Eon fabricated a debt TWICE and are now chasing me for it, I need help!

LordFlashheart

Hello . I need some help with a problem i have with Eon. :(
Between 2007 and 2013 ISH I lived in a rented 1 bedroom flat. It had a pre payment meter which at first used a card and later was replaced and used a key type thing to load on the credit which i bought at those pay point places. Usually the corner shop. My usage was about £25 a month. its was a small flat on the top floor and i was skint so i never turned any heating on . All the people beneath me had theirs on and heat rises. It was about £400 a year over 4 years.

The keys were quite unreliable and broke frequently and i was always getting new ones from the corner shop where i bought the electricity.


Yesterday I recieved a debt collection letter from a company called Lowels saying i owe them £3200 which is a debt they purchased off Eon for the time period and the address of the flat.
Firstly, I cant possibly owe them any money as i paid in advance for all my electricity.
secondly even if it wasnt a pre payment meter my usage for the time wouldnt total half the £3200 they say i owe them.
This isnt the first time i heard this. when I lived there they sent me a bill for a huge amount like this and i phoned them up and argued that its a pre payment meter this is a mistake etc.. and they agreed, and cancelled the debt.
But now the debt is back they have damaged my credit record and i only found out about this when i tried to get a motorbike on credit and they used that information to track me down and pursue their made up debt.

Has anyone any experience of dealing with a problem like this ?

Can i sue them for the damage to my credit history and hassle this is causing me . Its really quite distressing that they can make up a ludicrous claim and register that and harass me for money i dont owe..
I've tried to contact them but the live chat people on their website only seems to be staffed by idiots frankly who seem to say it was perfectly possible i could owe the money and refused to admit it was cl;early a mistake on their part fort the second time.

What should i do ?/ who can i contact? is the regulator any use in this situation ?

please help me awesome people of MSE £3200 is a lot of money to me. :money::money:

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.



If you are confident you don't owe any money, demand they take you to court so they can present the evidence.


Do you have anything in writing, for the earlier instance, about cancelling the debt? e.g. an amended bill?



Also yes you can take them to the Small Claims Court for damaging your credit record and pursuing a claim without merit.



However you must put all this in writing to Eon and not deal with telephone/live chat operatives.



If your case is soumd enough you might get a solicitor to take up your case on a No win - No fee basis.

LordFlashheart

Thanks for replying Cardew.
I dont have anything from the time I lived there.
I do have a chat log email from just earlier where they fully admit it was a pre payment meter both now and at the time i lived there.

The live chat operative says he will email me tomorrow after investigating my claims but I dont expect to hear from him again TBH.
Ironically I work in the energy industry doing business supply analysis and data management and sorting out problems for huge companies but I know nothing about small domestic supplies or pre payment meters.
Are they permanently pre payment ?? would the meter need to be physically replaced to go onto a none pre payment tarrif?

If this did go to court what would constitute proof ? I never signed any contract as it wasnt even eon at first it was TXU energy and eon bought it and renamed it. how could they PROVE i didnt pre pay or would i need to prove i did ?

But at the same time i dont have any proof for the pre payment key thing as i always paid cash and dont have the key thing any longer.
Is the fact it is a pre payment meter enough to prove there cannot be any debt ?

I wait and see how this pans out before trying the small claim court route. Im genuinely suffering from having no transport and having to commute to work which takes 3 hours a day longer than having a motorbike would.

twhitehousescat

same situation in my case , took a lot of sorting and eon asking me to do the impossible

according to ombudsman NOT your job to speak to lowell

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5884390/eon-lowell-ombudsman-update


I was lucky as I took a meter reading before I left , only because I did not trust the landlord

LordFlashheart

Interesting reading. What is this prove it letter mentioned in you thread?

jk0

Yeah. Not me, but my tenant. She had a prepay meter installed by SSE back in 2012 as she could not pay her £500 bill. My tenant left last month, after repaying £6 per week for the last six years on top of the normal unit rates and standing charge. (£1800!)


I was surprised to find a bill on the doorstep yesterday from SSE asking her to pay the old £500 debt.

twhitehousescat

the prove it letter was another persons idea , there were few posts saying it was nothing to do with eon and I had to talk to lowells WRONG WRONG WRONG , as per ombudsman's comments , you need to open formal complaint with eon , when they blow you off go to ombudsman

Cardew

LordFlashheart wrote: »

Thanks for replying Cardew.
I dont have anything from the time I lived there.
I do have a chat log email from just earlier where they fully admit it was a pre payment meter both now and at the time i lived there.

