“Since switching to Octopus from EDF, my experience has been extremely poor. My gas smart meter has never worked properly since moving to them, yet Octopus refuses to send an engineer to fix it, leaving me to submit manual readings every month. I’ve been chasing this since last year, but nothing has been resolved.
We just keep going around in circles. It feels like every time I contact Octopus, the staff don’t bother to read the previous messages. I’m repeatedly asked to send photos and videos of the meter, which I’ve already done twice and then nothing happens afterwards. Instead of wasting my time, why not send an engineer to inspect the meter and get it repaired?
Meanwhile, my account is massively over-inflated, currently £745 in credit. I’ve asked for a refund on two occasions, but Octopus refuses to return my money because they can’t read my broken gas smart meter, which I’ve been asking them to fix for over a year.
What’s most disappointing is that no compensation has ever been offered for the ongoing hassle. By comparison, EDF once made a small billing error, corrected it the same day, and credited my account with £50 as an apology. Octopus hasn’t shown the same level of customer care what so ever.
I genuinely don’t understand how Which? rates Octopus so highly, because my own experience has been nothing but frustration. Unless things change, I would not recommend them and I will be leaving them.”
“We’re in the process of moving home and contacted Octopus to enquire about a Heat Pump. There was a 15% discount at the time, but we were waiting for available dates. While we were waiting, we put down a deposit of £200, which we were told was totally refundable, but it wasn’t in our experience.
We also tried to arrange for solar panels during this period. I was told we could get a discount with that, but things got complicated, so we decided to cancel. We emailed the person who was dealing with this to say we wanted to cancel and request a refund. We also asked to cancel the surveyors’ appointment. This email was totally ignored, and they kept emailing us as if had not been sent.
We emailed again stating that we wanted to cancel again, and the same thing happened. When we tried to contact them directly, they wouldn’t answer the phone. I contacted the general number for Heat Pump’s and got through to a gentleman who reassured me that this would be dealt with and the appointment will be cancelled and a refund issued a couple of hours later. I got an email again on reiterating the appointment time ignoring the two emails. Either the colleague on the phone had not followed up with what he says he would do or she had just ignored it.
We’ve now contacted the same department and got through to a gentleman. We raised a complaint, and they said the appointment would be cancelled and we would get a refund. We should have an email confirming that, but it hasn’t happened yet. However, we have had one with a complaint number. Please be careful if you are dealing with the Heat Pump section they’re not what you expect from Octopus.”
“We’re in the process of moving home and contacted Octopus to enquire about a Heat Pump. There was a 15% discount at the time, but we were waiting for available dates. While we were waiting, we put down a deposit of £200, which we were told was totally refundable, but it wasn’t in our experience.
We also tried to arrange for solar panels during this period. I was told we could get a discount with that, but things got complicated, so we decided to cancel. We emailed the person who was dealing with this to say we wanted to cancel and request a refund. We also asked to cancel the surveyors’ appointment. This email was totally ignored, and they kept emailing us as if had not been sent.
We emailed again stating that we wanted to cancel again, and the same thing happened. When we tried to contact them directly, they wouldn’t answer the phone. I contacted the general number for Heat Pump’s and got through to a gentleman who reassured me that this would be dealt with and the appointment will be cancelled and a refund issued a couple of hours later. I got an email again on reiterating the appointment time ignoring the two emails. Either the colleague on the phone had not followed up with what he says he would do or she had just ignored it.
We’ve now contacted the same department and got through to a gentleman. We raised a complaint, and they said the appointment would be cancelled and we would get a refund. We should have an email confirming that, but it hasn’t happened yet. However, we have had one with a complaint number. Please be careful if you are dealing with the Heat Pump section they’re not what you expect from Octopus.”
“My problem was the Octopus app which wasn't working as it should. I spoke to Emily about the problem which she sorted out in no time at all, so thankyou Emily you did a great job.”
“Extremely poor energy company with no ethics and abysmal customer care. Avoid at all costs. In April we both agreed to the next 12 months paying £170 a month we are now in August and just had a letter saying it need to be £190 a month. They simply just cannot be trusted.”
“My interaction with Thomas was easy and effortless and could be classed as superb.congratulations to octopus energy for having good customer service people.”
“Shocking Customer Service – Ongoing Billing Harassment After Account Closure
I am absolutely appalled by the way Octopus Energy has handled my closed account. Despite repeatedly submitting all required end-of-tenancy documentation and receiving written confirmation that my account was fully settled, I continue to be harassed with incorrect billing demands.
