I was a long standing SSE customer who paid by direct debit and received my bills quarterly, with an annual review. I never had a problem, an argument or a cross word with SSE. The attitude of the people workign for OVO stinks - that's the politest way I can describe the arrogant attitudes. I'm disabled and have mobility difficulties. OVO staff wanted to know what disability I had before they would send someone round to replace the smart meters that SSE installed that can not communicate with the OVO in home smart meter reader. Talk about an invasion of privacy! The person I spoke with refused to book in an engineer appointment and hung up the phone eventhough I told him my disability was none of his business. I thought the reason for disclosing I had a disability was so that additional assistance could be given but he continued to badger me to tell him details about one of the meters which forced me to go to the meter and when I told him that what he was asking about just wasn't there on the meter he just hung up the phone. Incidently, I had already sent in photos and a video (twice - once in whtasapp and another time in an email) to OVO representatives - clearly, as I told him there does not appear to be any internal communications and even worse attitudes to customer care. I've called and wasted hours of my time since the handover in January with OVO representatives who did nothing to resolve the issues I was experiencing. I keep being antogonised by the staff's attitudes when I ring up and today I think I've found out why - it's because if OVO's system show you as not having a clear balance you are put directly through to collections no matter the reason you called. Of course my account is in debt, not by a lot because I pay by direct debit, OVO have been estimating my bills since day 1. Don't even think about trying to be reasonable with an OVO representative - it only ends up in a you v them situation with the OVO rep keeping the upper hand - they must be being trained to approach every customer with suspicion and as debt avoiders. eventually the OVO customer care rep did call back and book an appointment and when I expalined I was disabled and distresed at the way I was being treated his only answer was that if I answer his questions he would be able to help. I told him the questions he was asking about my disability were none of his business and I refused to answer him, telling him in the end I didn't have a disability so that he could allerviate his sense of guilt before moving on to actually book an appointment. I asked for details to write to a complaints department. I was told there was none only a head office customer services department and when I was told the address and telephone number it turns out it's the same telephone number as the number I called to beign with. Talk about marking their own homework. I could go on and on but it won't make a difference. My advice, forget about a life because OVO staff seem to think you're there to do their bidding. You must check your balance and keep it totally clear on the exact date each month otherwise don't ring OVO because you won't be helped - that's my experience. Even when I first called OVO to tell them the in house meter display wasn't working, something any organised comapny would have anticipated and replaced prior to the swapover from SSE, I was attacked by reps who kept telling me my account was in arrears and that I was responsible for ensuring it was kept clear. One thing I will tell any of you who are upset at having their bills doubled and are trying to contact OVO - persevere - you can object to the increases in direct debits and OVO will reduce them - they have to. After all the whole reason I and millions others signed up to direct debit payments is to spread the cost of energy usage. Considering I pay more for energy than a small mortgage I certaintly don't have to spend as much time on the phone with the bank. These are greedy, money grabbing companies who have people with the same attitudes working for them. They don't care about a war in Ukraine or the cost of living crisis, all they care about is profit. Green energy etc., is just a smokescreen for a company that is making profits off the back of other people's misery. The energy regulators should be ashamed that so much profit is being made when people are not even able to put food on the table or keep a roof over their heads. I will definately be leaving OVO. It makes no difference which energy provider I go to - they all make huge profits - but at least I won't be made to feel like my disability is a problem and that I'm just a bad debtor. Oh, as a parting shot the last OVO rep told me that they report to credit reference agencies, so that if my bill isn't paid on time (direct debit??) my credit score is my responsibility....don't even think about going up against a bully like OVO, they haven't missed a trick, and invented some - or so it would seem.