“No responses to emails - let alone in the 24 hours they promise. And they take a shocking length of time to issue refunds. Probably going the way of Ovo energy, which started small and excellent but CEO got greedy, the company grew so huge they couldn’t cope and the quality plummeted.”
“I have been quite happy with Octopus until they suggested that I get my electricity smart meter updated and install a smart gas meter. The time slot was from 8am to 6pm so I stayed in all day. Guess what - nobody turned up and no word of explanation. So now I am going to wait till the clocks go forward and the weather is warmer so I won't miss the power being off for 2 hours. But I am annoyed at the wasted day and I hope next time they turn up and don't waste my time.”
“Octopus please can you help?
1. Please can I have an electricity reading and bill – this task has not been completed by Octopus since 23.9.23 My account balance reads: £1,364.62 (lucky me). My Tariff is Octopus Go.
2. Please can my outdated Smart1 meter be replaced? My Smart1 meter is not suitable (put in by Scottish Power and has 2 blue buttons) for what is being asked to do/read. As evidence by difficulties ‘Octopus’ is having reading this and a (me) customer trying to supply readings – and there are not suitable instructions available etc. Furthermore, this Smart1 meter does not show that I can/am exporting electricity to Octopus.
Please note, I have also put a review on Trust Pilot and sent emails to Octopus about this matter.”
“Rubbish !!! Costing me £200 and they are estimating my bills even though I have a smart meter ! I’m in 1 bed flat alone ! I’ve asked for new smart meter they booked me appointments no one turned up I’m on benefits and Vunerable person”
“We have been with Octopus for around 4 months, have tried time after time to get a smart meter from them. Arranged a date, even a 4 hour time window I then found an email from them saying since I hadn’t accepted it immediately I had lost that slot. I am finding Octopus frustrating, it’s almost as though I need to sit on my emails in the hope of them contacting me in order to get a smart meter. Early days but so far not really looking too good.”
“The people answering the phones are now based in South Africa and Portugal. It is very difficult to hear tgem and there are loud bangs and shouting on the lines. It takes a long time to get through. The person in Portugal was difficult to understand due to her accent. I was trying to increase my direct debit but this has been switched off. Am thinking of leaving”
“Communication with a customer service advisor via email was an ordeal to say the least.
The advisor was from a foreign country, and I found it hard work communicating with her.
All the emails sent to me arrived in the early hours of the morning.
My emails were not read properly, this caused unnecessary extra stress to myself.
All this started from a email sent to myself informing me that my energy price was coming down, but my monthly payment will be going up by £26 a month
The mind boggles.
The problem has now been resolved, but did I really need all that aggravation.
Time to switch provider I think.”
“Despite Octopus' claim to answer emails 'sometimes within hours' I have not had a reply to my email of 12 days ago, I know others have had the same problem. This is terrible service, they don't seem to care once they have you in their clutches. If they did they would have 'chat' as my previous companies did. I rang a few days ago, the girls said the phone lines said they were so busy as people were ringing instead of emailing! What else are we suppose to do if they don't answer our emails? She said she would email me straight away, am still waiting. Am leaving if things don't improve, I find it unnerving not to be able to get an answer to my queries. My latest query is how to distinguish between the export and import submit readings boxes. Still, they do say they do things differently, not sure ignoring customers is something to boast about! And how do they get such high ratings on some sites and low on others? Love and Power”
“Smart meters installed on 3/8/23, it is now 6/10/23 and the electric meter has worked for only 11 days since. 0800 number rings and rings, emails need to be chased. Last time this thing stopped sending readings it took over a month to restore service, it then worked for 4 days and stopped again. Gas meter and in home display have never worked and design of the gas meter makes it difficult to read.”
“Octopus have been fine, however they have now TWICE increased my direct debit without telling me or without my permission. They "remind" me of the payment coming out when it's too late for me to change it. I now can't even change it on my account as they're claiming I have to pay the increased amount to keep my account in line. Despite my account already being over £100 IN CREDIT. Extremely unhappy; they are intentionally draining people's bank accounts. How can they be allowed to significantly increase a payment without even notifying me!!!!”
“Surplus money in account refund
As having surplus money in my account I requested to have some of it returned... Told ten day turnaround for refund which to me seems very excessive and costing me interest in savings account as going back to the old way of holding my energy money in savings account to gain interest rather lying in octopus account making nothing for me but they are getting free money... The veneer is rubbing off of this company..”
“They have just increased my electricity bill from £64 a month to £135 a month! They’ve just realised it doesn’t cover the energy I used. £71 increase. If Octopus energy is supposed to be the best I dread to think what the others are like!”
“Over the last 2 years would have rated them 5, but since recently going on economy 7 I have proven to them they are overcharging around £700 per year. They obviously have a billing issue but customer services are pretending to be morons and avoiding the issue and doing nothing to resolve it. They almost seem to be trying to deliberately frustrate. No idea why once such a good company has gone to the dogs. Off to the ombudsman now.”
“Similar to other customers. Confusing billing. Numbers all over the place. Massively over charged. Refund with no explanationor breakdown. Now receiving large bills again. I don't believe the smart meter is working correctly. Yes energy prices have gone up, but this is ridiculous.”
“I used to consider them the best company out there as they were always so helpful and prices very good! Since the scam of the Ukranian war putting the prices up I am being charged three times more and do not even have any gas on all day unless it is vital as my house is very warm. They are just making it up as they go alone it feels like. My last bill was £350 for one person living in a house with one light on in each room and no heating most of the time, cooking one meal a day. The energy suppliers are billionairs and this has to stop, so unless we all get out there and make it stop it will only get worse.”
“In terms of overall cost they seem to be fair. I've been put with octopus after Avro went bust. This is my second frustrating with this company's confusing billing and energy statement system. I pay extra plus a direct debit plus the government input. I paid an extra £100 for winter and my credit still decreases without explanation and I haven't used that much, I'm out at work most days.”
“Octopus used to be brilliant but they have gone downhill taking direct debits on random days, miscommunicating direct debit dates and failing to respond to emails (I have sent 8 now without receiving a response). The phone line also involves a massive queue and directs you to go online as most do these days. This makes you feel powerless with the poor customer service on the e mail front. I used to tell everyone how brilliant they were but I can’t recommend them any more, sadly.”
“Pretty poor service. Think highly of themselves. I suggest you do your homework and check their math because they are terrible at calculating your bill, that's if you get one”