This has been an exhausting and infuriating experience. I’ve wasted hours on the phone, only to be left on hold, disconnected, and ignored—multiple times. There seems to be no internal communication, no accountability, and no respect for customers' time or mental wellbeing.
What should have been a routine closure has turned into a drawn-out saga of incompetence. I feel completely let down by a company I once considered reliable. If this matter is not resolved once and for all, I will be escalating it through formal complaints and relevant regulatory bodies.
Avoid if you value your time and sanity.
— Tom White”
“The agent knew very little - tried to get a timing for the smart meter reading and we it took half and hour and even after that all dates were taken?
Really poor service”
“I own a Fast Amps UK manufactured EV Charger that I am really impressed with, however it is not on your supported list of EV chargers. When I spoke to Octopus, I was advised to change my charger! I have invested a reasonable amount of money having a quality charger installed and I expect Octopus to have sufficient technical expertise to allow me to use it with the best tariff. Disappointed, and not what I expect from a mainstream electricity provider!”
“I have received multiple $500 energy bills for a 1,000 sq ft duplex whereas my old energy provider’s highest bill (which included water) never exceeded $300 before the switch. I have had a $500 bill on their “plan” and month to month as well. I am not sure who can afford that right now, but I know I can’t.”
“I did not have a bad experience quite the contrary i was very pleased with the information I received from Sim today he was very helpful thank u again Sim.”
“They were fine when I was with them. After I sold my house they messed everything up including creating new accounts I didn't authorise with other people's names that never even lived at the house, sending debt collectors after me, final bill late, different customer service person in the email thread every time, patronising, incompetent, slow. Months later issue still ongoing and another 'final' bill was just issued after the third 'final' one.”
“I would just like to say how helpful Felicity was in solving a problem that has been bugging me for a long time, I explained my problem to her and in no time it was solved
I am no longer in debt on my account. Thank you.”
“After 4 weeks, I chased for Export tariff update. Agent, couldn't find application or status, even though it had been entered on-line and verified with an agent by phone. Now they respond in email to say SSE G99 certificate is not valid (which it is according to SSE). If I had not chased for update, Octopus would not have done anything. Its the poorest example of a new customer on-boarding and care. Thinking of moving to EON, like my neighbour.”
“Over the last 4 months I've repeatedly requested Octopus to replace the smart meter. Eventually on 11th July I spoke to a very helpful Octopus employee (who deserves 5 stars) who arranged for a new meter to be installed on 30th July. The constant delay & prevarication in resolving this issue has caused a great deal of unnecessary stress and upset.”
“I joined their Tracker that follows the price daily of Gas and Electric a couple of years ago. After the first year I received an email advising I was being switched to the New Tracker. No problem at all. I noticed in July 25 that my credit did not appear to be increasing as it usually does in Summer and received an e-mail to advise my Direct Debit was Increasing. When I called them, they advised I was on the Standard Tariff as my Tracker Deal had run out in February. So no automatic switch to the New Tracker Contract this year. I'm told they did send an e-mail, which I can not find, so asked for a Manager to ring me to discuss.
I am still waiting for the call and as a high user I'm hundreds of pounds out of pocket. Although the man I spoke to did offer me £30 as a gesture of goodwill. I'd spent more than £30 worth of my time trying to get hold of somebody to sort it out.
Looks like they are like every other energy supplier when you get an issue.... its all about the profit!!!”
“Came for renewal. Agreed a renewal figure after comparison with Octopus. Agreed to stay. They then wanted a direct debit well in excess or agreed. Moved to another company who informed me that that the switch was complete and my smart meter readings had forwarded to Octopus. Waiting for final bill and considerable refund. The amount of my final bill has been taken from my balance. Octopus tell me it will take up to 4 to 6 weeks to generate a final bill and any refund 10 to 14 days later.
Each year in the past I have had ask for a refund on my balance or reduce my direct debit manually to reduce hefty overpayments.
BEWARE. This company although on paper looks good is just trying to build a surplus in your account and use your money.
This review is written after request for my refund and there reply. Full of reasons why they cannot expedite it sooner.”
“I have made the mistake of having solar panels installed by Octopus Energy. A 2 day job is going to take nearly 2 months. They started the job on time, but when things started to go wrong they stopped the work and told me they weren't coming back for nearly 6 weeks. I have 5 out of 14 working panels which are proving to be far less efficient than advertised, apparently they don't like the heat! There is also a large pile of neatly stacked waste sitting at the front of my house. I'm losing money and I've totally lost any faith I had in the company. I believe that once you have a problem which is likely to result in negative reviews they put you on the back burner, safe in the knowledge that it won't get any worse for them.”
