“Am owed £720 which was passed over from SSE. You say you have no record of this credit despite me having bills from SSE showing what was owed on 14th October (the day they migrated to OVO). Spent 2 hours of a "live" chat last week but to no avail and hour and a half this morning speak to somebody. No resolution still. Apparently my direct debits are still going to SSE so OVO are using the £720 credit to pay for my October bill. Was told someone will call me back. Bet they don't. Am beyond fuming.”
“Got an email from OVO the other day (formerly SSE) saying they want to increase my monthly direct debit by about £70 (from £90 a month). I called to ask what on earth they're playing at and was told that they're estimating my next 12 months of energy usage based on the past 12 months. Last winter I wasn't rationing gas and electricity, but this year I am, so I asked them to bill me based on actual usage based on my smart meter readings and the clown I was speaking to said this was "impossible". Absolute nonsense. We can put men on the moon, but this is impossible? What absolute planks. They're just greedy profiteers. Switched to another supplier today who will bill me monthly based on actual usage, which is about £60 a month for electricity and gas combined (I'm a VERY low user).”
“I cant even begin to explain how angry and stressed out I am with these incompetent half-wits!!!
-I set up an account in July, however they had other plans - they set up to my neighbours address instead. Strike 1.
-OVO then proceeded to take 2 months worth of energy usage in advance (totalling £218) despite failing to inform my current energy provider (who quite rightly continued to charge me). strike 2
-OVO started sending me emails to the effect of “we have moved you back to your original energy provider as requested”… despite me not requesting it, and they referenced the wrong energy provider. This actually happened twice, wrong both times. strike 3 or 4?
-OVO After me chasing them to correct their mistakes we eventually agreed to cancel the service that they of course didn’t provide in the first place as we both confirmed the meter they charged from was my neighbours and not mine, they would return the money they stole from me within the next 2 weeks. That didn’t happen. Strike 5.
-After numerous phone calls I was then told by one “customer service” representative it would take 4 to 6 weeks for reasons she was unable to clarify and that “there was nothing she could do” which is untrue as she was fantastic at being inept and ambiguous! No explanation given and you lied about it taking 2 weeks. Strike 6.
-I then waited until 3rd of November (the exact date she quoted I would receive the money they stole from me illegally) before contacting again and still, you guessed it, I’m still down £218!!! strike 7.
-After a lengthy fruitless conversation I demanded to speak to her superior as she was unable to comprehend the situation, much less solve it. This highly skilled, well trained customer service rep attempted to put me on hold but clearly doesn’t know how to work the head set and instead I sat listening to here laughing at my situation while explaining to her boss. OVO customer service reps cannot operate phones, have limited comprehension and just plain don’t care!? Strike 8.
-Having spoken to “James the resolutions agent” who then explained to me that as of 30 October, they had only just closed my account that was created incorrectly. Seriously, it took you nearly 3 months to do that!!? Strike 9.
-James also stated he too has escalated the complaint and I should expect them to contact me within a few days…. Well its been over a week, and you still haven’t contacted me, and you still haven’t responded to my email regarded this supposed escalation! WHAT-ARE-YOU-DOING!!!? Strike 10.
-Hand on heart, I have never dealt with a more cretinous, useless, moronic “company” in all my life - Honestly, its bad enough energy companies are taking us for a ride, but outright stealing money for services not rendered and then continue to lie, ignore and tease the victim (me!) for trying to get it back is beyond heinous!!? Trust me when I say this isn’t over. Await strike Strike 11.”
“took over my account from sse then owed me 740 pound said would send cheque for the amount only sent 599 then wanted another reading that would lessen the amount of second you took so long to sort out told you i will not send another reading until full amount sent you are stealing my money so will not pay a single penny to you untill you pay me what i am owed”
“I asked for the final bill, when I got it I paid it in full, than they asked me to pay again as they,
I believe, miscalculated. When I paid them the amount they asked me for (£125), I got two checks sent to me as they said that I overpaid. First check was for £7, the other for £0.85 😀. After a week they call me saying that I still own them £3.50.
I know, it is difficult to believe it. What's the waste of paper and time. They have such a mess. Keep away from this company!!!!!! Choose any other, anyone is better.”
“This company is absolutely horrendous
ANYONE THAT USES THIS COMPANY IS CRAZY. I have waited for 3 months for a new meter to be fitted after the smart meter they installed didn't work.
They have still to date 3.11.22 done nothing but call me a few times to ask if anything has changed.
They don't understand the words the meter dosent work I have been asked this question many times and here we are winter coming and I am stuck with nothing. These companies take take take but when you need something they turn their back on you
SSE OVO YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELVES DISGUSTING COUSTEMER SERVICE”
“Ovo should be Ono , 3 emails & 4 phone calls over a 2 week period to get my meter read! I supplied 2 photos of the meter which was confirmed by the agent they received them & nothing, instead just getting emails to pay my 400% more estimated bill ? DONT go near this company, they promise everything & deliver nothing!”
