Can't get Octopus to agree (or even talk to me) about repayment plan - even after Ombudsman

sam10

Hi forum,

Writing this as I don't know what to do next - maybe someone has been in a similar situation?
I'll try to keep the back story short...

I run a small business. Signed up with Octopus shortly after opening and paid my bills monthly, in full, by Direct Debit. All went well for the first few months. I got busy, life got hectic, but I have a smart meter so didn't worry about taking regular meter readings. Until one day, about 18 months after opening, I was prompted to take a 'just in case' meter reading and logged on to submit it. My outstanding bill was over £16,000! I can't tell you the shock that was. There were tears. I considered letting my employees go and closing the doors for good.

After countless calls and emails over several months, there was no explanation as to why my Direct Debits hadn't been taken (my emailed bills always said "Thank You - Payment has been taken"), or how/why such a large debt could ever have been allowed to add up. 

After months of time wasting, stress, and silence from Octopus in trying to get a repayment plan set up, I decided to get the Ombudsman involved. After several more months of battle, they agreed that Octopus should pay some good-will compensation (around £1,000 - which they have taken off the bill) but they had no power to force them to agree a repayment plan. So back to square one.

More emails. More dead-ends. But at least they were taking my Direct Debits now - so my bill couldn't get any larger......

Cut to today. I logged on to Octopus to submit a meter reading. Guess what! They haven't taken any money since January. My bill is now nearly £20,000. 

What on earth shall I do now!? Any suggestions?

pramsay13

You run a small business with employees but didn't notice you weren't paying energy bills for 18 months plus? 
I think you need to make manual payments of £1000 to £2000 per month and start reducing the debt. 
It puts you in a better position if they start to chase the debt more aggressively. 

Altior

You stated 'All went well for the first few months'.

To be clear, were the bills being paid regularly, and at some point stopped? Or the account wasn't actually ever being settled at all, and not going well in reality?

My initial thought is toward the bookkeeping/accounting. Presumably energy costs were being accounted for to calculate the net profit for the new business. This should have flagged to whomever was doing the accounts for the business. It would be one of the largest of the business expenses, I imagine.

If you're not receiving final demands for payment, you could create your own bespoke repayment plan by making ad hoc payments. Assuming the funds that should have been taken to pay for the energy are still actually in the accounts.

MattMattMattUK

sam10 said:

Hi forum,

Writing this as I don't know what to do next - maybe someone has been in a similar situation?
I'll try to keep the back story short...

I run a small business. Signed up with Octopus shortly after opening and paid my bills monthly, in full, by Direct Debit. All went well for the first few months. I got busy, life got hectic, but I have a smart meter so didn't worry about taking regular meter readings. Until one day, about 18 months after opening, I was prompted to take a 'just in case' meter reading and logged on to submit it. My outstanding bill was over £16,000! I can't tell you the shock that was. There were tears. I considered letting my employees go and closing the doors for good.

After countless calls and emails over several months, there was no explanation as to why my Direct Debits hadn't been taken (my emailed bills always said "Thank You - Payment has been taken"), or how/why such a large debt could ever have been allowed to add up. 

After months of time wasting, stress, and silence from Octopus in trying to get a repayment plan set up, I decided to get the Ombudsman involved. After several more months of battle, they agreed that Octopus should pay some good-will compensation (around £1,000 - which they have taken off the bill) but they had no power to force them to agree a repayment plan. So back to square one.

More emails. More dead-ends. But at least they were taking my Direct Debits now - so my bill couldn't get any larger......

Cut to today. I logged on to Octopus to submit a meter reading. Guess what! They haven't taken any money since January. My bill is now nearly £20,000. 

What on earth shall I do now!? Any suggestions?

Get control of your business finances! 

As has been said above make manual payments, start reducing the debt, make sure you pay more then you use every month and aim to clear the arrears in a year or less, sooner if possible.

MikeJXE

I think Octopus has gone to pot over the last month

After 31 perfect months my account is now a right mess

I had an electric smart meter 10 months ago and all ok 

A gas smart meter last month and boom 

The are very late replying to my emails and very late giving me a correct bill, I always take my own readings every 1st of the month.

They sent a gas bill for the first half of the month at gas meter change with incorrect reading and then an electric bill for the second half with readings plucked out of mid air 

I’m not worried about it I have meter photos, it’s just frustrating 

I suspect AI is having a bad day 

elsien

@MikeJXE you might be better taking this somewhere else rather than distracting from the OPs thread. 

Which is most likely to be a business contract, and as already said the ball has been dropped somewhat, So not really comparable to your situation.

Ayr_Rage

But at least they were taking my Direct Debits now

How on earth didn't you notice DDs still weren't being taken since January given the previous debacle.

Didn't anybody check?

What on earth shall I do now!? Any suggestions?

Next step, give whoever does your accounts and banking a large slap and get back in touch with your bank and Octopus to find out why the DD wasn't taken.

Hopefully you've those 9 months of the latest missed payments sitting in your account as they were planned for but not taken.

EssexHebridean

I agree that assuming that you aren't disputing the amount of the billing outstanding you definitely need to simply start making some chunky payments each month to show willing to settle. 

As already alluded to - I think you also have a bigger issue here than simply the lack of DD being taken too - this is the sort of thing that any even half way competent accounts team should have noticed when checking bank statements, although it should also be said that you should also probably have been checking the basics yourself - that lack of due diligence could have cost you an awful lot more had you had an unscrupulous employee, for example. 

Some solid discussions with your accounts department, combined with perhaps looking into some form of business management training for yourself, would be the way forwards I'd suggest, once the process of beginning to pay what is owed to Octopus is dealt with.