e.on asked my neighbours about me

sashajade1975

Hi i have just had a man from e.on at my door asking me for £513.61p which they say we owe.
I pay them £60 a month by standing order and is what 'they' said i had to pay so they underestimated it.
I told them i could up the standing order to £70 a month by standing order but when the man rang e.on they said no they wanted more.
They said i could have a card meter fitted but as i suffer from agoraphobia i cant have one as i would not be able to top it up if it ran out when my husband was not here.
I told them i could not afford more than £70 a month as i only get ESA (support group) and DLA due to the agoraphobia and to send me a means form and i could show them what we have coming in and going out but the man said they wont send one which i replied well the electric did.
They said they could take the money they wanted from my ESA if i agreed and if i had it taken from my ESA they would want less than if i did it by standing order.
I told them i would not agree to this and i wanted to just up the standing order but they still said no.
The man then said he had just seen a note on his handheld thing and showed me it, it said that i had been visited before but no answer and that my neighbours had confirmed 2 able bodied people lived at my address.
The man then gave me a letter saying what i owed and if i did not pay it they would fit a meter.
I am totally fuming, how dare they ask my neighbours about me!!
Is this allowed?
They have asked my neighbours if i am able bodied as in suggesting nothing is wrong with me and questioning if i am really ill at all.
I have countless letters proving my illness, i see a mental health team and i have been assessed for DLA and get both mobility and care and assessed for ESA and have been put in the support group.
To ask if i am able bodied when i suffer from a mental health illness is just shocking and i am truly disgusted with them.
Could someone please advise what to do now as they are saying they wont take £70 a month by standing order but will by taking it from my ESA and to be honest i dont trust them as far as i could chuck them and will not allow them to take money from my ESA after the disgusting way they have dealt with this.
Thank you

jacques_chirac

Is the £60 towards your arrears or to cover your ongoing bills as well?

I don't see the problem with the meter - you just need to keep an eye on it so it does not go off. Plus they give you (£5?) emergency credit if you do run out, which would give your husband time to top it up.

sashajade1975

jacques_chirac wrote: »

Is the £60 towards your arrears or to cover your ongoing bills as well?

I don't see the problem with the meter - you just need to keep an eye on it so it does not go off. Plus they give you (£5?) emergency credit if you do run out, which would give your husband time to top it up.

They want £70 if they take it from my ESA or £85 if i pay by standing order, this is for what i use and arrears.

The problem i have with the meter is that i will have to rely on someone else to keep an eye on it and top it up as its outside and i shouldnt have to.

They spoke to my neighbours about me and in that convo would of informed them that we owe money and that at least one of us is meant to be ill which means they are also questioning the truth of my illness, they asked if i was able bodied, i have a mental health illness not a physical one which they know.

marleyboy

You can request they put the card meter indoors, so as to access it without having to leave the property. Ensure hubby has bought enough top ups to leave at home for you and it should never get to the point of you using the emergency credit.

sashajade1975

marleyboy wrote: »

You can request they put the card meter indoors, so as to access it without having to leave the property. Ensure hubby has bought enough top ups to leave at home for you and it should never get to the point of you using the emergency credit.

They wont put the meter indoors and they want over £100 a month if i have a card.
I am not upset by the amount they want, i am upset that they asked my neighbours about me, they in a round about way have informed them that i owe money and that i have said i am disabled or ill.
They have also gone behind my back and questioned if i am telling the truth about my illness instead of asking me for prof, they asked if i was able bodied not if i was suffering from a mental illness.

marleyboy

Of course they will, particularly if you have a condition that stops you from going outdoors. It would take an official letter for them to confirm you have a disability, not a neighbours say so.

Simply show them the evidence to your disability and request they install a meter indoors as per your condition and you should be fine.

sashajade1975

marleyboy wrote: »

Of course they will, particularly if you have a condition that stops you from going outdoors. It would take an official letter for them to confirm you have a disability, not a neighbours say so.

Simply show them the evidence to your disability and request they install a meter indoors as per your condition and you should be fine.

The man on the phone said no they wont put one indoors as my husband can top it up.
My point is they should of never asked my neighbours in the first place, my health is personal and not something they should of spoken to neighbours about.
I have not got the £100 they want a month if i had a card meter.

marleyboy

Of course they should not have asked neighbours about you. But short of complaining to them about it, its not going to alter the issue of a card meter. "I cannot have a card meter installed, because one of your employers asked a neighbour about me." is not really going to achieve anything in the way of satisfaction.

Nada666

If you have a prepayment meter installed you can repay your arrears interest free at less than £4 a week.

If you want to pay by payment card on your current meter then, yes, you will have to commit to pay a reasonable monthly amount for arrears and ongoing usage. Or you can take them off your benefits directly. You do not seem to want any of these - you are more interested in making excuses.

If you do not want to commit to paying £100 every month (fair enough) then get a prepayment meter fitted. But do it now at their request to avoid several hundreds of pound of charges for a court order to be added.

You only have agoraphobia - not innumeracy, not social irresponsibility, not sociopathy. Choose a method that can allow you to pay for the energy you want to consume.

chanz4

No they would of asked if you live their, you have zero proof they mentioned a debt

Nada666

So you were paying £60 - they agreed to let you pay £85 - you turned this down - that is close to the minimum amount you pay for arrears in any case (£25) and probably the same extra that the electricity have asked for. So you are making a lot of fuss over nothing.

Of course they should not have messed about with your neighbours - but you should not have messed them about and should have chosen an option to pay your bills. £85 is hardly that much - you do receive two lots of disability on top of the ESA.