“My Review of Octopus Energy
I've had a pretty frustrating experience with Octopus Energy, and I think it's worth sharing for anyone considering them. The biggest issue I encountered was with their billing—I was shocked to find a £78 charge for a month when I wasn't even home for three weeks. It just didn't make sense and left me feeling quite overcharged.
Reaching out to their customer service didn't make things any easier. It seemed almost impossible to get through to anyone for help. When I finally did manage to speak to someone about checking an issue at my place, they told me it would cost £80. What was more irritating was that the test they needed to do could have been done from their headquarters, so the charge felt completely unnecessary.
Overall, I've been left quite disappointed with Octopus Energy. Dealing with these overcharges and the lack of accessible customer support has been a real headache. If you're thinking about using their services, this might be something to consider.”
“Rip off company, had about 800 overpaid in my account, sent a reading every month doing their job for them to keep cost down ( I don't/ won't have a smart meter ,I don't trust these lot).when I asked to have it put back into my account, I was told I missed a reading 6 months back and now had only 48 credit.”
“In August 2023 I moved from a pre paid meter with a key to a modern intelligent meter. As part of this process I asked Octopus to set me up a direct debit to take the full monies owed each month, like I had set up with the other two accounts that I hold with them. I duly received a conformation email back to confirm that this was now set up and the payment would be taken at the start if each month , once the remaining credit from my old meter was used up.
I thought nothing more about it until I received an email a week ago stating I owe over £1,000.
I immediately emailed to seek clarification - but after 6 days, 5 emails ( to support, issues and Greg) I am still non the wiser and they have only sent one response yesterday stating that Greg's team would be in touch that day (but needless to say, they didn't).
I appreciate that mistakes can be made and that I owe for the fuel used - but not responding and sorting things out after 6 days is inexcusable and heaven only knows how they would act if I had an urgent issue or being unable to pay the debt.
Octopus you should be ashamed of your customer service and pathetic lack of response. - especially when you advertise and promote how good you are.
No doubt my providing a poor review will provide some action - but I shouldn't need to go to such lengths and it should of been sorted 5 days ago.
Update 2 days after first publishing this review and 8 days after my initial enquiry - I have still not received any emails or phone calls.
On the 9th day Lewis did contact me, but only to state that nothing had been actioned, since he had been on holiday, but he would raise a complaint and personally handle it.
Needless to say 4 days on from that message - I haven't heard anything else from him (I suppose he could be off sick or on another holiday - which wouldn't be surprising since he is apparently the only person in the Octopus organisation dealing with escalated issues.
An update as of 29th July. On the 16th Lewis P refreshingly admitted that Octopus has messed up and he would be back to me within the next 7 days with a resolution - unsurprisingly 13 days on from the promise, I have had no resolution or even contact from Lewis or anyone else at Octopus - more hollow words and false promises from a company who does not value their customers. Don't fall for their advertising lies.
Further update as of 7th August - still no word from Lewis P or Octopus since the 16th July - 22 days after he promised a resolution within 7 days.”
“My wife plugged our electric car into a public charger at work 20 miles from our home and home charger, leaving it to charge during the work day on 1st August. Intelligent Octopus Go cut off the charge and established an overnight (off-peak charging plan).
Octopus' response is that its system recognised the plug in and that the car was away from home, and that the charge was prevented and an off- peak charging plan was created but says that as far as they can see everything was normal.
At the same time Octopus says that it only controls charging sessions when the car is plugged into a home charger at our home via Intelligent Octopus Go and doesn't control charging away from home.
This creates several questions, and has deep legal implications which, so far, Octopus is sweeping under the carpet.”
“My husband died in June 2024 and I gave information of new bank account details for payment of direct debit, but Octopus requested sight of his Will before they would change the name on the account. They are happy to take my money but not change the name. This is totally ridiculous.”
“Really poor experience, two months waiting for resolution as Ocotpus appears to have not correctly moved me from British Gas and then has crossed the meters too.
I've been paying Octopus and also fielding debt collection threats from BG Octopus have taken over two months reviewing this, haven't called haven't helped but have take my money. I came to Octopus for their apparent good customer service, so far it's been some of the worst.”
“Utterly appalling customer service who have nothing but contempt and intransigence for their customers and the Energy Ombudsman.
A total failure to respond to very basic communications and then arrange return calls to customers and then do not call.
