NEW upgraded Octopus "In Home Display"

Chrysalis

powerful_Rogue said:

MouldyOldDough said:

Chrysalis said:

bob2302 said:

MouldyOldDough said:

Should my Chameleon IHD7-PPMID not come with a rechargeable battery pack ?

Or does it use non-rechargeables ? Which would not be any good left in when plugged in to usb power source

It comes with an internal battery, but it doesn't have much capacity. It's enough to unplug it and carry it around for short term measurement, but that's about it.

The design of these things is so bad.  The portable screen idea has merit pre smart phones but not in 2025.  Should be screen less, and link up with smart phone app instead.  Then there is the combination of no power button and extremely short battery run time.
Octopus should offer to wholesale the mini as a replacement, it would likely be considerably cheaper as well, as it has no battery and screen.  Battery not needed when can use it via smart phone app anywhere in the home, whilst mini is safely plugged in near the meter.

You say "battery not needed" but mine takes 3 AAA non-rechargeable batteries - But I assume should run on batteries for a few days

I tried running it from that power source whilst they set it up

The damned thing goes to sleep after 5 minutes - because it is not set up !!

I have now emailed them - giving them one last chance to sort this IHD problem however they want - before I take the matter to the energy ombudsman who I'm sure will be interested to hear that Octopus's first complaints level failed to even get a response !!

And that complaint to ISSUERESOLUTION@octopus.energy as well as GREG@octopus.energy gets forwarded straight to the complainee to deal with !

Ie, the person who is being complained about.....

It goes into sleep mode when it's not being used. Saves electricity/batteries.

Wish my model did that, mine just stays on forever if in the wall socket, or until the battery is fully drained when on battery, it seems like the triple AAA model is of higher quality?  There is a screen dim setting but nothing more then that for saving power.

Phones4Chris

MouldyOldDough said:

Ildhund said:

MouldyOldDough said:

They haven't gone through it once yet 

Have you asked customer service to go through pairing?

I have been dealing with a single individual via "Hello@octopus.energy" who doesn't appear unduly hurried to fix this problem. He only responds in the very early morning.

I have emailed 'issueresolution@octopus.energy' but they have not even responded

I have also emailed "Greg@octopus.energy" and this email was auto-forwarded on to my first contact !!

@MouldyOldDough I'm starting to wonder if your "single individual/complainee" is actually a bot that's supposed to be "AI" but is missing the "I". I had a problem a while back and after the frustration got too much with some of the replies from this one individual, I phoned up and so got someone who was definitely real on the case. It took a little while but it eventually got solved. I do intend checking to find out if it was a bot at sometime in the future but that may require some persistence and I haven't time right now.
You say you can't use the phone, cannot you get a close friend or helper to phone up when with you, at least you can then be certain of getting someone real on the job.

Spoonie_Turtle

There's always RelayUK for the phone, even usable via PC https://www.relayuk.bt.com/

MouldyOldDough

Phones4Chris said:

MouldyOldDough said:

Ildhund said:

MouldyOldDough said:

They haven't gone through it once yet 

Have you asked customer service to go through pairing?

I have been dealing with a single individual via "Hello@octopus.energy" who doesn't appear unduly hurried to fix this problem. He only responds in the very early morning.

I have emailed 'issueresolution@octopus.energy' but they have not even responded

I have also emailed "Greg@octopus.energy" and this email was auto-forwarded on to my first contact !!

@MouldyOldDough I'm starting to wonder if your "single individual/complainee" is actually a bot that's supposed to be "AI" but is missing the "I". I had a problem a while back and after the frustration got too much with some of the replies from this one individual, I phoned up and so got someone who was definitely real on the case. It took a little while but it eventually got solved. I do intend checking to find out if it was a bot at sometime in the future but that may require some persistence and I haven't time right now.
You say you can't use the phone, cannot you get a close friend or helper to phone up when with you, at least you can then be certain of getting someone real on the job.

No it's a real human in New Zealand of all places - hence the time issues 

MouldyOldDough

powerful_Rogue said:

MouldyOldDough said:

Chrysalis said:

bob2302 said:

MouldyOldDough said:

Should my Chameleon IHD7-PPMID not come with a rechargeable battery pack ?

