Octopus energy

[Bearsinmotion]

Sigh. I wanted to like them. I really did. I was switched over from Shell automatically and it has just been a nightmare. The smart meter stopped working back in March. They finally sent someone to look at it in July. He left saying it needed a few hours to reset and it never did. I seem to speak to weekly and I keep getting instructions that don't work. It's time to move on, but to who?

I was happy with Shell, my priorities are reliability and good customer service. Octopus seemed to be popular here but not for me! Any other recommendations?

No advice for alternatives but just as an FYI they were v unhelpful when my parents sold a property when using them for energy. They had final meter readings but refused to use them and went off estimated usage - the property had been empty so actual usage was way under. Took months and months for them to agree to use the actual meter readings and refund, so make sure you are on them if you do switch.

I’m with British Gas now and never had any issues.

i had octopus at my house when I bought it. They wanted £300 a month despite me living alone and working out of the house 6 days a week. They refused to budge because previous readings from the old owners were that amount. My actually bill were £90pcm but the insisted on a direct debit payment. I cancelled after 3months and they took forever to return my credit amount then 6months later advised they’d made a mistake and wanted £78 to clear the account.
I spend about a week phoning them and it was eventually written off when I requested the details for the ombudsman. I’ll never go with them again!

id also avoid Scottish power they were horrendous to deal with at a previous property.

I think all energy companies have their problems and I wouldn't like Octopus if my smart meters didn't work. I'd get none of the perks! I found Octopus good at dealing with issues and even got some compensation for inconvenience on my occasion. Maybe you could call them again to sort out the smart meter issue. I know when I had mine fitted the fitter told me about "old tech" being problematic still.

Hmm, in a way it's good to know it's not just me but sorry to hear the problems you have had. The thing is I have really given them plenty of opportunities to sort it out and I just get asked more questions, when after 6 months I would expect someone who knows what they are doing they are doing to come and sort it out.

My Smart Meter stopped working but just for gas when I was switched to Octopus. After a year they still couldn’t fix it and kept saying it must be too far from my router. This was despite it working perfectly fine for the previous 3 years with my previous supplier. They kept sending people who said the solution was different things. I gave up in the end and just submit a gas reading every month. I just can’t be bothered with the faff of moving and have little faith in my if the companies. I want to scream every time I see one of those adverts where they say they’ve been voted best customer service because they’ve certainly never asked me for my opinion 😂

That's exactly my issue @AgapanthusPink , I was with Shell, worked fine, and just the gas stopped working with Octopus! They keep asking the same questions about distance from meter to router and I have told them, but added whatever is causing the issue now it was absolutely fine in the past and nothing has changed!

I feel the same when I see the advert. Tbf they haven’t been too bad so far, maybe my expectations were too high but for the problem I did ask for help with they were pretty hopeless. In January when my fixed tariff contract has ended I’ll switch.