Octopus Energy

wrf12345

Partly down to Ofgem telling energy companies not to let their customers get into debt but annoying enough for me to avoid companies that only do fixed DD, BG's solution was to tell me I could always switch to paying on receipt of bill, which was more expensive.

bob2302

Bobbymax said:

I'm afraid I'm going to add to the truly woeful tales of Octopus Energy's customer service set up.
Just three months into a 12-month fixed tariff, they raised my DD by £30, or more than 20 per cent, with the only explanation that I wasn't meeting their target balance for four months AFTER the tariff was due to end.
As they'd only just billed me and included a projection that indicated my existing DD would cover the 12-month period of the tariff with a bit to spare, I was naturally not pleased.
Five days later, I got a reply saying that an error may have been made in calculation and the existing DD would remain in place. No apology, just that. Five days after that, however, I get another email informing me that the increased DD will be taken out at the end of the month and it was now too late to change it.
Well, you can imagine how that went down! I rung them immediately but the accent of the woman on the other end of the phone was such I couldn't understand a word she was saying so I took to email again. Six days on, not a reply. The raised DD is due out tomorrow and it is the last penny that Octopus will get out of me because I've switched to Eon on an 18-month fixed tariff via MSE. 
Funnily enough, I immediately get an email from Octopus asking me why I'd left. You couldn't make it up!

Octopus thought you should be paying a bit more, you thought differently, and Octopus accepted that, but technical reasons meant it was too late to reverse the direct debit, leading to an extra £20 in your account. Octopus haven't permanently deprived you of that money, and you clearly don't care about loss of interest or you would be paying by variable DD.

I don't think Octopus have done anything wrong. I think you have behaved irrationally, if that's the reason you left. 

Phones4Chris

Was undecided which thread to post this in, but with the current issues being mentioned here, this seemed as appropriate as any atm. If you've elected to pay your whole bill by DD monthly (rather than the default/traditional budget payment) when you get the email "reminder" of your DD payment being taken on the specified date, that email does NOT have any link to DEFER payment or the link to change Future payments.

bob2302

Phones4Chris said:

Was undecided which thread to post this in, but with the current issues being mentioned here, this seemed as appropriate as any atm. If you've elected to pay your whole bill by DD monthly (rather than the default/traditional budget payment) when you get the email "reminder" of your DD payment being taken on the specified date, that email does NOT have any link to DEFER payment or the link to change Future payments.

A variable DD is a commitment to pay your bill in full each month, so obviously it doesn't have a future payments link. They are suited to people who manage their finances well or keep enough in their current account that it doesn't matter - neither of these classes need a defer payment option.    

Phones4Chris

bob2302 said:

Phones4Chris said:

Was undecided which thread to post this in, but with the current issues being mentioned here, this seemed as appropriate as any atm. If you've elected to pay your whole bill by DD monthly (rather than the default/traditional budget payment) when you get the email "reminder" of your DD payment being taken on the specified date, that email does NOT have any link to DEFER payment or the link to change Future payments.

A variable DD is a commitment to pay your bill in full each month, so obviously it doesn't have a future payments link. They are suited to people who manage their finances well or keep enough in their current account that it doesn't matter - neither of these classes need a defer payment option.    

Whilst that is rather obvious to the likes of you and I, it wouldn't be necessarily so, for those not as familiar with these systems. In light of the preceding discussion, it's a good idea to make such things crystal clear.

EssexHebridean

I have - Scottish Power and EDF are both firmly on my "wouldn't touch with a barge pole" list, while Utility Warehouse I wouldn't touch with someone else's barge pole.... Never been with EON as far as I can think, and when we were on E7 back in the flat, I purposely avoided getting smart meters because the risk of being swapped across to British Gas under a SOLR was significant and they routinely prove that they can't cope with E7 well at all. 

All of the above were absolutely fine until we had some sort of problem with them, at which point they became - intransigent even when it was categorically proved that they were in the wrong (SP) incompetent (EDF) and both incompetent and unpleasantly aggressive (UW). 

