Ovoenergy 

We too are former SEE customers (no probs with them) and did not appear to be given a choice when OVO took over the electric part of our bill. After months of arguing about allegedly unpaid bills, with some figures which don't make any sense, not to mention excessively high, it was with some relief when I finally went online and realised we are not alone! I have never seen such a consistent list of bad reviews for one company in my life and it just reinforces the realization that there is either something fishy going on or they are completely incompetent. The very long wait to speak to someone on the phone in customer services and lack of response (or even acknowledgement of receipt) of some written correspondence reinforces that. We don't have a meter, thankfully, and do not intend to get one, but the figures they say we owe don't add up. We always pay our bills on time but, according to them, we apparently have a permanent 'debt' on our account. Huge amounts of time have been wasted emailing, writing and phoning, with hours more spent trawling through months of bills and payments in an attempt to reconcile the figures, to try and get to the bottom of it. One cheque sent (and cashed!) they say they never received - what a shambles! As soon as we can get out of it, we shall not be staying with this company. An official investigation should take place, in view of all these unhappy customers' reviews.

Ovo energy keep sending me threatening letters saying I owe them money. When I phone the customer services, after waiting at least 30 mins to get through, they have to apologise as, surprise surprise, I don’t owe them anything. I don’t understand why SSE thought it was a good idea for Ovo to take over their business.

They are charging money no reason. When i pay my Bill, they put on me more for pay more. Every day is on minus more money. When i call them they nothing listen and they replay same 10 min what they said on the start. when i ask why they put on my account every day more money , they still continue say same. i ask them why they try stolen money, when I pay everything they just don’t know what to say.

I have been with OVO Energy since their very early days and initially found their Customer support to be excellent but sadly over the past few years it has declined to an appalling standard. Quite frankly my opinion is that their Customer Service Colleagues do not know what they are talking about and just give answers off the top of their heads. In particular in the absence of meter readings OVO Energy are unable or unwilling to disclose in detail how they calculate estimated readings and just give a very general "We use the National Average" statement. For the Gas element of their bills they do not state the Calorific Value that they used to reach the KWh figure for energy consumed. The only reference to CV on the bills is a range of values and a url link to National Grid that gives a very in depth technical description on how CV is measured but doesn't give any actual values. This means that without OVO giving the CV (other suppliers such as British Gas do) it is not possible to check the accuracy of their gas billing. My observation of OVO Energy is that here is a company that has grown very quickly but does not have the skills and resources to match its growth. 10 years ago I would have awarded OVO Energy 5 Stars, but now it would be minus stars and now I am on the cusp of reporting them to the Energy Ombudsman and most likely moving to another supplier once my current fixed price contract has expired.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS

Agree with all previous comments that people have written. I wasn't informed that SSE were being taken over, first I knew I received a letter advising I was in default and were sending Baliffs, I have been trying to sort out this problem as never missed a payment, they then tried to take quadruple payments then cancelled my DD, tried to blame my bank,this has been ongoing for 6 weeks, customer service are a joke, don't have a clue what's going on so patronising, I'm being told different things by different advisors, then basically being called a liar when the notes on my account are completely different to what has been discussed, from now on I will be recording all my conversations and handing over to the Ombudsman,

Being transferred from SSE to OVO is the worse thing that every happened.
They insist on you having a smart meter, I have refused so far.
I feel I am being blackmailed into having a meter as my current bill is estimated at £1100. Not bad when I only use lights.!
So am now using candles!

I have sent them meter readings and am told it will correct itself, in the meantime I could get a summons.

Am not sent paper bills, so don’t know when to pay ?
Trying to get through on the phone is impossible and the chat line on the web site is no help either.

As the previous lady, I too am the wrong side of 70, live alone and the whole experience with Ovo is making me ill with worry. At the end of 2021, I was switched from
SSE to Ovo. My final bill from SSE was £1,200 as they had over=estimated the off-peak readings by 7,500KW.
I contacted them immediately and they agreed there
had been a major mistake and after giving them the
current meter readings, I subsequently received their ammended bill for £94 - which of course I paid immediately. The confusion has arisen due to the
switch-over, as Ovo are still insisting I owe them the
£1,220! Which, of course, I dont
I have given up phoning - nobody seems to listen or care - I have sent them copies of SSE's ammended
bill with a covering letter to their correspondence
address in Bristol - that was 3 weeks ago, but still
haven't heard anything

I am a pensioner. I don't use like using the Internet. I just want a paper bill that tells me how much I owe. Ever since I was switched to Ovo from SSE all I've had from Ovo is threatening reminders and no bills. I've tried ringing them and waiting and waiting but I've only managed to get through once. They said my bill was being estimated because they hadn't taken a reading themselves, so I asked them to come and take a reading. They did. But they never sent a bill. Just more reminders for different amounts. When I phone to pay it's a different amount to the reminder they've sent and if I don't pay the additional I get another threatening reminder. I have no idea what they're charging me for.
This is stressing me out so much but they were so unhelpful and unfriendly that phoning them is an ordeal. I feel I am being bullied to pay whatever they ask. I just want a bill so I can see what they've estimated.

