Eon - what a rip off

mrsIAm

Hi everyone,I feel sick writing this and I cannot sleep, we have been with EON for about 2 years and not had any problems.

UNTIL now,we got a bill on the 3rd january for £657 so we phoned them up and they said they had got it wrong and they would amend the bill. FINE.

2 days later and the bill has another £200 pound added to it!!

Yesterday I phoned them up explaining that we are out at work all day kids are at school, all our appliancies are A rated and BOSCH, I wash on saturdays and also hoover, the dishwasher is on daily maybe twice on sunday. The man on the phone (paul) said I was doing everything right to lower the bills but could not understand why are paying so much.

Now I bring you to today, I havent slept for 2 days I dont want to go in to work im to scared to put the television on and ive burst into tears 3 times (yeah well done me). I picked my daughter up from school (walking cause the car tax was due today)
When we got home OH said EON had phoned and the bill was £1000 Because we were on the wrong tarriff and because we hadnt read it properly we had to pay it by law.

Sorry to go on but I dont Know what to do, they want the money in 7 days!! OH has applied for a cc to try & clear it. Cant send the kids to school next week cause I cant feed them.

We are both working so cant get any benefits so we are stuffed, Paul from EON said if we were on income support then they would help us.
Yet again i am crying for not
being a SCAB but letting my kids suffer

lithopsian

So you've managed to rant at customer service and us without actually supplying any information at all. Many statements in your post sound like complete rubbish. I realise this reply isn't going to get me any thanks, but please come back to planet earth for a moment. Nobody here is going to be able to help until you calm down and explain the situation carefully.

I'll start with the obvious questions. Are you on direct debit? Are we talking gas or electricity or both? What tariff are you on? What is the period of this bill? Are the readings all actual readings or some estimated ones? Is the bill high because previous estimated readings were too low? Are they trying to back-bill for some other sort of errors?

jalexa

mrsIAm wrote: »

OH said EON had phoned and the bill was £1000 Because we were on the wrong tarriff and because we hadnt read it properly we had to pay it by law.

Sorry to go on but I dont Know what to do, they want the money in 7 days

The first lesson, even if only for others, is not to let an issue like this run for two months.

The next lesson is never allow telephone intimidation but on the very first occasion you are disatisfied raise a formal complaint in writing (or by email).

The statement "because we were on the wrong tarriff and because we hadnt read it properly we had to pay it by law" is indeed (legal) nonsense. If that is what the E.ON rep said, turn the tables on E.ON by raising a formal complaint.

Airmike23

also get one of the eon rep's on this forum too look into things properly for you rather than some tool from billing

HappyMJ

mrsIAm wrote: »

Hi everyone,I feel sick writing this and I cannot sleep, we have been with EON for about 2 years and not had any problems.

UNTIL now,we got a bill on the 3rd january for £657 so we phoned them up and they said they had got it wrong and they would amend the bill. FINE.

2 days later and the bill has another £200 pound added to it!!

Yesterday I phoned them up explaining that we are out at work all day kids are at school, all our appliancies are A rated and BOSCH, I wash on saturdays and also hoover, the dishwasher is on daily maybe twice on sunday. The man on the phone (paul) said I was doing everything right to lower the bills but could not understand why are paying so much.

Now I bring you to today, I havent slept for 2 days I dont want to go in to work im to scared to put the television on and ive burst into tears 3 times (yeah well done me). I picked my daughter up from school (walking cause the car tax was due today)
When we got home OH said EON had phoned and the bill was £1000 Because we were on the wrong tarriff and because we hadnt read it properly we had to pay it by law.

Sorry to go on but I dont Know what to do, they want the money in 7 days!! OH has applied for a cc to try & clear it. Cant send the kids to school next week cause I cant feed them.

We are both working so cant get any benefits so we are stuffed, Paul from EON said if we were on income support then they would help us.
Yet again i am crying for not
being a SCAB but letting my kids suffer

If you don't have the money to pay the bill then pay whatever you can afford now and try and pay as much as you possibly can when you are paid next.

They may want the money in 7 days but if you don't have it then they are not going to get it. However, if you have made every effort to pay as much as possible towards the bill then they will be unlikely to fit a prepayment meter.

Once the bill is paid off then compare and switch. If you can't see all of this debt being paid off in the next 6 months or so then try switching to EON's Saveonline 12 tariff to save some money in the meantime. It's about 10% cheaper than EON's standard pay on receipt of bill tariff. You can set up a direct debit that will combine the remainder of the outstanding debt and an estimate of what you use over the next 12 months into a monthly payment.

spiro

mrsIAm wrote: »

Hi everyone,I feel sick writing this and I cannot sleep, we have been with EON for about 2 years and not had any problems.

First point here is that suppliers only have to read your meter every 2 years, have they read yoursd?

mrsIAm wrote: »

UNTIL now,we got a bill on the 3rd january for £657 so we phoned them up and they said they had got it wrong and they would amend the bill. FINE.

