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Do I have grounds for complaint...who against and for what reason?
30 Jan my electricity meter catches fire. As it is a housing association property I phone them. They are ready to go home so give me the ‘out of hours’ repairs number and tell me to phone after 6. I phone just after 6 and am told an electrician will be out soon. At 10pm no one has shown up. I phone again and there is nothing on the system so they arrange for electrician to come out. As it was freezing I couldn’t stay over night in the home, so arranged for electrician to come out following morning.
31 Jan I get to my home early in morning to wait for electrician. At 12 noon no one has shown. I phone again only to be told as it’s the meter it’s not their problem. They told me to phone my electricity supplier. I phone EON. They send an engineer out, he replaces the meter, connects my electricity up, but wont connect my heating up to the meter as it is on a different switch and he believes that is what caused the fire. He tells me to phone housing association, get an electrician to rewire the fault, and he will come back out and connect it up. I phone housing association, they say electrician will be in touch shortly. 6pm and no contact. I phone again to be told electrician cant come out till Monday.
2 Feb and no one has turned up by 12 noon. I phone housing again, no record of my call. They arrange for electrician to come out that afternoon. Late afternoon I get a call saying electrician is snowed in and cant come to following day.
3 Feb Electrician turns up. Has to phone 4 different people to find out how to wire a switch up. He does it and leaves. I phone EON thinking they going to come out and connect me up. They wont come out until 10 Feb as it is not an emergency.
10 Feb EON engineer comes out and says the switch is wired wrong so wont connect my heating. He leaves and I phone housing. They arrange for electrician to come out following afternoon.
11 Feb electrician comes out, rewires the switch, says its right now and leaves. I phone EON. They wont come out until 17 Feb now as it is not an emergency.
17 Feb EON engineer comes out and says the switch is wired wrong so wont connect my heating. He leaves and I phone housing. They arrange for electrician to come out following afternoon. Same afternoon Electrician phones me and my EON account number so they can arrange for EON and themselves to turn up at same time to get this sorted. I give them my details .
18 Feb not heard a thing so I phone electrician only to be told EON wont discuss my electrics with electrician because they are not the account holder. I phone EON and authorise electrician to discuss my electrics with them. They both agree to come out at same time to sort the problem. EON wont come out until 24 Feb at the earliest as it is not an emergency.
24 Feb EON engineer turns up at 8am, says he cant do a thing until electrician has rewired the switch, then leaves. 2 minutes later the electrician turns up. I tell EON have been and just gone. He phones them and the EON engineer returns within 10 minutes. They both discuss what needs to be done. Rather than wait around, the EON engineer goes to other jobs and tell the electrician to phone when he has sorted the switch. The electrician fixes the switch to the specs the EON engineer wanted. He phones the engineer who says he will be there in the afternoon. 6pm an he hasn’t shown so I phone EON. They say it could be up to 10pm before he gets to me. 10pm and no one shows.
25 Feb I phone EON and let them know engineer hasn’t come back. They arrange another appointment for…5 March as it is not an emergency.
I’ve had no heating since 30 Jan, and we have just been through one of the coldest weather spells in the past 20 years. It’s been so cold that I haven’t been able to stay at my home, so had to stay at relatives. Yet no heating, in this severe weather, is not an emergency for EON because I have no young in the home and I’m not old. If it was the middle of Summer I would agree, but not with the weather we just had.
It’s been so frustrating, and it still isn’t sorted yet.
Do I have grounds for complain, and who against???
Thanks for reading
31 Jan I get to my home early in morning to wait for electrician. At 12 noon no one has shown. I phone again only to be told as it’s the meter it’s not their problem. They told me to phone my electricity supplier. I phone EON. They send an engineer out, he replaces the meter, connects my electricity up, but wont connect my heating up to the meter as it is on a different switch and he believes that is what caused the fire. He tells me to phone housing association, get an electrician to rewire the fault, and he will come back out and connect it up. I phone housing association, they say electrician will be in touch shortly. 6pm and no contact. I phone again to be told electrician cant come out till Monday.
2 Feb and no one has turned up by 12 noon. I phone housing again, no record of my call. They arrange for electrician to come out that afternoon. Late afternoon I get a call saying electrician is snowed in and cant come to following day.
3 Feb Electrician turns up. Has to phone 4 different people to find out how to wire a switch up. He does it and leaves. I phone EON thinking they going to come out and connect me up. They wont come out until 10 Feb as it is not an emergency.
10 Feb EON engineer comes out and says the switch is wired wrong so wont connect my heating. He leaves and I phone housing. They arrange for electrician to come out following afternoon.
11 Feb electrician comes out, rewires the switch, says its right now and leaves. I phone EON. They wont come out until 17 Feb now as it is not an emergency.
17 Feb EON engineer comes out and says the switch is wired wrong so wont connect my heating. He leaves and I phone housing. They arrange for electrician to come out following afternoon. Same afternoon Electrician phones me and my EON account number so they can arrange for EON and themselves to turn up at same time to get this sorted. I give them my details .
