When support goes wrong

My travails dealing with Octopus Energy support.. a story of shouting into the void.

For some years I’ve been getting FIT payments for my solar panels.. Mostly this has gone OK.. the system is somewhat bureaucratic, a bit slow, but works.  I’d apply, then a couple of weeks later would get a payment.

My FIT payment provider for a couple of years was Bulb, who went bust, then bought by Octopus and my feed in tariff got transferred automatically.  In normal circumstances this would have been uninteresting.. companies get bought and customers transferred all the time. However, in this case, FIT was new to Octopus – they hadn’t done it before (they have their own version based on smart meters).

The story starts mid June 2023.

Initially I got my normal reminder from Bulb, went to submit my reading, but their website said I had been transferred to Octopus.  Fair enough.. now, how do I give my reading to Octopus?  Nothing on their website hinted at how to do so..

I tried calling (btw. I strongly dislike using phones for support – it doesn’t keep a written record.. which is precisely why companies like it, of course).  They were clueless as well, but said someone would call me back to follow up. Of course, nobody did (has *any* company in the history of telephones ever actually called back when they said they would?)

I continued to follow up by email, but at this point didn’t suspect any more than the usual slowness. The first email I have recorded is 29th June..

Hi

It’s been nearly a week.. the FIT is now overdue.As it’s the summer one it’s a decent amount of money so I’d rather get this sorted.

Hello Tony,

Thanks for getting in touch.

I can see your FiT has started to migrate over to us, however I’m just

going to ask our smart tariff specialists for some help with this.

I will let you know when they get back to me!

Love and Power,

All good.. it’s going to ‘specialists’.   I’m not *entirely* sure why a routine reading would need that, and what smart tariffs have to do with it but OK.. and indeed, they followed through on the 7th July, 8 days later.

Hi Tony,

Thank you for getting in touch and I am sorry for the delay in getting back to you,

Your FIT account is on a separate account as you know, however, if you could send over your FIT reading we can get this added for you.

Kind Regards,

Good so far.. and indeed 3 days later I get:

Thank you for sending that through.

I can confirm this has been added to your account now.

All the best,

Great!  End of document!  All done!

If only if it was that easy..

I left it a bit, a month in fact, because I know payment can be slow. Indeed on the 7th of August I received a following:

We are getting in touch to let you know that we will be crediting your FiT account shortly. We just need to check one final detail: If you are happy for the FiT payment to be made into the direct debit account which is already set up with Octopus Energy, then there’s nothing that you need to do – we will arrange this payment for you.

I am, indeed happy for that to happen, so this seems simple enough… I don’t need to do anything, it’ll all be taken care of.. it’s *late* (Bulb could get to this point in under 2 weeks) but I’m not especially bothered.

However, nothing ever appeared.. and 3 weeks later, on 30th August, I’m getting a tad impatient so decide to ask what the holdup is.

Hi,

What’s the definition of ‘shortly’ here?  It’s been 3 weeks since you sent this message and no sign of the FIT payment.

No reply was received.  It’s worth mentioning here that Octopus unlike most other companies don’t have an autoresponder or ticketing system.. you never know if they received your email until they reply.. this can lead to long waits whilst you don’t really know what’s going on.

However I’m a patient man.  I waited another 2 weeks to send this..

Hi,

It’s now 2 months since you got the reading.. any ETA on a date, or even just how much?

And was greeted with complete silence. No response at all.. however 6 days later I get the reminder for the *next* FIT (these are every 3 months, so it’s a visible reminder of how much time has passed since this started).

Hi Tony,

It’s time to submit a Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) read..

To which I replied..

You still haven’t paid the last one yet..

This, at last, got a response!  It’s now, for those keeping score, 19th September.

Hi there,

Thanks for getting in touch.

I’m really sorry for the delay in getting back to you.

I have raised this with our Smart tariff team to look into this further for you.

I will be in touch in the next 2 days with an update on this.

Kind Regards,

Worth noting here that FIT is *not* a smart tariff so I’m not really sure what the ‘smart tariff team’ has to do with this.. but at least it’s being raised with somebody.

And a promise to get back in 2 days with a deadline. Well, you can guess what happened.. Precisely nothing! 6 days later I gave up waiting and asked what was going on, a little sarcastically..

2 days is up, and then some..

This got a response!