Fail to comply with GDPR.
Ignore the Energy Ombudsman decision on customer complaints with total disregard.
Gregg, your customer service department prefer to hide when they have caused customers untold distress and grief. This one is not going away. You have my details.
Update 25/07/2024
Zarine, as you are fully aware, octopus energy have had 5 months (yes 20 weeks) and now 7 different OE advisors who cannot pick up a phone or respond formally to the energy ombudsman. The ball is in your court to do something about the issues we have raised and have been DECIDED on by the ombudsman.Your words are hollow without action so get a move on and respond to them to bring this mess to some sort of resolution.
Cheers Ronnie
Update 04th August.
Octopus Energy are still failing to acknowledge two serious fundamental issues and continue to treat their customers with absolute contempt.
They broke GDPR rules by failing to process personal data correctly
The stole money from a deceased man's energy account despite being told the executors of the mans estate would take financial responsibility.
This is not going away.
Cheers Ronnie”
“WHAT A PILE OF SH!T
I honestly can’t believe they are getting away with what they are getting away with. I have experienced all the negatives on here and it is beyond belief what they are doing to people. Good riddance to bad rubbish!”
“Ridiculous company .Started with 100 per month direct debit and estimated my usage for 2025 and increased to 216!! Not just that I spoke to lady on phone who not only was least interested in me but kept phone down rudely , no greetings !!
I am out 14 hours and day and wonder who the hell is using the electricity !!”
“Absolute garbage company. The worst we have ever been with for customer service. Having been flooded out of our home it has been an ongoing nightmare to get correct billing. Sending bills for extortionate amounts even though we weren't in the property for 7 months. Don't attempt their customer service. They don't have one. Trained in 'love and power'. Muppets all of them. I work in solicitor and court law. I would not trust them to empty the garbage bins in the high court. Avoid at all costs.”
“Absolute Rubbish.
Octopus believe an email answered is a complaint dealt with...useless and wrong.
Make sure you ESCALATE THE ISSUES TO COMPLAINT (you need to write it in the email).
Ex Shell Energy, moved by take over of Octopus...SHAME!!”
“The poor service started about 15 months ago, they took me off Octopus GO, without me knowing and I got a large bill for charging a car, on what I thought was off peak.
I spent numerous hours (not exaggerating) setting up intelligent go, which I recently found out was not implemented. I've logged an official complaint, but still 10 days later nothing has been actioned.
I'm guessing that Octopus has expanded too fast, either I'm now looking to switch supplier based on the poor service.”
“I am disabled, And unable to read my meters , so i changed from, bulb to octopus, not by choice. I have asked them countless times to fix my, In home display, they always say it is being , done and a engineer is on it. this has been 18 months now, and countless hours wasted on the phone. Nothing has changed, just they charge me more and more every week for the worse service i have ever seen in over 50 years. all promises, and no action, maybe they are trying to get in to politics.”
“What has gone wrong with Octopus - I am a landlord and have been please with Octopus until now - moved supply of gas from British Gas and electricity from EDF on 3rd June for a vacant flat - since then I have spoken to 11 people and the problems get more and more complex - DO NOT CONSIDER MOVING TO OCTOPUS”
“They tell you that your balance is below zero. Any reasonable person would interpret that to mean that they don't owe any money right? wrong, completely misleading. what is should say is your balance is in debit. The same way Scottish Power etc do. Because it said my balance was below zero I took that to mean i was in credit, only to get a late payment marker on my credit file by Octopus Energy! raging!”
“I'm on the tracker tariff. For gas, the usage on my bill bears no resemblance to the figures obtained from the app. On some days, I had used no gas (even the pilot light had been turned off). My bill shows that I had used my normal amount whilst the app correctly shows zero. My smart meter is working as the app is receiving the correct figures. After emailing them, I received a reply which didn’t seem to explain the anomaly. I left a review on Trustpilot and received a reply asking for more details, which I sent. The reply to this was unbelievable. None of my questions were answered. It referred to my October and September bills when I didn’t join Octopus until November. I'm hoping the reply to my last email makes sense.”
“ON the death of my father I am trying to change the name and bank account to that of my mother. They keep demanding that my father authorise this although he is dead. In spite of being told this multiple times they always address the email to him. Customer Services are staffed by imbeciles.”
