Victoria Coren Mitchell, wife of comedian David Mitchell, has threatened Ovo Energy with legal action after claiming the energy provider ‘wrongly’ took thousands from her bank account.
The British writer and presenter claims she has been driven ‘personally to despair’ by the firm, after they allegedly took ‘thousands of pounds that they were not owed’.
Writing on X, formerly known as Twitter today, Victoria said: ‘I’ve reached the end of the road with Ovo Energy, the most terrible service provider I’ve ever encountered (and I’ve been served in a casino by a croupier who killed someone).
‘Nothing but legal action will do for them now. Sadly, we still need electricity. So I need advice.
‘No company could possibly be worse than Ovo Energy who, quite apart from the money they’ve wrongly taken, have driven me personally to despair.’
Victoria Coren Mitchell (pictured) claims she has been driven ‘personally to despair’ by the firm
Some social media users spoke of similar experiences, with one saying: ‘Ovo are absolutely useless. I am now having to reopen a formal complaint for the third time because they have emailed in error again after assuring me everything was sorted.’
Another wrote: ‘Ovo shut us off at the weekend (which they say they don’t do). On top of that we’re on a priority list as we have a toddler in the house and diabetic medicine in the fridge. We’ve had nothing but problems every step of the way. Get as far away from them as possible.’
An OVO spokesperson said ‘We’re always striving to provide the best possible experience for all our customers’
Responding, an OVO spokesperson said: ‘We’re always striving to provide the best possible experience for all our customers. Our teams work extremely hard to provide help and support and will continue to review lessons learned.’
Victoria conducted a poll of more than 33,000 users to see whether rival energy provider Octopus offered a better service, to which 87 per cent of people agreed.
One user wrote: ‘I have recently moved to Octopus Energy from another supplier. So happy with the customer service. Swap to them went very smoothly.’
Another said: ‘Highly recommend Octopus. As a vulnerable person they’ve been outstanding. Also had an email this morning to say rates are going down which is only a good thing’.