The live chat operative says he will email me tomorrow after investigating my claims but I dont expect to hear from him again TBH.
Ironically I work in the energy industry doing business supply analysis and data management and sorting out problems for huge companies but I know nothing about small domestic supplies or pre payment meters.
Are they permanently pre payment ?? would the meter need to be physically replaced to go onto a none pre payment tarrif?

If this did go to court what would constitute proof ? I never signed any contract as it wasnt even eon at first it was TXU energy and eon bought it and renamed it. how could they PROVE i didnt pre pay or would i need to prove i did ?

But at the same time i dont have any proof for the pre payment key thing as i always paid cash and dont have the key thing any longer.
Is the fact it is a pre payment meter enough to prove there cannot be any debt ?

I wait and see how this pans out before trying the small claim court route. Im genuinely suffering from having no transport and having to commute to work which takes 3 hours a day longer than having a motorbike would.

Going back to 2007 it was possible to run up a debt on a pre-pay meter because the kWh rate had to be set manually on the meter and this was often not carried out.


Could it be that somehow a previous occupant's debt has been carried over onto your account??


Above are highly unlikely to amount for a debt of £3200.


Do not talk to the Debt Collection Agency!

Carrot007

Cardew wrote: »

Could it be that somehow a previous occupant's debt has been carried over onto your account??

On this thinking OP did you set up a new account when you moved in and tyell them when you moved out.


Specifically not using the old occupants key for topping up and not leaving your when you left.


Not doing so is usually the root of problems. I have also never heard of a shop providing a new key. It is meant to be supplied by the supplier and progerammed specifically by them. Maybe the shop was providing dodgy reset keys and this was subsequently found out.


Also did you ensure the meter was reset when you moved in, removing any previous debt on it. And did you keep an eye on any debt building up on the meter for any reason.


As far as i recall things were a lot worse on the cards for shops selling on dodgy ones and this is why they changed to keys. Are you sure the shop was legit? I remember many site refusing to let people in to exchange the meter when they were trying to remove all the card meters. Though Since you were there at the time I would have expected them to tell you of any issue then. (bringing it back to did you set up an account!)

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

LordFlashheart wrote: »

Hello . I need some help with a problem i have with Eon. :(
Between 2007 and 2013 ISH I lived in a rented 1 bedroom flat. It had a pre payment meter which at first used a card and later was replaced and used a key type thing to load on the credit which i bought at those pay point places. Usually the corner shop. My usage was about £25 a month. its was a small flat on the top floor and i was skint so i never turned any heating on . All the people beneath me had theirs on and heat rises. It was about £400 a year over 4 years.

The keys were quite unreliable and broke frequently and i was always getting new ones from the corner shop where i bought the electricity.


Yesterday I recieved a debt collection letter from a company called Lowels saying i owe them £3200 which is a debt they purchased off Eon for the time period and the address of the flat.
Firstly, I cant possibly owe them any money as i paid in advance for all my electricity.
secondly even if it wasnt a pre payment meter my usage for the time wouldnt total half the £3200 they say i owe them.
This isnt the first time i heard this. when I lived there they sent me a bill for a huge amount like this and i phoned them up and argued that its a pre payment meter this is a mistake etc.. and they agreed, and cancelled the debt.
But now the debt is back they have damaged my credit record and i only found out about this when i tried to get a motorbike on credit and they used that information to track me down and pursue their made up debt.

Has anyone any experience of dealing with a problem like this ?

Can i sue them for the damage to my credit history and hassle this is causing me . Its really quite distressing that they can make up a ludicrous claim and register that and harass me for money i dont owe..
I've tried to contact them but the live chat people on their website only seems to be staffed by idiots frankly who seem to say it was perfectly possible i could owe the money and refused to admit it was cl;early a mistake on their part fort the second time.

What should i do ?/ who can i contact? is the regulator any use in this situation ?

please help me awesome people of MSE £3200 is a lot of money to me. :money::money:

LordFlashheart wrote: »

Thanks for replying Cardew.
I dont have anything from the time I lived there.
I do have a chat log email from just earlier where they fully admit it was a pre payment meter both now and at the time i lived there.

The live chat operative says he will email me tomorrow after investigating my claims but I dont expect to hear from him again TBH.
Ironically I work in the energy industry doing business supply analysis and data management and sorting out problems for huge companies but I know nothing about small domestic supplies or pre payment meters.
Are they permanently pre payment ?? would the meter need to be physically replaced to go onto a none pre payment tarrif?

