problems with Eon

chattygirl_2

I am in a total financial mess, for a few reasons,
I have been a lone parent for some years, my ex hasn't made any financial contribution for a number of years ( he disappeared ), but I was keeping my head above water until for the last year I only had part time work, then last July my job contract ended, and I have not yet been unable to find another. Since then I have had difficulties getting job seekers and housing benefit, because of a catalogue of errors ( on their part not mine ) and only started receiving benefits properly in September. I am still awaiting the result of an appeal as i was not receiving full JSA in the Summer.

I didn't cope very well with losing my job and a few upsetting personal things that happened (deaths in the family) and for the last few months had clinical depression, I am slowly getting better ( have had medical help ) but I did let many things go just trying to cope day to day was hard, and consequently got very messed up with debt.

In early october I really tried to sort my life out and so got some debt advice from Stepchange, and I wrote letters and made offers to a number of people I owe money to. I sent off standard lettes and a copy of my financial statement to them and cheques for the first month's payment as I was advised to do, these were utitlies credit card cos and payday loans (yes I know. very stupid, but I was not thinking straight and kept hoping a job would turn up, or my ex would cough up ,some of the thousands he owes me, hah)

Most debtors have been very helpful, accepting the offer and/or freezing interest etc, however I am having a lot of difficulty with EON with whom both my gas and electric are from.

The week or so after I had written to them I had a visit from a debt collector from them, I was not in but they left a letter, saying they wished to contatct me as i had not made an attempt to pay my debt. I thought that was odd but perhaps it had already been booked, and letter crossed in transit as it were, as i knew they had got my letter and offer as the cheque had just been banked the day before.

I (stupidly perhaps) ignored the letter as I was still waiting for them to reply to my offer (i had offered to pay them £100 each month which was for current usage and to clear the arrears as this was the most I could manage.). Because i had sent the cheque with the letter and that had been banked, I thought well obviously they must have it and will respond in due course.

A month later I still haven't had a response. I made the second month's payment of £100 at the beginning of this week, but today I got in tonight to find two letters from them saying they are seeking a warrent to enter the house. The letters say I must reply by the 15th of November but the letters only arrived today and I got in at 8.30 pm and tried to call but the office is now closed.

I actually feel physically sick about calling them, the debt has already gone up, I can no longer access both of the accounts online, only one of them for electricity, but it looks like they have charged me 2 x £55 charges for visits? This I find really upsetting as I had contacted them prior to the visits to explain that I was unemployed and in financial difficulty and they have responded by adding on more debt

I actually really don't know quite what to do, They say they will cut off my supply or fit a repayment meter, the flat is freezing as it is as it is old and expensive to run, and I am scared to put the heating on for long

i am not explaining myself very well but if anyone can suggest who it is best for me to speak to there I would really appreciate it, and is there some way I can negotiate a reduction on these charges and keep my supply

[Deleted User]

I can only say as advice that virtually no one ever gets cut off supply unless there is constant bypassing. It will be just a case of accepting the prepay meters, getting onto the cheapest prepay rates possible. Prepays are not that bad as they are mostly on or near " standard tariff ". any debt owed they will put on as weekly repay on your meter which starts at minimum £4 a week ish to as much as £16 a week. Dont let it go to warrant because that will only add an extra £150 on your prepay debt
Yesterday I was taken to see a prepay meter by a Russian old lady who spoke hardly any English and had £9000 debt on her meter to be repaid back at £16.50 a week along with the weekly standing charge, so her £20 bought her hardly any gas. she had had no gas heating all year and was at her wits end. I did my best to help but was very difficult with her limited English.
The thing you will miss with prepays is the big discounts for direct debits and cheaper fixed deals

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Morning chattygirl,

The first thing to do is to ring us and speak to us as soon as you can.

I understand you have offered an arrangement to us of £100 per month, but we need to see how much is your current usage and how much is the balance and make sure these are covered.

You also need to have the arrangement set up property on the account.

When you call make sure you've got some up to date readings so we can get the account fully up to date.

It may be that pre-payment meters are better as you can pay for your usage and clear the debt through the meters over a much longer period than a normal arrangement.

I fully agree with sacsquacco in not letting this get to warrant stage as this will add more charges on.

With certain benefits you can pay a very small amount off the debt each week, so speak to us about this.

I hope this helps a little.

Helena

macman

You need to prioritise your debts: water, gas and electricity come above credit card debts.
Since you don't say what you actually owe or what your usage is, hard to offer much advice, but PPM's may well be a better solution. If you refuse them voluntarily you will only end up with much higher costs for court order, warrant and forced entry.

chattygirl_2

thank you for your advice and apologies for not responding before, I had no internet the last couple of weeks because of a broken laptop but a friend has fixed it for me yeah

Spoke to EON and the greater concern was the gas debt which was higher then the electricity, and so they are fitting a prepayment meter for that next week and the electric is staying on a monthly direct debit arrangement.

to the poster who said I should prioritise water gas & electricity etc over credit cards, of course I did and offered those the vast chunk of payment and just a token acknowledgment of the debt to the cc's, until my situation improves. In all I think the amount I will be paying for gas & electric will be roughly about the same as my £100 offer (obviously it will be affected by usage so going to be reeeeealllly careful with the heating this winter, fingers crossed this predicted freeze doesn't happen!!|).

My bigger issue in posting here was the frustration that my letter was ignored by EON, and I didn't get a reply to it (even though my cheque was cashed) and they charged me two extra £55 charges after I had sent the letter. I felt it was unfair that after I had attempted to resolve the problem, they make it worse for me.

Anyway, as the posters have said it was worth ringing... my goodness, I was so anxious beforehand and ready to throw up!! - but they were very understanding and helpful. The lady who spoke to me confided she has been in a similar situation and was so nonjudgemental and kind.

so all in all, just wanted to offer my feedback and encourage anyone in similar situations to speak to them .. as soon as possible - I think it was better then the letter/financial statement Stepchange suggested I sent, in this instance.