EDF problems...please advise??

j-lo1972uk

First of all, apologies for the lengthy post...

I have been with EDF for a few years now....first couple were ok with no problems, then I had some work done in the kitchen and had new electrics and meter installed as they were really old.
Since then I have had a number of queries over my bills....and EDF's customer service is, frankly, appalling. Despite the fact that I had been paying all my bills when produced (quarterly), estimated at approx £210 per quarter, I recently had a bill from them saying I owed a further £527. When I rang and queried this with them, they said it was because my last years bills have all been estimated and they had under estimated them, hence the arrears. I told them I couldn't pay it all back at once, but asked the Customer Services assistant if I could pay it back at £100 per month, to which she agreed. This was in June. At the beginning of July, I had a little more wage than anticipated, so paid them £200 towards the arrears. Then, at the end of July, I got a letter saying that I had until the 30th to pay in full, otherwise they would apply for a warrant to enter my home and either disconnect or install a pre-payment meter. When I rang and queried why this was, they said that there was no 'formal agreement' made between myself and them when I rang in June. I asked how I would know this, pointing out that, as I had spoken to a Customer Services assistant and she had agreed I could pay my arrears at £100 per month over the phone, that I had assumed that was the agreement. The snotty customer services bloke I spoke to this time informed me that agreements were 'only legal in writing' so they would have sent me written confirmation of the agreement, if indeed it had been made. Although I was pretty annoyed that he was basically calling me a liar, I was keen to stop any court action and accrue further charges, so gave him an up to date reading, as he requested and he agreed to ring me back on Friday, when the new reading had been calculated, to arrange payment of the arrears. He didn't ring on Friday but I left it a couple of days in case he was sorting it out as he'd agreed.

I've come home yesterday to find a note through my door from a 'Utilities Management Service' representative asking that I contact him immediately to prevent a warrent being obtained and my property being entered without my consent. I rang EDF-AGAIN- to be told that despite what the guy had told me last week, I could now no longer make arrangements to pay the outstanding amount gradually, as they were now classed as 'arrears' due to a new bill being issued!! By my calculations, I have been charged over £1000 for my electricity over the last twelve months, which seems somewhat excessive, considering I'm a single person living in a two up, two down with gas central heating.....my mum pays £27 per month for a house twice the size of mine and two people, and she's in front with her payments.....

I'm at my wits end...I feel like I'm backed into a corner...no-one at EDF really takes on board what I'm telling them about my bills appearing excessive and that I'm in financial difficulty....one person did admit that my usage seemed excessive for someone in my position...but I just keep being told I have to pay the bills. The bloke yesterday offered to pass me to the complaints department, when I asked him if this would delay any court action until my complaint had been looked into, he said 'no it won't, we'll still go for the warrent'....
I don't know what to do.....any advice?? Thank you.

Premier_2

I would suggest you follow the EDF complaints procedure

http://www.edfenergy.com/products-services/for-your-home/customer-services/making-a-complaint.shtml

From what you say, you believe there was a formal agreement to pay £100 per month as a repayment for the debt; the supplier should be able to get a copy of the recording of that call to confirm whether or not your understanding of that agreement was entirely correct

(You could even request a copy of that recording yourself, but it might cost you a tenner)

Edit: If they are stupid enough to carry on with court action whilst your account is officially in dispute (by having made the formal complaint), let them carry on.
Just tell the judge you are currently in formal dispute (having lodged the formal compliant) and that they are a bit previous therefore in issuing a summons / application for a warrant.

If you are in luck, the judge may simply throw out the claim, but if not, the worst you should realistically expect is that the judge stays the claim until the formal dispute has been reviewed and addressed by the company.

dogshome

Hi j-lo1972UK - If it's any consolation, and it won't be, you are not the only person who's life is being shredded by Customer Service Desk personel saying one thing and doing another,

So here's what to do, in the order to do it in
1)Forget the phone and Email route, write today to the address in Premiers attachment, heading the letter COMPLAINT
In this letter list concisely list the history of you problem, including as close as you can estimate the date you made the phoned "agreement" with Cust. Serv for £100 payments - With this letter on file
EDF are bound to investigate before further action - It seems that you can afford the £100 a month, so if you have not yet paid a cheque for the August installment, enclose it with the letter
2) You must make the effort to take control of your Bills - Go thro' as many previous bills as you can to establish how many Units/Kw you are actually consuming a year. This won't be easy with so many Estimated Bills in one year, but if there has been no great change in your lifestyle the previous years would do.

