E.on told lies on gas bill

jimr

Yesterday i phoned e.on querying my bill of £209.69 of which £60.95 was unpaid previous bill. I had already paid the lesser bill which i explained to the girl i was speaking to, this brought bill down to £148.74 because previous bills were estimated so because meter was supposedly read on July 29th 08. and the estimates were to low on previous Bills, i now had to make up the diffrence, (no need for estimates) meter is accessed from the street. Anyway i was talked in to having £3 extra put onto my prepayment electric meter a week which i can ill afford, to pay off the debt,for the gas, ok i swallowed because the meter readers cant do their job and read the meters. This morning i went out and managed to read the meter, and i can tell you i was not happy at all, i was lied to on my bill which clearly says that my meter was read on 29th july 08, and the reading was 588 well its getting on for a month later 16th august 08 and it READS wait for it, 466 so where do e.on get off sending me threatening letters, and debt collectors, and actually talking me into thinking i cant pay my bills. I use my gas only for heating water for shower and washing up, i am to affraid to use any gas for my central heating because of the very small amount of money i have coming in from benefits for being ill, i have had two heart attacks and a stroke, this kind of thing dont make things very easy, i went along with with the girl on the phone whom i thought was helping, it is a plain case of extortion, even theft of my meager income. E.on must make millions of pounds from people that pay by direct debit and dont get round to checking their bills.

brysiewysie

As many others have said here before you can always read your own meter and get it corrected if the reads are wrong. Any energy supplier is reliant on the meter reading compnay to provide the right info - these meter readers are often a different company to the provider.

It's obviously not theft or extortion, it's easy to get it corrected, just call them again.

brysiewysie

I saw your other post;

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1103003

I'd suggest you resolve your current problem before transferring supplier, assuming you're looking at moving both gas and electric (?), otherwise the debt you have with Eon becomes payable in full (you can't transfer debt to another supplier). Whilse Eon may be happy to set up a payment arrangement the absolute maximum they are likely to allow for a closed account holder to repay debt could be a lot shorter than the time you are currently paying it off at your current repayment rate of £3pw.

kazwookie

Ring them up with the correct reading and they will send you a new bill.

Are you sure your reading is correct?

Then I really don't know what all the fuss is about.

Everytime I get an estimated bill for anything, I ALWAYS go and read the meter and ring up the supplier and get a corrected bill, take me all of about 5 to 10 mins.

talulahbeige_2

jimr wrote: »

, it is a plain case of extortion, even theft of my meager income. E.on must make millions of pounds from people that pay by direct debit and dont get round to checking their bills.

That is ridiculously harsh! DO you really think that E-on would be such a big player in the utility industry if they stole/extorted from people? (I work for a competitor by the way!)

Take a bit of responsibiity for yourself and check the reading on your bill against the reading on your meter before you attempt to give yourself another heart attack.
It sounds like the reader has written it down / keyed it into his handheld computer incorrectly, by accident.
People make mistakes, I bet you've written a number down wrong in the past havent you?
Meters can also be installed at difficult angles to read, not as a ploy to steal money from you, but as its the best place for the meter after all you wouldnt want it in your living room would you?

Never assume a bill, any type of bill, is correct, always check the information on it.
Imagine if you had got round to reading your meter yesterday instead of today, you'd have saved yourself a lot of heartache and stress. Take responsibilty, it'll do you the world of good

Magentasue

Ooh, talulah, that's harsh. I do agree with you, though.

jimr - do what others have said and give eon the correct reading and get an accurate bill. Don't feel bad about it - it was a mistake and the good thing is that you can learn from it and keep an eye on your meter yourself now and save yourself from worrying in the future.

jimr

Ok yes maybe Harsh, but seeing as it was the only meter in the box i cant see how 00466 can be mistaken for 00588 lol. By the way, you open the door and the meter is in your face, not on its side, not at any funny angle, it is a new build flat and as such a new meter.

brysiewysie

Is it even Eon who read your meters? As I said before they are reliant on a meter reader sending them the right info - these are often different companies who read the meter.

Meter reading is the responsibility of the meter reader and the customer.

talulahbeige_2

jimr wrote: »

Ok yes maybe Harsh, but seeing as it was the only meter in the box i cant see how 00466 can be mistaken for 00588 lol. By the way, you open the door and the meter is in your face, not on its side, not at any funny angle, it is a new build flat and as such a new meter.

Try 0388 and from my experince of working in utilities for 14 years meter readers arent the sharpest tools in the box