Ovo bungled my aged Dad’s £2,285 credit score refund: CRANE ON THE CASE

My father is 81, deaf and has numerous well being issues. He has simply moved into sheltered lodging as he can now not handle residing alone, and I’ve been serving to him type out his payments.

When packing up his previous home I seen a invoice from his power provider, Ovo Energy, which revealed a big in-credit stability of £2,285. I feel this has occurred as a result of he can not bend all the way down to learn the meter and has been charged primarily based on estimates.

In August 2023, I requested for the account to be closed and for the credit score to be refunded. As of January, it has not been – regardless of many, many calls and emails.

One particular person will say it’s being processed, then weeks later another person will inform me the method was by no means began and I have to ship totally different data.

Sometimes they are saying I’ll have the cash in per week, generally 10 days, and different instances 28 or 40 days and even six weeks. I’m extremely annoyed. 

Ovo’s customer support has been horrible. Please are you able to assist? I.C, Essex

Helen Crane, This is Money’s client champion replies: I obtain many emails from prospects who’re at their wits’ finish with an organization’s customer support division – however the ineptitude you have got been subjected to is on one other degree. 

The regulator Ofgem has already rapped power corporations on the knuckles for the way they deal with prospects, and primarily based on what we hear from our readers Ovo is among the worst offenders.  

You instructed me your father is unable to bend all the way down to learn his meter, so has not submitted a studying for the reason that final time somebody from his power agency visited to take action a number of years in the past.

This means he has been billed on estimates, slightly than his precise utilization.

The quantity of credit score he has constructed up suggests these estimates had been vastly inflated.

As we’ve beforehand reported, many Ovo prospects have had issues with their payments not being charged accurately. 

Luckily in your father this meant he ended up with an enormous quantity of extra credit score, slightly than being debited for power he didn’t use like others say they’ve been.

Your father’s downside stems from the truth that power corporations do not typically ship somebody to learn a buyer’s meter any extra, as a substitute counting on them to submit them themselves. 

That wasn’t attainable for him, and you reside greater than 500 miles away so weren’t simply in a position to assist – although you have got submitted the odd studying over time. 

If somebody cannot learn their meter, Ovo says it would ship somebody to take action every quarter. The particular person will have to be on its precedence companies register, a database of consumers who’re aged, ailing or in any other case in better want of warmth of their dwelling.

It can also be attainable to get your meter moved if you cannot learn it. If you might be in your power agency’s precedence companies register, they need to do that free of charge.

But typically, and as is the case together with your father, individuals are not conscious of the register and due to this fact do not ask to be placed on it.  

Once you had seen the large stability in your father’s account, attempting to get Ovo’s customer support employees to refund it revealed a list of errors. Some of the messages you have got proven me are laughable.

Sadly that displays the expertise of tons of of different prospects of the agency, who’ve written to me to precise their frustration.

You first contacted the agency in August and requested it to ship you a refund of the credit score stability, as you have got energy of lawyer in your father.

Like many older individuals, your father didn’t have a direct debit arrange and as a substitute paid his power payments over the cellphone or by cheque when he obtained them. This  meant the cash couldn’t be mechanically credited to his checking account and needed to be despatched by cheque as a substitute.

At first, you had been instructed a refund was beneath method. But a month later in September, you referred to as once more and had been instructed no refund had beforehand been initiated and you’d now want to attend 40 days for the cash.

When 40 days handed, and no cheque had been obtained, you referred to as Ovo once more – solely to listen to as soon as extra that no refund had been initiated.

This time, you had been instructed you wanted to ship an image of your father’s meter as a way to get the refund. Increasingly determined to get it sorted, you requested a neighbour to take one and despatched it on. You had been assured you’d have the cheque in 10 days.

But hours later, one other member of employees emailed and stated it will be 4 weeks. If that wasn’t sufficient, one other particular person emailed the identical day, once more asking for a photograph of the meter.

You instructed me you felt such as you had been working for Ovo at this level, as you had been spending a lot time emailing and calling forwards and backwards with its employees.

