Eon - can i issue a court case against them

Cardew

As stated in post~9 you will need to have details of all lossess and expenses for any claim.


Bear in mind that these firms have teams of legal staff who will 'fight' any claim - no matter the merits of the claim.


To be frank the amount you are likely to get in compensation isn't worth the bother.

Streaky_Bacon

Cardew wrote: »

As stated in post~9 you will need to have details of all lossess and expenses for any claim.

Bear in mind that these firms have teams of legal staff who will 'fight' any claim - no matter the merits of the claim.

To be frank the amount you are likely to get in compensation isn't worth the bother.

The only difference here is that the OP wouldn't be starting a claim, but would be seeking costs after the claimant has already discontinued.

It's true that EON could challenge any application for such an order, but that's no real reason not to seek one. After all, EON did start a claim and then did unilaterally discontinue, and that does leave them potentially liable for the other party's costs.

The only arguments that EON would have are:

1) That awarding costs is disproportionate
2) That any specific cost is not recoverable under the rules

pelirocco wrote: »

Court papers aren't terrifying , you just deal with them

If you haven't had to deal with them in the past, and don't understand the process well, receiving court papers can be intimidating and stressful.

That is why parties will issue them in the hope that the other side will just fold.

The likes of EON know that most people will be intimidated, and won't know the rules, when they decide to withdraw.

Cardew

Streaky_Bacon wrote: »

The only difference here is that the OP wouldn't be starting a claim, but would be seeking costs after the claimant has already discontinued.

It's true that EON could challenge any application for such an order, but that's no real reason not to seek one. After all, EON did start a claim and then did unilaterally discontinue, and that does leave them potentially liable for the other party's costs.

The only arguments that EON would have are:

1) That awarding costs is disproportionate
2) That any specific cost is not recoverable under the rules

Absolutely agree.


However the OP's post describes mainly the(understandable) stress and anxiety.


If they have invoices for their 'legal advice', then that is another matter; but get a solicitor's opinion and to take action as necessary.


Also bear in mind that in the small claims court both parties have to pay for their own legal expenses - unless the claim is 'frivolous'.



There must be thousands of energy company/customer disputes and I doubt if many get worthwhile damages - it usually ends with a token 'goodwill payment'.


However OP 'go for it' and we will all hope you win!

Streaky_Bacon

Cardew wrote: »

If they have invoices for their 'legal advice', then that is another matter; but get a solicitor's opinion and to take action as necessary.

Also bear in mind that in the small claims court both parties have to pay for their own legal expenses - unless the claim is 'frivolous'.

Yes, it is far from guaranteed, but the judges do have wide discretion.

The best approach for the OP is probably to simply write to the court noting the discontinuance and requesting that an order for costs be granted, along with a schedule of those costs.

That should be sufficient to get it in front of a judge. There are various outcomes from there, including the order being granted, the OP needing to submit a more formal application and possibly pay a fee, or a hearing being ordered.

Many judges will deal with these informally, so a simple letter to begin with might be the best approach.

I don't see any need to run up any further fees.

PixelPound

So it looks like the tenant had a debt and then got it put onto a prepay meter. It looks like they didn't have enough of a case to proceed further so will have requested a Notice of Discontinuance. I assume you had not put in a counter claim?

Have they written to you stating that no debt is owed? If not it could be they believe the debt valid but deem it economically not worth pursuing. Doesn't mean they can't sell the debt and you get a debt collector after you, unless you get a letter stating you don't owe anything.

Biscuit_Tin

luluciao wrote: »

Dear all,
thank you in advance for any suggestions.
I own via a mortgage (and wish I didn't! another story) one small flat that is rented out.
The same tenant was in it for around 5 years and liable for all bills on her tenancy contract.
This tenant clearly paid the Electricy bills with EON as she let them fit a pre-payment meter, the prepayment card was left in the flat and the electricity bill was up to date when she disappeared. She clearly was the ONLY user of the energy.

Whilst the tenant was in the flat and for the couple of years after her absconding (leaving various other debts and damage) EON have been threatening me with a bill at the property for around £850.00. This has included over 15 threatening letters, debt collector visits and threats and finaly a court summons/case against me for the money.
During all these years we have supplied the tenant information, the tennancy agreement and emailed EON information as requested. Nothing made a difference. We asked the tenant to sort this also - clearly she didn't.

We received terrifying court papers the week before taking the kids camping abroad and were forced to spend money we didn't have on legal advice/help fighting the court case and whilst abroad try and file/send papers from the campsite! It ruined the holiday - well basically my husband had no holiday.
EOn then sent a letter just saying they had dropped the case. NOTHING else no apology etc. I must stress this is the first holiday we had had in some years. We are not wealthy.

