Octopus Energy

LeesArt

Gassed said:

Again thank you for all your thoughts and input. I must admit that if I was a customer looking to change from any other energy provider then reading your comments about Octopus would hold a big sway in making a move to join them. However as a current Octopus customer I still only have my personal experience to go from i.e. They have not taken my regular Direct Debit from me this month (due on the 2nd of each month) and given no reason for this and at the same time they have sent me separate emails in respect of Gas and Electricity charges with each email covering a different time frame and reducing my credit appropriately with them. I do have more than enough credit in my account with them to last at least 3 or 4 months without paying anymore by DD or one-off payments to them so that’s not a problem. Just why couldn’t they communicate and let me know why they’ve done what they’ve done. I’m used to and very happy with one DD payment a month  and one Bill/Statement issued each month ; are companies moving away from this  - to be helpful??  

I’ll give them a full month to reply to my emails, which primarily asked them the same questions and if I still don’t get an answer then do not be surprised if you see me appearing on Martins TV program😁

After a month without reply I’ll be off and I won’t need my new company to entice me with a free cup of coffee or an electric blanket.

 

They do have a problem with Direct Debits on Variable rate customers in that they do the DD 10 working days after you submit a read, rather than on your preferred day.  I see no reason why they can't just stick the read in a schedule of pending DD transactions that need to feed into the DD export on the requested day.  

All it would require is a few query changes and a single new table, they would then release the DD transactions into the current feed with an overnight batch.

Their site says that they will not send a bill for 3 months unless you provide a read and that you can provide read as often as you like.  This was not my experience but unlike some energy companies they were extremely flexible in cancelling that bill and my next bill automatically included the dates the bill they cancelled which is what I wanted.

What I really like is that as soon as you submit a read the account shows the balance, sadly it does not allow one to drill down to show the rates used and the math.

tlcgrantham

LeesArt said:

Gassed said:

Again thank you for all your thoughts and input. I must admit that if I was a customer looking to change from any other energy provider then reading your comments about Octopus would hold a big sway in making a move to join them. However as a current Octopus customer I still only have my personal experience to go from i.e. They have not taken my regular Direct Debit from me this month (due on the 2nd of each month) and given no reason for this and at the same time they have sent me separate emails in respect of Gas and Electricity charges with each email covering a different time frame and reducing my credit appropriately with them. I do have more than enough credit in my account with them to last at least 3 or 4 months without paying anymore by DD or one-off payments to them so that’s not a problem. Just why couldn’t they communicate and let me know why they’ve done what they’ve done. I’m used to and very happy with one DD payment a month  and one Bill/Statement issued each month ; are companies moving away from this  - to be helpful??  

I’ll give them a full month to reply to my emails, which primarily asked them the same questions and if I still don’t get an answer then do not be surprised if you see me appearing on Martins TV program😁

After a month without reply I’ll be off and I won’t need my new company to entice me with a free cup of coffee or an electric blanket.

 

They do have a problem with Direct Debits on Variable rate customers in that they do the DD 10 working days after you submit a read, rather than on your preferred day.  I see no reason why they can't just stick the read in a schedule of pending DD transactions that need to feed into the DD export on the requested day.  

All it would require is a few query changes and a single new table, they would then release the DD transactions into the current feed with an overnight batch.

Their site says that they will not send a bill for 3 months unless you provide a read and that you can provide read as often as you like.  This was not my experience but unlike some energy companies they were extremely flexible in cancelling that bill and my next bill automatically included the dates the bill they cancelled which is what I wanted.

What I really like is that as soon as you submit a read the account shows the balance, sadly it does not allow one to drill down to show the rates used and the math.

This morning I spotted a remarkably cheap fixed tariff in their list of current tariffs. I emailed them asking to switch to it and got a reply within a few minutes. Meanwhile I sent a message on Twitter (X) and got another reply within minutes offering to investigate as they weren’t aware of the tariff. A few more minutes later a received an apology as the tariff was historic and was only listed by mistake + a voucher for £30. 

       To me that’s 1st class customer service.

Spoonie_Turtle

LeesArt said:

Gassed said:

Again thank you for all your thoughts and input. I must admit that if I was a customer looking to change from any other energy provider then reading your comments about Octopus would hold a big sway in making a move to join them. However as a current Octopus customer I still only have my personal experience to go from i.e. They have not taken my regular Direct Debit from me this month (due on the 2nd of each month) and given no reason for this and at the same time they have sent me separate emails in respect of Gas and Electricity charges with each email covering a different time frame and reducing my credit appropriately with them. I do have more than enough credit in my account with them to last at least 3 or 4 months without paying anymore by DD or one-off payments to them so that’s not a problem. Just why couldn’t they communicate and let me know why they’ve done what they’ve done. I’m used to and very happy with one DD payment a month  and one Bill/Statement issued each month ; are companies moving away from this  - to be helpful??  

I’ll give them a full month to reply to my emails, which primarily asked them the same questions and if I still don’t get an answer then do not be surprised if you see me appearing on Martins TV program😁

After a month without reply I’ll be off and I won’t need my new company to entice me with a free cup of coffee or an electric blanket.

