Eon Exit Fee ?

KimYeovil

I don't think there is any problem with the discount being included in the annual quote figure (even though that is counter to the Code). I do believe it is wrong not to mention the penalty along with the other penalties.

MillicentBystander

Pincher wrote: »

Are we complaining about something you get for free?

What you are asking the comparison sites to do is to repave the road flat for you every time the supplier opens a new undulating road. The implementation is non-trivial, and obviously some sites pay more attention to the details than others.

If it was straightforward to choose a tariff, we wouldn't need comparison sites.

I'm assuming you are in agreement with the comparison sites not even making mention of a 'leaving penalty' that unlike their 'official' exit/leaving penalty has no expiry date whatsoever and has been demonstrated earlier in the thread could run to £100+?

backfoot

KimYeovil wrote: »

I don't think there is any problem with the discount being included in the annual quote figure (even though that is counter to the Code). I do believe it is wrong not to mention the penalty along with the other penalties.

Well done Kim. Finally, someone has read the words in clause 7.1.1.

So how will the comparison sites deal with the situation?

If you stay with Eon, ad infinitum you get the full discounts, but if you leave ,then the Comparison site will have over estimated the discount and underestimated the cost.

The wording of the Code, to which the accredited Sites have agreed, is quite clear. Some posters may not like it, Eon may not like it. The intention as I understand the background to the Code, is to remove those matters which are variable, so that customers are not misled by marketing tactics, hidden charges or conditional discounts.

They are not my words.

It would appear that they should remove all associated Eon discounts under the calculations. This will drop Eon's tariffs down the Comparison table,until such time as they simplify their discount structure.Up to now, they have benefited from a higher ranking than was fully warranted.

I think in the long run,that's a good thing for customers.

It will be interesting to see how the Reps respond.:D

MillicentBystander

backfoot wrote: »

Well done Kim. Finally, someone has read the words in clause 7.1.1.

So how will the comparison sites deal with the situation?

If you stay with Eon, ad infinitem you get the full discounts, but if you leave ,then the Comparison site will have over estimated the discount and underestimated the cost.

The wording of the Code, to which the accredited Sites have agreed, is quite clear. Some posters may not like it, Eon may not like it. The intention as I understand the background to the Code, is to remove those matters which are variable, so that customers are not misled by marketing tactics, hidden charges or conditional discounts.

They are not my words.

It would appear that they should remove all associated Eon discounts under the calculations. This will drop Eon's tariffs down the Comparison table,until such time as they simplify their discount structure.Up to now, they have benefited from a higher ranking than was fully warranted.

I think in the long run,that's a good thing for customers.

It will be interesting to see how the Reps respond.:D

I think it will be even more interesting to see IF they respond.

backfoot

I can't see why they wouldn't. It's a perfectly fair question regarding their business and something which has been publicised for customer benefit. They should be pleased people are taking an interest.

You have to wonder why, say NPower, who now don't get the benefit of showing their 13 month loyalty payments in the tables, would sit back and not lobby for Eon's discounts being similarly excluded. I presume they would already be on to it, if they had any bright sparks :rotfl:.

Anyway,they are neutral in relation to any one supplier,so they either adopt their own Code or they don't. If they don't they should withdraw their accreditation or at least explain why they have made an exception.

MillicentBystander

backfoot wrote: »

I can't see why they wouldn't. It's a perfectly fair question regarding their business and something which has been publicised for customer benefit. They should be pleased people are taking an interest.

You have to wonder why, say NPower, who now don't get the benefit of showing their 13 month loyalty payments in the tables, would sit back and not lobby for Eon's discounts being similarly excluded. I presume they would already be on to it, if they had any bright sparks :rotfl:.

Anyway,they are neutral in relation to any one supplier,so they either adopt their own Code or they don't. If they don't they should withdraw their accreditation or at least explain why they have made an exception.

I'm very slow on the uptake and didn't know this had happened but just checked on energyhelpline and indeed it has! About time, too! It's an absolute nonsense that they have been allowed to get away with it for so long. Before this happened, for average consumption in the Midlands area their SOL21 would have been showing as the cheapest tariff by £9. Now it is showing as £96 more expensive than the cheapest tariff. What a difference a bit of clarity makes. Fantastic!