Hi Tony,

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. I apologize for any

inconvenience caused. I have raised this to our fit team to get the

last reading billed first. They will investigate the issue and ensure

that the outstanding payment is processed as soon as possible.

If you have any further questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate

to let me know.

Kind regards,

This time raised with the correct team at least.. I wasn’t impressed.. it was ‘raised’ the previous week, with a firm promise they’d get back in 2 days, which didn’t happen. At this point we’re 3 months in, so I express my frustration..

<redcated> did the same thing last week and nothing came back..

If someone could just own it and say what’s wrong I’d be grateful.. promises of it being ‘raised’ don’t inspire confidence the second time around.

They didn’t respond at all to that.  I think I hurt their feelings or something.

Anyway, time to kick it up a notch, let’s follow the escalation procedure.  This is clearly documented on their website, so on 3rd October I send this to issueresolution@octopus.energy

Hi,

I’ve been struggling to get anyone to respond over this.. I’m still owed a FIT payment from July and have been getting nothing back other than promises that people would follow up but they never do.

Surely this should be simple?  Bulb would normally pay out with 2 weeks.

For good measure I attached the entire email history up to this point, so the escalation team had all the context.

This at least got a response.. 2 days later I got a reply from the *same person* who had been communicating before.. so the escalation procedure was a waste of time, then..

Hi Tony,

Thank you for getting in touch with us. I’m sorry to hear that you’re experiencing issues with your account.

Based on the information you’ve provided, it seems that we need to add bank details to your account. This will allow us to process payments and manage your account effectively.

To add your bank details, please log in to your online account and navigate to the payment section. From there, you can enter your bank details securely. If you haven’t set up an online account yet, you can do so by visiting our website at Manage your account.

If you encounter any difficulties or have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We’re here to help.

Kind regards,

Wait.. They don’t have my bank details?  How have I been paying my Electricity and Gas bills then?   Checked the website.. yep.. bank details already submitted a long time ago, and still there, on both accounts (there are two, for some reason I’m not prepared to bother them about).  I remind them of this..

Both the accounts have my bank details already.

Again.. complete radio silence.  8 days later, on 13th October I try to escalate again.. this time to the CEO, greg@octopus.energy. In theory a more serious escalation than my previous one (although I’m aware it probably never gets to the CEO himself).

Hi,

Since emails to issueresolution seem to be ignored, and nobody seems to have a clue how to deal with this, this is my final escalation before putting he whole thing in the hands of the Ombudsman.

I’ve been trying to get this sorted since July.  Paying FIT should just be a matter of subtracting two numbers and multiplying by the unit rate.  It shouldn’t take 3 months.

Everyone is taking weeks to reply and just fobbing me off with ‘it has been escalated’ or suggesting things which have been already tried.  It’s beyond silly at this point.

Of course, nothing was escalated, 4 days later on 17th October  I got a response from one of the two people I had been conversing with (there are two, that seemed to work in shifts).

Hi Tony,

I’d like to apologise for the time it has taken for me to get back to you.

I can appreciate this is frustrating and I’d like to get this resolved for you as soon as possible.

I have received an update from our FiT team and they have advised that if you provided a FIT reading by the 30th September the outstanding FIT payments will be auto-processed. But if you would like paying to the July reading first, we will need the bank details adding to the FIT ledger, then we will need to wait a week for the Direct Debit to go live before we can process the payment.

If you could add your bank details to this form attached and add up to date meter readings we can get this credited.

Kind Regards,

A lot to unpack here.  Firstly the apologies are wearing a little thin.  An apology only matters if you actually mean it.  When you *continually* delay replying it starts to look like policy.

Secondly if a reading from 30th September can be auto processed, they  have the bank details for that, yes?  So why don’t they  have the bank details for July? (and once again I checked and they do).   Alternatively if they don’t have the bank details, then it’s impossible for a reading from 30th September to be processed?  The two statements can’t both be true.

Thirdly Direct debit.. what?  *they* are paying *me*.  No direct debit is involved.  Once again I’m doubting Octopus know how FIT actually works.

Asking for my bank details again.. they’re right there on their website, but it seems their support people don’t have access to it.  I filled it in and sent it anyway.

The very next day!  And it looks like we’re getting somewhere at last.  Could this be over?

Hi Tony,

Thank you for reaching out to us. I understand that you would like to have a credit raised on your account. I have taken note of your request and have raised this to be credited.

