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Octopus Energy, including Intelligent and go
- Thread starter UrbanSplash
- Start date
ACarneiro
Active Member
Seems like you really have a CS problem, but it's most certainly not "a con".
I agree, however, that the consumer seems to be pretty unprotected when it comes to matters outside their control like the spurious "missing readings" issue. The whole smart meter infrastructure seems pretty crap, and I believe more protections will need to be put in place to take the onus of crap infrastructure away from the consumer and onto the smart metering provider.
I agree, however, that the consumer seems to be pretty unprotected when it comes to matters outside their control like the spurious "missing readings" issue. The whole smart meter infrastructure seems pretty crap, and I believe more protections will need to be put in place to take the onus of crap infrastructure away from the consumer and onto the smart metering provider.
phil4
Member
I went through something similar at the start of this year... but it all worked out in my favour. Here's what happened:
My meter stopped sending readings. I asked them to "get them" they did, it stopped again, I asked, they couldn't.
They investigated, after months no response, so I complained.
They moved me to their based flexi tarrif while they investigated.
Meter was faulty, so needed new firmware, which took more months.
Eventually with it fixed they went back, got all the old reading, recalculated my bills, and refunded me the over charges.
It took many months, but I got there in the end. Their fallback was to move be to Flexible, but they did work it all out historically in the end.
Good luck.
My meter stopped sending readings. I asked them to "get them" they did, it stopped again, I asked, they couldn't.
They investigated, after months no response, so I complained.
They moved me to their based flexi tarrif while they investigated.
Meter was faulty, so needed new firmware, which took more months.
Eventually with it fixed they went back, got all the old reading, recalculated my bills, and refunded me the over charges.
It took many months, but I got there in the end. Their fallback was to move be to Flexible, but they did work it all out historically in the end.
Good luck.
Thank you for the information, this will definitely help. I'm not backing down on this and just insulted by the £50 offer. No calls to explain or anything.
Glad to hear you got it sorted too. Lets hope I get similar treatment from them.
ACarneiro
Active Member
Well, that’s your opinion which you are perfectly entitled to but I still disagree.
A “con” would imply a deliberate ruse with the intent to swindle you out of money.
what happened to you is very clearly in their terms of service so it’s not “out of the blue”, even though I accept that you’re being unfairly overcharged due to circumstances outside your control (and possibly outside the direct control of Octopus Energy as well!)
The same tariff is working very well for a very large number of people (although I’m not ready to try it out due to its unreliability, which your case is yet another example of).
Others have had similar problems as posted above so I’m sure you’ll be able to solve yours eventually, so good luck!
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Totally understand. Can you see my point on the "con" though? No explanation for any of this, then suddenly charging me three times more than I should be? It feels like an intent to swindle money out of me, especially after chasing them constantly for the issue to be resolved.Well, that’s your opinion which you are perfectly entitled to but I still disagree.
A “con” would imply a deliberate ruse with the intent to swindle you out of money.
what happened to you is very clearly in their terms of service so it’s not “out of the blue”, even though I accept that you’re being unfairly overcharged due to circumstances outside your control (and possibly outside the direct control of Octopus Energy as well!)
The same tariff is working very well for a very large number of people (although I’m not ready to try it out due to its unreliability, which your case is yet another example of).
Others have had similar problems as posted above so I’m sure you’ll be able to solve yours eventually, so good luck!
Grrrr I'm still shaking lol
ACarneiro
Active Member
Oh, I 100% see your point and agree with your seething anger. Don’t get me wrong on that.
Have a cuppa, it’ll all get sorted eventually.
Octopus are trying very hard to make a difference in energy usage patterns (IO is a prime example of that) so I suspect it’s in their best interests to make that tariff work for everyone.
You’re just being a victim of CS drones saying “computer says no” (probably made worse by the the huge influx of customers from the Bulb merger) which can be soul-destroying.
Maybe you could drop an email to [email protected] with a concise description of what happened and they might make something happen?
As I said, I’m sure it’ll all be fixed.
We tend to react to companies as if they are a person. If a person was doing this to you it would be so crazy and unfair that you would have to believe it was intentional deceit. The reality is that a company is not a person. A company is more like a machine ... it has lots of parts to make it work and if a part breaks you end up with a problem. It's annoying when a machine has problems but the only thing that happens when you give it a hard kick is that you break your foot. It's not easy but try and muster some calm thoughts and keep on keeping on!
Not the same problem you have had but still anoying. I switched from Go to IO but had a problem always getting a charge schedule so after 2 weeks i gave up and asked to be switched back to Go which they did.