We have had almost 5 years of harrasement , 5 years of having to respond to EON's emails, Letters and calls some of which are just blatantly weird and jokey (?!) and lost both a holiday, large amounts of money and work time fighting this. Its had an impact as I've tried to point out to EON on serious underlying medical issues .

I did finally find a sensible contact at EON (but who subsequently left) who advised me that EON's own compensation scheme would be minimal and not even cover a few calls. his suggestion was issue for us to issue a court claim.

Has anyone done this sucessfully ? I'm very stressed with what they have done to us.

You can issue court papers against anyone you like.
As can anyone else do likewise, including against you.

Of course, who wins and who loses will depend on the court and what evidence is put before them.

Streaky_Bacon

nic_c wrote: »

Have they written to you stating that no debt is owed? If not it could be they believe the debt valid but deem it economically not worth pursuing. Doesn't mean they can't sell the debt and you get a debt collector after you, unless you get a letter stating you don't owe anything.

You are right to suggest getting something in writing, if the OP can.

However, if a claimant discontinues after a defence is filed, then the claimant, or a new claimant who bought the debt from an earlier claimant, would have seek permission of the court before starting a new claim. The OP should take this into consideration if faced with a future duplicate claim.

I suspect that EON knew from the start that their claim was weak and were just trying it on, as it costs them virtually nothing to begin a claim. Either that or they realised it was weak upon reviewing the statement of defence.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

luluciao wrote: »

Dear all,
thank you in advance for any suggestions.
I own via a mortgage (and wish I didn't! another story) one small flat that is rented out.
The same tenant was in it for around 5 years and liable for all bills on her tenancy contract.
This tenant clearly paid the Electricy bills with EON as she let them fit a pre-payment meter, the prepayment card was left in the flat and the electricity bill was up to date when she disappeared. She clearly was the ONLY user of the energy.

Whilst the tenant was in the flat and for the couple of years after her absconding (leaving various other debts and damage) EON have been threatening me with a bill at the property for around £850.00. This has included over 15 threatening letters, debt collector visits and threats and finaly a court summons/case against me for the money.
During all these years we have supplied the tenant information, the tennancy agreement and emailed EON information as requested. Nothing made a difference. We asked the tenant to sort this also - clearly she didn't.

We received terrifying court papers the week before taking the kids camping abroad and were forced to spend money we didn't have on legal advice/help fighting the court case and whilst abroad try and file/send papers from the campsite! It ruined the holiday - well basically my husband had no holiday.
EOn then sent a letter just saying they had dropped the case. NOTHING else no apology etc. I must stress this is the first holiday we had had in some years. We are not wealthy.

We have had almost 5 years of harrasement , 5 years of having to respond to EON's emails, Letters and calls some of which are just blatantly weird and jokey (?!) and lost both a holiday, large amounts of money and work time fighting this. Its had an impact as I've tried to point out to EON on serious underlying medical issues .

I did finally find a sensible contact at EON (but who subsequently left) who advised me that EON's own compensation scheme would be minimal and not even cover a few calls. his suggestion was issue for us to issue a court claim.

Has anyone done this sucessfully ? I'm very stressed with what they have done to us.

luluciao wrote: »

Dear Gerry1

I have an exchange of emails from this person who subsequently left outlining that I could go through the ombudsman and they would then ask EON to explain yet again what they had done and why and the compensation offered would be minimal in relation to the harm, cost and harassment EON has inflicted.
Are you suggesting that you recommend otherwise and if so do you have any experience of this that could help ?

Hello luluciao and welcome to the Forums.

There's very little I can comment on this other than to give you a bit of a steer about the information you're looking for (post #7 on 20 January 20).

You need to raise a Subject Access Request (SAR) through our Customer Rights team. They'll send you all the correspondence and information on your account. This includes phone call recordings, Live Chat transcripts and details of any personal data we hold. There's no charge for this and we need to be back in touch within 30 days of the request being raised.

As the matter is in the hands of our Legal Team, even if the case has been withdrawn, only this area of the business can comment further.

Thanks luluciao.

Malc

isthatallitis

malc . can you please let me have address details of the customer rights team to gain the s.a.r.
many thanks linda

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

isthatallitis wrote: »

malc . can you please let me have address details of the customer rights team to gain the s.a.r.
many thanks linda

Hello isthatallitis and any of our advisors can start a Subject Access Request (SAR).

Please contact us and ask for this to happen. The advisor will raise what's known as a SharePoint request that goes directly to the Customer Rights team. As above, there's no charge for this and we need to be back in touch within 30 days of the request being raised.

You might like to try the Live Chat service on our website. Advisors are online from 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday and between 8am and 6pm Saturdays. They'll be happy to start the ball rolling.

Many thanks isthatallitis.

Malc