searching for an alternative.

Since joining around a year ago I’ve found their service underwhelming and not even close to living up to their reputation, but I wouldn’t dream of going elsewhere knowing things would likely be even worse. At least Octopus do tend to be more competent and capable than others, as long as you can get through to someone who is both responsive and attentive enough to provide relevant solutions to queries.

One thing I did pick up from an Octopus blog post is that each account is assigned to one of a small team of around 10 customer service agents, meaning that whenever you contact them you only deal with one of those people. It would certainly explain why some people here report outstanding efficient service and others would have an easier time drawing blood from a rock, if the service you receive is entirely a luck of the draw situation based on who you’re assigned to.

MarzipanCrumble

Why are they phoning you?  

Octopus in my experience are great!  Monthly bills/ bills whenever you read a meter and submit in your account even if a few days apart.  Response from emails (maybe not immediately but defin a few days..... innovative tarrifs, a loyalty scheme that is maybe problematic for older,non-smart phone users (DOWNSIDE!)BUT OTHERWISE great!

Netexporter

Did the OP submit opening readings when they took over the property? Octopus may just want that information.

dealyboy

OP ... 

Anyway, I would like to switch and would appreciate any recommendations of companies that are lower maintenance!

E.ON Next, EDF, British Gas ... NOT.

born_again

TheElectricCow said:

Octopus are generally considered to be the best supplier out there at the moment on the customer service front, you might find it’ll be more worth while trying to resolve whatever issue you’re having with them than searching for an alternative.

Since joining around a year ago I’ve found their service underwhelming and not even close to living up to their reputation, but I wouldn’t dream of going elsewhere knowing things would likely be even worse. At least Octopus do tend to be more competent and capable than others, as long as you can get through to someone who is both responsive and attentive enough to provide relevant solutions to queries.

One thing I did pick up from an Octopus blog post is that each account is assigned to one of a small team of around 10 customer service agents, meaning that whenever you contact them you only deal with one of those people. It would certainly explain why some people here report outstanding efficient service and others would have an easier time drawing blood from a rock, if the service you receive is entirely a luck of the draw situation based on who you’re assigned to.

Given. Octopus serves 5.3 million customers through its retail arm. It just not seem feasible that they would have 500,000 staff.. Given they only state 3K+
I wounder if that figure if referring to complaints.

MultiFuelBurner

AlexaJay said:

I have inherited accounts on two properties with Octopus and am finding them very difficult to deal with. The communications are relentless - while on holiday they phoned me daily and even though I've now banned them from using my number letters come every few days.

There is no problem with either account. I pay my bills regularly and have an excellent credit rating. I think the issue might be that after two years of being overcharged by energy companies, I am no longer prepared to pay by Direct Debit and suspect that Octopus have a 'maximum hassle' policy if you don't give them access to your bank account.

Anyway, I would like to switch and would appreciate any recommendations of companies that are lower maintenance!

If you could add why they are phoning you that may help in response.

TheElectricCow

born_again said:

TheElectricCow said:

Octopus are generally considered to be the best supplier out there at the moment on the customer service front, you might find it’ll be more worth while trying to resolve whatever issue you’re having with them than searching for an alternative.

Since joining around a year ago I’ve found their service underwhelming and not even close to living up to their reputation, but I wouldn’t dream of going elsewhere knowing things would likely be even worse. At least Octopus do tend to be more competent and capable than others, as long as you can get through to someone who is both responsive and attentive enough to provide relevant solutions to queries.

One thing I did pick up from an Octopus blog post is that each account is assigned to one of a small team of around 10 customer service agents, meaning that whenever you contact them you only deal with one of those people. It would certainly explain why some people here report outstanding efficient service and others would have an easier time drawing blood from a rock, if the service you receive is entirely a luck of the draw situation based on who you’re assigned to.

Given. Octopus serves 5.3 million customers through its retail arm. It just not seem feasible that they would have 500,000 staff.. Given they only state 3K+
I wounder if that figure if referring to complaints.

Found the article I read it from https://octopus.energy/blog/customer-service/?utm_source=app&utm_medium=latest_news&utm_campaign=customer_service

2) Our specialists are all split into special teams of around 10 people.

Each team is like its own micro-business, completely responsible for looking after a group of customers – so even in a business of five million customers, you’re going to speak to the same small team of people every time. There’ll be a good chance they might be familiar with your issue already.

I agree that with those numbers working out to around 18,000 customers per team of 10 that doesn’t sound hugely practical at first thought, but then again I’ve no idea how often the average customer needs to engage with their supplier. I have, in the past, had to wait a month to get a relevant answer out of Octopus though, so from my perspective it seems they could do with a few more staff after all (or at least get that Octo-AI that does customer service I’ve heard so much about running in full swing).

Honestly seems like the worst way to do it in my opinion, especially when you end up waiting extra weeks after one person out of the small team goes on holiday so no one else will touch your case. But then again I don’t run a customer service operation on the scale Octopus does so I’d have to assume they know better than me.