OVO Europe Reviews 130

Have been trying to get an answer to where my discount has gone from my bills and have now given up. The cost goes up and up and even though i have a meter installed by them they seem to still be estimating my bills....Its finally made me so fed up im just going to move.....Started well failed quickly....

Best move changing to OVO.

I have been with OVO for over a year now & I have had no problems at all. I have been offered a smart meter, but have declined it as I wanted to wait until they had any bugs sorted & OVO never pushed me to get one. I supply my meter readings via the OVO app & get my monthly bill soon after. My bills have been way lower & better managed, than what I had with British Gas, so I'm much happier. I would happily recommend OVO to anyone.

I signed up with Ovo after seeing the cheaper tarrif on Money Supermarket energy club. I was also promised cashback to switch both fuels. I only ever received one payment for electricity as Ovo messed up the gas switch 3 times. This meant I did not fullfil the conditions necessary for the cashback. Unfair as it was their fault. After about a year, my gas (smart) meter stopped working. I made an appointment to have it fixed in August 2018. The repair company cancelled the appointment and I was asked to ring to make another appointment. I did this but was told that thy had no appointments in my area. They promised to ring back. They never did. I rang again and was told the same story. No appointments available. They promised to ring back. They didn't. I rang again last week and had the same promise. Monday. It is now Thusday. No one has rung back. Meanwhile, they are free to charge me whatever they like for gas, despite the liklihood that I use less than average as a single occupant of a three bed house. I will move away as soon as my deal ends in November. Avoid this company.

I took out a two year duel fuel agreement with OVO in Sept 2017. Shortly after there were press reports complaining of general overcharging by OVO. A few months later I agreed to increasing my direct debit payments. There were more press reports about OVO price increases in June & Sept 2018 but according to customer services the increases did not apply to people on two year deals. In Sept 2018 they sent an email stating their terms & conditions were changing for people on two year deals, previous discounts will not now apply and the latest T&Cs must be strictly adhered to, otherwise discounts will automatically be lost without notice. Further negative press reports followed. They changed their customer services telephone number and one of the latest T&C clauses said their telephone is no longer available for customer queries. If you now contact OVO by telephone, email or social media with customer queries you will lose your energy discount for not using their web helpline. The press reports stated if customers on a contract were unhappy with the latest rules they could switch energy provider with no penalty. But when I queried this with customer services (by telephone) they said my penalty for switching before the contract expires, still applies. Potential customers should be cautious about sharp practices. OVO appear to publish attractive headline prices then subsequently do their best to tweak the cost up. Similar to extra airline baggage charges, catching you out for not precisely following the small print T&Cs. OVO have assured me if I comply with the T&Cs my discounts will no longer be stopped in the future and they will inform me before my contract expires in Sept 2019, to enable me to switch without penalty. Hopefully switching away from OVO will not be as difficult as other reviewers are suggesting.

I switched over from this joke of a company July. When switching, I requested with my new supplier to supply me both with Electricity and Gas. I settled my Final Bill - so I thought - and then cancelled my DD with the Bank as they were no longer my suppliers. I have now discovered that the Electric supply has been switched over to the new supplier BUT NOT the Gas. For some reason OVO had messed up and have not adhered to my request, even though all Final Readings were supplied to them. To add insult to injury, when I contacted my new supplier I was advised that OVO refused the switch over because I owe them some money. Seeing as I have never received a Final Bill for gas and only yesterday I received a regular invoice from OVO and NOT THE FINAL INVOICE EITHER. OVO need to pull their socks up. A very incompetent useless company. AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE!!!!.
UPDATES
Today 10th Sept. 2018 I have spoken to OVO and they have admitted their error for flagging the account accidentally (human error I was told). However, as a way of apology, they have now released the account and given me a £30.00 credit. BUT STILL AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE I WILL!!!

I would recommend avoiding this company and look else where. I joined Ovo and are going to re switch again, terrible company , BEWARE THE DIRECT DEBIT estimates, far far exceed your previous useage

I seem to be having the same issue as everyone else, they decide your usage is much more than they estimate and decide to up your monthly direct debit to which you can not change! They harass you every single month for meter readings which in my experience only need to be given once every other month. Last month when I supplied them , they decided my KWH had gone from on average per month 202 to 498!! When I questioned them on this they advised that it was my fault for not supplying the meter readings more often ( in the last 8 month I have supplied 3) . They estimated my meter reading to be 45552 , I supplied 45482 which is lower yet now they state they have re calculated my KWH based on the new readings saying it was too low - surely this means then they have been 'underestimating my KWH since Nov 17!? When I first complained about my direct debit increasing from £60 - £90 (this is for a 2 bed semi!) he told me they do this as they have a responsibility to ensure I don't get into debt . This is obviously a lie and they do all they can to rinse you of money - they allow no time to let it even out throughout the year. So they think I owe them currently £80.00 - not for the fact they have had £71.30 worth of standing charges from me. I am currently following their complaints process & will be going to the regulator if I have to. If anyone is in the same boat getting driven into debt by this company I suggest you do the same.

