Is Octopus getting slow ?

t0rt0ise

I find customer service by email is variable. The person I emailed about my tracker account didn't appear to understand how tracker worked. Another query has resulted in them simply generating a gas bill which was a strange thing to do and now means my billing may be out of step. I'll have to see when the next one comes. For me, contacting by twitter works, email doesn't.

badger09

I’m by no means a technophobe and probably in a tiny minority, but I don’t use Twitter (X?) or Facebook. Why do companies apparently prioritise customers who communicate via those channels? 

MultiFuelBurner

badger09 said:

I’m by no means a technophobe and probably in a tiny minority, but I don’t use Twitter (X?) or Facebook. Why do companies apparently prioritise customers who communicate via those channels? 

It maybe a case the people they employ in these customer services roles could be of a younger age and that is their go too preference.

I suggest if you don't like it then let Octopus know as they might not know that their staff have an unknown bias towards one channel to another for communication.

For us we are happy having a dormant X account it is only used for contacting companies we have products with.

pete-20-11

badger09 said:

I’m by no means a technophobe and probably in a tiny minority, but I don’t use Twitter (X?) or Facebook. Why do companies apparently prioritise customers who communicate via those channels? 

I see it as the people that manage these channels are clever enough to be able to manage Comms via social media. 

Don't mean to be rude to standard call handlers and email handlers, but feel that social media needs a bit more brain power.

Perhaps therefore you get a better service because they know more and absorb more knowledge etc etc due to the type of person they are/they type of brain they have. 

MultiFuelBurner

Quick X message last night, answered within an hour by a human and all sorted.

badger09

MultiFuelBurner said:

badger09 said:

I’m by no means a technophobe and probably in a tiny minority, but I don’t use Twitter (X?) or Facebook. Why do companies apparently prioritise customers who communicate via those channels? 

It maybe a case the people they employ in these customer services roles could be of a younger age and that is their go too preference.

I suggest if you don't like it then let Octopus know as they might not know that their staff have an unknown bias towards one channel to another for communication.

For us we are happy having a dormant X account it is only used for contacting companies we have products with.

You may be right. I had (naively?) assumed that different teams would handle different comms channels. The prevalence of AI generated responses to emails seemed to bear this out. 

Good suggestion to let Octopus know. I’ll do that next time I need to contact them. Thankfully that’s not very often.  

stripling

HillStreetBlues said:

MikeJXE said:

I always give Octopus my meter readings on the first of the month.

Up to January 2024 a couple of days later I would get the bill online up to the last day of the month of January. 

I have noticed my January bill was dated  6th February and the bill was later than usual.

Now we are March 5th. My DD was deducted from my bank as usual on the 1st 

I don't have a bill yet, my DD doesn't show up yet my balance has gone down

Any ideas what gives ? 

Same here.
Give reading at end of month, sometimes got bill same day as reading others a day later. Since the start of 2024 both taken a week.

I give Octopus readings every week on a Sunday - usually the bill is with me by Tuesday or Wednesday. I've been doing this for several years (unless I'm away), since the beginning of Tracker. Occasionally, when prices were volatile, I gave readings more frequently and the bill still arrived 48 or so hours later. 

There's been a couple of blips here and there which I suspect is a software issue - IT tinkering - but whenever I flag it my CS team get on the case, pass on my moans and back it comes to normal. 

For the last few weeks electricity has become separated from gas - two bills one a day after the other. I notice the same in the balance history. It's not a problem for me but I suspect it's another 'IT issue'. 

For me, customer service via X or phone has been excellent. They seem to keep good case notes so even if I'm dealing with someone else on the team they are up to speed. I have had a few dealings with them the last few weeks with good, quick responses. But I gave up on email, mostly, a while ago unless it's a 'no sweat' issue.

I hope Octopus don't lose their customer service fairly independent decision making and efficiency. It makes a big difference to things. 

QrizB

QrizB said:

I emailed to request a refund at 20:01 tonight.

I received a reply from a human being saying it was being processed at 20:05.

I sent a thank-you at 20:07 and had a reply to that at 20:22!

Just to close the loop on this, I received the refund as a credit to my back account yesterday, the 18th, 12 days after requesting it.

MikeJXE

The refund of £250 I asked for by email on the 8th March 

Was in my bank on the 15th

Thats 5 working days 

badger09

QrizB said:

QrizB said:

I emailed to request a refund at 20:01 tonight.

I received a reply from a human being saying it was being processed at 20:05.

I sent a thank-you at 20:07 and had a reply to that at 20:22!

Just to close the loop on this, I received the refund as a credit to my back account yesterday, the 18th, 12 days after requesting it.

I was going to say that’s pretty quick. 8 working days to review/authorise, process & then appear in your bank account. 

MikeJXE said:

The refund of £250 I asked for by email on the 8th March 

Was in my bank on the 15th

Thats 5 working days 

That’s even quicker & well within Octopus stated timeframe. I requested a refund 12 March & expect it to appear early next week.