You replied to certainly one of these emails expressing your frustration, and obtained a reply saying no move-out or refund had been initiated and also you wanted to ship pictures of the meter readings.

So you despatched them once more, little question whereas banging your head in opposition to a wall.

A few weeks later, in December, you phoned once more. This time, Ovo stated the refund course of had began and the cash can be with you in per week.

But when per week handed, there was once more no cheque. Just earlier than Christmas you phoned once more, to be instructed you’d obtain the ultimate payments on the account in 4 to 6 weeks and a cheque 15 days after the ultimate invoice was obtained.

Your persistence lastly ran out, and also you demanded to know precisely when your father would get his £2,285.

Ovo seemed into it once more, and also you had been instructed there was an issue with the small print on the account and that the knowledge it had for you was not full. You offered the knowledge and had been instructed it will take 14 days for the cheque to reach.

Someone else emailed shortly after to say it will take 28 days. With all these missed deadlines, I feel Ovo owes you a calendar. Yours will certainly be working out of house. 

Finally, in January, you obtained a name to say the cheque can be despatched and you’d get £30 compensation.

It did certainly arrive, however to your father’s dwelling and to not yours as requested.

That did not matter, although, because the cheque you had waited almost six months for was made out within the fallacious identify and was due to this fact unattainable to money.

After all that forwards and backwards, Ovo’s failure to document a easy element accurately rendered the entire train a complete waste of your time. This was once you contacted me in frustration to ask if I may assist.

I despatched Ovo a (lengthy) electronic mail detailing all the guarantees you had been made about when the cheque would arrive. 

It did lastly get it posted to your father, this time in the precise identify, and your compensation has been elevated to £100.

Ovo admitted it had your father’s identify incorrectly recorded and that this had now been corrected.

A spokesman stated: ‘We’re sorry for the size of time it has taken to refund [this customer]. A full refund has now been made and a gesture of goodwill accepted.’

Even although it’s now sorted, you have got continued to obtain emails from the client companies workforce at Ovo. 

‘It is a pity this wasted effort could not go in direction of serving to the numerous different prospects who say they’re having issues as a substitute.

The newest one learn: ‘I’ve checked the account and sadly you ain’t down as financially liable so we would not have the ability to ship you something out and we’d want to debate this verify being ship with the account holder.’

Between the mystifying phrase ‘financially liable’ and poor grammar, it’s a message as complicated as it’s unprofessional.

You instructed me: ‘I’m simply grateful to shut this sorry saga and that I ‘ain’t’ gotta take care of them anymore’.

Boots will solely refund my dwelling supply cross in retailer 

In July 2023, I paid £55 for an annual supply cross from my native Boots pharmacy. This was as a result of I wrestle to get to the retailers to gather my medicine in particular person.  

However, on two events Boots was unable to get one of many medicine I used to be prescribed, that means I needed to get it from a special pharmacy and ask household and buddies to select it up for me. 

I due to this fact requested a refund for the cross in September 2023. I initially paid for it on my card over the cellphone and simply wished a refund to the identical account. 

Now Boots says it could possibly’t refund the  cash to my card except I’m going to the shop. I’m unable to do that – it was the purpose of getting a supply cross. L.C, Tyne and Wear

Helen Crane replies: I’m sorry to listen to this. Life sounds powerful sufficient for you with out having to take care of this sort of admin subject. 

Your authentic fee was processed by way of a until within the Boots retailer, once you learn out your card particulars over the cellphone – however you have got now been instructed it could possibly solely be refunded through the until should you take the cardboard there in particular person. 

I contacted Boots, and it has now despatched you a type to fill out and submit, as a way to have the cash refunded by BACS switch. 

I’m not a funds professional, however filling out and posting a type appears a really long-winded solution to get a easy refund. 

In my opinion, it is best to have the ability to the cash again the identical method you paid – however no less than you’ll now get it, nevertheless lengthy it takes. 

The particular person you spoke to has provided so as to add some factors to your Advantage Card or ship you a present card to make up for the way lengthy this has taken.