Generally Good - but have asked them so many times for a smart reader (over 2 years) and they are still a dated company in this regard. Will give them one more chance or will probably jump ship. Pricing is fair but you have to go through a lengthy chat to get the right and fair deal.

Terrible company. AVOID. Customer service said my gas usage was 230921 units in 362 days. Unable to get the information online as the company cannot give this Information until end of July 2018....just after my renewal date. I would sooner go back to candlelight and log fires than carry on being a customer of Ovo

I have switched to OVO Energy after disastrous experience with e-on and am so far very happy!

The company runs on a tissue of lies, from the claim of 100 per cent renewable energy to the morons sent out to fit their dodgy smart meters without ever being asked. I would not trust this company to change or power a lightbulb

The worst Mistake I ever made was move to Ovo Energy.
A replacement electric meter being fitted at my property started a series of blunders which has gone on for over a year.
Ovo didn`t record the new meter being fitted so my meter readings seemed incorrect to them.
This meant every bill I received afterwards was for a completely different amount to what I actually owed.
I made numerous phone calls to sort it out and was palmed off with `Its being looked in to` each time. I was passed around every department and fobbed off as nobody wanted to get involved in sorting the issue.
No one got back to me and nothing was resolved.
I sent emails pointing out the issue and pleading with Ovo to look into it - The emails went unanswered.
A year later Ovo decide I owe them £800 and they suddenly become very keen to communicate with me.
I set up a payment plan to re pay the arrears and made the payments requested on time. Despite this Ovo continued sending me threatening letters regarding the `debt` I had incurred due to their inability to manage my meter exchange.
Following my complaints Ovo apologised for their billing errors, sending me the unnecessary threatening letters, and for ignoring my emails. They said they would credit my account with £75 for the inconvenience which I accepted.
A few days later I noticed my credit rating had taken a dive. Upon investigating this it appears Ovo have mistakenly marked my account as Delinquent which has caused serious ramifications for me as a self employed person.
Ovo have eventually removed this delinquent marker after numerous phone calls. However the damage has already been done.
The arrogance of the people you speak to and the total disregard for the consequences of their actions is astounding.
I am currently compiling a report about my treatment to submit to Ofgem as this behaviour in unacceptable.

I used a switching website (Money Saving Expert) to look at my gas and electricity billing. I put in the details of what I was currently paying and they recommended that switching to Ovo would save me money on my current billing.

Admittedly I should have checked all the charges carefully, but having used them before thought it would be fine. So I switched to Ovo.

I am now paying far more than I was paying with my previous supplier (something like 35% more!!) and tied into a 2 year contract.

I am fairly switched on with these things and have changed my supplier a few times in the past, but I have to say that the whole process was very misleading.

I will be moving away from Ovo at the earliest opportunity.

Sends false and misleading communications to customers

On 8 March 2018 I received a letter what is effectively a false communication regarding and alleged outstanding amount under dispute.

The first paragraph read;
'Our third party debt collection agency recently visited your property, but were not able to successfully agree a payment plan with you. It's important you get in touch with unto set one up'

I contacted Ovo collections (0800 069 983) by phone and spoke with 'Martin'.

I confronted him about the content of the letter asking when the debt collector visited (considering my house is occupied 24/7). He did not know but told me the ONLY debt collection company OVO use are HYDRON.

I contacted Hydron and naturally the confirmed they had never received any instruction from Ovo, had no idea of any visit and confirmed no visit had ever taken place.

PURE LIES BY OVO with the intention of causing harrassment, alarm and distress over a disputed alleged debt.

I then checked my Experian credit history to find OVO had uploaded 5 months of my account payment data (I have been a customer since 2015) the data in which was incorrect stating 3 months late payments - the amount was under dispute since August 2017 and I had in fact made regular account payments.

My advice - DONT EVER USE OVO - they cannot be trusted and lack integrity.

Worst thing i ever did 5 weeks i was with them,switched supply on 26th feb and they will not release control of gas meter to new supplyer until march, app is a day behind, and n 5 weeks they had charged a total of £13.50 just for their standing charges. Customer service no use at all! Would not recomend

UPDATE 2018
I've switched away from Ovo now. Their prices were at the high end of all the suppliers I considered.
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'into my second year with them now and I've never had any problems with them.
Price rises haven't been exorbitant, they take the figure that I have set in the website each month and I haven't built up an excessive positive balance; but if I do, 3-5% interest.
Their consumption graph is pretty inaccurate, not even matching the figures in the statements, I use a spreadsheet.. However, I suspect there's a weird end-of-month for the graph and 14th of the month for statements going on. Hopefully they'll fix that.