3) It appears from your post that you are paying your Bills Qtly, which means you are on an expensive tariff - even without you having to go to the Switch sites, you can seriously lower your EDF bills by changing to their V6 tariff with D/Debit payments and Online billing.

4)Even allowing for the fact that you are at present on an expensive tariff, your underpaidQuarterly Electric bills total £840 a year, which even by itself is a huge amount for Gas CH flat
So:
Check that the Meter No. on the bills matches that on the Meter - Being billed for a nieghbors flat is not uncommon
Check that the meter readings at the time of the meter change make sense- Is the End reading of the old meter listed on the Bill? - Is the Start reading of the old new meter listed correctly - they are not always 0000
If you have an Immersion Heater to supply hot water, check that is off and/or that the thermostat is workingGood Luck

Stingy1_2

I totally agree with the complaint route. EDF are terrible, I recently switched to EDF and have many problems. Wrong tariff, incorrect billing, etc.

They have been billing my gas with readings from someone else's meter. The meter number they have for our account isn't correct and the readings they use to produce bills are 7000+ units different to what they should be. Despite raising this issue for investigation they are still billing me with the wrong details 5 week down the line. I've given them several accurate readings by phone since switching and they seem to just ignore them and continue stubbornly using the wrong ones.

They even had the cheek to say it was British Gas's fault (who i switched from) for giving them the wrong reading when I left BG to go to EDF. I checked my BG final bill and called them too, they have the correct readings and meter number on both.

I would definitely check your meter numbers. My electric meter was also changed for a modern one last week so I will be expecting problems because of that too soon!!

Additionally, it may be worth recording the calls yourself like I had to do with Virgin Media a couple of years back (another story). Tell the CS up front you will also be making a copy of this call for THEIR security and yours. Not illegal to tape the call but you do have to tell them at the start of the call. You can get a cheap digital dictaphone from Ebay and they do a good job if held close to the hand set speaker. Although it doesn't help you prove the content of past calls. But like Premier says you are entitled to copies of the calls. How long it will take them to get to you is another matter.

j-lo1972uk

I have done what you all suggested and sent a formal complaint on the 16th August. To date I haven't even had an acknowledgement of the complaint, never mind that they are investigating. I have approx 12 days left, then I can go to the ombudsmen. :T

In the meantime, I've had a letter confirming my alleged usage over the last 12 months-totalling £1200....:eek:

And I have had to relent and have a pre-payment meter installed (they basically backed me into a corner)...this was over ten days ago and I'm STILL waiting for the key to be able to top it up!!:mad:

Absolutley flippin' useless is about the best thing I can say about EDF...am ditching them as soon as possible!!!! :j

thank you all for the advice...

dogshome

Hi j-lo1972 UK - It's astounding that you sent in a Complaint letter on Aug. 16th, yet have still had no response - How long was it after this letter that they insisted on fitting a card meter?

£1200 a year is a MASSIVE Elec. bill for a 2up/2down dwelling with Gas CH, but a couple of things worry me.
You say this all started with a replacement meter and new Kitchen Electrics
The Meter It's rare for a replacement meter to be faulty, but not imposssible - The quick test is to turn off everything and then switch on a fan heater - (Borrow one?). These are marked with their consumption on the back, A 2kw fan heater will burn 1 unit of Elec. in 1/2 an hour and your meter should record exactly this, if it records more report this to EDF in writing
The Electrics It's possible that that there is a wiring or appliance fault - Turn off everything and look at the meter, if it is still recordingthere is a problem, so get onto the contractor who did the installation

Premier_2

j-lo1972uk wrote: »

...
And I have had to relent and have a pre-payment meter installed (they basically backed me into a corner)...

How did they 'back you into a corner'? :huh:

If you didn't agree to the change of meter, they would have to have gone to court with the intention of securing an entry warrant.

I had already suggested to you you should let them try and just go to court at the appropriate time and put your side to the judge if such an application was attempted.