Help! Where did this eon charge come from?

hadcook

So I am a student studying in London, and was renting an apartment for one year. I paid my Eon bill every 3 months up until I left the the premise. It was just electricity but what in my Landlords name. I do not have any proof of payment though because I am a student and so unorganized that when moving back into student housing these things got lost.

Now I get a letter from a debt collection agency saying I owe £600 to Eon for the dates I lived in the apartment. I am really confused how/why I have to pay so much!
Since the electricity was never in my name, I presume the Landlord told Eon to collect the money from me, will Eon have my in their system if i call to inquire about it?
I cant get hold of the landlord at all so I am in the dark about how to handle this. Obviously I am willing to pay if it is my responsibility but want to find out how/why there is such a big charge.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Hi hadcook,

When a customer moves in to property, rented or not, it is their responsibility to let the utility companies know so they can bill you correctly for only the energy that you use.

You say you were paying bills, that were not in your name, this means all of your payments will have gone on to the landlords account.

Did you receive a final bill when you moved out of the property? Did you provide any meter readings?

If you can contact E.ON and provide the tenancy agreement for when you lived in the property, they can bill you correctly in your name, for the dates that you lived there.

If you could also give proof of the payments that you have made, these can be credited to your account.

However, if you are unable to offer any of this info, it really does become a third party issue between yourself and your landlord.

The only way to find out what and when the bill is for is to contact E.ON, I would do this asap.

Helena

hadcook

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena wrote: »

Hi hadcook,

When a customer moves in to property, rented or not, it is their responsibility to let the utility companies know so they can bill you correctly for only the energy that you use.

You say you were paying bills, that were not in your name, this means all of your payments will have gone on to the landlords account.

Did you receive a final bill when you moved out of the property? Did you provide any meter readings?

If you can contact E.ON and provide the tenancy agreement for when you lived in the property, they can bill you correctly in your name, for the dates that you lived there.

If you could also give proof of the payments that you have made, these can be credited to your account.

However, if you are unable to offer any of this info, it really does become a third party issue between yourself and your landlord.

The only way to find out what and when the bill is for is to contact E.ON, I would do this asap.

Helena

According to the tenancy agreement, I was suppose to not change the name on the account and just pay the bills as they arrived. This meant I did not have to tell eon that I was moving and did not have to pay a "final bill".

The bill would arrive in his name, i would take it to natwest with the cash to pay it and they paid it so it didnt go to the landlords account, but directly to eon.
I never provided a final meter reading, I am from america and was very naive about any of this stuff, which is obviously having huge repercussions now.
again I do not keep any prove as I didnt forsee something like this happening.

Another complication which you may not be able to answer is, the tenancy agreement was signed by both me and a roommate. So the 600 should be split between us, however he has left the country, does that mean I am held responsible for the entire amount and then have to follow separate legal action to claim half from him?

Last thing is do you have contact info for eon?

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Hi,

Sorry I didn't mean the landlords bank account I mean his E.ON account, as a new one was never open for you and your room mate. Therefore, you have been paying bills which were in his name but you have no proof of this.

It really will be a third party dispute between yourself and the landlord to sort this out, if you have the tenancy agreement you can prove to E.ON the dates that you lived there, but this won't help with the payments that you have already made.

E.ON can chase just one person for an unpaid debt, even if there were more people responsible.

You can ring E.ON on 0845 052 0000.

Helena

hadcook

Sorry I have got so many questions but really am trying to work this out
since this may be a third party dispute. Eon is not allowed to give me information of the payments made to his account, during my tenancy at that place?
Will eon not have record of this?

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

I'm sorry, this is a bit confusing

So you have been paying the bills that were in someone else’s name (landlord), therefore, an E.ON account was not opened for you when it should have been, it remained in the landlords name incorrectly.

This means that payments made by you, will have been credited to an account in someone eles name (landlord) and you can't prove that you made these.

You have a tenancy agreement to show the dates that you lived at the property, so you can prove when you were there.

You need to ask E.ON why they have now sent out debt collection letters to you and what period they cover, because you can prove when you were there with your tenancy agreement.

