Help! Where did this eon charge come from?

DVardysShadow

Premier wrote: »

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

Me wrote:

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

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.

Something is clearly wrong here. hadcook, our OP has paid money into the bank to eon, and my working assumption is that this is true. So why are eon chasing hadcook for a debt in relation to the premises where he lived? Plainly, eon do not believe that the bills have been paid. My working assumption here is that eon have reason to believe this.

So what is going on?

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.

Effectively, my working assumption is that the LL is making such an accusation to eon. There is little mileage in LL disputing with hadcook, because hadcook has paid something and the eon account would show it. The more I look at thsi the more I think hadcook was unwittingly paying another eon account and the LL has had another of his account paid and has left hadcook and eon arguing over the account for hadcook's old place.

I think Helena, for eon, could do a good deed here, if hadcook sends her a PM with the address of the disputed bill and she checks for the address where the bills were sent. My bet is that the 2 were not the same.

Sorry, I am taking a largish leap here. But even though hadcook has no proof of the bills being paid, if our working assumption is that hadcook made payments, and that eon are also correct in saying that the address in question was not paid for, then the question can only be what bill was hadcook paying? Remember, hadcook admits to being disorganised, so you can see that hadcook might have missed a discrepancy on the bill.

But equally, the disorganisation might have been sufficient that a bill or 2 was not paid.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

DVardysShadow wrote: »

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?]

Hi,

I'm not trying to make the OP liable, I am just suggesting some ways to get to the bottom of this.

BruceyBonus, has made some good points, as someone has given the OP's name and forwarding address to E.ON for them to start chasing them for the debt. If the landlord has given E.ON a copy of the tenancy agreement E.ON will have opened an account for them between those dates and sent a bill, this makes the OP liable to E.ON as it is proof that they did live there.

The payments as we know, have gone to an account in the landlords name and the OP has no proof that he was the one that paid these.

So, if an account has now been opened in the OP's name for the correct dates and E.ON have billed this, the payments issue is a dispute between the landlord and the OP.

I would be more than happy to look in to this, but as we know I'm not allowed to request the personal details of forum members.

Helena

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Premier wrote: »

... 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.

Hi Premier,

Your absolutely right, the only problem is, if the landlord has given E.ON the tenancy agreement this enables us to open an account in the OP's name and produce a bill. If we weren’t provided final reads the bill will be estimated.

I also agree with DVardysShadow, that the OP has probably made the payments as well, but these could be on any account, as we already know they weren’t paid on to an account in the OP's name, without a receipt or proof of payment we have no way of finding them, so this part becomes a third party dispute.

Also, as DVardysShadow says, E.ON should provide all the details of the debt and the account, as it appears that this is all now in the OP's name, there will be no problem with DPA.

Helena

DrScotsman

hadcook wrote: »

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".

I think this a get out clause hadcook. You was specifically instructed not to change the name on the account. IMO, while you are liable for the electricity and gas, the only way that you can be so without contradicting this clause on the tenancy agreement is if the landlord is liable to eon and you are liable to the landlord (either to pay him for pay for him). I think this clause means the landlord is admitting ultimate responsibility to eon

I think you should go back to the debt collectors tell them to stuff it: I think you should send them the "Prove it" letter. If they don't come up with anything that's the tenancy agreement then tell them they have no proof and to stuff it. If they come up with the tenancy agreement then point out the clause I just mentioned and then say the landlord is responsible for the debt.

Although I want to hear what other MSEers think of this idea first, I suggest you do the same.

macman

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena wrote: »

Hi Premier,

Your absolutely right, the only problem is, if the landlord has given E.ON the tenancy agreement this enables us to open an account in the OP's name and produce a bill. If we weren’t provided final reads the bill will be estimated.

I also agree with DVardysShadow, that the OP has probably made the payments as well, but these could be on any account, as we already know they weren’t paid on to an account in the OP's name, without a receipt or proof of payment we have no way of finding them, so this part becomes a third party dispute.

Also, as DVardysShadow says, E.ON should provide all the details of the debt and the account, as it appears that this is all now in the OP's name, there will be no problem with DPA.