18 Feb not heard a thing so I phone electrician only to be told EON wont discuss my electrics with electrician because they are not the account holder. I phone EON and authorise electrician to discuss my electrics with them. They both agree to come out at same time to sort the problem. EON wont come out until 24 Feb at the earliest as it is not an emergency.
24 Feb EON engineer turns up at 8am, says he cant do a thing until electrician has rewired the switch, then leaves. 2 minutes later the electrician turns up. I tell EON have been and just gone. He phones them and the EON engineer returns within 10 minutes. They both discuss what needs to be done. Rather than wait around, the EON engineer goes to other jobs and tell the electrician to phone when he has sorted the switch. The electrician fixes the switch to the specs the EON engineer wanted. He phones the engineer who says he will be there in the afternoon. 6pm an he hasn’t shown so I phone EON. They say it could be up to 10pm before he gets to me. 10pm and no one shows.
25 Feb I phone EON and let them know engineer hasn’t come back. They arrange another appointment for…5 March as it is not an emergency.
I’ve had no heating since 30 Jan, and we have just been through one of the coldest weather spells in the past 20 years. It’s been so cold that I haven’t been able to stay at my home, so had to stay at relatives. Yet no heating, in this severe weather, is not an emergency for EON because I have no young in the home and I’m not old. If it was the middle of Summer I would agree, but not with the weather we just had.
It’s been so frustrating, and it still isn’t sorted yet.
Do I have grounds for complain, and who against???
Thanks for reading
0
Comments
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Why isn't housing association dealing with this? It's their house...:footie:
Regular savers earn 6% interest (HSBC, First Direct, M&S) Loans cost 2.9% per year (Nationwide) = FREE money. 0 -
Oh my god poor you!!!
I know how frustrated you must be as I have been battling with my HA for 2 years now for damage to property caused by their workmen!
I would suggest getting on to your local Citizens Advice Bureau about the EON who should provide a complaints proceedure and also the Housing Ombudsman see how you get on but don't let them get away with it! You pay rent for a house you should be able to live in and I am sure EON would be on at you if you didn't pay their bill!!!
Good luck;)0 -
Hi baggybond,
Sounds like you’ve had a nightmare with this! :eek:
Engineers are sent out to basically install the meter and connect to the incoming mains supply. That is their primary responsibility.
If the original meter was attached directly to the storage heaters the engineer would usually do the work like for like, therefore attaching the wiring to the heating system.
If like in this case there is a fault with the wiring in the heating system the E.ON engineer will not connect like for like for safety reasons.
It sounds like the housing association have sent an electrician who has failed to correct the wiring fault numerous times, so the E.ON engineer wouldn’t have been able to finish the job even after many visits.
Most electricians should have been able to fix the wiring fault and then connect to the meter, without having to call out the E.ON engineer (although it may be down to each individual electrician).
I’d definitely go back to the housing association and make your concerns known, if the wiring was correct in the first place this would not have gone on for so long.
Hope this helps.
Brian“Official Company Representative
I am an official company representative of E.ON. MSE has given permission for me to post in response to queries about the company, so that I can help solve issues. You can see my name on the companies with permission to post list. I am not allowed to tout for business at all. If you believe I am please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com This does NOT imply any form of approval of my company or its products by MSE"0 -
If like in this case there is a fault with the wiring in the heating system the E.ON engineer will not connect like for like for safety reasons.
Thanks for such a quick response, and thanks to everyone else who replied.
I totally agree with that, safety must come first above all else. What is annoying, apart from the electrician not doing the job right each time, is that I have to wait a week each time for an EON Engineer to come out and say 'no, not wired right, cant do it', all because I'm not classed as an emergency.
Fair enough, prioritise the jobs, but I dont beleive for one moment that a big company like EON didnt have an engineer near my home for a whole week each time. Put my job at the end of their emergency list in case they get time to do it or there's a cancellation. Around 10 minutes is all it would take to wire the heating back up (i was told by the engineer) , so they could do it between jobs if they were passing my home.
Even if, between emergency jobs, the EON engineer just came and looked to say if it was right or not, then I'd know quicker if to get the electrician out again or not instead of having to wait a week each time. He doesnt have to connect it there and then, but at least I'd know on my next appointment it will be connected!
When the engineer arrives next time it will be a day short of 5 weeks since I last had heating. I only pray the switch is wired right!!
As far as I am aware, because the electrician told me, he is not allowed to touch the meter, only an engineer form EON can do that. Likewise, EON are not allowed to touch the wiring, only the contracted electrician is allowed to do that. I'm stuck in the middle and I have to believe what these people are telling me.
If one of these people were allowed to do both jobs, it would have been sorted by now.0 -
I would question whether or not the electrician is qualified to do his job!!!
This is something electricians are asked to do on a regular basis, i'm in shock that he could do it wrong so many times!!!
If an electrician was to tamper with the meter I think there would be an issue with the people who own the meter, this is why they cannot touch it. I'm not sure but I think they can be fined for any meter damage caused.0
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