As Yvonne Bayford’s final billing nightmare grinds on relentlessly, Crusader wishes it could be more confident that this, one of the most shocking series of bungles we’ve seen, will be solved before summer.
Yvonne certainly deserves to have some peace of mind. For her part she has done everything asked of a customer, sending in regular meter readings and photos, paying her account on time and keeping a record.
++ If you’ve been affected by this issue or feel you’ve been a victim of injustice, please contact consumer champion Maisha Frost on maisha.frost@express.co.uk
But after complaining for over a year to her former supplier, SSE (Energy) part of Ovo, and then to the Ombudsman Services, “my complaint has been upheld, but I’m left with just words, no action,” she told Crusader. “I was could be left in this pit forever, there’s no real accountability.”
The problems, involving insanely contradictory usage and cost figures driven, it now appears, by deep technical failings, date back to a house where she used to live for years full time and then occasionally before selling up in June last year.
In 2020 she was a Bulb customer, and prior to its collapse it has now come to light that the supplier changed the meter but failed to update the exchange to Yvonne’s account on the national database.
This has been a cause of horrendous confusion for both her and SSE/Ovo which then took over and was unaware at first of the mess it had inherited.
The Ombudsman’s first decision, to uphold Yvonne’s complaint about her struggle to get an accurate final bill and the credit it had been indicated that she owed, was challenged by SSE/Ovo.
It appealed the adjudication, the Ombudsman reinvestigated and last September it again came down in support of Yvonne, requiring the company to work out usage from actual meter readings supplied from May 2021 to June last year and pay £200 compensation.
Both parties agreed to this, but Yvonne claims: “This has still not happened despite me asking every month”.
Crusader contacted SSE/Ovo for comment but has not had a reply. However, the Ombudsman said last week:
“Following the acceptance of the resolution by Mrs Bayford and her supplier, the resolution should have been actioned in the agreed time, and Ombudsman Services have been pursuing SSE over a period of time for the resolution to be implemented on several occasions.
“The supplier (SSE) has confirmed that they are in contact with Mrs Bayford – the £200 should now have been refunded and that there had been a fault with the account that prevented bills from being produced. SSE have escalated the case to their site support team to push for this to be resolved as quickly as possible.”
If it does not happen in Yvonne’s case the Ombudsman does have the authority to enforce its decision and then if ignored to refer the matter to the regulator Ofgem.
But while compliance with a decision has a 28-day deadline, that can be and is flouted apparently not least because it lacks the sanction muscle to concentrate minds. Nor is there any set period for reporting the matter to the regulator.
No wonder at times Yvonne has felt consumer rights have little meaning in reality. But giving up still leaves a bitter taste.
“People pay in good faith and deserve much better than this,” she responded. And Crusader agrees, this is inexcusable – we won’t let this drop.