If this did go to court what would constitute proof ? I never signed any contract as it wasnt even eon at first it was TXU energy and eon bought it and renamed it. how could they PROVE i didnt pre pay or would i need to prove i did ?

But at the same time i dont have any proof for the pre payment key thing as i always paid cash and dont have the key thing any longer.
Is the fact it is a pre payment meter enough to prove there cannot be any debt ?

I wait and see how this pans out before trying the small claim court route. Im genuinely suffering from having no transport and having to commute to work which takes 3 hours a day longer than having a motorbike would.

Hello LordFlashheart and welcome to the Forums.

This certainly sounds messy and I can see how distressing suddenly facing this after such a long time must be. Please continue down the route you're on with our Live Chat advisor. We've specialist prepayment advisors on this channel who are best placed to sort this.

Given the age and type of prepayment meters concerned, just a few thoughts as to why a debt might’ve built up. I'm not saying these ideas apply to your case, they're some considerations based on the type of prepayment meters around at the time of your tenancy.

Prepayment meters are sometimes installed where customers are struggling with bills and build up a debt. We're able to put this debt on prepayment meters to collect at an agreed weekly rate. A common source of prepayment debt in those days was where previous occupiers had a debt added in this way and left before clearing it.

I know it's a long time ago but, as Carrot007 asks, can you remember if you contacted us when you moved in and out of the flat? If not, as above, there could've been debt left on the meter belonging to the previous occupier. We used to clear this by sending a new card.

Also as Carrot007 says, can you remember if you used the old card belonging to the previous tenant? If you did, your payments will have gone to their account and any debt as above will have remained.

You mention the meter was originally a card meter supplied by TXU. These meters were very basic and, as Cardew says, could only be adjusted manually by a technician. As a result, prices set on the meter were often wrong. Following a price increase and before a technician could adjust to the new prices, the meters sometimes under-collected. Once adjusted, the difference was usually put on the meter as a debt to be reclaimed weekly.

Also with card meters, readings couldn't be taken remotely leading to estimated statements. Particularly where customers didn't let us have readings or there was a lengthy time between visits by our meter readers. This could've led to a period of under-charging leading to a catch-up once we had accurate readings. Again, this would've been put on the meter as a debt.

Totally understand, prepayment customers pay in advance through a retail outlet. We still need to produce statements showing the amount of energy used and payments made. It's these statements that will show any debit or credit balance.

Changing to a key meter meant we could update remotely and take away the need for manual recalibrations. It also meant we could download readings to make sure statements were accurate. Do you know if your statement showed any debit/credit balance following the meter exchange from card to key?

You say you also had problems with the keys used for top-ups. If Emergency Credit was used at these or other times, we would look to take this back once you were able to top-up again. Anything not paid when you moved out would be left as a debt.

Did you let us know when you moved out so we could close your account and send a new key to the incoming tenants? If not and the new tenants used your key their energy will have gone on your account.

As I say, these ideas might not be connected to your case LordFlashheart. They're also not exhaustive. They're just a few reasons why debt could apply to prepayment meters. Sorry for all the questions and to ramble on.

Malc

[Deleted User]

I would think that any debt collection agency has added their own very high charges to the original bill which could have been a fraction of £3200. Debt collection agencies do not have the legal powers that Eon have.Eon may have sold the debt on and be finished with it.
Do some research on the legal powers which Lowels can pursue..Eg can they send round the heavies to remove goods..Can they take you to court ? With parking fines they cannot do this and have to resort to scary letters
Lots of info on MSE s excellent parking forum which cover debt collection agencies.
Personally I have one on my back now myself for a parking fine I have supposed to have collected which was originally £60..The private debt collectors have increased it to £155 adding on their imagined costs.Best of luck to these bullies if they think they can extract extortion from me !
Debts can build up on prepayment meters by the occupier failing to add enough credit to cover the two types of debts which are loaded onto prepay meters..Standing charge debts are seen on the first screen of the key meter. They amount to about 30 p a day, £95 a year.. so if the meter is nt credited for a few years a small debt could build up..
The other way a larger debt could build up is failing to pay off debts loaded from a former credit meter. These are loaded onto screens S and T with a weekly repay of between £3.50 and £16 a week.Debts can also be loaded onto a key prepay meter which has been discovered to have been evading energy costs by bypassing the meter. This is quite a common scenario.
I have seen as much as £9000 loaded onto the debt screens of prepay meters from a past bypassed gas meter..so large debts can be on these meters sometimes..£3000 is not uncommon to see on the debt screens