You need to speak to E.ON first to find out how this has come about.

Helena

macman

This seems unecessarily complicated. If the OP never opened an account in his/her name, then any bills owing are the responsibility of the landlord, and it's a dispute between them alone, where the terms of the tenancy agreement will apply. E.on have no claim against the OP, and I'd be intrigued to know on what basis they have put a DCA onto him/her.
It also seems that even if some money was owing at the time of vacating the flat, then since no final reading was made, it's impossible to say how much of that is down to the OP and how much down to the landlord or incoming tenant.
OP, you are advised to tell the DCA that you do not acknowledge the debt.
The fact that you made cash payments to the landlord's E.on account does not make it your account, and does not give you access to information about it.

BruceyBonus

macman wrote: »

This seems unecessarily complicated. If the OP never opened an account in his/her name, then any bills owing are the responsibility of the landlord, and it's a dispute between them alone, where the terms of the tenancy agreement will apply. E.on have no claim against the OP, and I'd be intrigued to know on what basis they have put a DCA onto him/her.
It also seems that even if some money was owing at the time of vacating the flat, then since no final reading was made, it's impossible to say how much of that is down to the OP and how much down to the landlord or incoming tenant.
OP, you are advised to tell the DCA that you do not acknowledge the debt.
The fact that you made cash payments to the landlord's E.on account does not make it your account, and does not give you access to information about it.

It sounds to me as though what has happened is this:
1. tenant moves in and pays money to landlord's eon account
2. on moving out, the landlord then informs eon that there was a tenant staying there between x and x date. eon close account from date when tenant moved in and landlord receives credit back for overpayments he has made (in fact paid by tenant, but as paid over counter this can't be proved)
3. eon then chase tenant for cost of electricity

This seems really dodgy to me and has the sign of a really dodgy landlord.

DVardysShadow

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena wrote: »

I'm sorry, this is a bit confusing

So you have been paying the bills that were in someone else’s name (landlord), therefore, an E.ON account was not opened for you when it should have been, it remained in the landlords name incorrectly.

This means that payments made by you, will have been credited to an account in someone eles name (landlord) and you can't prove that you made these.

You have a tenancy agreement to show the dates that you lived at the property, so you can prove when you were there.

You need to ask E.ON why they have now sent out debt collection letters to you and what period they cover, because you can prove when you were there with your tenancy agreement.

You need to speak to E.ON first to find out how this has come about.

Helena

Come on Helena, let's get to the nub of this eh?

eon are chasing hadcook for money. it is quite simple, eon should provide hadcook with all information for the account on which they are chasing him.

hadcook, I suspect that Helena is attempting to lure you into proving your tenancy, in order to prove you are liable. As far as I can see, Landlord is liable to e.on, you are liable to Landlord, but you are not liable to eon. You have paid, so you are no longer liable to eon. eon should be taking up the matter with the Landlord, but the Landlord is obviously trying to stitch you up by passing your details to eon.

[Perhaps Landlord had his home bill sent to yours and you were paying that?]

Premier_2

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena wrote: »

...
E.ON can chase just one person for an unpaid debt, even if there were more people responsible...

... but they can only chase an account holder.

The OP doesn't seem to be an account holder, since every question posed to e.on appears to be stonewalled against the stock answer that they can only discuss an account with an account holder.

My understanding is that most energy companies will not open a new account unless they gain the express authority of the new account holder(s) to do so. Isn't that E.on policy? Else what stops any E.on customer simply looking up someone in the phone book and saying they will be responsible for energy consumption from such and such a date???

hadcook - follow macman's advise above. Inform E.on/DCA that you do not acknowledge the debt and let E.on try to prove you do lawfully owe the money.

Premier_2

DVardysShadow wrote: »

... but the Landlord is obviously trying to stitch you up ...

I agree with the majority of your post, but I'm not sure about this.

If the LL thought the OP had proof of payment, then surely he wouldn't even try this, as it would be destined to fail.

If the LL knows the OP has no proof of payment, surely the easiest, and possibly successful, way of stitching up the OP would be to accuse the OP of not paying the bills as per the terms of the TA.