Eon- horrendous service, is a complaint worthwhile?

lrb7691

Hi guys, I've just come up for an annual review of our every charge. We've been paying £57 a month for gas and electric with Eon which has now increased to £84 (there's two adults in our house, both of us work 8-6 Monday to Friday and are out most weekends).
We're working with a fixed direct debit at present, but always enter our meter readings on a monthly basis because we've been stung by this type of thing in the past.
On receiving the news our payments would be upped, we obviously called to ask why this was happening. We're never here so don't really understand how it could have gone up so much. According to eon. Only myself and David Wilson have access to the account. David wilson doesn't exist ( the OH's name is Ben!). Somewhere along the lines this other bloke has been added onto our account, which is worrying enough as all security for our bills etc would have been breached to add him and to top it off, the customer service advisor suggested that my OH asks me who this David Wilson bloke is!!
They've also told me that none of our meter readings have been collected since June last year, which is absolute bull. And which is now why our bill has increased significantly. I've had it up the they eyeballs with this company and want to leave and get as far away as possible from them, am I best of making a complaint and sticking it out, or leaving them altogether? Will I have to pay the £200+ they claim I owe them when I leave? I'm so angry with the whole set up! Their customer advisors are all rude and patronising and shouldn't be left to deal with anyone! So unhelpful!!

System

A few issues here.

1. Complain in writing (and ask for all replies to be in writing). E.oN, like all energy companies are under pressure from OFGem to reduce the number of complaints that they receive. State you complaint clearly. Provide them with an ACTUAL meter reading and ask them to generate an up to date bill.

2. Ditch and Switch. This is up to you. Switching suppliers does not negate the complaint. E.oN still has to address it. In September 2014, CEO OFGem reported that for every two complaints made, E.oN was losing one customer. CEO E.oN recognised that this was not good customer service.

3. Final Bill. E.oN has every right to charge you for all energy consumed. You may have a case for some compensation for poor customer service.

Best of luck.

dogshome

Perhaps a Red Herring
David Wilson Homes was, and maybe still is, a housebuilding comany and if they built yours, then they would have been the first registered consumer of Gas/Elec/Water at your address.

So maybe your supplier has got their records crossed ?

victor2

dogshome wrote: »

Perhaps a Red Herring
David Wilson Homes was, and maybe still is, a housebuilding comany and if they built yours, then they would have been the first registered consumer of Gas/Elec/Water at your address.

So maybe your supplier has got their records crossed ?

Very good point there, but still E.On should recognise it and sort it out.

lrb7691 wrote: »

We're working with a fixed direct debit at present, but always enter our meter readings on a monthly basis because we've been stung by this type of thing in the past.

When you enter readings online, you usually see the previous readings entered. Presumably that was the case? That also means you should be able to go into your account and see your reading history - do some screen prints of it if you can.
If your account has somehow got mixed up and no previous readings are there, are estimates now being used? E.On are usually pretty good at sorting issues out, but as suggested, do raise a formal complaint. Any documentation you have to support your position (like previous statements, readings given etc.) will be useful.

Cardew

We're working with a fixed direct debit at present

It would be unusual to have a fixed direct debit with any energy company. I suspect with Eon you are on a variable direct debit which allows them to vary the amount collected as long as you are notified in advance.

Have you checked if your bills are passed on Estimated meter readings? This is denoted by an 'E' against the meter reading.

Although the meter readings may have been submitted by yourself and/or a meter reader, there could be a number of reasons why they are using Estimated readings.

£57 a month is well below average. The increase in DD from £57 to £84 will be to cover your future actual consumption and pay back any arrears.

If you have used the energy and the £200 figure of arrears is correct, then of course you must pay that sum if you leave the company.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Good morning lrb7691

Some very good advice already here, so thank you very much for this.

I agree about the name on the account, was your home a new build that you've taken the supply over from? If not we need to look and investigate when this name was added.

Your current Direct Debit amount is low for both gas and electricity, even though you're out the house a lot.

