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Prepayment fiasco
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Tribulation
Posts: 4,001 Forumite
in Energy
AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH
Around 5 or 6 years ago after having estimated bills for an eternity, we found ourselves owing something like £400 (was paying monthly by DD)
Phoned British Gas, discussed it with them and they agreed to put a prepayment meter in with the debt on it paid off at £6 per week.
No problems so far. We eventually paid the debt off, then we changed suppliers to Powergen.
Our first bill said we owed something like £50. I phoned up and queried this as it's prepayment, they said ignore it, it will sort it's self out as payments come through. Next bill was around £70, went through the same thing. Kept happening until eventually I sent a complaint off to them as I now owed them something like £125
They contacted me, went through my meter settings with me, turned out all my tariffs were wrong and I owed them £500. After a long polite discussion on how that I realise I used the electric, hence should pay for it, but at the same time got a prepayment meter so that I wouldn't get into any debt, they agreed to write off 1/2 of it and stick the rest on as a debt to be paid off weekly.
They also said they would fit a new key meter which would stop this ever happening again as new tariffs are automatically updated when we charge the key.
All OK so far. Had the new meter fitted and was happy.
Roll on January/February this year. EDF knocked on the door. I made the mistake of listening to them and deciding to go with them. I soon realised the guy that knocked had completely lied through his teeth about their tariffs and standing charge.
I was annoyed so phoned up to cancel. I explained what had happened to a very very apologetic girl who said she would report what I said to whoever oversees the door callers. She went through what the tariff would be, as it was considerably cheaper than Powergen (now Eon) I decided to stay with them.
I received my key from EDF and started using it.
A few weeks later I then received a Key from Eon welcoming me back to them???
I phoned EDF and said I had never left them. They apologised, told me to carry on using their key and they would contact Eon and sort it out for me. I threw the Eon key in the bin.
Roll on a couple of months and again I received a letter welcoming me back to Eon. Again I phoned EDF, again I was told to carry on using the EDF key and they would sort it out with Eon.
So when a few weeks ago I received a letter from EDF saying they are sorry I'm leaving them, I was more than baffled. I phoned them and was told that I was supposed to phone back a month after my previous phone call to confirm I still wanted to come back to them??? I politely asked them what they were talking about as I have never left them (and had never been told I needed to phone them)
They apologised, but said as it was a prepayment meter and I had been using their key, it's easy to fix, I needed to transfer my supply back over from Eon. I stressed that I shouldn't be with Eon. They told me not to worry as I had been paying them and it would all sort it's self out, but this is what had to be done to get it fixed.
I had my doubts.
I received a letter last Friday welcoming me back to EDF???
Then today I received a bill from Eon stating I owed them £246 and that they hadn't received any payment since 6th June 2008.
I phoned EDF. The person I spoke to was adamant I'd left. I tried to explain the situation but got no where.
I redialled EDF and got through to someone else who said I hadn't left but needed to phone Eon to sort out my bill.
So I phoned Eon who were most apologetic but said I was their customer. They said I left in February but then came back again and they also said that I must have been using their key as they got payments up to June 6th (I tried to explain that I returned my original key and binned their new key and had only used my EDF key since February but was told that was impossible???)
At that point I'd had enough and gave up trying to argue.. He got me to go through all the meter settings then said he'd phone me back.
He phoned back and said they needed to make a claim to EDF of the electric I'd had. He then went on to say there was an outstanding debt when I closed my original account in February. I asked how this could be so as we had a prepayment meter etc. He couldn't answer me.
What he wants me to do is next time I use my key, get the top up point people to enter a 8 digit code to make sure the money gets sent to them and not EDF.
He then went on to say they would be claiming the money from EDF as it should have gone to them.
Now for the really bad bit.
My meter had been set up for EDF which is considerably cheaper than Eon.
I thought I was with EDF paying £2.33 per week for the meter, but I have now got to pay Eon £3.01
I thought I was with EDF paying 11.60p day but I have now got to pay Eon 15.15p
I thought I was with EDF paying 5.61p night but I am now paying Eon 4.98p
The almost 1/3 higher daytime rate more than wipes away the very slight night time saving.
So what this means is that by the time they've recalculated my usage since March, I'm going to be in considerable debt with Eon
It seems to me that changing a supplier is far far far more hassle than any possible cost saving, and a prepayment meter does nothing to stop you getting into debt????
A letter based on the above has gone off to EDF and energy ombudsman.
Around 5 or 6 years ago after having estimated bills for an eternity, we found ourselves owing something like £400 (was paying monthly by DD)
Phoned British Gas, discussed it with them and they agreed to put a prepayment meter in with the debt on it paid off at £6 per week.
No problems so far. We eventually paid the debt off, then we changed suppliers to Powergen.
Our first bill said we owed something like £50. I phoned up and queried this as it's prepayment, they said ignore it, it will sort it's self out as payments come through. Next bill was around £70, went through the same thing. Kept happening until eventually I sent a complaint off to them as I now owed them something like £125
They contacted me, went through my meter settings with me, turned out all my tariffs were wrong and I owed them £500. After a long polite discussion on how that I realise I used the electric, hence should pay for it, but at the same time got a prepayment meter so that I wouldn't get into any debt, they agreed to write off 1/2 of it and stick the rest on as a debt to be paid off weekly.
They also said they would fit a new key meter which would stop this ever happening again as new tariffs are automatically updated when we charge the key.
All OK so far. Had the new meter fitted and was happy.
Roll on January/February this year. EDF knocked on the door. I made the mistake of listening to them and deciding to go with them. I soon realised the guy that knocked had completely lied through his teeth about their tariffs and standing charge.
