Ongoing Issues and Insufficient Compensation from OVO Energy

Gary_Laurus

HI,
I am reaching out for advice and to share my ongoing frustrations with OVO Energy that have been dragging on for nearly eight months. My experience has been marked by a series of unresolved administrative and billing errors that have significantly impacted my life. Here are the details:

- Account Transfer Failure: Despite numerous attempts, the account was not promptly updated after my tenant vacated the property in late September last year. This prevented me from making payments as the account remained under the previous tenant’s name.

- Billing Errors and Misdirected Communications: Bills continued to be sent under the previous tenant's name, and even the first document addressed to me was a final notice including unjust late payment fees of £10 and a hand delivery charge of £30.

- Effort and Time Spent: I have repeatedly called customer service, spending almost 1 hour per call, trying to resolve these issues—each time without resolution.

- Legal and Privacy Concerns: Documents and bills sent under the wrong name posed significant data protection issues.

- System Errors and Overcharges: The mismanagement extended to meter readings and billing adjustments, with additional late charges unfairly applied to my account.

- Communication Preferences Ignored: Despite specifying email as my preferred method of communication, I continued to receive important documents through the post, incorrectly addressed.

- Inadequate Compensation Offer: After all this time, effort, and trouble, the compensation offered by OVO was a mere £200, which feels like a pittance considering the duration and impact of the issues.

This situation has not only caused me substantial distress but also consumed a great deal of my time, starting from the first thing in the morning to dealing with these issues. I am considering escalating this matter to the Energy Ombudsman given the inadequate response and compensation.

Has anyone else experienced similar treatment? How did you manage to resolve it, and was involving the Energy Ombudsman effective in securing a fair resolution?

Thank you for any insights or advice you can provide.

TIA

MattMattMattUK

Gary_Laurus said:

HI,
I am reaching out for advice and to share my ongoing frustrations with OVO Energy that have been dragging on for nearly eight months. My experience has been marked by a series of unresolved administrative and billing errors that have significantly impacted my life. Here are the details:

- Account Transfer Failure: Despite numerous attempts, the account was not promptly updated after my tenant vacated the property in late September last year. This prevented me from making payments as the account remained under the previous tenant’s name.

When the tenant left the property and you moved in, did you contact them with an opening meter read and give them your details?

Gary_Laurus said:

- Billing Errors and Misdirected Communications: Bills continued to be sent under the previous tenant's name, and even the first document addressed to me was a final notice including unjust late payment fees of £10 and a hand delivery charge of £30.

Bills under the previous tenants name are not your issue, fees cannot be applied to you based on a previous tenant not paying.

Gary_Laurus said:

- Effort and Time Spent: I have repeatedly called customer service, spending almost 1 hour per call, trying to resolve these issues—each time without resolution.

Unfortunately this is not really relevant to the "gesture of goodwill" that they offer. Stop wasting your time on the phone, communicate by email.

Gary_Laurus said:

- Legal and Privacy Concerns: Documents and bills sent under the wrong name posed significant data protection issues.

Whilst not ideal, they do not pose significant data protection issues.

Gary_Laurus said:

- System Errors and Overcharges: The mismanagement extended to meter readings and billing adjustments, with additional late charges unfairly applied to my account.

In what way are the meter readings wrong, estimates, something else?

Gary_Laurus said:

- Communication Preferences Ignored: Despite specifying email as my preferred method of communication, I continued to receive important documents through the post, incorrectly addressed.

The supplier can choose to communicate via post or email. If they are communicating by post it would indicate that they are likely still trying to contact the previous tenant. When you say "incorrectly addressed", do you mean in the tenants name?

Gary_Laurus said:

- Inadequate Compensation Offer: After all this time, effort, and trouble, the compensation offered by OVO was a mere £200, which feels like a pittance considering the duration and impact of the issues.

That would appear to be above average for what is generally offered. It will be a "gesture of goodwill" not compensation. 