Helena

Sorry but how can you open an account retrospectively in the name of someone who never had an account in their name while they were living there? The fact that the OP lived in the flat and had a tenancy agreement does not make them retrospectively liable for the bill. And since this has not yet been done, on what basis have e.on already pursued the OP via a DCA?
The account remains in the name of the landlord and they are liable for any money owing, if the landlord feels that part or all of that money is due from the tenant then that is clearly a matter for them to resolve between them. And surely, under this peculiar arrangement the landlord would have taken a meter reading at the end of the tenancy and then any money owing would have been deducted from the tenant's deposit?
The OP is at fault for not taking a final reading to protect themselves from overcharging, but that's about the extent of their liability.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

macman wrote: »

Sorry but how can you open an account retrospectively in the name of someone who never had an account in their name while they were living there? The fact that the OP lived in the flat and had a tenancy agreement does not make them retrospectively liable for the bill. And since this has not yet been done, on what basis have e.on already pursued the OP via a DCA?
The account remains in the name of the landlord and they are liable for any money owing, if the landlord feels that part or all of that money is due from the tenant then that is clearly a matter for them to resolve between them. And surely, under this peculiar arrangement the landlord would have taken a meter reading at the end of the tenancy and then any money owing would have been deducted from the tenant's deposit?
The OP is at fault for not taking a final reading to protect themselves from overcharging, but that's about the extent of their liability.

Hi macman,

If the landlord received a bill for the property and contacted E.ON and said, I am not responsible for this bill, I had a tenant in the property on these dates, E.ON would have asked for a tenancy agreement, E.ON would then open an account in the name of the OP.

The account would have been billed, as no payments received the account would have been sent to the DCA.

E.ON have been given the OP's details from somewhere.

The OP needs to contact E.ON and ask, what dates the debt covers, they can also ask, how it has come about that we have now sent them a bill.

If the account was still in the name of the landlord, there wouldn't be any debt collection letters for the OP.

They do need to sort out payment between themselves as this is a third party dispute.

Helena

molerat

So if I send you a piece of paper stating that Gordon Brown was my tennant with a forwarding address of 10 Downing Street you will send the bill to him. :rolleyes:

Premier_2

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena wrote: »

...Your absolutely right, the only problem is, if the landlord has given E.ON the tenancy agreement this enables us to open an account in the OP's name and produce a bill....

But wouldn't you then have written to the OP welcoming him as a new customer, as well as sending the OP bills in his name during the period of tenancy.

The OP hasn't mentioned any of this has happened.

Edit: I see you are suggesting this may have happened after the TA had ended. Surely if E.on had a copy of the TA, then E.on would see the clause in that TA mentioned in post#3

According to the tenancy agreement, I was suppose to not change the name on the account ...

On that basis, you had no authority to set up a new account in the OP's name.
This is not a third party issue. It is an issue between E.on and the LL who was, and still should be, the account holder.

DVardysShadow

macman wrote: »

Sorry but how can you open an account retrospectively in the name of someone who never had an account in their name while they were living there? The fact that the OP lived in the flat and had a tenancy agreement does not make them retrospectively liable for the bill. And since this has not yet been done, on what basis have e.on already pursued the OP via a DCA?
The account remains in the name of the landlord and they are liable for any money owing, if the landlord feels that part or all of that money is due from the tenant then that is clearly a matter for them to resolve between them. And surely, under this peculiar arrangement the landlord would have taken a meter reading at the end of the tenancy and then any money owing would have been deducted from the tenant's deposit?
The OP is at fault for not taking a final reading to protect themselves from overcharging, but that's about the extent of their liability.

I've thanked you because I roughly agree with where you are going here and I think that hadcook's self confessed disorganisation has allowed this to come about. But I am easing up on Helena here, because she is fair about it in that she is acknowledging that hadcook probably was paying something, and it is good that eon are not using the DPA to stop hadcook looking at the account. There is one other thing I blieve that eon should do here, which is to make available to hadcook information on any other accounts which may have been billed to the address in question - as eon may say that this is a 3rd party dispute, they shouldn't let one party go in with a hand tied behind his back.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Premier, from the info and none of us know for sure, it does appear that the account was opened after the OP had moved out, so they wouldn't have received the welcome letter. It looks like just one bill was produced for the period of time they lived there for.

I agree with you about the name change, but then I can't understand why the landlord would send this part in to us, as it would prove he remains responsible. Without seeing the tenancy agreement and the account, it is hard to say.

DVardysShadow, I understand where you are coming from regarding giving the OP other accounts, but this breaks DPA and is against the law.

Even if the OP could show us what account his payments are on, hadcook can't prove they made them.

Helena