E-ON sending misleading letters to force you to switch then penalising for leaving !

jblackmore

Just been caught out by this E-ON scam, so thought I should warn others.

I signed up for E-ON Extra Saver 5 dual fuel in April 2008.

On 9th March I got a letter saying my discounts end on 1st April, so I will be switched to E-ON standard tariff (much more expensive), I phoned on 10th March as I honestly thought this was a mistake, to be putting energy prices up when everyone else was reducing them was crazy - but was told letter was correct, and I either had to switch to standard tariff or I could switch online to their best online tariff which would still be an increase of £18 for me !! Eon confirmed I could begin switch within 14 days and suffer no increase.

I requested switch on 18th March to nPower, understanding this would avoid any increase.

I've just had final bill, and E-ON have removed all discounts so effectively there is a £24.50 penalty for leaving (despite having dual fuel, paying DD and managing account online), when I phone to query this I'm told its E-ON policy to remove all discounts from final bills, as people are leaving anyway and this is buried in their terms and conditions.

While on hold for a manager, I noticed my ORIGINAL joining letter on 12/4/08 stated discounts ran until 1st JULY not april - so E-ON have sent these incorrect letters in march to mislead people to leave between bills, so they can be penalised for it.

I spoke to two managers on Tuesday, who accepted letter was wrong, and I had been mislead, and said customer services should not have confirmed letter was correct when I called when it was clearly wrong, but still refuse to refund the £24.50 I've been swindled as they can't tell if the original letter was wrong, or the latest one - I was told they would look into this and phone me by end of Weds (which has been and gone).

Clearly if I had not been mislead I would have waited for my next regular bill (with all discounts), then switched immediately so would only have been penalised for last few days, so E-ON have scammed me out of this, and apparently as this is their policy they must have done this to hundreds of other customers.

Have emailed customer services director (address on eon website) on Weds, no response, so I just phoned today, and E-ON refuse to send a deadlock letter, so say I have to wait 56 days before I can escalate this complaint - also they say the two 'managers' I spoke to on Tuesday were not managers at all, so I still need to speak to a manager before this can be escalated !!

Naughty naughty !

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Sorry you received a misleading letter about your Energy Online Extra Saver (version 5) tariff jblackmore.

I have posted about this on the forum before. Post number 41 on the link below might help.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1573795

You are absolutely right to have complained to us about this.

However, if you were told previously you were talking to managers when you weren't this is clearly wrong and I am really sorry about this.

If a deadlock letter is raised now and referred to the Ombudsman they will send the complaint back and tells us to re-submit it again after 56 days as this is part of industry guidelines. The complaint needs to be put through our escalation procedure first.

When you called did you speak to the Directors Office?

If you did a complaint will have been raised and be under investigation.

Also, a specific agent will have taken ownership of the complaint and it is their responsibility to escalate it if they cannot resolve the issue for you.

Hope this helps a little.

Malc