A Scots woman was forced to borrow money to survive after her energy company mistakenly told her she was over £300 in debt. The stressful situation left Viktoria Elohegyi in tears and impacted her mental health.
The 37-year-old student, who works two jobs, desperately tried to contact OVO Energy when her pay-as-you-go meter suddenly stated she owed over £300 as she tried to top-up. She regularly puts money in the meter to ensure she never owes more than any emergency credit used.
Distressed by the situation, Viktoria immediately tried to contact OVO but faced several issues. She said: "On November 26, I went to top up my meter with £40, thinking that would cover my emergency credit and leave me with enough left over for gas until I get paid on the eighth of the month.
"Instead, £28 went for debt and £12 for gas, zero for emergency credit. After this I've checked my meter and it said I still owe £16.53 and on the back screen gas debt remaining said £255.60.
"I went on the webchat straight away, as I knew I couldn't owe them that much. Even if the standing charge is accumulated, it would have taken over 800 days without me topping up for it to add up to that much!"
Glasgow Live reports Viktoria nervously waited over three hours for the company to respond on their webchat service but she was thrown out of the queue as a message on her screen said OVO would now only be dealing with emergencies.
The following day she eventually managed to contact an advisor on their emergency line but the employee told her an engineer had taken a meter reading on October 27 and discovered she had not been pay for her gas which is why the debt was added.
But the student said she has not received a visit from an engineer and as her gas meter is inside her home, she would need to grant them entry.
She said: "There is absolutely no way an engineer has been at my home. I spent the full day crying as I was just so stressed and confused as to how they had decided to give me this debt. I've been a customer with them for 10 years and the way they've treated me has been awful, I have already started the process to move company.
"My standing charge is £0.375 and the adviser I spoke to kept insisting that it was £0.53, when it definitely isn't.
"The way I was spoken to on the phone and the fact they had no answers or solutions was horrible - I work two jobs as well as being a full-time student so all of my spare time should be put into studying, not stressing about issues that shouldn't have happened in the first place.
"I had to borrow money to survive and to heat my home and the whole experience has been awful for my mental health. Their advisers are unprofessional with no real manners or knowledge."
After Glasgow Live got in touch with OVO for comment, Viktoria was contacted by a more senior employee at the energy company and her issue was quickly resolved.
She added: "I explained my issue and the new adviser apologised and told me I was right. I don't owe that money, and he said he will try to sort this and give me a call back.
"When he called me back he said with my next top up my debt will disappear, he also offered a direct debit payment to pay back the money I already payed for the debt and £44 extra as a compensation.
"He was very nice, helpful, and knowledgeable. It's really all I was asking for in the first place and I'm so relieved this has now been sorted. I do think without the threat of publicity I would have been stuck dealing with this for much longer."
An OVO spokesperson said: “We’re very sorry to Miss Elohegi for the time taken to resolve her case and have offered compensation for the shortfalls in service.”
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