Was the closing read on this bill an estimate? If it was did you give them a new reading?

mrsIAm wrote: »

2 days later and the bill has another £200 pound added to it!!

This may be as a result of them changing a bill from an estimated one to an actual one based on a new meter reading.

mrsIAm wrote: »

When we got home OH said EON had phoned and the bill was £1000 Because we were on the wrong tarriff and because we hadnt read it properly we had to pay it by law.

Two points here, what tariff are you on and what do they say you should be one & why. As said above the supplier only has to read every 2 years and suppliers T&Cs normally say you should submit readings twice a year. Have you been doing this or have your old bills been based on estimates and did you check them?

jalexa

spiro wrote: »

As said above the supplier only has to read every 2 years and suppliers T&Cs normally say you should submit readings twice a year.

The 2 years reading thing is a red herring. T&Cs cut more than one way. Suppliers are bound to "accurate billing", the principal requirement there being billing in accordance with the frequency stated in the T&Cs (and not less frequently than once a year). Further, suppliers are bound to accurate estimates in accordance with either previous consumption or failing that typical consumption for the property type.

I agree though that where a bill or statement contains an estimated reading it is in the account holders interest to correct any significant error with the estimate. But it is not a legal requirement for a layperson not to make a mistake or to fail to comprehend an unclear or wrongly constructed or calculated bill.

The account holder however has no "Billing Code" resposibility for setting up and maintaining accurate billing processes, an issue which is alluded to.

macman

The OP first needs to check the bill and meter readings properly as outlined in post 2.
No sensible advice can be given unless the actual facts/consumption are presented.
At the moment all we know is that the OP thinks they have a high bill that they can't pay-not a lot to go on...

cottonhead

Firstly do not worry. Here is why .... I had the same problem with Eon. We live in a 1 bed flat and I was sent a bill for £1500 !! Obvioulsy I challenged it but they said it was correct as we had not had a reading for a long time. I argued and they wouldnt back down. They told me I would have to have a meter installed. They told me to not use power if I couldnt afford it. They told me I had to pay minimum of £120 a month just on the arrears even though I told them i couldnt afford it as I had just been made redundant. In short they were rude and uncaring.
I kept making payment. The bills kept arriving and getting bigger still. Anyway after a long time....nearly 1 year I would guess - they reaslied they had my meter mixed up with someone elses !! They read the correct one and far from owing £1500 I was in credit and got a refund. Happy days ! Until...... the next bill came ! It was huge again. Rang to challenge and they had transposed the digits. I gave them the correct reading and they adjusted it and knocked loads off again. Same happended for the next 4 bills ! Anyway I got sick of them and left for Southern Electric who have been great so far. Then Eon sent me a bill for £500 claiming I owed that in unpaid bills. I challenged it and asked for a breakdown which they didnt provide. They then sent my account to UDS ( utility debt services ) who have been sending me threatening letters. I called and tried to offer a payment plan - they said it wasnt enough and refused it, even though I advised I cant pay more right now and dont even trust that the bill is right anyway. Bascially they suggested I borrow from someone else to pay them and have said threatening things like ' you better hope no more action is taken between now and when you do pay ' !
So the long and short of it is dont trust Eon. They are rude and unhelpful and always make mistakes.
I have complained to the office of fair trading this week who have registered my complaint as I believe them to be in breach of the terms of their consumer credit licence because of the way UDS are trying to get the money off me. They advised to contact the ombudsman so thats what I am doing today.
Dont worry - check your meter and give them the correct reading. Also check the meter number you have matched what they have. Then check that its not been converted into / from an imperial measurement. Just advise you will pay once you are sure that the correct figure has been proved. Then offer a repayment plan and hopefully as you are still a customer they will accept it.
Good luck and dont worry.

Cardew

jalexa wrote: »

Suppliers are bound to "accurate billing", the principal requirement there being billing in accordance with the frequency stated in the T&Cs (and not less frequently than once a year). Further, suppliers are bound to accurate estimates in accordance with either previous consumption or failing that typical consumption for the property type.

Not heard of that provision, any details of where that can be found in the code or T&Cs?

As the OP has only made reference to electrical consumption, with nothing about heating and hot water costs, I suspect it is an all electric house??

I wonder if their 'wrong tariff' means they are on Economy 7 without storage heaters? or vice versa?

mrsIAm

Thank you for all your replies, They said that we were on an energy saving tarrif when we first went with them but it ran out in June and they said they sent us a letter to tell us about it?? We have been paying quarterly and always paid on time so we didnt owe them anything till now. We kept phoning up and questioning the bill & they kept saying they would look in to it then phoning back & slapping another £200 on it. Going to get OH to phone the ombudsman when he comes home from work as he understands all the tarriffs etc.
Good look today with the ombudsman cottonhead I hope more people complain about the awful service eon is providing.