E-On won't let you change direct debit

muddybloke

I'm currently with E-On and they have recently emailed me to say they want to put my Direct Debit up from £38.50 to £74. (A £35.50 rise per month).

I've been with E-On since November (9 months) and am £54.29 in Debit. This averages out ive been underpaying by about £6 a month (even covering winter). So £35.50 seemed a large jump to pay extra per month.

After ringing them they said if I payed the balance they could adjust it for me. So I did and payed the £54.29 bringing my balance down to zero.

I then went back onto their website and used their Direct Debit app to bring my payments down again. It said I could bring them down from £72 to £59 myself, which still seemed too much. It said I could go as low as £41 but I quote...

'We don't recommend this change. If you don't think you can manage this and still want to change your payment to £41 a month, give us a call.'

So I rang them.

My problem is that they said they couldn't reduce it back to £41 at all. Only £59. So their website is basically lying or very misleading. How is this fair?

The full details of my call is that I rang and even though I got through after 5 mins was on the phone for 57mins trying to get a lower amount than £59 a month. It clearly says on the website I can.
I initially spoke to a foreign call centre who kept insisting I couldn't lower it, even after talking to their supervisor. He then read back a statement of my problem that was in no way correct which was infuriating. In the end I was put through to customer complaints and even they said the system won't let them do it. In the end I gave up since I'd been on the phone too long. Even after explaining it says I just had to call them up get a reduced Direct Debit.

Ive now paid an extra £54.29 and £74 which came out yesterday. A total of £128.29 extra upfront.

I can go back into my account (now with a balance of £90 after my recent bill) and reduce my payments to £44 now on my own!?!?

I'll be leaving them as soon possible and gettting a refund of the money.

I just can't believe they can get away with taking my money upfront when it clearly states I dont have to accept the direct debit AND can lower it if I call up, but they won't let me. Plus at the end of all this I doubt I will be paying much more than I did originally.

Whats the point of an online adjuster that isn't truthful!?

I don't trust E-On at all.

[Deleted User]

I joined Eon like you in November but the Beast from the East extra cold and longer winter than usual put my £50 a month usage well down on actual usage. I would think that most people relying on the last years kwh s usage would be the same.
I was quite happy for Eon to raise mine to £70 and I m now in £125 credit and that is where I want to be at this time of the year. Soon I expect the dreaded central heating will be switched on so I wan to be t at least £200 credit by October to cover the extra usage coming up this winter. I like Eon to save my money, the banks don t give me anything to speak of for having it .
Unlike you I trust Eon. They have already said that at £70 a month I am paying too much but that`s the way I want it
You are down on my level by quite a bit. You need to keep paying more to get that credit much higher.
It was the Beast from the East which caused my spike and theres no reason why we can t have an even colder and longer winter than last year

muddybloke

Yeh I tend to agree that sometimes it's good to have extra in your account.

They have been fluctuating my payments betwen £38.50 to £39 for 9 months though, then suddenly hike to £72. Why couldn't they have changed it slightly 3 months ago!?

My main issue is that it says online that if i want to pay £41 I can call them to do so. Where in reality they won't let me do that. It's false information. Surely its not legal to say so.

[Deleted User]

I think they probably mean you can lower it only if their projection to come out level by the end of the contract is on track ( for you and me its November ). Might be something in the terms and conditions hidden away covering that. I never read the T/C s personally.
The last thing any supplier wants is to have their customers in debt.
I will be leaving Eon 49 days before the November contract ends but I would still like to take my credit with me which I can use for my big gas bills coming up Nov to March.
I would switch now to years fix with Eversmart Energy ( they are currently cheaper now than Eon is now0 if I could, but I have a £60 exit fee. I am expecting big prices rises coming up soon. Suppliers usually follow BG and they have just had a second rise in one year.

muddybloke

They clearly state....


===

'Your blance will be around £72 in debit at your annual review in Jan 2019 unless you increase your monthly payments a bit to get your blance to £0.

