Eon Exit Fee ?

MillicentBystander

backfoot wrote: »

I think as soon as they become aware of your switch all discounts are frozen whether you submit meter readings or not.

I am not sure why they treat customers this way. It's hardly going to endear people to return at a future date.

As a switching process takes around six weeks,there is likely to be a considerable change in the price when these discounts are disallowed.

I would imagine they are assuming they will never be back so have decided to play the 'bad loser' card. Plus, I wonder how many Eon punters have switched away and STILL not realised what was going on with their final bill?

backfoot

MillicentBystander wrote: »

Plus, I wonder how many Eon punters have switched away and STILL not realised what was going on with their final bill?

I would imagine most people take their bills at face value trusting the supplier. They will assume nothing has changed and you are right, given its low publicity, most will probably not notice.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi guys

Sorry for the late response to this thread. Both Helena and I have been out of the office since Thursday.

There are a lot of issues being discussed here and I thought it might help if I stated E.ON's overall position regarding discounts on final bills.

I'll then do my best to answer some of the more individual questions/points separately. Apologies in advance if I'm repeating what others have already said.

Firstly, if I can be absolutely clear about this, E.ON do not give discount on final bills when changing supplier except in certain circumstances.

These circumstances are when customers change supplier after the end of a set contract. Premier (post 22) and echoecho (post 66) have described this very well.

To re-iterate, if a customer changes supplier after the end date of a contract, they will receive all the discount applicable to the tariff regardless of whether or not part of this falls within the final bill.

They will not, though, receive any discount for energy used between the end date and the day the supply switches.

This applies to all products and affects only the final bill. Discount is not frozen at the point where we are asked to transfer the supply and will be given on bills prior to the last one even if the switch is underway.

Full details of our products are given to the comparison sites. How this information is presented, though, is down to the individual companies.

Hope this sheds some light on to the more general points raised here. Give me a shout if there are any further queries and I'll do my best to answer them.

Malc

backfoot

Thank you for the input Malc.

I was looking at a comparison for myself this morning.

Eon came out third with your Save Online 5, around £60 behind EDf who I am currently with. EDF may increase prices soon, so on the face of it, you may be competitive for me.

Indeed other things being equal, had I not seen this thread there would be a good chance I would have signed up. The issue, I'm now aware of, concerns the impact that the policy which you have explained,has on my purchasing decision.

Just as a further help could you clarify on the Save Online 5 if the disallowance is both the 8% dual fuel DD discount and the 6% promise to be below the standard rate.(or is it currently a higher differential?).If it is all these things it adds up, on a flat spend profile for me, at over £30 for a six week period, while a switch is actioned.Seasonally it could be much more significant.

Although this policy is in your terms and conditions it is hasn't been a prominent issue. I think the general consensus is that if Eon are to operate such a policy, it shouldn't come so much as a surprise to Customers. Hence the points being put to the comparison sites to make this a key feature of the product,just like the cancellation charges are displayed.

Once again thanks for your input.

MillicentBystander

The really wrong thing about such a 'policy' is it would seem to affect long-term customers more than new customers. Some of the older legacy tariffs have discounts of up to 26%! Why the heck should someone who has been with Eon for years be penalised more than someone who's been with them 12 months, for instance? In fact, why should any Eon customer of any length be penalised in this way? Exit fees are already in place to deter people switching within a set timescale, to further punish people who have remained with Eon longer than that smacks of a sore loser attitude and reflects badly on the company, already part of a generally mistrusted industry.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi backfoot

The amount of discount not applied to final bills only applies to that stated as a separate percentage figure on the tariff information literature.

For Saveonline 5, this will be 8 per cent for Dual Fuel and 6 per cent for single electric.

We have recently changed the format of our online products and recent tariffs have the discount for managing accounts online built into the unit prices. Consequently, this will be included on final bills as it is part of the price per kWh.

The 6 per cent you refer to is a guaranteed minimum amount below standard prices. This could be more depending on the price band/region. As above, whether 6 per cent or above, this will be included on final bills as it forms part of the unit price.

