Dealing with the Energy Ombudsman and Octopus Energy

37pisntenough

I had an issue with Octopus Energy and had to refer this to the Energy Ombudsman. This is for others to understand the issues I had in various points and hopefully help in future.

I moved into my new rented property on October 25th 2023. By January 2024 I realised that the charges on the account were very high - over £430 in electricity charges (no gas) per month in a two bedroom house. 
The manual meter was supposedly set on an Economy 7 tariff.

I contacted Octopus and they were a bit dismissive about the costs but I persevered and after some 30 calls found one person who cared! He was initially very helpful however couldn't provide a solution. When I proved that the manual meter was faulty and switched from peak to off peak every 6 hours he agreed and I raised a formal complaint. This was in April.
The broken meter meant that the night storage heaters were being charge at peak rate between midnight and 7:00 am. When I proved this he changed the tariff to flat rate and suggested I install a smart meter which I arranged so that the issue wouldn't continue. 
There was a bit of going backwards and forwards about how much the overcharge was and he suggested £100. I dismissed this and calculated the refund I thought I was due which was over £1000. 
This didn't go down very well and he said he needed a few days to look at my usage after the smart meter was installed.

Installing the smart meter was a trial in itself when the electrician turned up and said he didn't have the right meter in stock and I would have to rearrange (up to 6 weeks)! I threw my toys out the pram at that stage and miraculously he found one and installed it two days later. I raised this with Octopus who arranged for £50 to be credited to my account when the complaint was resolved. This was July now and no further forward.

About a week after the smart meter was installed I contacted Octopus and the same complaint handler who said "Oh I meant a few months not days before I can do anything".
At that point (as it was longer than 8 weeks) I raised a complaint with the Energy Ombudsman with all emails, bills and calculations included plus a summary explaining the issue. 

It takes 28 days to get a response and this would be in September so I just waited. As it happened the Energy Ombudsman responded when I was on holiday. I say the Energy Ombudsman responded but in reality it was an Octopus response. It rather spoilt a few days of my holiday!!!

The decision was that there was nothing wrong with the billing and it was my decision to sign up with a flat rate and that Economy 7 meters sometimes only do 6 hours at off peak rate and I could accept a £100 goodwill payment.
Clearly neither Octopus nor the Energy Ombudsman read or understood the complaint as the meter switched every 6 hours not just operated for 6 hours and I didn't have a flat rate at the time. All this was stated and evidenced in the supporting documentation.

I appealed the decision and after a few weeks wait they agreed with me and awarded £2100 based on projected usage. This was more than I expected but Octopus finally credited my account on 20th of November, nearly 10 months after I found a problem.

So from £100 offered to my faulty meter claim of £1000 and finally being awarded £2100 means Octopus would have been better off settling with me at £1000. But that was their choice.

I missed a lot of detail from this account otherwise War and Peace would make a more interesting read!

I learnt a few things from this
1. Octopus don't have a proper complaints system. It is all dependent on the complaint handler and if he doesn't want to call back there is nothing anyone in Octopus will do. The other call handlers are really nice and supportive but can't do anything if the complaint handler won't call back. I also discovered that a request for a manager call back goes to the complaint handler who can choose to ignore it.
2. Octopus are very good at common tasks. Anything out of the ordinary confuses them and as in point 1 there's a stone wall that's very difficult to get over. This is especially true of the South African advisers who simply work by their scripts. I like Octopus but I'm beginning to realise that they are very big now and some of processes they have in place aren't fit for purpose.  
3. The Energy Ombudsman is very difficult to deal with. It's all online and they don't ever respond to phone and not often to email messages. In my case did the bare minimum at the start by simply taking the Octopus response without checking that it was valid.
4. The decision from the Energy Ombudsman is binding on the energy company but not the complainant. So if you don't agree you can go to court. 
5. If I'd realised how long winded the Energy Ombudsman processes were I would have gone straight to the Small Claims Court directly. I knew I was right and that I would win but I think if I wasn't sure I'd start with the Energy Ombudsman in future and if that didn't work the go to court.

I hope this helps anyone else in this situation. Just remember it all takes a long time!

elstree324

37pisntenough said:

I had an issue with Octopus Energy and had to refer this to the Energy Ombudsman. This is for others to understand the issues I had in various points and hopefully help in future.

I moved into my new rented property on October 25th 2023. By January 2024 I realised that the charges on the account were very high - over £430 in electricity charges (no gas) per month in a two bedroom house. 
The manual meter was supposedly set on an Economy 7 tariff.

