‘I was told I had no option but to fix’
Richard Masters (pictured) moved home in September 2021. At the time, the 48-year-old from Billingshurst, West Sussex contacted the existing energy provider at the property, Octopus, to let the company know he had just moved in and needed to set up an account.
But Richard said he was told he had no option but to take a two-year fix and that at no point was he offered the choice to go onto a variable tariff.
He said: “At some point after the call, I remember seeing one of Martin Lewis’s social media posts recommending people not to fix. I just thought what I had been told by Octopus didn’t make sense so I rang them back and told them I didn’t want the fixed rate. The person on the phone then put me on a variable rate. But it was the fact that when I first called, I was explicitly told I had no other option.”
Octopus told us Richard was “given incorrect information” by the customer service representative on his initial call. A spokesperson for the energy firm said: “We’ve already spoken to the teams involved and initiated further training for the particular customer service agent to make sure they know the rules about the products we offer.
“We’ve rebilled Richard’s account correctly, and one of our operations managers has left him a message about his complaint and to discuss some compensation for our error.”
Richard since told us he’s had £160 credited to his energy account.