This company is absolutely horrendous and clearly doesn't have a clue. I was migrated to Ovo by SSE and received a first bill with "migrated balance" with a huge sum which was more than double my normal SSE bills (with no other information and no meter readings against it). Despite these being based on SSE estimates and me providing Ovo with the actual meter readings on receipt of this bill they have not adjusted this on any of my bills and this incorrect migrated balance is still showing. I have called them several times and nobody seems capable of sorting this out and keep directing me to SSE which is now effectively closed to customers.
There are no words...

Hands down one of thee worst companies i have ever dealt with.
Lie upon lie upon lie is told - yet it’s always you as a customers fault.
They mess your accounts up - it’s your fault
They hold your money - it’s your fault
The app doesn’t work - it’s your fault
The customer service is genuinely so so bad, they don’t take responsibility for anything
The live chat team just end the chat whenever they want without answering your query and then you are shoved back into the queue with quadruple the amount of wait time again.
Whenever i have to contact them i have to have at least two hours spare. I end up having to go through multiple chats and waiting an enormous amount of time of hold…. only to get sassy advisors who can’t tell the truth or give you answers to their screw ups.
Awful Awful Awful company

Twenty months to get smart meter to talk to IHD - failed abysmally! Changed supplier and account cleared in full - refund of £310. Without any further communication I have had a threatening and offensive e-mail stating credit references to be put on record and debt agency notified.
NOT A DEBT BY ME BUT OVERPAYMENT BY THEM - their incompetency not my debt!
Incompetent!.

Like most of the recent reviews, I have been a customer of Ovo since their inception all those years ago. What started as a great company to deal with - fresh approach, green promise, fantastic customer services - have quickly disintegrated into one of those overblown, profit focused 'giants' who now advise us to wear extra layers and go outside to keep warm. Absolutely awful.

I understand there will be price increases because of the turmoil at the moment but when the government advises it will be around 54% - the lovely bosses at OVO have just tried to increase mine by 151%!! This is even worse when each year I amass a surplus any they still try and increase it within those years.

Can I get an explanation? Not a chance! Will their bosses pick the phone up to me to explain this? Not a chance? Will the bosses go on TV to increase and try and improve their awful image? Of course they will.

We don't matter to this, once lovely company anymore. They've forgotten their morals and ethics from those starter days and are now just in it for the money!

Please just stay well clear. However, if you would like to call me Stephen Fitzpatrick, you've got my number.

If your thinking of changing to ovo dont
01/04/22 £705.77 credit
03/04/2022 £662.41 credit
Difference of £43.36
06/04/2022 £656.78 credit
07/04/2022 £644.25 credit
Difference £12.63
Smart meter
06/04/2022
electric £1.52
Gas. £0.86
07/04/2022
Smart meter
Electric £1.09
Gas. ££0.67
They phoned me as requested today but could not give any answers told we will have to pass on to our accounts dept
Who is scamming.screen shots have been taken every day of online account balance and of smart meter no one was in the last few days gas turned off at thermostat
No electrical items on that would take £56.01 in 7 days also i have solar panels on the roof
All beware OVO dont no what they are doing was told i havnt got a gas smart meter when i first phoned them to complain
My reply was i stood and watched your engineer install both gas and electric
They then said oh yes you were on a different system i can now see it

Was with SSE before getting transfered across to OVO, without my consent hence I have no contract with OVO so unless they fix their attempted fraud I will not be paying, bills before changeover were between £65 to £90 a month for electric with SSE, we are on a smart meter. Bills since are as follows. Last bill from SSE £170 (take over bill), OVO have changed this to £250 for a one day take over charge, we're did the extra come from, bill for Jan £9.45! bill for Feb £2250 bill for March £2500 this is what the smart meter shows, looking at the online bill from OVO shows between £130 and £220 per month before it was between £65 and £90 with SSE

How is this not fraud. When they have my smart meter reading direct and the change over was on the same price per unit..

I was a customer of SSE for 25 years. A no problem service, always billed correctly, great cust service. Transferred directly to OVO and nothing but trouble, distress, and debt.

Conveniently during the transfer seems OVO (as SSE/OVO in 2021 never sent me a the final SSE Bill so I can never now prove what my last SSE Balance was to fight the debt OVO caused me.

I had my SSE debits set up with bill spilt in half to pay twice a month because of the way I receive my ESA Support disability benefit. 25 years with SSE no problem.

May 2020 letters headed SSE/OVO appear but no problem with renewing tariff or billing until Nov 21.
My debit contract was honoured till Oct 21.

Nov 21 / Dec 21 without warning OVO changed my debit to monthly and took a months money leaving me without food or any way to pay other bills for 10 days. What happened to the Debit Guarantee Law !

Contacted them in Jan to complain again and OVO agreed to change my debits back the way they were saying no problem with paying this way.

