Outfox The Market Direct Debit changes

This is the timeline of events for me with OTM
I joined in May 2018 on an 18th month fixed tariff & supplied OTM with my previous exact years usage.
They put me on monthly DD"s of £126.
On 15/11 I received an email saying that my "estimated" annual cost was £1,523 & that my new DD"s would be Oct-Mar £178 & Apr-Sept £76.
I contacted OTM & told them that as I was the best part of £400 in credit I didn"t see why my DD"s needed to be increased at all as I was already far more in credit than the extra charges came to.
i was told that this was the new company policy & that there was nothing that could be done about it.
I then asked for a refund & was told that "by law" they now had to hold a minimum of 2 months DD"s worth of credit on everyones account so they could only give me a refund of my credit balance of nearly £400 less 2 of the "uplifted" DD"S so £40.
I could either have that paid into my bank account or they could offset it against my next 12 DD"s making them £175 each for the winter DD"s & £73 for the summer DD"s.
On the 22nd of November I received another email from them saying "GOOD NEWS"
previous notification estimated annual usage £1,903.95 Oct-Mar DD £222, Apr-Sept DD £95.20
These are figures that I have never seen before !
It went on to say Nov 22nd notification Oct-Nov DD"s £178 & Apr-Sept DD"s £76.
These are exactly the same figures as the November 15th email stated & the email is IMO just an attempt to try to make me think that they have decided to lower my DD"s !
There was no mention of my large credit balance.
I have emailed a complaint to them stating the above & pointing out that obviously my original DD"s of £126 were the correct amount for me as they had allowed me to build up sufficient credit in the summer to cover extra winter usage.
Isn"t that how monthly equal DD"s are supposed to work ?
I have also put in my email to them that I am willing to pay the new split DD system providing they refund my £400 so that I have that in my bank account to use to cover the increased winter charges.
I have not heard anything back as of yet.

Sorry Ben, but far from being lenient towards OFTM i've been on the phone and their chat service to blast them when necessary - as for their treatment of my elderly folks, good on them is all i can say, however, its but a phone call to the folks to get a Meter reading and input online.

As for anything else, its a black and white issue, namely, financially we are better off with OFTM, when this is not the case we take our business elsewhere.

On a brighter note I've also managed to save the folks £45 quid on their Household insurance renewal - courtesy of advice issued by this site and some telephone work, so I ain't doing bad as far as cost saving is concerned, and that includes saving 20 quid a month on a Fixed energy deal offered by OFTM earlier this year - we'll stay the course thank you very much.

My saga continues, rang them Friday as it was the date for third and final escalation with my old supplier(according to OFTM)
(my old supplier have confirmed closing meter readings weeks ago)
After oftm continuly saying my old supplier is disputing the meter readings they now say it’s with the metering team and it will be sorted soon��

Again another politician reply,
they then phoned me today asking me to pay £16 as I was in debt and they would not accept the switch I’ve just enabled with GNE. Are they for real?

They still haven’t sorted my opening meter readings which will end up them owing me money but they have the cheek to phone me and ask for £16!!!

My DD is cancelled and once my switch is complete with gne I’ll let them phone me numerous times until I decide to pay what ever I owe.

They are the biggest set of crooks going and what goes around comes around.

Stay away from these idiots, in all my years in sales with a major fmcg company I have never seen such shambolic customer and relationship management.

Rant over


Update 28/11/18


Because OFTM has declined the switch due to £16 debt on the account this has now potentially lost my tariff with GNE.


I have phoned GNE to let them know the debt has been paid and they should be able to continue... But GNE told me that the switch may have cancelled 100% and i will have to apply again.


OFTM, instead of cancelling a switch because of a debt on the account, why dont you phone the customer ask them to pay and then let the switch continue.


Really i am ready for driving down to the headoffice and asking to see who is in charge as i am my wits end with these idiots.


On a side note the first impression from GNE is good,

I've just rung them. The person I spoke to says the latest email will be an error, that the lower one is what will be taken. They (the employees, I presume) have been told that last week's revised figures are what they will be charging.
Yeah, right. Without written confirmation in the form of a 'correct' DD notification that confirms the lower figure, I would put money on the higher amount being taken next week ( no pun intended).

She says she will ask the relevent department to check it for me, but apparently that can take 5 working days - the DD will probably have been taken by then!

Hengus wrote: »

No comfort to those affected; however, Martin appears to acknowledge that suppliers have the right to impose these changes (from the latest MSE Newsletter):

Quote: - Is it allowed to do this? Unfortunately, yes. Ofgem rules just state any change has to be clearly explained with 10 days' notice. Unquote

Presumably, the discussion will now move to what is, or what isn't, a clear explanation.

I noticed that too - and unfortunately simply put - Martin is wrong and MSE have failed and let down those that need proper advice rather than just caving.


They aren't allowed to do what they've done in accordance with their own Terms and Conditions regardless of what Ofgem's rules state.