Hope this helps backfoot. Give me a shout if I can help further as will be happy to do so.

Malc

backfoot

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc wrote: »

Hi backfoot

The amount of discount not applied to final bills only applies to that stated as a separate percentage figure on the tariff information literature.

For Saveonline 5, this will be 8 per cent for Dual Fuel and 6 per cent for single electric.

We have recently changed the format of our online products and recent tariffs have the discount for managing accounts online built into the unit prices. Consequently, this will be included on final bills as it is part of the price per kWh.

The 6 per cent you refer to is a guaranteed minimum amount below standard prices. This could be more depending on the price band/region. As above, whether 6 per cent or above this will be included on final bills as it forms part of the unit price.

Hope this helps backfoot. Give me a shout if I can help further as will be happy to do so.

Malc

Cheers Malc. So not quite as much as I feared then . Thanks for the clarification.

The policy of building it into the rates is much better for the customer.

All we have to do is to get you to change the Final bill policy and our efforts will be really worthwile and you may acquire a whole tranche of new customers (me included).

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

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.

Hi George

I'm sorry you're unhappy with the way we've handled our recent price increase.

In situations like this, an agreement is in place throughout the energy industry which gives customers the opportunity to change supplier following a price increase without being affected by the new prices. This needs to be done within a set period.

Basically, we need to know within 20 working days of receiving the letter about the new prices that you wish to leave. We then need to receive the notice of transfer from the new supplier within 15 working days of you letting us know.

This is detailed on page 2 of the letter advising of the new prices.

It sounds as though you're well within this time frame so you shouldn't pick up the new prices, provided you've told us why you're switching.

There are also time factors involved with tariffs, for both new and existing customers. This may affect whether or not the cancellation fee applies. Difficult to say without seeing your account.

Drop an email to the address in my Profile if you would like me take a look as will be happy to do so.

Malc

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Fergie76 wrote: »

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.

Hi Fergie

I'm sorry you're unhappy with the behaviour of our rep.

Just thought I'd let you know, there is an industry wide agreement in situations like these called Erroneous Transfers.

Where a customer switches supplier based on incorrect information, we will return the account to the previous supplier as though they had never left.

I suspect this is what the agent dealing with your account is looking at.

If I'm correct, we will have contacted your old supplier and asked them to re-register your details. This takes approx 28 days.

When re-registration is complete, the old supplier will back date all charges to the date we took over and start billing again as though you had never left.

We will not charge anything although we have technically been supplying the property.

Just a heads up Fergie; there are time restrictions to Erroneous Transfers. Once the agent has completed their investigation and agreed this is an Erroneous Transfer, you will receive a letter confirming the process and outlining what will happen next.

This will be with you within 5 working days of your phone call. If this period has passed and you haven't received the letter, you need to contact the agent you spoke with asap.

As they have opened a complaint for you, they will have taken ownership and this will be logged on your account notes. Ask to be put through to this person.

Hope this helps give an insight into what to expect Fergie. Give me a shout if I can help further as will be happy to do so.

Malc

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Dave_save wrote: »

Just to summarise here, what you are saying is that the final bill, which would be for a maximum of 3 months usage, would still have the Dual Fuel 2% discount and the DD 6% discount applied? In my case on Eon Fix Online v8, that would mean I would lose the additional Fix Online 16.8% discount against a maximum of 3 months usage, ifand when I switch. Could someone clarify?

And I do agree if that is the case, this is a variable amount which you are always going to lose... therefore it SHOULD be included as a statement on comparison sites.

Hi Dave

Thought I would just clarify; if you break the terms of a fixed term contract before the end date by changing supplier, no discount at all will be applied to the final bill.

Fixonline 8 ends on 1 July 2011. Therefore, if a change of supplier completes before this time, the final bill will not include discount for online management, payment by Direct Debit or for having a Dual Fuel account.

However, if the switch completes after this date, all the discounts applicable to the tariff will be applied even if part of this falls within the final bill.

Hope this makes things a little clearer Dave. Give me a shout if you need any more info as will be happy to help.

Malc