Jan 1st payment went well then payments here and there taken and not taken between End Jan-March then Apr took a huge chunk of money without warning they changed my debit to monthly. The 2nd time left without money for food and other bills.

Contacted them immediately to be told that as a result of 'some non-payments (because OVO didn't take them despite our debit contract and that funds were in my account) my 'debt' had been sent to collections which had gone from £188 on my bill to now £388. Told then that 'paying twice monthly by direct debit does NOT SUIT their system'

Also staff seem to think that OVO only took over Jan 22 when I was receiving billing from last year with the company logo as 'SEE/OVO!' Trying to blame their mistakes on SSE!

Also that as the OVO account is now in debt seems OVO are aware of the Direct Debit Guarantee but does it or not apply to the Law - I thought you had to be informed by law in writing!

OVO would have seen how I had set up my payments when they took over (not in Jan but a few months before). They could have contacted me at any time: at the very beginning, in November, in January and again in April to have told me I needed to change the way I paid ie to a standing order twice a month. In January they also should have told me the usage had risen and so I wasn't even given the chance to set that debit up at the correct amount. And no communication that any 'debt' had been sent to collections. No reminders to pay or overdue bills. No communications at all.

Answer to this are always access your account online : difficult with disability and intermittent internet and the fact I wasn't even aware of an online OVO account as I was never sent any details about it including HOW to set one up. I made OVO aware of more than once including specifying paper billing all the time.

If OVO HAD informed me of course I would have looked at the way I paid and made changes. and then none of debt would have happened. They know I can't pay monthly because of my benefit. I also happen to be on their 'Priority List' which seems a joke to me now. No apologies 'yet' !

No care, respect or compassion or sense of taking professional responsibility for their mistakes. Also told that now I have agreed a standing order should I ' ever fail to pay' on this contract that my account will go back to collections immediately and info sent to Experian ! So they want to ruin my credit account as well.

I have put in an official complaint but I don't hold out much hope of any of the issues being addressed going by some other reviews here.

I will also be questioning the debt amount as it may not tally with my record of what I paid SSE. How can it have gone from £188 to £388 in less than month?

Luckily I kept all of my SSE Paper billing. The unit amount on the OVO fixed Tariff Contract is more than on the SSE Fixed Tariff contract, as is the annual projection they say is 'estimated' when I was stupid enough to have a SMART METER ! A two year fixed I renewed last April with 'SSE/OVO a transferred contract !!! Not a new one.

I have now altered my payment plan and had to consolidate the 'debt' into it leaving me paying more than I can afford per month for the next 12 months at least A DEBT WHICH OVO CAUSED DIRECTLY because of their complete incompetence and lack of respect for customers.

As my fixed tariff runs till 2023 and as now is the worst possible time to be changing suppliers / looking for better fixed deals I am holding fast for the next few months past this 'energy crisis'.

Whatever the outcome of my complaint, as soon as I am able I will be changing suppliers. I never want to have to deal with such a disrespectful company ever again. Just wish I didn't have to be stuck with them for longer than I wanted to.

Tips: Despite technology always have paper billing records so you can argue a point of dispute and never ever have an OVO account.

I was with Southern electric. No one informed me that they switched me to OVO lectrics. I received final reminder letter with threathing me with court case. I had no idea what was all about. I dialled twice and waited and waited, no one picks up my call. I sent them an email, no reply. I never had any issues with my bills nor with Southern electric. I already paid online full amount which looked overcharged with no explaination. I am now looking for new provider to switch. OVO electrics, all I can say VERY RUDE MANAGEMENT, no communications, I don't want to abuse English language because of these kind of INEPT management. Just stay away from this people. Hopefully, they can read this and learn how to deal with people. I gave one star to them just write down my experience.

As an SSE shareholder I was surprised to be transferred to OVO with no consultation

Initial problems included them sending me the same bill everyday for a week after I had paid SSE.

Now I have received my first proper OVO bill. Seven pages but no indication of which readings were estimated. For payment I always used SSEs automated telephone service I discovered OVO can't offer payment by phone at weekends !

Just received an email from Ovo Energy re my complaint totally dismissing me. They say they could not prove the complaint came from me despite me providing full details of my telephone conversation with their advisor Malcolm. They said they could not recognise my email address and tried to telephone me but were unsuccessful. Odd that they managed to contact me with a survey on how their advisor had handled my call (it took 35 mins for Ovo to answer my call) Sarah Bell (Head of Customer Care) you should be ashamed on seeing this, plus giving out my full email address in your NON response email

One star is far too generous for this bunch of clowns, I don’t know where to start, absolutely useless in all aspects, give them a wide berth folks.

Terrible company customer service would not take meter reading. Very rude, and perfectic attitude. Would not put me trough to complatants nor to a higher supervisor or manager. My advice stay clear. Meter reading were attempted because if the price rise, I feared they may take advantage of the price rises by back dating it from the the 1st April 2022. Wake up people. We are been pkayed.