As Cardew has said, the increase is to cover the usage and pay back a balance.

It does appear we've been using estimated meter readings previously and is the reason for the balance. Have you checked your online account and the billing and payments history to see what reads have been used? It will also show on the actual bill what reads were used.

There could be a number of reasons for using estimated reads, I'd advise you to ask and see if we can establish the reasons.

You can of course make a complaint, we have a complaints handling procedure we have to follow, you can see this on the website.

I do hope it's resolved for you though and if you do need me to help, please just ask.

Thank you

Helena

System

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena wrote: »

Good morning lrb7691

It does appear we've been using estimated meter readings previously and is the reason for the balance. Have you checked your online account and the billing and payments history to see what reads have been used? It will also show on the actual bill what reads were used.

There could be a number of reasons for using estimated reads, I'd advise you to ask and see if we can establish the reasons.

Helena

As a site, MSE.com provides a wealth of useful information. In the spirit of greater understanding, it might be helpful if you listed the reasons why an energy supplier would use estimated rather than monthly actual readings when producing a bill? I can only think of one reason.

lvf

The annual review is the point your payments are set up for the following 12 months. It is calculated by the following:
* Your total bills for the previous 12 months
PLUS
* Any outstanding balance
-- (IF THERE IS A PAYMENT OF THE OLD AMOUNT STILL TO BE TAKEN) --
LESS
* The first payment of the old amount
DIVIDED BY 11

-- (OR IF THERE IS NOT ANY FURTHER PAYMENTS OF THE OLD AMOUNT) --

DIVIDED BY 12

Now, two points to consider:
1. Did you start the last year paying just £57, or were you paying a higher amount? I would wager a guess that you were paying higher and there was an adequacy review after 6 months, which saw you in a credit balance that reduced your payments to £57. If this was the case, then you were using more than £57 p/m, but any extra use was to use up the credit balance.

2. You were obviously using more than £57pm if you have a debit balance of over £200. So how can you be angry at this aspect of an increase?

Cardew

Hengus wrote: »

As a site, MSE.com provides a wealth of useful information. In the spirit of greater understanding, it might be helpful if you listed the reasons why an energy supplier would use estimated rather than monthly actual readings when producing a bill? I can only think of one reason.

Hengus,


The main reason why an estimated meter reading is used instead of an actual meter reading(even if reading is taken by a meter reader) is down to the reliance - of all energy companies - on their accounting computer systems.


The computer algorithm(program) is written* such that if there is a discrepancy between the reported meter reading and the range of meter readings the computer 'thinks' is possible, it 'assumes' the meter reading is a mistake and ignores that actual meter reading and substitutes an estimated reading.


Once that has happened for the first time, then the discrepancy is normally bigger the next time and again the actual reading is ignored and an estimated reading used.


It is not until there is human intervention is the situation rectified. It would appear that this normally only happens when the customer complains and brings this to the attention of a human! in the accounts staff.


Some years ago a contributor to MSE actually wrote the algorithm. I have an annex where the consumption varies hugely and this has happened to me a couple of times.

System

Cardew wrote: »

It is not until there is human intervention is the situation rectified. It would appear that this normally only happens when the customer complains and brings this to the attention of a human! in the accounts staff.

.

Thank you. It cannot be beyond the ability of computer man to write a piece of software that alerts both CS and the customer to the fact that actual readings haven't been accepted. This forum is littered with people who believe that they have done everything asked of them, and then are surprised to find out that they have been over/under billed. It would be interesting to know if the software also rejects readings from smart meters which it thinks are out of the ordinary.

Cardew

Hengus wrote: »

Thank you. It cannot be beyond the ability of computer man to write a piece of software that alerts both CS and the customer to the fact that actual readings haven't been accepted.

Agreed - and stated many times.


Something along the lines of a computer generated letter sent to customer and flagged up to CS staff after, say, the third consecutive estimated reading would go a long way to solving the problem.


Good point about smart meters.