EON Nightmares

Brooker_Dave

In January 2015 we sold a house, the electricity supplier was EON.



I had telephoned them some months before completion to find out what the procedure was for closing the account, they wanted a photo of the meter, but could not do anything until it had actually sold.



Sale came and went, utilities dealt with, or at least so I thought.



Out of the blue in March 2017 EON wrote to say I owed them £109, and demanded payment.



Now the weird thing is I had not had an electricity bill since March 2005, so I asked for a breakdown of the amount.



They refused to provide it, I got the energy ombudsman involved who proved to be useless, but the one thing they managed to do is provide the bills.



Turns out we were £41 in credit when we moved and the £109 bill was covered the period up to November 2016, so somebody elses bill.



EON refused point blank to accept we had sold the house, despite me telling them at the time.



Today I've had a letter telling me Lowell Portfolio have bought the "debt" and its now £190.



I spoke to EON and they said my only way out is to take them to court (??)



Thing is who do I sue, EON or Lowell.



I spoke to Lowell and they just want me to pay the other mans bill, and claim not to be responsible for the money owed to me.



They won't accept any proof that we sold the house and it's not our debt.





Ideas?

Raxiel

Its not for you to take them to court to cancel the debt, it's for them to take it to court to enforce it. You don't owe anything unless either you agree or a judge says you do. Tell them (The debt collectors, assuming they were the last to write) that the debt is denied and you won't be making any payment unless so ordered by a court. Then ignore (but file) any threatograms short of a proper letter before action (LBA) ir something that says they 'will' take legal action, not that they 'may'.

Robin9

The "debt" is with Eon not Lowell

DawnCrush

Brooker_Dave wrote: »

In January 2015 we sold a house, the electricity supplier was EON.



I had telephoned them some months before completion to find out what the procedure was for closing the account, they wanted a photo of the meter, but could not do anything until it had actually sold.



Sale came and went, utilities dealt with, or at least so I thought.



Out of the blue in March 2017 EON wrote to say I owed them £109, and demanded payment.



Now the weird thing is I had not had an electricity bill since March 2005, so I asked for a breakdown of the amount.



They refused to provide it, I got the energy ombudsman involved who proved to be useless, but the one thing they managed to do is provide the bills.



Turns out we were £41 in credit when we moved and the £109 bill was covered the period up to November 2016, so somebody elses bill.



EON refused point blank to accept we had sold the house, despite me telling them at the time.



Today I've had a letter telling me Lowell Portfolio have bought the "debt" and its now £190.



I spoke to EON and they said my only way out is to take them to court (??)



Thing is who do I sue, EON or Lowell.



I spoke to Lowell and they just want me to pay the other mans bill, and claim not to be responsible for the money owed to me.



They won't accept any proof that we sold the house and it's not our debt.





Ideas?

I very much doubt it. Follow this

https://www.eonenergy.com/contact/complaints.html

Brooker_Dave

EON won't let me complain, and I've already complained.

Their recommended course of action is for me to sue them for the money owed to me.

Having spoken to Lowell this morning they now own the account, so I'll have to take Lowell to court it seems.

Robin9

Brooker_Dave wrote: »

...............

Their recommended course of action is for me to sue them for the money owed to me.


.

I am confused in post #1 "Out of the blue in March 2017 EON wrote to say I owed them £109, and demanded payment.
"
but in this post they owe you ??????

Brooker_Dave

Robin9 wrote: »

I am confused in post #1 "Out of the blue in March 2017 EON wrote to say I owed them £109, and demanded payment.
"
but in this post they owe you ??????

That's right, in January 2015 when we sold the house our account was in credit, however the £109 relates to bill from November 2016, so the electricity used by the person who we sold it to.

EnergyRookie

I am confused, in post #5 you say

Brooker_Dave wrote: »

EON won't let me complain...

You don't need the suppliers prior permission or approval to complain

But then you confusingly say:

Brooker_Dave wrote: »

..I've already complained...

So follow the process explained in the link provided to you by DawnCrush above.

Brooker_Dave

EnergyRookie wrote: »

I am confused, in post #5 you say


You don't need the suppliers prior permission or approval to complain

But then you confusingly say:


So follow the process explained in the link provided to you by DawnCrush above.

Because I complained in Feb 2017, I can't complain again.

I spent over an hour on the phone to EON on Friday trying to sort this out, even had my complaint read back to me, only for the call handler to be told that as I've already complained, I can't complain again.

Only advise I could get from them was to re open the ombudsman complaint or sue them.

Ombudsman was utterly useless, even more of a shambles than EON, over the course of 4 months in 2017 they pretty well ignored me, took over 6 weeks to reply to emails, refused to accept solicitors letters and bank statements showing that we had indeed sold the house, claimed that they had googled the address and there was nothing on google to say it was sold (???) and then accused me of making the whole thing up.

But the ombudsman (turns out to be a LTD company, not an actual Ombudsman) could not reopen the case either.

Ombudsman decision was that I should start a payment plan and accept a letter of appology from EON, but I'd be on the hook for someones elses electricity bills for the rest of my life, so I declined their decision.

Whoever thought that privatising utilities was a good idea needs to go to jail....