Or does it use non-rechargeables ? Which would not be any good left in when plugged in to usb power source

It comes with an internal battery, but it doesn't have much capacity. It's enough to unplug it and carry it around for short term measurement, but that's about it.

The design of these things is so bad.  The portable screen idea has merit pre smart phones but not in 2025.  Should be screen less, and link up with smart phone app instead.  Then there is the combination of no power button and extremely short battery run time.
Octopus should offer to wholesale the mini as a replacement, it would likely be considerably cheaper as well, as it has no battery and screen.  Battery not needed when can use it via smart phone app anywhere in the home, whilst mini is safely plugged in near the meter.

You say "battery not needed" but mine takes 3 AAA non-rechargeable batteries - But I assume should run on batteries for a few days

I tried running it from that power source whilst they set it up

The damned thing goes to sleep after 5 minutes - because it is not set up !!

I have now emailed them - giving them one last chance to sort this IHD problem however they want - before I take the matter to the energy ombudsman who I'm sure will be interested to hear that Octopus's first complaints level failed to even get a response !!

And that complaint to ISSUERESOLUTION@octopus.energy as well as GREG@octopus.energy gets forwarded straight to the complainee to deal with !

Ie, the person who is being complained about.....

It goes into sleep mode when it's not being used. Saves electricity/batteries.

I assume that the device will still operate when in Sleep mode
And can still be remotely accessed for setting up? 

MouldyOldDough

This whole episode was caused by a, clearly untrained, individual (in New Zealand) who decided incorrectly, that In order for the Home Mini to work properly, their smart metering team needed to decommission the In-Home Display (IHD) that’s currently attached to the property.

This was done against my wishes and better judgement - and once decommissioned - of course it made no difference at all to the operation of my Home Mini.

I complained and was sent a replacement IHD - which itself needs commissioning

1. Why was the original decommissioned

2. Why couldn't the original simply be recommissioned ?

This was the start of a long long series of emails sent to and from hello@octopus.energy

After a couple of weeks - I  started copying in Greg@octopus.energy in the hope that he might be interested and hurry things up a little - but no - nothing at all heard back from Greg

The IHD spent almost a week sitting - plugged in to the mains / USB by the meter - without any work

I also tried copying in issueresolution@octopus.energy - no success

This (below) is an email received from hello@octopus.energy

They are not even following their own complaints procedure - in that they have offered a lack of OUTRAGEOUSLY good service.

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"We are sorry to hear that you are unhappy with our service. As a result of your feedback we've opened a complaint for you, which is complaint reference #XXXXXXXX

As a company we pride ourselves on outrageously good service and strive to make sure every customer receives this same standard of service, therefore we will be conducting a thorough investigation into your concerns.

Your complaint will be reviewed in accordance with our complaints management process, which can be found on our website:

https://octopus.energy/unhappy/

A paper copy can be made available upon request.

Once the investigation has been completed, we will be in touch with an update

If you require any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us on issueresolution@octopus.energy.

Thank you for your patience while we try to put things right."

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The chap in New Zealand has now, officially given up - telling me this morning in his 1:13 am (uk time) email

"I will pass your request onto my team over in the UK so they can assist you with getting the device commissioned during the day. Unfortunately, being over in New Zealand, I can't really accommodate this without it being over night. Unfortunately I can't provide an exact time for when they will be able to get to this, but I have left notes for them to ensure it’s prioritised.

Just a side note I have sent off a commissioning request just now - who knows maybe it will work this time but I'm unsure if it would be plugged in or not."

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So - I am no closer to having a working IHD than I was a month ago.......

Why was NZ chosen in the first place and who am I dealing with next ?

You couldn't make up this sort of issue.
Finally this morning I received an email from UK support with instruction to plug in the device and wait
Ten minutes later it was working 100%
So that was all that was needed - UK support 

Lorian

Often the way with octopus in my experience, there are some good people very able to help but getting through the AI and the copy and paste front-end people is difficult, especially by email.

They clearly use a CRM system and which ever of their email addresses you email (including Greg's) just gets routed to the last agent assigned to your account. They will think this gives continuity for the customer, but it back fires. 

There is one good side effect of this, if you have any other issues now is the time to reply and ask while your emails are still being rerouted to someone capable.

MouldyOldDough

What about my complaint - I have a reference number ?

Will that be ignored or do they actually deal with complaints ?