Don't go for Octopus go/smart for car charging!

We got our EV in April, and after reading about it here, with the cheaper night charging, signed upto Octopus same day, that was simple and swift.

The reason we signed up was for the EV charging tariff they sold, cheaper charging overnight at approx 6/7p

However, its been about 12 weeks now, and despite weekly calls emails and complaints, they have not been able to book a Smart meter install, simply citing "you are on a waiting list and when we get engineer appointments become available we will let you know"

12 weeks, with no sign of this changing, I am having to charge my EV each night at 22.1P rather than 7p, so its costing me over 3x as much and they seem to have no accountability for offering this product, letting me sign up, but then not being able to fulfil it.

Just be warned!

Any other suppliers that offer something similar I should consider jumping to?

I did exactly this, signed up two weeks ago and looked to book a smart meter install for switching to intelligent go. Was told to keep checking back for install dates. I've since found out they release their smart meter install dates on a Monday. I kept checking the app daily and sure enough middle of last week, a button appeared on the app to book a smart meter install. I was able to get one within 2 weeks. So 4 weeks on the standard plan isnt great but there may be some light if you keep checking the app.

You'll need a smart meter for Ovo Anytime too, so not sure that will solve the problem unless they have more success in arranging an installation?

Indeed - not sure how you find that out. I've not had to go through the process of getting a smart meter installed as our house was a new build and had one in place already.

I don't understand why it's the fault of Octopus that you failed to plan properly.

Did you ask Octopus how long it would take for a smart meter before you took delivery of your EV?

Did you factor the lead time for the install into the delivery date for your EV?

Or did you just expect Octopus to make your problem theirs?

Odd response, when they advertise the smart package on their website and say:

"If you're not yet an Octopus customer, switch to our standard tariff, Flexible Octopus, now and we'll help you move to Intelligent Octopus Go once your switch is complete."

I would, as would everybody else assume this would happen on switching being complete....... 12 weeks ago

I agree with the sentiment of the other poster to be honest.

Whilst I agree their marketing spiel is misleading in your case, perhaps you didn't seek the right level of detail or written assurance before going ahead.

Assumption being the mother of all...

If you have everything in writing and they've breached their conditions or your trust, then write a complaint and then escalate things, I'm sure there's some bill credit they can apply.