A mum-of-four has lashed out at an energy firm after being left without heating or hot water for four days - claiming it's made her children ill.
Emma Best and her one-year-old, a three-year-old, a five-year-old and a seven-year-old were left freezing as temperatures dropped as low as -7C.
The mum, from Hull, said OVO Energy changed her meter from a monthly plan to pay as you go and she needs a gas card to be able to top it up.
She said she was waiting for longer than a week for the gas card to arrive in the post and after booking five appointments with an engineer, one finally came to her house and put £20 credit on the meter to get the heating back on.
Her gas supply ran out on Wednesday, December 7 so she, her partner and children were left in the “freezing cold” house until the evening of Sunday, December 11.
Emma told Hull Live : “I spent 15 hours or more on the phone to them in the last few days. It’s mentally fried my brain.
“It was disgusting. I was treated like an animal and it didn't matter how much I phoned them.
“They just weren't doing anything. The amount of people that put the phone down on me was ridiculous.”
She said she couldn’t call the energy company as soon as the gas ran out because it was closed at the time so she waited until the morning of the next day, Thursday, December 8. Between then and Sunday, December 11 she called her energy company daily to try to resolve the issue and was on the phone to them for two to three hours each time.
Emma said one advisor from the energy company who she spoke to told her to go to the shops and get a card to top up her meter so she did but it turned out to be invalid. Then another advisor told her that the only card that will work is one that the energy company has to provide themselves so she has been waiting for it to be delivered, she said.
Also, she said that various appointments were booked for an engineer to come to her house but some were cancelled, without the company informing her, and some engineers just did not turn up. Emma’s children struggled to live in the house without heating.
She added: “From Wednesday tea time until Sunday night they were left freezing cold in this house. They're all poorly.
Emma used an electric fire to try to keep her children warm but it could only heat up one room and she said that she has used £45 of energy in the last few days just by using the electric fire. Also, mould has started to grow on the windows of the front room in her house.
An OVO spokesperson said: "We’re very sorry to Miss Best for the interruption to her supply and the time taken to restore it. This has now been completed and a goodwill amount will be issued in apology for the inconvenience caused."