Because of this, we don't recommend this change. If you don't think you can manage this, and still want to change your payments to £41 a month, give us a call on 0345 050 0000.'
===


To me this heavily implies that I can change it to £41 if I ring up. Whats the point in calling up if they have no intention of letting me drop it at all?

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Hi muddybloke,

I'm sorry that you've found the online Direct Debit manager, no good.

Has the account always been billed up to accurate meter reads? If it has the Direct Debit manager will allow a change of up or down by 20%. If it's estimated reads, then 5%.

The Direct Debit manager may be taking in to an account a change of circumstances and thinks that's why you're looking at the low figure. This is also the reason of the message 'We don't recommend this change' As it can see without changes to the amount of energy that you're using, that amount is too low and will leave the account in a debit balance.

When you've spoken to us, it sounds like we have given the [FONT=&quot]figures[/FONT] and payment amount based on usage and not that there will be a change.

I understand that you've spoken to a resolution manager and I would advise to continue with this, as you now have a balance (is this credit or debit ?) again after your payment and your Direct Debit payments, it sounds like the previous figures could have been based on estimates? Or were the figures based on a previous bill and we have just now billed fully up to date?

You can keep the account update by putting in a meter read and producing a real time bill or balance, this will show you where the account stands at that point. I would then use the Direct Debit manager as a guide and go with the suggested amount.

I understand that you were on the phone for some time and this isn't always ideal, there is a lot of information about Direct Debits on the website and it may be worth having a look at this as well.

I'm sorry again for the poor experience you have received.

Helena

muddybloke

My readings are up to date. I even paid off the £50 difference to bring my balance to zero.

As I said before. The direct debit calculator implies I can change my payments to below £59. But in reality I can't bring them below £59.

It shouldn't let me take the payments lower and say I can change them.

It says 'We don't recommend this change' and I can call up if I wish to still pay £41. This isnt true.

It's very very misleading. And there doesnt seem anypoint to letting me lower it in the direct debit meter if I can't achieve this payment.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

[FONT=&quot]

muddybloke wrote: »

My readings are up to date. I even paid off the £50 difference to bring my balance to zero.

As I said before. The direct debit calculator implies I can change my payments to below £59. But in reality I can't bring them below £59.

It shouldn't let me take the payments lower and say I can change them.

It says 'We don't recommend this change' and I can call up if I wish to still pay £41. This isnt true.

It's very very misleading. And there doesnt seem anypoint to letting me lower it in the direct debit meter if I can't achieve this payment.

Hi muddybloke,

Thanks for the extra information.

I fully understand what you mean.

I think the Direct Debit manager is showing a figure if there were to be a change in usage circumstances and saying you'll need to ring to explain about this, then see if we can still reduce to this amount. (this is why you're seeing the message saying we do not recommend this amount, for your current energy usage)

I agree, if you know your usage is more than that amount, keep the payments at the recommended amount.

I'm pleased to see you keeping your account up to date with accurate reads though, so thank you for this.

As I say, I can see wh[FONT=&quot]y[/FONT] you felt so frustrated and Malc and I will include this in our report.

Thank you[/FONT]

muddybloke

My point is on both times I rang, Any figure that you 'recommend', I cannot change whatever the situation.

I explained that the predicted amount was way over and I would be leaving in 2 months anyway. And yet I still couldn't reduce my payments from £59 to even £58 a month.

We 'recommend' actually means, you HAVE to pay.

The complaints line even agreed my predicted circumstances were way over, and yet they have no power to overide a computer even by £1. So there is no point in calling apart from to waste my time.

[FONT=&quot]The Direct Debit manager is misleading.
[/FONT]
Its basically saying, 'If you want to pay £58 instead of £59 a month, call us and we will tell you you can't. It's that simple. You need to say not to bother calling since you cannot help whatever your situation other than what you 'recommend'.

That's why I'm leaving. Since you have no control to help me out by overuling a computer estimate even by £1. And yet by paying a lot more upfront I can reduce my payments myself and end up paying less overall.

I suggest you change the wording on the website to not give people false hope. And not let them think they can pay less on your Direct Debit adjuster