Complaint letter to EDF help please.

smergyl

Hello I had another thread about this issue but it got a little messy with someone else having similar problems so I thought it best to start a new thread, hope that is ok. The previous thread is below this one, sorry I can't post the link.

I have drafted a complaint letter to EDF but just wanted to check I had put everything in. Do I need to suggest a solution? Reading it back it seems like I'm just moaning. Not sure, anyway is it ok? Anything to add?

Also should I make a payment for the gas that I used at the current address? I worked out that I owe £41.661 for the gas from Aug 11-March 12 including VAT. That way the only amount outstanding is the disputed amount. Or should I wait until this problem is resolved?

Cheers

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COMPLAINT

(Account number)
(Name)
(Address)

To whom it may concern,

I have recently spoken to a number of your customer service operatives regarding a bill I received. From the period 04/08/11-05/03/12 my useage came to £234.57 and I made payments of £186, my final bill should therefore be £41.66 including VAT.

However there is an extra charge on the bill with the description "Bill adjustment (excl. 5% VAT) of £226.29". This brings the total bill to £279.26. Having enquired as to what this amount is for I was informed it was from an old account from an old address. The operative said it was from (full address of old place) for the period 20/04/11-30/06/11 with the account number (old account number).

There are a number of problems with this which I will outline below.

1) We left (old address) on the 1st of June 2011, at which point we were not liable for any bills. Our tenancy was over and we started a new one at (new address). We started paying for gas there from the 9th of June 2011.

2) During the time we lived at (old address) we paid via direct debit for gas and electric, I have looked at my old bank statements and can see regular monthly payments of £30 with one final payment of £100 made on the 6th of June 2011. This was after we left the property so must have been a payment for the final amount.

3) Having looked at our useage for the period 04/08/11-05/03/12 I can see that we paid an average of £35 per month for gas, this is also our current useage. The period in which you say we owe £226.29 (20/04/11-30/06/11) is only 71 days. I wonder if you can explain how we jumped from an average bill of £35 per month to an average of £117.99 during that time period? Then dropped again to £35 when we moved to the new address. I assume someone must have moved in after we left and has either given the wrong readings or uses a much higher amount of gas.

4) This last year I have had constant problems with EDF sending me incorrect bills. All addressed to the occupier with the wrong meter number and different account numbers. During this time I was with EDF and paying by direct debit for gas, and the electricity was by prepayment. I had 2 visits from debt collectors for these bills. Through all of this I e-mailed and called and called and e-mailed. It became such a nightmare so I switched.

Said bills were £429.66 for gas and £171.99 for electricity. Through constant contact with yourselves about this issue I was told I had over paid on a previous account from my previous address (old address) and that I was owed a refund of £46.96, this was sent out to me on the 1st of March 2012. The account number from my refund is (old account number), the same account that you are now trying to charge me £226.29 for.

Kind Regards

(My name)

jalexa

smergyl wrote: »

I have drafted a complaint letter to EDF but just wanted to check I had put everything in. Do I need to suggest a solution? Reading it back it seems like I'm just moaning. Not sure, anyway is it ok? Anything to add?

Also should I make a payment for the gas that I used at the current address? I worked out that I owe £41.661 for the gas from Aug 11-March 12 including VAT. That way the only amount outstanding is the disputed amount. Or should I wait until this problem is resolved?

Everybody has their own style. FWIW, I prefer to keep it simple, and you have suggested a key strategy. IMO separate the 2 issues, the current supply and the previous supply. Make it clear you are prepared to agree and pay the current supply closing balance (state your calculation) but you dispute the grounds of the previous supply account (and state your reason).

Keep it "open" and let the supplier reveal their hand first, part of my 'setting a trap' strategy. I strongly suggest "testing the water" by first phoning the "complaints resolution" phone number. Complaints procedure details available online.

smergyl

Thank you I re-wrote it to separate the 2 bills. I said I didn't dispute the £41.66 and gave my calculations. Then said it was the £226.29 that was the problem for reasons a, b c and d. I also took out the short rant at the bottom about the previous issues, it wasn't relevant and I didn't want to confuse the issue. See what happens now.

Thanks again. x