OVO - 8% Interest and charges reclaimed on credit balance

ovoslayer

Hello All, 

After a 6 month battle with OVO Energy i'd like to post a short version of a success story here in the hope that customers leave them, perhaps picked up by the press or more people do what I have done. 

Big companies think they can simply make up rules, treat customers badly and get away with it. They really are the pits. 

This is the short version. 

July 2025 - sent in a meter reading after receiving a bill, Turns out i'm approximately £1600 in credit. This is not a major issue in itself, i'm very bad at sending in meter readings and got a new boiler last year, this is possibly the reason behind the wild over estimates. 

No problem, ill call and ask for it to be returned. This is where the problems started. 

On this phone call i was told that because they owed me more than £599 they would need a photo of the meters because it was company policy not to refund large balances without one. 

Now you'll probably think at this point that's ok to ask, however I do not. I reminded the CSR that whilst that was a nice request it doesn't form part of their refund policy or terms and conditions and they must send the refund anyway. Whilst i appreciate the 'how hard would it have been' argument its like a customer asking for a photo of their billing system or offices before paying the bill. They would refuse. It is an unreasonable request.  

They refused to send it. As this is the short version what ensued over the next 8 weeks was a number of calls and emails where i pointed this out repeatedly asking for what is essentially a large amount of money be refunded. They refused, their complaints department refused. They sent me a final decision and told me they would no longer engage and that I should contact the ombudsman. Because they owed me. £1600. 

I tried one more time to request the refund. They refused to engage. 

Checked the ombudsman page and what an absolute shower that is. A load of rubbish. huge forms to fill in, no guarantee of a resolution and giving away your rights to do so. 

So i went the other way. 

Filled in the money claim online and decided to take them to court, lets see if their 'terms and conditions' / company policy defence would work with a judge. (proper process followed with letter before action ignored. 

Yes this costs money. But, in my claim I included interest at 8%, an amount to cover the now increased energy charges (I cancelled my direct debits) and the original amount they owed and I requested. 

As if by magic their complaints department appeared willing to speak, in fact they got in touch with me. 

Long story short they attempted to tell me i was wrong. The attempted to tell me that by paying me what i was owed I would be subject to a confidentiality clause. They still didn't send the money and still claimed they had done nothing wrong. 

I told them, If i was to accept additional terms then they should pay consideration, either a written apology in a newspaper, a donation to charity or pay me for my time. 

They again told me no. I refused their additional terms, told them I was happy to go to court. Told them I did not accept confidentiality or any additional terms, the money is owed. 

They have apparently taken a commercial decision to pay me. A letter and a cheque covering the court costs, interest, additional energy fees and my £1600ish back this week. by cheque. £1850 refunded.

They folded. Paid me interest. I now owe them for the last 6 months bills. 

I have documented all the communications, kept the letters and would love for their awful refusal to hit the press along with a story about how they do pay interest on credit balances. 

Would also love to know how long I should make them wait before I pay them? 6 months? Court papers? 

Obviously moving energy suppliers now. 

Don't let these people push you around. They are scared of the courts, their terms and conditions are weak or they simply lie about them. Hot tip, use the court system, its easy as.

Again, would love for this to become a news story. Share it around. Message me with details of press that will run the story, hell see if Mr Lewis himself wants a to run through more detailed account. 

Don't give up. And don't use OVO. 

Woodstok2000

I'm glad you got the result you wanted, but for me, life is too short for this. I value my time far too much to spend it fighting battles that can be avoided (even if that means swallowing a principle here and there).

born_again

Moral of the story. Give them a reading every month.

Netexporter

Simpler to submit regular readings, monitor your balance, and adjust your direct debit accordingly.

flaneurs_lobster

ovoslayer said:

On this phone call i was told that because they owed me more than £599 they would need a photo of the meters because it was company policy not to refund large balances without one. 

Now you'll probably think at this point that's ok to ask, however I do not.

I have absolutely no doubt that you were quite within your rights to refuse and the eventual outcome proves this to be true. 

But as others have said, life's too short. Take the stupid photo and bank the cheque. It's a trivial request, why go full human rights breach?

You hope that your story might be inspirational to others? I rather think quite the opposite.

bristolleedsfan

https://www.ovoenergy.com/help/article/refunds

Bendo

bristolleedsfan said:

https://www.ovoenergy.com/help/article/refunds

Not referenced in their T&C though is it so absolutely worthless.

If they want proof of a reading,.they could always do their job and read the meter themselves.  Something I used to enjoy telling Eon Next when they refused to fix my smart meters.

Yarrows

As another data point, I am with OVO but I have a smart meter. I phoned them up for a refund of £1000 the other week - my heating system has also been updated this summer so the DD amount based on previous years is way out and I haven't asked to change it because I want a full year's worth of data including a winter before reducing the DD. I had already requested another £1000 back earlier in the year and that was in the account within days.

That day they were having systems/IT issues and all sorts of functions weren't available to the front line staff. The agent couldn't send the refund back to the bank account as normal, but he could request a cheque refund, but he said that the back office team might cancel it the first time because they might not be aware of the problems the front line were having with refunds, so he would keep an eye on it and re-send the request if that happened.

Cheque was in the mailbox the next week.

Much less stressful

Woodstok2000

Bendo said:

bristolleedsfan said:

https://www.ovoenergy.com/help/article/refunds

Not referenced in their T&C though is it so absolutely worthless.

If they want proof of a reading,.they could always do their job and read the meter themselves.  Something I used to enjoy telling Eon Next when they refused to fix my smart meters.

Yeah, if OvoSlayer went full bore when asked for a photo, imagine the consequences if Ovo had asked to come round and read the meter - they'd be up in the Hague.

WiserMiser

Obviously it would be better if the requirement was included in the Ts&Cs, but I don't think it's unreasonable.

Not suggesting it applies to the OP, but a dodgy customer could have deliberately have said they were a low user, deliberately never sent readings, set the thermostat high and had long hot baths and showers.  Then they reclaimed all the apparent credit, did a moonlight flit and left the country.

Similarly, a normally honest person in dire straits might be tempted to massage a reading and seek an unjustified repayment just to get them through the winter.  Others might just have misread the meter.

I'm no fan of Ovo, but they would be criticised if they let people get into serious debt by not making checks before making relatively large refunds.

Bendo

If the supplier doesn't trust the reading the customer has supplied,  they should take their own. That's what meter  readers exist for.  Demanding a customer jumps though hoops that aren't in their terms is nonsense, as they evidently accepted knowing  full well it wasn't going to the toothless ombudsman.