 

They do have a problem with Direct Debits on Variable rate customers in that they do the DD 10 working days after you submit a read, rather than on your preferred day.  I see no reason why they can't just stick the read in a schedule of pending DD transactions that need to feed into the DD export on the requested day.  

All it would require is a few query changes and a single new table, they would then release the DD transactions into the current feed with an overnight batch.

Their site says that they will not send a bill for 3 months unless you provide a read and that you can provide read as often as you like.  This was not my experience but unlike some energy companies they were extremely flexible in cancelling that bill and my next bill automatically included the dates the bill they cancelled which is what I wanted.

What I really like is that as soon as you submit a read the account shows the balance, sadly it does not allow one to drill down to show the rates used and the math.

I'm not on variable DD (low fixed DD then I top up the rest with a card that gives me cashback) but when I've submitted readings a full bill is generated within a couple of days.


I wonder if the delay between giving readings and taking a variable DD could be because they have to notify you in advance how much they're taking out by direct debit.

Rolandtheroadie

I get quick replies when I email Hello@Octopus, but still takes a bit to get my issue resolved (won't bill me every month, I need to ask for it and even then it isn't always forthcoming).
 Had a win last month though, they eventually billed me, but then credited my account with more than my bill. 
 Bill due again today, I'll give them a couple of days then email them again. 

Gassed

Many thanks “tOrtOise”, appreciate your comments but just can’t get my head around joining X twitter purely to make allowances for a company who say they are contactable and will reply by email.

tlcgrantham -You must do me a favour and send Octopus an email, which will be answered instantly of course, asking them to contact me. They’ll probably do it immediately and want to shower me with money for my inconvenience. I somehow don’t think so.

As far as the DD is concerned, I don’t do readings as I’ve had a fully functioning smart meter for several years.

And thanks Rolandtheroadie – I think my email address must have been blacklisted by them – they’ll still take my money though and I doubt if they’ll then give me more back😁

At the end of the day its false advertising, and unfortunately Martin Lewis does not seem to be aware of it.

KxMx

Can't say I've been wowed by them. 

Had an issue with gas meter, took months to get to the bottom of the issue- waited months for an engineer appointment, then when I chased suddenly it's a national fault that can't be fixed with an engineer. 

Recently asked for an update on said issue, took 3 emails to get them to understand what I was asking, still awaiting final reply.

Billing can be erratic, been with them approximately a year most months they haven't managed to bill for both G&E on the same day
(did ask for that via Twitter, told it was done, issue recurs). 

I'm also on the Priority Services Register and just like British Gas, it doesn't seem to matter to Octopus.
It was way too difficult to get a final answer on the cause of gas meter issue.

niktheguru

I've been with Octopus a few years now and i must say have always been a bit disappointed with their email response times. Often you email and never get a reply or get a reply weeks later, then if you call them they can find your email but cant explain why it wasn't replied to. As others have said phone and twitter/x are far more responsive and efficient. (the poor email responses, at least for me, precede any major takeover of other suppliers, so i dont think you can solely blame it at that)

I do, however, find it rather silly when customers "refuse" to use other means of contact, and then sit and constantly complain. The OP can clearly give them a call. It shouldn't matter that you prefer a paper trail. Ask them to email you the outcome of the phone conversation and they will do so. If you call them, you will get your response the same day/hour, then wont have to wait days/weeks for a response and be "unhappy". Fair enough if you dont want to start to use twitter/x if you dont already do so, but to not want to call is rather bizarre. The OP is not the first with this opinion, but I just dont get why people don't use all the avenues available to them. Obviously if you call them and they're useless thats a different matter.

BellaBlondykeTheThird

Since switching and setting up variable DD Octopus have never taken a payment.

The DD is setup on our bank account but it's always states "you are on a payment holiday"

It doesn't affect us at all as we make a manual payment via cashback credit card each month but I could see this putting others into unmanageable debt.

MattMattMattUK

I have found them a mixed bag, but compared to British Gas and EDF they are hugely better in every regard. They do ask to be contacted by email, I have contacted them four times, twice it took five working days, once nine working days and once seventeen working days, although that is a vast improvement over both British Gas and EDF who ignore almost all attempts at communication other than formal complaints and threatening them with ombudsman (I signed up for a fix with BG, then they tried billing me a rate nearly 10p per kWh higher) and EDF took months to get my smart meter working and never supplied a IHD, then messed up their billing cycle entirely). That said the Octopus website, data etc. is all vastly better than the others, I also now have a Octopus Home Mini which appears to be working well (although the "Live" read does appear to have a rounding average based on one minute averages, rather than actually being instantaneous). I will also be moving to their EV tariffs when I finally get an EV and from the experience of friends and family theirs seem to work considerably better than alternatives. 

Spoonie_Turtle

MattMattMattUK said:

I also now have a Octopus Home Mini which appears to be working well (although the "Live" read does appear to have a rounding average based on one minute averages, rather than actually being instantaneous). 

Are you looking on the last 30 min view or the last 5 min view?  I've found it updates quicker (akin to an IHD) on the 5 min view.