If you have any further questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to let me know.

Kind regards,

Dancing in the streets, declare a national holiday, etc..

Not so fast!.. 2 days later, 20th October I get this..

Hi,

I’m sorry to hear about the delay in your FiT payment. I understand how frustrating this must be for you. I will look into this matter for you and ensure that it is resolved as soon as possible.

Would it be possible for you to please fill out the form attached to this email?

Thank you for your patience, and I apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Kind regards,

So now they want the *same* document I sent them only 2 days previously, which they appeared to acknowledge they had received, and even claimed to have raised a credit based on..

In the 2 days that followed all of that undid itself and they completely lost the details, and have to ask for them again.

I’m not being polite any more in my replies..

I *literally* just filled out this exact document 2 days ago..

This doesn’t fill me with confidence if you’ve lost it already.

This worked… Somehow they must have found it down the back of the sofa or something, as 4 days later I got this..

Hi there Tony,

Thank you for completing this.

I’m sorry forb the time it has taken to have this resolved.

I have passed this over to our FiT team to have this updated on your account.

If you have any further queries in the mean time please do let me know.

Kind Regards,

So back to it being passed to the (possibly fictitious) ‘FIT team’ where we were a couple of months ago.  

6 days later, I’m getting ready to follow up again but they beat me to it and I get this..

Hi,

I re-raised this with the FIT team and it seems we have the bank details on your normal acocunt but not on the Feed In Tariff section of your account so we are unable to process the refund.

Are you happy for me to ring you tomorrow and take the details for this?

Thankyou,

Yup, they’ve lost the bank details *again*.  God help Octopus if they ever have an Audit if this is how they run their finances..  No more Mr nice guy in my reply..

what the hell?

I just last week filled in a PDF form with the details *as well as* ensuring that the same details were on both accounts.

I received an acknowledgement that you had received the form with the details and were processing the payment.

Now you have LOST THEM????

What assurance do I have you won’t simply lose them again if you do call?

He did not call. To be fair I didn’t exactly come across as welcoming a call on that previous email..

Then, a day later, bizarrely a reply to an email from a couple of week previously..  the wheels have truly come off at this point.. Try and work out how this is in any way related to the previous 2-3 emails.

Hi Tony,

My apologies, but I’m not able to see the attachment in the email thread. Would it be possible for you to reply to my email with it attached? This way, I can make sure it reaches the right destination.

Thanks for your understanding.

Best regards,

This truly bizarre email tells me that Octopus support have no visibility on previous, or indeed current customer communication, it’s all being done randomly.  It’s no wonder their customer support is such a mess.  What confuses me is it’s the same 2 people.. don’t they ever talk to each other? At all?

This brings us to the 31st, where I sent the same document to them for the third time.

Maybe they won’t lose it this time.. I’m not hopeful.

7th November Edit:

The clown show continues.. And yes, they lost it.

Hi Tony,

Thank you for getting in touch. I apologise for any inconvenience caused.

I understand that you were looking for a PDF with some details. Unfortunately, I couldn’t locate the PDF. To avoid any further delays, I will give you a call later this evening to collect the details manually.

If you have any other questions or concerns in the meantime, please feel free to let me know.

Kind regards,

I don’t know what they’re on about I was looking for a document. I *have* the document, and have sent it to them 3 times. That last time was a week ago.

I’m about to send it to them for a 4th time..

Here is the document *again*. This is now the 4th time.

I think I keep going for the entertainment value now.. I’ve given up ever actually getting the FIT.

(Spoiler: He did not call).

Hi Tony,

Thank you for getting in touch. I have added these to the account and passed it to the FIT team to get the credit added for your latest reading.

I will update you shortly.

Thankyou,

Not holding my breath.. Anyway.. a week later, 15th November:

Hi Tony, Thanks for providing us a FiT read this quarter. We’ve attached your statement to this email, which confirms our calculations and the total payment you’re due. Please note: we haven’t processed the payments for your outstanding balance yet. We’re expecting the money to arrive in your account within the next 3 – 4 weeks. Anything not covered above? Let us know and the team will be able to help. Kind regards, The Octopus FiT team

Success! Possibly.. I’ll know in 3-4 weeks apparently. Note there’s no contact name here, and the email is from the generic hello@ so if I do want to contact them about anything it goes back into the generic support queue and we’re back to square 1.. But I’m not tempting fate by trying that..