My service was great until I got a smart meter. Took 6 months after installing for Ovo to tell me that my meter was not picking up a reading. That was only because I realised they had stop billing me for gas but was still taking the same amount of direct debit.
This has happened twice, now the issue is that Ovo's computers are not taking my readings and making them to accurate bills, again it was me that found thr fault and had to report it to them it's still not resolved. I'm supposed to be on an online plan where I contact them via the app but the issues I am having can not be resolved via an app.
Ovo has very poor communication, if something is wrong with my account they should be informing me not me informing them as I can't see their system. It takes them forever to resolve an issue and there is no communication with a progress of an issue. Smart meter display is wrong but on a positive really like the new feature on the app not sure how accurate it is though??
Think they were better when they first entered the market but now they have the customers they are slacking and no different from the others which is sad.
Hope this helps them improve.

I have been with OVO for a number of years. The increases in tariff have been modest and their website is a model of clarity with good presentations around consumption and costs. If you want to change your monthly payment you can do so easily. In addition they are paying 5% on positive balances. This is far more than you can get from a Bank.

I was disturbed to read some of these reviews of OVO - frankly they are not my experience and don't really make sense in some cases.

This company has gone right down hill. I was so impressed with them last year that I decided to use them on a second property this March too. Now I get an email (for each of the two accounts) almost every month, telling me that I need to pay more on my direct debits, even though they are charging another 50% on top of what was my monthly premium last year. At the end of a recent month of particularly low usage - which they questioned - they did their own estimate a week later and again notified me that my monthly payments weren't likely to cover my annual usage. I've had several phone conversations with them to explain that each property has irregular usage which doesn't conform to their guesstimates. Really wish I'd used a different company as my energy supplier.

THEY WANT YOU TO USE MORE ENERGY SO THEY CAN CHARGE LOADS OF MONEY, THEY MAKE UP READINGS AS HIGH AS POSSIBLE IF YOU DISAGREE WITH THEM THEY MAKE OUT YOU CHEATING THE SYSTEM AND ASK FOR PHOTOGRAPHS AND EVIDENCE, WHICH IS OFFENSIVE, THEN THEY START SENDING METER READERS OUT TO YOUR HOUSE BANGING ON THE DOOR EVERY DAY, “HARASS-MENT” THE LAW DOES NOT SAY YOU HAVE TO GIVE THEM A METER READING EVERY DAY OR EVERY MONTH.
YOU GIVE A METER READING ONLINE, IN YOUR ACCOUNT SOME REASON IT STARTS TO COMPLAIN THAT THE READING DOES NOT FIT WHAT THEY WANT IT TO FIT, THEY WHERE TRYING TO CHARGE ME FOR 5 BEDROOM HOUSE BUT I LIVE IN A ONE BED ROOM APARTMENT PURPOSELY BUILT, FOR LOW ENERGY.

I GAVE THE INCORRECT READING ON MY GAS, THERE IS NO WAY TO CORRECT THIS ON THE ONLINE ACCOUNT, SO I CONTACTED CUSTOMER SERVICE TO GIVE THE CORRECT ONE, NEXT THING YOU KNOW I WAS BEING ACCUSED OF ALL SORTS OF NONSENSE, THIS WAS DISGUSTING ALL I WANTED TO DO IS BE THE GOOD GUY AND GIVE METER READINGS "Samantha" FROM CUSTOMER SERVICE MADE OUT I WAS DOING SOMETHING WRONG AND ACCUSING ME OF GIVING WRONG READINGS IN THE PASSED WHICH WAS NOT TRUE I ONLY HAVE BEEN WITH THEM AROUND 3 MONTHS AND THIS IS WHAT YOU GET PURE HATE, AND FALSE ACCUSATIONS.

HERE IS A COPY OF THE EMAIL
Thank you for getting in touch to advise the electricity reading was entered incorrectly and should be a reading of 15990.
Before I change the reading I would like to request a photograph showing your meter reading and meter serial number on your meter.
The reason we are asking for this is because you have provided readings previously that fall in line with the reading you say is incorrect 05312.
Historic readings you have submitted are as follows:
• 11th January 2017 - 05057
• 16th April 2017 - 05129

Kind regards,
Samantha
OVO Energy

I DO NOT RECOMMEND JOINING THEM THEY WANT YOU TO PAY HIGH PRICES IF YOU DISAGREE THEY SEND COLLECTIONS AND METER READERS TO YOUR HOME EVERY DAY AND THERE STAFF ARE DISGUSTING, THEY PURPOSELY COUSE TROUBLE, AND SEND PEOPLE ROUND YOUR HOUSE IF YOU DISAGREE WITH THEM. IN ADDITION, SEND SMART METER INSTALLERS TO FORCE INSTALLING SMART METERS. NOT GOOD COMPANY AND THEY BULLY YOU TO HAVE SMART METER.

I HAVE ALSO PUT THIS ON MY YOUTUBE. IN ADDITION, COMPLAINED TO CHIEF EXECUTIVE AND BRING IT TO THE OMBUDSMAN AFTER THAT IS DONE I AM LEAVING. NOT GOOD EXPERIENCE. HOPE THE PERSON GETS THE SACK.