E-on constant errors.

cadmonkey33

Hi,
In May of this year, I received a letter from E-on saying I had been underpaying on my Direct Debits and now had a balance of -£3056.15, and that my Direct Debits would increase to £448 per month.
I'd moved into my house in December 2011, so this bill was achieved in 2.5 years. My DD payments were £79 per month when I first moved in. After a few months they reduced my payments to £39 per month without my knowledge.
To be honest, I hadn't checked my bills. I assumed (very wrongly) that I was paying what I was supposed to.

So, I called them and was told my bill was estimated, and they had no meter readings for the entire period in question. I gave them a reading from my property management company for the day I moved in, and a current reading.
I was asked to provide 5 daily readings, which I did on May 16th. I was told that my bill was accurate and there was no substantial change and that there was no fault on my meter. (that's some impressive estimating!)

I made an official complaint on May 19th(?) and was offered £30 as a 'token of good will', and the option to pay the debt off over 24 months. The direct debit would still be huge though. I was told in writing that my ongoing fuel usage was £128 per month.

I rang E-on on the 29th of May, and offered to pay £2000 immediately and pay the remainder over 18 months. They agreed to the terms. My direct debit would now be £183 per month.
I said I would only pay the £2000 on the proviso that they cancelled the current direct debit which was due to go out shortly. They agreed and said the DD was cancelled. I paid £2000.

On the 3rd of June I checked my bank account and £448 had been taken from my account. I went to my bank and filed an indemnity against the payment, the £448 was credited to my account a few days later.

On 5th of June I received a letter from E-on saying my direct debit arrangement had been cancelled, and that I'd have to pay £553 immediately.
I rang them again today to reinstate the arrangement and was told that my ongoing usage was now £178 per month, and increase of £50 per month in just 2 weeks!
They said they didn't know why it was now higher, but my direct debit would now be £233 per month. They also had no record of my 5 daily reading I had given them. After complaining for a while they agreed to set the direct debit up at the previously arrange amount of £183, but I'm now officially underpaying again.

So that's where I am at the moment. I'm absolutely amazed they can consistently make so many mistakes on one account! So far they literally haven't got anything right.

For the record, I'm a single guy living in a 2up 2down. I have gas central heating and hot water. I have no idea if I'm paying the correct amount, hell, they don't know if I'm paying the right amount!

In the 2 and a half years I've lived in the house I've payed approximately £1300 in direct debits, and my balance in May 2014 was -£3056.15, so that's an average yearly bill of £1742.
Have I been ripped off? Am I being ripped off? All they can tell me is what their computer says.

Cheers.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Hi cadmonkey33 and welcome to the forum.

I'm sorry that you've had such problems with us.

It's obviously complex with failings and I wouldn't say anything for sure as I can't see the account and all of the details.

So to sum up, you've been receiving bills the entire period of the account, but all of these have been under estimated?

We've now billed up to an accurate reading and it's produced what we call a catch up bill.

Have meter readers been round to read the meters? Or cards left? Did you ever provide reads to us?

You did the right thing in claiming the money back through the bank, although this shouldn't have been taken if you were told it wouldn't be.

We're now offering a payment plan to cover your consumption and pay back the balance over a similar amount of time it has taken to build up.

It sounds like the first arrangement was including the £448 being paid, now that's been returned to you I think this is what's made the payments higher.

As I say, I don't know for sure.

But, as you've had a complaint raised on this you need to continue with the complaints process, as this won't be closed until you are happy or if we can't reach a resolution you'll be able to approach the Ombudsman.

You now need to move to the next complaints stage, this is all on the website. I'm sorry I'm not allowed to post links.

Hope this helps a little.

Helena

cadmonkey33

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena wrote: »

Hi cadmonkey33 and welcome to the forum.
I'm sorry that you've had such problems with us.

Hi, yeah I've been hearing that a lot.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena wrote: »

So to sum up, you've been receiving bills the entire period of the account, but all of these have been under estimated?
We've now billed up to an accurate reading and it's produced what we call a catch up bill.

Almost entirely estimated yes. There were a few months where meter readings had been taken.
After giving readings for the day I moved in, the current date, and 5 daily readings (which later disappeared) you sent the 'catch up bill', which showed no major change.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena wrote: »

Have meter readers been round to read the meters? Or cards left? Did you ever provide reads to us?

Only a few times during the period in question, but in May I provided all the readings I could.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena wrote: »

It sounds like the first arrangement was including the £448 being paid, now that's been returned to you I think this is what's made the payments higher.

No, that arrangement was made before the direct debit went out.
I was told today that my ongoing usage had increased by £50 in two weeks.
They didn't know why.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena wrote: »

But, as you've had a complaint raised on this you need to continue with the complaints process, as this won't be closed until you are happy or if we can't reach a resolution you'll be able to approach the Ombudsman.

As I said, all I could do with your complaints department was agree to an underpaying direct debit. They were unable to tell me why my initial direct debits were so low, why it took 2.5 years for them to realize, why the 5 daily readings have disappeared off your system, why a direct debit which was cancelled was taken from my account, why my usage is so high, and why my ongoing usage has gone up £50 in two weeks. I'm amazed they're capable of resolving anything.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena wrote: »

You now need to move to the next complaints stage, this is all on the website. I'm sorry I'm not allowed to post links.
Hope this helps a little.
Helena

Thanks, I'll check that out and contact the ombudsman.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Thanks for the extra info cadmonkey33

I honestly do get how frustrating this is for you and want to get things resolved by letting you know how to move this forward.

This is where your complaint handler comes in, this person will be looking after your complaint so you don't have to be contacting different people.

As I say it sounds like it now needs to go to the review team to look through and independently review this situation and your account as a whole.

You can request this through your complaint handler as they have not come to a satisfactory resolution for you. Or they may look in to things again.

You'll then go from there. The Ombudsman can be contacted by yourself if this isn't resolved after 56 days.

I really hope things work out for you.

Helena