When I got my bill during the time on IO i still had the GO 4 hours of cheap rate and many of the half hour charging slots were outside this time and were charged at the full rate and also I scheduled household appliances to come on at 11.30 p.m which should have been the start of IO off peak also charged at full rate.
Asked them to correct this but was told as I was switched back to GO on my previous rate as if I had never been on IO I had to suck it up, bit annoying but small potatoes in the scheme of things and lucky to have 4 hours cheap EV charging every night I guess. GO is so much less hassle than IO was!
When I got my bill during the time on IO i still had the GO 4 hours of cheap rate and many of the half hour charging slots were outside this time and were charged at the full rate and also I scheduled household appliances to come on at 11.30 p.m which should have been the start of IO off peak also charged at full rate.
Asked them to correct this but was told as I was switched back to GO on my previous rate as if I had never been on IO I had to suck it up, bit annoying but small potatoes in the scheme of things and lucky to have 4 hours cheap EV charging every night I guess. GO is so much less hassle than IO was!
Leejmoff I feel your pain. When my current go tariff expired (June) I renewed to Go again (July) on the new rates and when the time came to moving over it seemed to go as planned but I didnt check the meter. 1 month later i notice on my account it couldn't show me any readings, so i call them up and followed up with an email they said they will look into remotely. Constantly chasing them to find a solution 3 months of nothing and eventually they organised an engineer visit in Nov. Sods law a few days before they due to come out and suddenly the meter is responding but the data is all over the place some data missing some days and some days data is there. With the same worry as you being over charged they customer service say (including the engineer) that the meters still hold the data with over all usage they just need to gather it and work it out. Still waiting for a bill as i have not been charged since July so expecting a big one but been building a buffer. hopefully they can sort it out otherwise i will be following the same route with the complaint.
GOOD NEWS EVERYONE !
After a very blunt email or two complaining to various email addresses this morning, I had a very quick reply, from who I imagine is in charge of customer services. His name was Phil, who magically found all of my readings within an hour of complaining, and sent me a brand new bill corresponding to those "half hour meter readings" that were not available previously.
So I'm glad its sorted, but I have to admit I'm not happy with the way this was dealt with. Its strange how as soon as this was escalated, it got resolved instantly. Trying to overcharge me then offer me £50 compensation is a massive insult and this has me worried for the rest of the term and beyond. I shouldn't have to complain/moan for months and then threaten media/Ombudsman etc.
No idea if I can mark this as a closed thread or anything?
After a very blunt email or two complaining to various email addresses this morning, I had a very quick reply, from who I imagine is in charge of customer services. His name was Phil, who magically found all of my readings within an hour of complaining, and sent me a brand new bill corresponding to those "half hour meter readings" that were not available previously.
So I'm glad its sorted, but I have to admit I'm not happy with the way this was dealt with. Its strange how as soon as this was escalated, it got resolved instantly. Trying to overcharge me then offer me £50 compensation is a massive insult and this has me worried for the rest of the term and beyond. I shouldn't have to complain/moan for months and then threaten media/Ombudsman etc.
No idea if I can mark this as a closed thread or anything?
spooksman
Member
phil4
Member
Have spoken to you via PM and glad it's sorted.
Just a general comment for the group and not directed solely at you @Leejmoff:
These are beta tariffs, and very niche ones at that. Your average customer services drone knows very little about them, how they work and what to do when things go wrong. You could definitely argue they should know more or Octopus should have a dedicated team looking after them, but just trying to explain the realities. They'll be working from a standard if x then do y approach.
So when things mess up as they have here, it's about remaining calm but persistent and eventually the query will get through to the right people. Phil isn't customer services, but he works across the beta tariffs and is senior enough to make help things happen when stuff isn't going to plan.
Just a general comment for the group and not directed solely at you @Leejmoff:
These are beta tariffs, and very niche ones at that. Your average customer services drone knows very little about them, how they work and what to do when things go wrong. You could definitely argue they should know more or Octopus should have a dedicated team looking after them, but just trying to explain the realities. They'll be working from a standard if x then do y approach.
So when things mess up as they have here, it's about remaining calm but persistent and eventually the query will get through to the right people. Phil isn't customer services, but he works across the beta tariffs and is senior enough to make help things happen when stuff isn't going to plan.
Also bear in mind that they have grown enormously in a short space of time with other niche players failing which must have really stressed their Staffing and Internal Processes. Like others I have always found them honest and they have certainly shaken up the Big 6 Electricity Suppliers to everyone's benefit on here.
ACarneiro
Active Member
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