Bobbymax

bob2302 said:

Bobbymax said:

I'm afraid I'm going to add to the truly woeful tales of Octopus Energy's customer service set up.
Just three months into a 12-month fixed tariff, they raised my DD by £30, or more than 20 per cent, with the only explanation that I wasn't meeting their target balance for four months AFTER the tariff was due to end.
As they'd only just billed me and included a projection that indicated my existing DD would cover the 12-month period of the tariff with a bit to spare, I was naturally not pleased.
Five days later, I got a reply saying that an error may have been made in calculation and the existing DD would remain in place. No apology, just that. Five days after that, however, I get another email informing me that the increased DD will be taken out at the end of the month and it was now too late to change it.
Well, you can imagine how that went down! I rung them immediately but the accent of the woman on the other end of the phone was such I couldn't understand a word she was saying so I took to email again. Six days on, not a reply. The raised DD is due out tomorrow and it is the last penny that Octopus will get out of me because I've switched to Eon on an 18-month fixed tariff via MSE. 
Funnily enough, I immediately get an email from Octopus asking me why I'd left. You couldn't make it up!

Octopus thought you should be paying a bit more, you thought differently, and Octopus accepted that, but technical reasons meant it was too late to reverse the direct debit, leading to an extra £20 in your account. Octopus haven't permanently deprived you of that money, and you clearly don't care about loss of interest or you would be paying by variable DD.

I don't think Octopus have done anything wrong. I think you have behaved irrationally, if that's the reason you left. 

Thanks for your input Bob.
Octopus had almost four weeks to reverse the DD rise, they even emailed me to confirm that they had done just that. 
Unfortunately, no one appeared to have told their accounts department. It was also a rise of £30 not £20 though that is a technicality.
Late last night (2/12), I got a text from Octopus telling me it was too late to change my DD on 28/11 but the amount would revert to the original on 28/12. That's five days after the event, a month after initial contact, and ignoring the fact that my account has been with Eon for three days.
If you believe that this kind of customer service is remotely satisfactory and that I have behaved irrationally, you must have a very low threshold of acceptance.

bob2302

Bobbymax said:

Octopus had almost four weeks to reverse the DD rise, they even emailed me to confirm that they had done just that. 
Unfortunately, no one appeared to have told their accounts department. It was also a rise of £30 not £20 though that is a technicality.
Late last night (2/12), I got a text from Octopus telling me it was too late to change my DD on 28/11 but the amount would revert to the original on 28/12. That's five days after the event, a month after initial contact, and ignoring the fact that my account has been with Eon for three days.
If you believe that this kind of customer service is remotely satisfactory and that I have behaved irrationally, you must have a very low threshold of acceptance.

It takes just 4 taps to open the app and review your DD; it takes a few seconds more to change it. If this had happened to me, and I was confident the increase was unjustified, I would just have reversed the change myself. If I had to call CS, I'd have checked the app afterwards, and ensure that the change was made.

Personally, I wouldn't have moved for something so minor, unless it was also cheaper.

Bobbymax

bob2302 said:

Bobbymax said:

Octopus had almost four weeks to reverse the DD rise, they even emailed me to confirm that they had done just that. 
Unfortunately, no one appeared to have told their accounts department. It was also a rise of £30 not £20 though that is a technicality.
Late last night (2/12), I got a text from Octopus telling me it was too late to change my DD on 28/11 but the amount would revert to the original on 28/12. That's five days after the event, a month after initial contact, and ignoring the fact that my account has been with Eon for three days.
If you believe that this kind of customer service is remotely satisfactory and that I have behaved irrationally, you must have a very low threshold of acceptance.

It takes just 4 taps to open the app and review your DD; it takes a few seconds more to change it. If this had happened to me, and I was confident the increase was unjustified, I would just have reversed the change myself. If I had to call CS, I'd have checked the app afterwards, and ensure that the change was made.

Personally, I wouldn't have moved for something so minor, unless it was also cheaper.

Taking into account the referral bonus and an 18-month rather than 1-year tariff, yes it will be cheaper.