I contacted Octopus and they were a bit dismissive about the costs but I persevered and after some 30 calls found one person who cared! He was initially very helpful however couldn't provide a solution. When I proved that the manual meter was faulty and switched from peak to off peak every 6 hours he agreed and I raised a formal complaint. This was in April.
The broken meter meant that the night storage heaters were being charge at peak rate between midnight and 7:00 am. When I proved this he changed the tariff to flat rate and suggested I install a smart meter which I arranged so that the issue wouldn't continue. 
There was a bit of going backwards and forwards about how much the overcharge was and he suggested £100. I dismissed this and calculated the refund I thought I was due which was over £1000. 
This didn't go down very well and he said he needed a few days to look at my usage after the smart meter was installed.

Installing the smart meter was a trial in itself when the electrician turned up and said he didn't have the right meter in stock and I would have to rearrange (up to 6 weeks)! I threw my toys out the pram at that stage and miraculously he found one and installed it two days later. I raised this with Octopus who arranged for £50 to be credited to my account when the complaint was resolved. This was July now and no further forward.

About a week after the smart meter was installed I contacted Octopus and the same complaint handler who said "Oh I meant a few months not days before I can do anything".
At that point (as it was longer than 8 weeks) I raised a complaint with the Energy Ombudsman with all emails, bills and calculations included plus a summary explaining the issue. 

It takes 28 days to get a response and this would be in September so I just waited. As it happened the Energy Ombudsman responded when I was on holiday. I say the Energy Ombudsman responded but in reality it was an Octopus response. It rather spoilt a few days of my holiday!!!

The decision was that there was nothing wrong with the billing and it was my decision to sign up with a flat rate and that Economy 7 meters sometimes only do 6 hours at off peak rate and I could accept a £100 goodwill payment.
Clearly neither Octopus nor the Energy Ombudsman read or understood the complaint as the meter switched every 6 hours not just operated for 6 hours and I didn't have a flat rate at the time. All this was stated and evidenced in the supporting documentation.

I appealed the decision and after a few weeks wait they agreed with me and awarded £2100 based on projected usage. This was more than I expected but Octopus finally credited my account on 20th of November, nearly 10 months after I found a problem.

So from £100 offered to my faulty meter claim of £1000 and finally being awarded £2100 means Octopus would have been better off settling with me at £1000. But that was their choice.

I missed a lot of detail from this account otherwise War and Peace would make a more interesting read!

I learnt a few things from this
1. Octopus don't have a proper complaints system. It is all dependent on the complaint handler and if he doesn't want to call back there is nothing anyone in Octopus will do. The other call handlers are really nice and supportive but can't do anything if the complaint handler won't call back. I also discovered that a request for a manager call back goes to the complaint handler who can choose to ignore it.
2. Octopus are very good at common tasks. Anything out of the ordinary confuses them and as in point 1 there's a stone wall that's very difficult to get over. This is especially true of the South African advisers who simply work by their scripts. I like Octopus but I'm beginning to realise that they are very big now and some of processes they have in place aren't fit for purpose.  
3. The Energy Ombudsman is very difficult to deal with. It's all online and they don't ever respond to phone and not often to email messages. In my case did the bare minimum at the start by simply taking the Octopus response without checking that it was valid.
4. The decision from the Energy Ombudsman is binding on the energy company but not the complainant. So if you don't agree you can go to court. 
5. If I'd realised how long winded the Energy Ombudsman processes were I would have gone straight to the Small Claims Court directly. I knew I was right and that I would win but I think if I wasn't sure I'd start with the Energy Ombudsman in future and if that didn't work the go to court.

I hope this helps anyone else in this situation. Just remember it all takes a long time!

37pisntenough said:

I had an issue with Octopus Energy and had to refer this to the Energy Ombudsman. This is for others to understand the issues I had in various points and hopefully help in future.

I moved into my new rented property on October 25th 2023. By January 2024 I realised that the charges on the account were very high - over £430 in electricity charges (no gas) per month in a two bedroom house. 
The manual meter was supposedly set on an Economy 7 tariff.

I contacted Octopus and they were a bit dismissive about the costs but I persevered and after some 30 calls found one person who cared! He was initially very helpful however couldn't provide a solution. When I proved that the manual meter was faulty and switched from peak to off peak every 6 hours he agreed and I raised a formal complaint. This was in April.
The broken meter meant that the night storage heaters were being charge at peak rate between midnight and 7:00 am. When I proved this he changed the tariff to flat rate and suggested I install a smart meter which I arranged so that the issue wouldn't continue. 
There was a bit of going backwards and forwards about how much the overcharge was and he suggested £100. I dismissed this and calculated the refund I thought I was due which was over £1000. 
This didn't go down very well and he said he needed a few days to look at my usage after the smart meter was installed.