Gary_Laurus said:

This situation has not only caused me substantial distress but also consumed a great deal of my time, starting from the first thing in the morning to dealing with these issues. I am considering escalating this matter to the Energy Ombudsman given the inadequate response and compensation.

Has anyone else experienced similar treatment? How did you manage to resolve it, and was involving the Energy Ombudsman effective in securing a fair resolution?

Thank you for any insights or advice you can provide.

TIA

Lots of people have had issues, equally they will be a small proportion overall, that however is irrelevant. Equally irrelevant to the process is any distress you may or may not feel, the key is to get your issues solved. 

The key points are:
Is the account now in your name rather than that of the previous tenant and is that showing as from a different date to the one when you took possession of the property? If it is not in your name then it needs to be changed to your name and billed based on the relevant date, if it is in your name and the start date is correct then that needs to be amended. Did you take a picture of the meter(s) at this point?

Any outstanding bills from the tenant as well as any late fees are their responsibility, that part of the process should be resolved once the above point is resolved, although the letters will addressed to them will likely still come to the address as it is their last known address.

Have you actually raised an official complaint, rather than just trying to get issues resolved? If you have then you have to wait eight weeks from the start of that before you can take it to the ombudsman, if you have not then you need to raise a formal complaint and give OVO eight weeks to resolve the issues. Make sure you do this via email so you have the start of the complaint if/when you need to take this to the ombudsman.
https://www.ovoenergy.com/feedback

At the end of this process you will be put in a position you would have been had everything been done correctly. You will also be offered a "gesture of goodwill", this will probably range from £50-150, £200 you have already been offered seems high and the ombudsman is very unlikely to require the supplier to pay more, they may tell the supplier to pay less. 

When was your formal complaint about the issues submitted, is the account in your name and when are they billing you from (eg energy used, not the date on the bill).

mmmmikey

Hi @MattMattMattUK in the penultimate paragraph did you mean "the ombudsman is very likely to require the supplier to pay more" or did you mean "the ombudsman is very unlikely to require the supplier to pay more"?

MattMattMattUK

mmmmikey said:

Hi @ MattMattMattUK in the penultimate paragraph did you mean "the ombudsman is very likely to require the supplier to pay more" or did you mean "the ombudsman is very unlikely to require the supplier to pay more"?

The latter, corrected for clarity, well caught. 

Scot_39

I am pretty sure have read that in past suppliers have been  able to bill landlords for bills that have not been paid by previous tenants - on UK landlord advice forums.

For failure to make responsibilities clear in tennacy agreements to those suplliers even willing to take a look at  those agreements - some did not.

And for landlords or their agentsfailing to re-register in their name and supply readings etc to match on day 1 / end of tennancy - the latter at least the OP claims to have repeatedly attempted.

As looked into it quickly when happened to a colleague several years ago.

If the tennant was worried about old mail and privacy - Royal Mail forwarding was an option. I've used it every move - when renting or buying.  Likewise an option for the OP as a landlord - not all systems allow 2 addresses.

Anything debt related - for legal reasons - may actually need to be sent by post or in limit face to face - e.g. bailif visit to serve and record doing so formally - a debt notice or recover goods. The fact was a hand delivery fee on final bill a perfect example.


Being a landlord requires effort - it comes with real risks and real legal obligations and reponsibilities.  Know several who have tried - and decided not for them - some just for admin hassle - one exactly this over unpaid utilities - one after losing £1000s over rent due to tennants damage etc.

400ixl

So what is the current position?

Are the bills now in your name and correct from a usage point of view? Have they still applied late payment penalties?

If it is a case of the bills are now correct and the penalties removed, then I would take the goodwill payment and run.

Whilst the ombudsman would likely find in your favour they may not be anywhere near as generous on the goodwill payment and very unlikely to increase it.

If the bills are still not correct and/or the late payment penalties significant, then a formal complaint (if you haven't already) followed by a complaint to the ombudsman when at deadlock (or now if already at deadlock).

As people have said, your time and effort and stress are not losses you will get compensation for.