Help! Debt collectors chasing disputed Eon bill

eslim

Hi all, wondered if someone can help us with a problem we're having with Eon?
A bit of background: we moved into this property at the end of July last year, the previous tenants had moved out early so the property had sat empty for about 6 weeks and my landlords parents were round mowing the lawn, doing some DIY etc to get the place ready for us.
After shopping around for a new supplier, we decided to move from Eon in November, despite us asking they had never sent us a bill whilst we were a customer, and when our final bill arrived it was from June so also included the period of time between the last tenants moving out & us moving in.
We contacted Eon and explained to them that we didn't move in to the property until the end of July and asked them to recalculate the bill. They said they needed proof so we sent them a copy of our tenancy agreement in the post. We called back a few days later to check they had received it, they said they had and were recalculating our bill & we would receive an accurate one shortly.
A few days later we received a letter from Eon threatening to inform debt collectors etc so we called them again. They said there was a note on our account to say they received the tenancy agreement but nobody had put it in our file and it had gone missing. We sent them the agreement again by email and called again to check they'd received it which they had, and again, they said they would recalculate the bill but that the letters threatening action would not stop unless we set up a payment plan and the least they would accept was £70 a month. The bill is only for around £200 so I refused to set up the £70 plan as the bill would be paid in full before Eon investigated it & I will not pay someone else's bill. We offered to pay £20 a month to give us more time for Eon to pull their finger out but they refused this.
Now we have received a letter from Buchanan Clark & Wells for the full amount + 20%.
The letter contains the line 'our clients know of no legitimate reason why the account has not been paid', I almost died laughing!
We called Eon today & they at first said they wouldn't discuss it with us because the debt is not with them any more, then (after explaining the whole thing AGAIN), said that our bill was being recalculated and we should expect a new bill soon. They have been saying this for at least three weeks & nothing has happened other than the letter from BC&W so I don't trust the bill will EVER arrive at this point.
Each time we have called Eon (which must be bordering on 20 times), we have put in a formal complaint about their conflicting information & general incompetence. All we want is a bill telling us how much we actually owe so we can pay it!
I wonder if anyone can offer any advice on what we do next? Can Eon even sell on this debt whilst it is clearly in dispute?
Thanks in advance

tallyhoh

There is an E.on company rep on the boards, suggest trying to message them if they don't pick up your post

ValHaller

Did you contact Eon when you moved in and give them your opening meter reading? Do you have your opening meter reading?

This problem is probably best on the Utilities forum.

eslim

Thanks guys, wasn't sure what board to post in so sorry if this isnt quite right. Yes we gave them the meter readings but they were never recorded for some reason, they have asked us for them again but - after a year of living in the property - we'd thrown away the paper they were written on, never expecting Eon to have not taken them down, so the tenancy agreement was the next best thing we had as proof.
Hopefully the Eon rep on here can be of more help than the call centre staff! Thanks again.

HOK3Y

Hello eslim and I wish you the best of luck with E.On. I work for a property management firm and we have no end of problems with that company not noting tenant changes and readings (they seem to make them up sometimes!).....and we put all of this in writing for them. We have one member of staff who spends time most weeks trying to get some sense out of their call centre. So believe me you are not alone in your frustration - wish you all the best in getting it sorted out and soon. X

sourcrates

Unbelievable incompetence from EON, makes you wonder how they manage to stay in business with such crass business practices, and you know the thing that really annoys me about things like this ?, when it, eventually gets sorted out, there will be no apology for sending debt collectors after you, no recompense for the 20 odd phone calls you've made to them, no "sorry about that" for the hours spent trying to sort this mess out, Argh !!!! really makes my blood boil that people cant put a simple answer to a simple question, and DO THERE JOBS CORRECTLY !!!!!!!! sorry for rant, just a mad world these days................

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi eslim

I'm really sorry you've had such a poor experience with us.

In cases like these, we've a specific team who look after amending incorrect occupancy dates.

Tenancy Agreements are important in establishing the dates used and the advisors you spoke to should've sent them to this team. They'll correct the dates and re-bill the account accordingly.

It sounds as though neither of the copies you sent were forwarded on. If you drop an email with your details to the address in my Profile, I'll liaise with this team to make sure the correct actions are taken.

Sorry to bother you again with this but, if you let me have another copy of the Tenancy Agreement, it'll reduce any potential delays if the previous ones have been deleted.

I have to say, we've also fallen down in another area, too. A complaint should've been raised the first time you contacted us about this. An open complaint would've stopped debt follow up.

Once I have your details, I'll raise the complaint myself and backdate it to the time you first contacted us about the problem.

Again, I'm really sorry you've had such a poor experience but hope my offer of help will start to put things right.

Malc

eslim

Thanks Malc, I'm at work at the moment and away from home tonight, will ask my other half to send over our account number and get back to you with the information you've asked for - at least Eon appears to have one competent member of staff!

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

That'll be great eslim.

I'm not in the office on Monday so please don't worry if you don't hear straight back. I'll pick it up on Tuesday and be in touch.

Have a good weekend.

Malc

Clive_Woody

EoN customer service helpline is an utter joke, in the end I gave up and left them for another provider. I was told that it was impossible for them to generate a corrected bill and I had to rely on a customer service rep and a calculator then them issuing a manual refund. They did also register it as a late payment on my credit file (eventually got that changed back).

They really are a shambles of a company.

System

I've had no problems with Eon at all, even when I gave incorrect meter readings and they owed me quite a few hundred pounds back.

I provide my meter readings monthly and each quarter they post the bill to me via e-mail. I have already paid the bill before it is due thanks to their direct debit system allowing me to check every 3 months and increase my direct debit if needed to ensure that I don't fall in to a negative balance.

When I had the over payment problem they sorted it quickly and hope that you get your problem sorted too.