Installing the smart meter was a trial in itself when the electrician turned up and said he didn't have the right meter in stock and I would have to rearrange (up to 6 weeks)! I threw my toys out the pram at that stage and miraculously he found one and installed it two days later. I raised this with Octopus who arranged for £50 to be credited to my account when the complaint was resolved. This was July now and no further forward.

About a week after the smart meter was installed I contacted Octopus and the same complaint handler who said "Oh I meant a few months not days before I can do anything".
At that point (as it was longer than 8 weeks) I raised a complaint with the Energy Ombudsman with all emails, bills and calculations included plus a summary explaining the issue. 

It takes 28 days to get a response and this would be in September so I just waited. As it happened the Energy Ombudsman responded when I was on holiday. I say the Energy Ombudsman responded but in reality it was an Octopus response. It rather spoilt a few days of my holiday!!!

The decision was that there was nothing wrong with the billing and it was my decision to sign up with a flat rate and that Economy 7 meters sometimes only do 6 hours at off peak rate and I could accept a £100 goodwill payment.
Clearly neither Octopus nor the Energy Ombudsman read or understood the complaint as the meter switched every 6 hours not just operated for 6 hours and I didn't have a flat rate at the time. All this was stated and evidenced in the supporting documentation.

I appealed the decision and after a few weeks wait they agreed with me and awarded £2100 based on projected usage. This was more than I expected but Octopus finally credited my account on 20th of November, nearly 10 months after I found a problem.

So from £100 offered to my faulty meter claim of £1000 and finally being awarded £2100 means Octopus would have been better off settling with me at £1000. But that was their choice.

I missed a lot of detail from this account otherwise War and Peace would make a more interesting read!

I learnt a few things from this
1. Octopus don't have a proper complaints system. It is all dependent on the complaint handler and if he doesn't want to call back there is nothing anyone in Octopus will do. The other call handlers are really nice and supportive but can't do anything if the complaint handler won't call back. I also discovered that a request for a manager call back goes to the complaint handler who can choose to ignore it.
2. Octopus are very good at common tasks. Anything out of the ordinary confuses them and as in point 1 there's a stone wall that's very difficult to get over. This is especially true of the South African advisers who simply work by their scripts. I like Octopus but I'm beginning to realise that they are very big now and some of processes they have in place aren't fit for purpose.  
3. The Energy Ombudsman is very difficult to deal with. It's all online and they don't ever respond to phone and not often to email messages. In my case did the bare minimum at the start by simply taking the Octopus response without checking that it was valid.
4. The decision from the Energy Ombudsman is binding on the energy company but not the complainant. So if you don't agree you can go to court. 
5. If I'd realised how long winded the Energy Ombudsman processes were I would have gone straight to the Small Claims Court directly. I knew I was right and that I would win but I think if I wasn't sure I'd start with the Energy Ombudsman in future and if that didn't work the go to court.

I hope this helps anyone else in this situation. Just remember it all takes a long time!

I am so pleased to read this, albeit a couple of weeks later. I find, like you, that the "award winning customer service" (to quote their self-congratulatory radio ads) is a fallacy. Twice I have had issues with Octopus and twice the call handler has remedied the error, but then closed down the complaint without my permission or any further conversation. The first time, I  went to the Ombudsman as I rightly viewed this as being in deadlock. Octopus intervened,  took back the complaint - with the Ombudsman's permission - then  dealt with it "in-house", eventually offering compensation. So the complaint was not officially registered with the Ombusman. This seems to their modus operandi. 

timjim

@elstree324, if the call handler remedied the error why would the complaint remain open?

elstree324

timjim said:

@elstree324, if the call handler remedied the error why would the complaint remain open?

There was no effort made to apologise, nor offer any compensation for the chaos caused when I moved to another property (with Octopus being my old provider and "new" provider so no change of company). When I complained, I was told the complaint was closed and nothing else could be done as they had "remedied" it.  To this day, the start date of supply to my new property is still wrong, as I hadn't even moved in on that date -  but I have given up on that one.  

Gerry1

elstree324 said:

timjim said:

@elstree324, if the call handler remedied the error why would the complaint remain open?

To this day, the start date of supply to my new property is still wrong, as I hadn't even moved in on that date -  but I have given up on that one.  

You're in a deemed contract with the existing supplier at that property when you take possession, doesn't matter that you yet haven't moved in.

elstree324

Gerry1 said:

elstree324 said:

timjim said:

@elstree324, if the call handler remedied the error why would the complaint remain open?

To this day, the start date of supply to my new property is still wrong, as I hadn't even moved in on that date -  but I have given up on that one.  

You're in a deemed contract with the existing supplier at that property when you take possession, doesn't matter that you yet haven't moved in.

I took possession of the property on the same day as I moved in.  My lease was dated the 25th of the month and Octopus were aware of this. They messed up.