“This is the worst energy company ever… my in-laws who are in their ninety’s are being made ill with worry over this company’s handling of their energy bills. They do not have internet and phoned through numbers to ovo… now been told that they can no longer do this… they have also been told they will not receive government fuel payment unless they are on direct debit… This is blackmail and wrong… My husband has been trying to sort it all out but it is useless. Surely there is someone out there who can help all these people take on this company as at the moment OVO is running rough shod over their customers and getting away with it. The government needs to step in.”
“Promises to resolve issue only to be led around in circles. Increasing direct debit based on a false estimate that doesn't reflect my actual usage and either they won't understand the obvious problem or refuse to understand. Very long waiting times to speak to someone, only for line to be cut off if it's by phone, or get someone through webchat (After a queue of 270 people) who is speaking to 5 different customers, is distracted and takes ages to understand your issue, and that also cuts off eventually too. Having a case number does nothing as I still had to explain the issue every time I spoke to someone and they still wouldn't help. Very unsatisfied and can't wait to switch over to a better supplier, even if I'll be paying extra. I prefer that than dealing with this mess of a company any longer. Avoid at all costs.”
“OVO Energy is the worst energy provider I could ever possible imagine. DO NOT join with them. They set direct debits to more than double the amount of usage you use and have no interest in discussing with you to change it. I thought SSE was bad until I was handed over to OVO and cannot believe what a horrible money stealing fraudulent company it is. DO NOT JOIN OVO.”
“Unbelievably bad customer service.
Spent an hour on hold to get through to customer service, then the call handler put me on hold for another hour and then hung up on me. The website does not let me set up an account. Web chat position in queue is over 400. Ive been on the phone another 30 minutes in a queue. I have no power in my home. Truely AWFUL customer service.”
“Far too long to relate the appalling sorry saga. (And yes I am still in credit, as confirmed after an hour on the phone, but they are still after me saying it is a debit amount.) Like the other reviewers all I can say is stay clear of this company as you would avoid an Ebola ridden Gibbon ! They are not fit for purpose, and how on earth they became so big beggars belief.
My advice is go to ANY other supplier they cannot be as bad as OVO.”
“Wirst and rude company ever. And they are taking advantage if us knowing we can not change to any other supplier at the moment. But we will be back. And get a fuckin communication centre with people who can talk English”
“Unable to get through to a human on the phone, automated system gives you milliseconds to input your answers using the keypad, confusing menu set up with no number to press to pay for the bill using a card till you get through a second stage just by holding on as a 'vulnerable customer' or an emergency, clear as mud. When got through, Payment rejected as there was an issue with confirming the account/identity, despite me inputting the correct information. I know they obviously don't want people paying by card and would rather I use the web and direct debit to pay but I'm trying to pay on behalf of my elderly mother who isn't a fan of online anything. Also they switched from quarterly payments when she was with SSE to monthly payments even though their own website still says you can pay quarterly and the letter they sent specifically said it will stay as it was with SSE. Incidences of ignoring meter readings submitted and using estimated readings instead, confusing bills and excessive paperwork. Bills received a week and a half late (not postal strike) giving you a day or two to pay the bill before they send reminders, all in all pretty stressful to deal with and clearly not there to aid it's customers, seemingly more interested in deterring them from contacting them in any way for any reason. What a shame this was forced upon her, may have to look around for a different supplier, but they all seem a bit rubbish. Could they be ANY worse??”
“When we moved into our current house in Sept 2017 we joined Ovo and our first gas meter reading was 12611. In March 2022 our gas meter reading was 18449. Six months later I sent a new reading which was 18770. Ovo then sent me a bill for September based on an "estimated" opening reading of 8944 and an actual closing reading of 18770, claiming that in that one month we had therefore used 108,863 kwh of gas and therefore owed them £8,150. I emailed them the previous bills and meter readings recorded by them on my on-line account, these clearly showed the actual meter readings I refer to above. No response to the queries raised, only a request that I send them another photo of the meter. In response to the photo I duly sent (again) I received a request from someone else at Ovo for a picture of the meter. This cycle was repeated four times with the same request from four different operatives at Ovo, none of whom then emailed back to explain what they would then be doing to follow this up. I called and on each occasion the Ovo representative was unable to understand that billing me on the basis of an "estimated" opening reading that was far lower than any reading taken since we moved in could not be correct. On each occasion the representative couldn't find a record of the emails sent by me using their portal, or previous phone calls I had made to try to resolve the issue. I was put on hold for long periods of time and then cut off by Ovo on two occasions. I have however had several emails from Ovo urging me to both settle my "debt" with them and to increase my monthly DD to over £700 per month. I have complained but received no response. This issue has been caused by an error which is completely, and demonstrably, down to Ovo. Yet it is impossible to get them to resolve this. All they have to do is look at their own records which I have actually sent them copies of. The lack of accountability or care on their part is deplorable. Having read other posts here I realise that such incompetence is a common experience amongst their customers. I will be pursuing my issue via the Ombudsman. The evident reluctance of this company to address what is clearly a clerical error on their part makes me feel as if they are intentionally trying to steal from us. Don't open an account with them. If anything goes wrong you will find yourself without any help whatsoever. They do not care.”
