Ombudsman Gets it Wrong

Swan1923

Hi, First post here as I really don’t know which way to turn

Brief history  I started with Ovo Energy in October 2021. Property had been PAYG

There was a £50 credit on my account that was “transferred” to Ovo

I was supposed to have an on line account opened but the one they opened I could never access

I would spend 2 hours each month trying to get Ovo to believe I was their customer
Gave up trying to find out monthly bills in April 22

An accessible account was finally opened in July 2022. 

It had my April - July statements from my inaccessible account on there which I paid off.

August payment they lost

Didn’t receive September and November 2022 bills. Couldn’t even work out what the bills were as the statement amounts for previous months would change many times 

Found my payment August payment in December but when it was finally added to my account a payment on my old account was deleted and all following statements were changed to reflect this

Ombudsman initially found in my favour for the amount of time it took to get them to open me an accessible account and awarded me compensation. 

They also agreed that the initial £50 and £325.75 hadn’t been added on to my payments but then said they only had to add on the £325.75 payment

They also said I had to pay the bills I never received for over a year

Ovo in their defence said my new account started in March 2022 (not July 2022) and I still owed £108.34 on it

Apparently  March was divided up into 2 statements the first 3 weeks being for £217.31 which I had paid and the last week being £108.34

£217.34 + 108.34 = £325.75

I then asked Ombudsman for a review. 

Ombudsman final reply was I was a PAYG customer till the last week in March and still owed the £108.34 and that from March my new account opened and as there was only 5 months between March22 and September22 then I had to pay the bills I never received

I asked if they had the right account and was told they would again review it and have come back this week to say they are sticking with their final conclusion 

If this is supposed to be the case then can someone tell me how I get all the money I sent to Ovo between October 21 and -April 22 back because 


Ovo don’t do PAYG so why was I sending my money to them

Swan1923

It’s the fact that every time I rebut something Ovo have said they come back with a different defence. The lies don’t seem to stop. 

I don’t even know why the ombudsman now thinks I was an PAYG customer

Or why not receiving bills in September and November 22 and January 23 has anything to do with how many months between when my account was “opened” and the first bill I didn’t receive 

masonic

How did you make the disputed payments? Direct debit?

You may need to provide the Ombudsman with bank statements showing what was paid.

brianposter

Be careful with OVO bills. They have an unusual system where the bill is for a time period but credits outside the time period may be included in the bill so you need a series of bills to find the credits.

Ningaloo

If you never received bills for over a year, you dont have to pay them. See the link below.
https://www.comparethemarket.com/energy/content/never-received-a-gas-or-electric-bill/#what-are-the-backbilling-rules

Im sure the Ombudsman would know this so I am surprised they are asking you to pay them

QrizB

For the benefit of anyone reading this thread:

Ningaloo said:

If you never received bills for over a year, you dont have to pay them.

That statement is only conditionally true.