And as you say, they are surely odds-on to launch a complaint regarding Eon's sneaky and disgraceful never ending additional exit fee (I refuse to call it 'no discount on final bill' from now on)

Fergie76

georgemp wrote: »

Recently (3 weeks ago) switched to Eon from Southern, as Southern put prices up and were no longer the cheapest in my area.
Letter in the post yesterday telling me Eon were putting their prices up making them more expensive than Southern would have been!

Not happy about this, as I view it as a sneaky ploy to grab customers from other suppliers before hiking prices once they've hit their new customer target.

So, out of principal I have just switched again, this time to EDF. According to the comparison tool, I'll save £75 a year, so not all bad.

However - just phoned Eon to tell them I'm leaving and they're whacking me with a £30 early exit fee. Looking back I can see it is in the t&c but is this fair and legal, after they hiked the charges within weeks of me switching?

Anyone else had this problem? What's to be done?

TIA,
George.

I am in a similar position to you. Was cold called (despite being a member of the TPS) Christmas week, was told I could save £xx's, transfer went through week of 25 Jan.

Got a letter, 1st week of Feb with new prices, which turned out to be more expensive than my previous supplier.

The main selling point the advisor used was that NPower had just announced price increases and that E-on were going to increase theirs.

Also it seems that the advisor never even compared the correct tariff for me, I was on NPower's Online 18 and they compared NPowers standard tariff and their Energyplan, which I don't even think is their cheapest plan.

Anyway, I phoned E-on to complain and tbf to the guy I spoke too, he was quite understanding and said he would log it as a complaint and they would go back and listen to the call to decide if I was mis-sold and if I was I would be returned to my old supplier as if I had never left. Although how this works I don't know considering I have had my final gas bill from them and am waiting on my electricity one.

When I was on the phone to the cold caller, I went online to look at my last bill to make sure she had all the right information, as I always seem to have high energy bills (think I supply the whole street) and didn't want to under pay on my DD and then have to play catch up.

If i had stayed with NPower I would pay:

Gas: 6.652 for first 4572 units then 2.988.
Electricity: 20.23 for first 728 units then 9.07.

E-on (after rise):

Gas: 7.26 for first 2680 units then 3.158.
Electricity: 24.875 for first 900 units then 11.792.

backfoot

MillicentBystander wrote: »

I'm very slow on the uptake and didn't know this had happened but just checked on energyhelpline and indeed it has! About time, too! It's an absolute nonsense that they have been allowed to get away with it for so long. Before this happened, for average consumption in the Midlands area their SOL21 would have been showing as the cheapest tariff by £9. Now it is showing as £96 more expensive than the cheapest tariff. What a difference a bit of clarity makes. Fantastic!

And as you say, they are surely odds-on to launch a complaint regarding Eon's sneaky and disgraceful never ending additional exit fee (I refuse to call it 'no discount on final bill' from now on)

[/QUOTE]

In relation to the confidence code, they actually exclude termination fees from the calculations.

3.6 Termination fees
[FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]We intend to continue with our proposal that termination fees should not be included in the calculations. However service providers should make it clear in the product features where termination fees are applicable. The majority of stakeholders believed this to be the best approach. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Arial]In addition, we recommend that service providers inform consumers that their current tariff may attract an exit fee when they begin a comparison [/FONT]
[/FONT]

Pincher

If the comparison site throws up lots of popups to alert you to ALL the pitfalls, and your screen is filled with warning messages, you really are going to read it, are you? A future Millicent will simply start a new thread complaining about pop up overload.

echoecho_2

This is quite an interesting one actually. I can understand why some people are quite het up by it. Personally, I think the comparison sites SHOULD include the eon discounts in the overall comparison - however, I think it should be made extremely clear that final bills do not include discounts. Perhaps a bold message with the key facts of the tariff. Interestingly, eon have started restructuring their tariffs. Previously, the online discount was taken off the unit price but is now included in the unit rates. So this leaves "only" the 8% dual fuel dd discount. Not as much as previous, but that's not the point.

I think the onus should be on eon to ensure that all customers are made fully aware that leaving would mean they lose their final discount. I think this should form a part of the actual tariff information for new customers and should also be repeated on the new annual key fact statements rather than just being placed in the terms and conditions.

In terms of the eon reps, i think one of them mentioned before that really they are here for sorting out customer service issues; they can give the official company line and feedback any comments. I don't think they'll get into indepth conversations...