Help - Erroneous transfer which I can't resolve. Do I carry on with 'free fuel'.

dystran

Hi

I have a second property and I pay all bills by direct debit.

Dual fuel has been with EON for years. In April 2014 while doing my accounts I noticed that no payment had been made since October 2013 (no letters including account closing were sent).

I called EON and they said that account was transferred to Scottish Power. I received no letters from them either (reason below).

Scottish Power said they made an error and my account was transferred rather than somebody else's relating to an entirely different address. They said they would 'fix it' in around 6 weeks.

I have just noticed that still nothing has been taken.

I simply cannot get anything resolved. I have spend nearly three hours on the phone this morning, for example. Other highlights:

I have been told somebody will call back and that call was actually an automated service that simply placed me in a queue before cutting me off after 35 minutes.

Another call led to an automated message that advised me of a long wait, helpfully letting me know that this would be between 2 hours 46 minutes and 4 hours 10 minutes!. If I selected a call back, presumably I would then be placed in a queue again as per above.

I finally got through to somebody today (and I have taken a name). I explained the whole situation. They then said somebody needs to call me back. I said fine, highlighted that they are a year out of pocket and that I have been trying to pay and that I do not know what else I can do. I also stated that I need to speak to_a_person because if I get another automated call that leads to nowhere then I will not be calling back again.

One problem is that neither my address nor name exists on SP's system (probably why I have had no mail etc). I think this was why an earlier attempt by EON to get it back might have failed.

I recently found out that I should be receiving letters when these erroneous transfer occur, but I have had nothing.

I have also contemplated staying with Scottish Power simply so that I could negotiate a longer term payment option to 'catch up' my usage.

Questions:

If I receive no call back and cannot get this resolved what do I do? I would rather not spend more time on this.

1) Would it be okay/ethical of me to leave it and simply wait until they notice and then come at me and I negotiate?

2) What if I get to two years of unpaid bills - bit worrying - okay sensibly maybe I should be putting money aside.


Thanks for help

footyguy

dystran wrote: »

Hi

I have a second property and I pay all bills by direct debit.

Dual fuel has been with EON for years. In April 2014 while doing my accounts I noticed that no payment had been made since October 2013 (no letters including account closing were sent).

I called EON and they said that account was transferred to Scottish Power. I received no letters from them either (reason below).

Scottish Power said they made an error and my account was transferred rather than somebody else's relating to an entirely different address. They said they would 'fix it' in around 6 weeks.

I have just noticed that still nothing has been taken.

I simply cannot get anything resolved. I have spend nearly three hours on the phone this morning, for example. Other highlights:

I have been told somebody will call back and that call was actually an automated service that simply placed me in a queue before cutting me off after 35 minutes.

Another call led to an automated message that advised me of a long wait, helpfully letting me know that this would be between 2 hours 46 minutes and 4 hours 10 minutes!. If I selected a call back, presumably I would then be placed in a queue again as per above.

I finally got through to somebody today (and I have taken a name). I explained the whole situation. They then said somebody needs to call me back. I said fine, highlighted that they are a year out of pocket and that I have been trying to pay and that I do not know what else I can do. I also stated that I need to speak to_a_person because if I get another automated call that leads to nowhere then I will not be calling back again.

One problem is that neither my address nor name exists on SP's system (probably why I have had no mail etc). I think this was why an earlier attempt by EON to get it back might have failed.

I recently found out that I should be receiving letters when these erroneous transfer occur, but I have had nothing.

I have also contemplated staying with Scottish Power simply so that I could negotiate a longer term payment option to 'catch up' my usage.

Questions:

If I receive no call back and cannot get this resolved what do I do? I would rather not spend more time on this.

1) Would it be okay/ethical of me to leave it and simply wait until they notice and then come at me and I negotiate?

2) What if I get to two years of unpaid bills - bit worrying - okay sensibly maybe I should be putting money aside.


Thanks for help

Write to Eon
https://www.eonenergy.com/for-your-home/help-and-support/Complaints

Head your letter COMPLAINT

They'll have 8 weeks in which to resolve your complaint, else you can ask the ombudsman for help

dogshome

Stop useing the phone
WRITE to Eon heading the letter Complaint, listing the contact dates so far as you can remember, of the calls you have made.

The rule on Erroneous Transfers, is that the wrongly transferred party should not suffer any financial loss - In short this means that despite Eon not taking D/Debits against the power use they will eventually bill you for, the billing should reflect any D/Debit discount that you had with the original account.
Also
When the bill does eventually arrive, you are in a position to negotiate a pay-it-over-time-deal that suits your finances, not Eon's

amberrye

I am stuck in an erroneous transfer (Npower ET'd by Scottish Power).


8 months it has been going on and despite phone calls, emails and 3 formal complaints (and now involvement of the Ombudsman) it still has not been sorted.


Whilst it would be nice to think gas & elec during this time will be free, I am bracing myself for a substantial bill when they finally catch up.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi dystran

I'm really sorry if we've kept you waiting on the phone. Thought it might help if I explain what usually happens when accounts are taken over by mistake.

In these cases and provided the customer agrees, they're sent back to the original supplier. This is through an industry wide agreement called an Erroneous Transfer.

As dogshome says, they're sent back as though they had never been away.

Whilst either supplier can start an Erroneous Transfer, it's usually best if the supplier who took the account wrongly kick starts the process.

This is because, invariably, if the original supplier starts it up, the second supplier will reject it claiming they've a valid contract. I suspect this is what's happened to you.

When dealing with either of us, it'll help if you always quote the meter serial numbers and full postal address.

Once raised, the other supplier will send us a request to retake the supply. When this is received, we'll re-register your supply with us. We'll also make sure it's set up exactly as it was before it left.

You may receive a couple of different bills whilst everything is sorted out but, once all is back as it was, you'll only need to pay us.

The company who took the supply by mistake will cancel all bills and charges. You'll not have to pay them anything. Any payments made will be refunded too.

Now the account has left us, the Monthly Direct Debit will have been cancelled and your bank details deleted. Until the account comes back to us, we'll have no way of collecting any money for energy used at this property.

Once the account is back, we'll be happy to look at setting up a new payment arrangement to spread the balance over a manageable period.

Hope this helps point you in the right direction dystran.

Malc