E.ON set up account without consent

thebox57

Hello,

Towards the end of last year, my parents (both seniors, my father being in receipt of disability living allowance) began receiving letters from a collection agency on behalf of E.ON regarding the electricity supply to the house next door - letters claiming that my father was responsible for the supply there, and had been since April 2017.

The property next door had been empty throughout the period specified, and my father was in hospital recovering from a stroke at the time the E.ON account in his name was set up.

I eventually managed to discuss the matter with E.ON over the phone, who informed me that the account had been set up by them, without speaking to my father - how on Earth his name was connected to the property I don't know - and after non-payment, despite never once sending my father any letters themselves, had passed the account to a collection agency for recovery. Over the phone, I providing the serial number on my parents' electricity box, and it was confirmed that the account wasn't my father's - of course.

My concern is this - at the end of the call (over an hour), the advisor refused to put any of this in writing, or to give me a reference number to quote should I need to call again. She was in fact, quite rude about the whole thing - no apology, nothing.

My parents aren't really capable of handling situations like this - if I hadn't been there, they'd still be receiving FINAL DEMANDS and the like from that collection agency (LCS), and becoming increasingly distressed. I think we accrued five letters before we finally managed to get through to somebody at E.ON.

Is there any other path we can pursue at this interval to ensure this situation has been resolved? Surely this procedure can't be legal? Especially given my father was in hospital at the time the account was set up. The whole thing has made me so angry.

I find this practice utterly abhorrent, and it terrifies me to think of the number of elderly/vulnerable people being exploited in this way on a daily basis.

Many thanks in advance for your advice.

brewerdave

Write a concise letter, headed "Complaint" to EON, outlining the circumstances and get your father to sign the letter. Tell them that you require a response in writing; no phone calls will be accepted in lieu of a written reply.

Flt._Lt._Biggles

thebox57 wrote: »

Hello,

Towards the end of last year, my parents (both seniors, my father being in receipt of disability living allowance) began receiving letters from a collection agency on behalf of E.ON regarding the electricity supply to the house next door - letters claiming that my father was responsible for the supply there, and had been since April 2017.

The property next door had been empty throughout the period specified, and my father was in hospital recovering from a stroke at the time the E.ON account in his name was set up.

I eventually managed to discuss the matter with E.ON over the phone, who informed me that the account had been set up by them, without speaking to my father - how on Earth his name was connected to the property I don't know - and after non-payment, despite never once sending my father any letters themselves, had passed the account to a collection agency for recovery. Over the phone, I providing the serial number on my parents' electricity box, and it was confirmed that the account wasn't my father's - of course.

My concern is this - at the end of the call (over an hour), the advisor refused to put any of this in writing, or to give me a reference number to quote should I need to call again. She was in fact, quite rude about the whole thing - no apology, nothing.

My parents aren't really capable of handling situations like this - if I hadn't been there, they'd still be receiving FINAL DEMANDS and the like from that collection agency (LCS), and becoming increasingly distressed. I think we accrued five letters before we finally managed to get through to somebody at E.ON.

Is there any other path we can pursue at this interval to ensure this situation has been resolved? Surely this procedure can't be legal? Especially given my father was in hospital at the time the account was set up. The whole thing has made me so angry.

I find this practice utterly abhorrent, and it terrifies me to think of the number of elderly/vulnerable people being exploited in this way on a daily basis.

Many thanks in advance for your advice.

They really are a bunch of bounders arn't they?

I was told they are always sending bills of random properties to those that have no connection with them. I'm not sure if it's true, but rumour has it they just scape name and addresses out of the phone book and send those people bills for random properties.

I'm sure one of the E.ON reps will be along soon and completely deny this ... but what else whould you expect? They are paid to post here.

If I were you, I would bring this to the attention of your local Member of Parliament..

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Hi thebox57 and welcome to the forum.

First of all I want to say sorry for the way that you were spoken to on the phone, that's not good enough and not the way the phone call should have gone.

It sounds like somewhere along the line someone has contacted us and given us your father's name and advised us that this is the person responsible for the property. This happens especially with rented properties as it's often the land lord that gives us details of a tenant moving in.

I may be wrong though, it needs to investigated and we should be able to see where the name came from.

I advise you to speak to us again or as brewerdave says write or email, make it clear that you want to make a complaint. You'll then have a complaints manager that will deal with this for you and you'll have a point of contact.

If this isn't resolved by them you can go to the next step and your complaint will go to review and this will be looked at again.

I hope you father is starting to feel better.

Thank you

Helena

thebox57

Thank you to each of you for your considerate replies.

I will proceed as advised.

Many thanks.