I was annoyed so phoned up to cancel. I explained what had happened to a very very apologetic girl who said she would report what I said to whoever oversees the door callers. She went through what the tariff would be, as it was considerably cheaper than Powergen (now Eon) I decided to stay with them.
I received my key from EDF and started using it.
A few weeks later I then received a Key from Eon welcoming me back to them???
I phoned EDF and said I had never left them. They apologised, told me to carry on using their key and they would contact Eon and sort it out for me. I threw the Eon key in the bin.
Roll on a couple of months and again I received a letter welcoming me back to Eon. Again I phoned EDF, again I was told to carry on using the EDF key and they would sort it out with Eon.
So when a few weeks ago I received a letter from EDF saying they are sorry I'm leaving them, I was more than baffled. I phoned them and was told that I was supposed to phone back a month after my previous phone call to confirm I still wanted to come back to them??? I politely asked them what they were talking about as I have never left them (and had never been told I needed to phone them)
They apologised, but said as it was a prepayment meter and I had been using their key, it's easy to fix, I needed to transfer my supply back over from Eon. I stressed that I shouldn't be with Eon. They told me not to worry as I had been paying them and it would all sort it's self out, but this is what had to be done to get it fixed.
I had my doubts.
I received a letter last Friday welcoming me back to EDF???
Then today I received a bill from Eon stating I owed them £246 and that they hadn't received any payment since 6th June 2008.
I phoned EDF. The person I spoke to was adamant I'd left. I tried to explain the situation but got no where.
I redialled EDF and got through to someone else who said I hadn't left but needed to phone Eon to sort out my bill.
So I phoned Eon who were most apologetic but said I was their customer. They said I left in February but then came back again and they also said that I must have been using their key as they got payments up to June 6th (I tried to explain that I returned my original key and binned their new key and had only used my EDF key since February but was told that was impossible???)
At that point I'd had enough and gave up trying to argue.. He got me to go through all the meter settings then said he'd phone me back.
He phoned back and said they needed to make a claim to EDF of the electric I'd had. He then went on to say there was an outstanding debt when I closed my original account in February. I asked how this could be so as we had a prepayment meter etc. He couldn't answer me.
What he wants me to do is next time I use my key, get the top up point people to enter a 8 digit code to make sure the money gets sent to them and not EDF.
He then went on to say they would be claiming the money from EDF as it should have gone to them.
Now for the really bad bit.
My meter had been set up for EDF which is considerably cheaper than Eon.
I thought I was with EDF paying £2.33 per week for the meter, but I have now got to pay Eon £3.01
I thought I was with EDF paying 11.60p day but I have now got to pay Eon 15.15p
I thought I was with EDF paying 5.61p night but I am now paying Eon 4.98p
The almost 1/3 higher daytime rate more than wipes away the very slight night time saving.
So what this means is that by the time they've recalculated my usage since March, I'm going to be in considerable debt with Eon
It seems to me that changing a supplier is far far far more hassle than any possible cost saving, and a prepayment meter does nothing to stop you getting into debt????
A letter based on the above has gone off to EDF and energy ombudsman.
Martin Lewis is always giving us advice on how to force companies to do things.
How about giving us advice on how to remove ourselves from any part of MoneySupermarket.com
I hereby withdraw any permission Martin might have implied he gave MoneySupermarket.com to use any of my data. Further more, I do not wish ANY data about me, or any of my posts etc to be held on any computer system held by MoneySupermarket.com or any business it has any commercial interests in.
How about giving us advice on how to remove ourselves from any part of MoneySupermarket.com
I hereby withdraw any permission Martin might have implied he gave MoneySupermarket.com to use any of my data. Further more, I do not wish ANY data about me, or any of my posts etc to be held on any computer system held by MoneySupermarket.com or any business it has any commercial interests in.
0
Comments
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I'd suggest you check the meter serial number and meter point reference are the same in the documentation from both EDF and Eon. Check the meter serial number also matches the meter itself.
If they do match you need to ask Eon how/why they keep taking your supply.0 -
Yep it's all correct.
I've asked Eon this and they say it's because I came back to them. I end up banging my head against a brick wallMartin Lewis is always giving us advice on how to force companies to do things.
How about giving us advice on how to remove ourselves from any part of MoneySupermarket.com
I hereby withdraw any permission Martin might have implied he gave MoneySupermarket.com to use any of my data. Further more, I do not wish ANY data about me, or any of my posts etc to be held on any computer system held by MoneySupermarket.com or any business it has any commercial interests in.0 -
When I spoke to a guy from Eon about switching supply, he asked me if I had a prepayment meter.. when I said I had, he told me not to bother switching suppliers, as it was a lot of hassle.... and gave me an example similar to yours, stating that they get several hundred like that every week.... doesn't help you much I know.. sorry......0
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Contact "EnergyWatch" if you get no joy, EW will pass your complaint to a senior department at your energy company.
I had trouble with my energy company as they couldn't get my meters calibrated with the new rates correctly. After many attempts/running around I got sorted in the end and I received 2 cheques for £20 + £50 for the trouble!0 -
It's possible one of your neighbours tried to switch and somehow the figures got crossed.
You could ask to see a copy of the contract/listen to the verbal contract to prove that you ever chose to go to them.
You were probably given duff advice from EDF the first time this came about - if you called Eon and challenged them the first time you went back it might have stopped it happeneing.
As to the payments going to Eon without you using their key - if everything is done right payments should be redirected to whoever supplies you (whether they should or not). Just looks like it didn't go right (erm) the second time.0
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