Eon involving debt recovery over electricity supplied and correctly billed by Scottish Power

MikePeacock

Moved from Eon to Scottish Power end of June & gave readings to SP as required. Eon's final bill had the gas correct but the electricity reading was wrong. I recalculated the charge and immediately paid them up to the correct final reading and emailed Eon explaining why. (I had already cancelled the direct debit as I had a similar problem moving to Eon last year.)

Scottish Power have sent me my first bill using the correct reading so I have paid for all electricity used. I have sent this bill to Eon 3 times on different email addresses all suggested by them. I have also sent a transcript of a chat with SP to Eon where SP confirm the correct reading has been sent to Eon more than once.

Now Eon are adding "ancillary charges" because I have not paid them, and I have received 5 calls from Sigma Red in the last week demanding payment.
I have raised the case with the Ombudsman so we will have to see where this goes.

I do find it strange that Eon had the wrong readings at both ends of the contract and on both occasions it was in their favour.
If I had left the direct debit in place and not checked the readings on both bills I would never have known. When switching - CHECK BOTH BILLS!

Gerry1

Welcome to the forum.

Is this down to the mysterious third party that can pluck a figure out of the air?

Opening reading validation process

My opening reading is wrong

brewerdave

Gerry1 said:

Welcome to the forum.

Is this down to the mysterious third party that can pluck a figure out of the air?

Opening reading validation process

My opening reading is wrong

Shouldn't be if SP have billed from the OP's reading without adjustment - sounds more like "EON computer says no " to me !!

MikePeacock

Could be - at one point when I checked the readings still on the Eon site it was 00911 which had me using over 9000 kWh extra! This then became 09911 which is the wrong reading they are using now. Funny how I could not raise a complaint as the correct reading of 09703 was "too small" but still big enough for them to chase. If they don't raise a complaint they don't have to provide a failure to agree letter. To raise a case the Ombudsman needs this letter otherwise you have to wait.

What really bugs me is the tactics - Sigma Red cannot receive evidence from me. If you have vulnerable people on the receiving end of this harassment they will doubtless be paying up and Eon getting money to which they are not entitled.

MikePeacock

UPDATE 05 Oct 2020:
The Sigma Red operator told me that their calls are made by an automatic dialler. They will only call if Eon are demanding money, otherwise the calls from Sigma Red will simply stop. It follows that, as I do not intend to pay twice for the same electricity, there is no point me answering further calls from Sigma Red as it will never be to tell me all is solved.

I therefore told the Sigma Red operator to tell her supervisor that I have formally asked them to cease and desist harassing me with calls and to speak to Eon about the 3 emails I sent that contained the evidence Eon need.

Eon had not provided any counter-evidence to the Ombudsman by the 02 Oct 2020 deadline, but my account still indicates a balance they will be chasing. Investigation stage starts on 7 Oct.....

MikePeacock

UPDATE 07 Oct 2020
Eon failed to provide any evidence to the Ombudsman. They also failed to comment on the evidence I supplied so the case is now in the investigation queue.

Today Eon sent another threatening email where they say they are going to add £20 to my bill. It also said:

"Our payment terms are that you need to pay your final bill as soon as you receive it. You still haven’t paid £40.53 despite us sending you several reminders."

(I have replied to each reminder to addresses given by Eon and I did pay what I actually owed as soon as I got the bill.)

I called the number in the email, the message system told me I owe £30.53, not £40.53 (I do not, that is for electricity supplied by Scottish Power). The person I finally got through to could not access any accounts, could not take my details, could not check for any emails from me and was not prepared even to take some manual notes to check later. Customer Service eh?

Cardew

We did have some excellent Eon representatives who contributed to this forum and sorted out lots of problems like that of the OP. They have now disappeared.

brewerdave

Cardew said:

We did have some excellent Eon representatives who contributed to this forum and sorted out lots of problems like that of the OP. They have now disappeared.

Unfortunately one of them retired (Malc) and as far as I'm aware, he hasn't been replaced.

dogshome

Sorry OP, but I think this problem is of your own making.

If your have a billing beef with any supplier, not just energy, you can't just pay them what you think is the right amount and walk away

Eon, like most of the energy suppliers have 1,000's of customers and the 'books' have to be controlled by a Computer - So the Computer issues a bill for £XXX, but then see's that only £XX has been paid and it's programme tells it to collect the short fall.

If you had made a justified Phoned, Emailed or Written Complaint about the bill, it would have been altered manually and computed before you paid it, but as things stand it's a mare's nest of different departmental responsibilities.

Your best bet is to WRITE a letter headed COMPLAINT to Eon and post it to by Royal Mail with a free certificate of posting.

Set the all the figures as concisely as you can and keep it short.

Strongbow1

dogshome said:

Sorry OP, but I think this problem is of your own making.

If your have a billing beef with any supplier, not just energy, you can't just pay them what you think is the right amount and walk away

Eon, like most of the energy suppliers have 1,000's of customers and the 'books' have to be controlled by a Computer - So the Computer issues a bill for £XXX, but then see's that only £XX has been paid and it's programme tells it to collect the short fall.

If you had made a justified Phoned, Emailed or Written Complaint about the bill, it would have been altered manually and computed before you paid it, but as things stand it's a mare's nest of different departmental responsibilities.

Your best bet is to WRITE a letter headed COMPLAINT to Eon and post it to by Royal Mail with a free certificate of posting.

Set the all the figures as concisely as you can and keep it short.

Complaining does work.

I was unfairly harassed  by EoN when they refused to accept my readings.

Complaining by "chat" worked super quick.

Access is via the complaint menu.

Anomnomnomaly

I switched from EDF a couple of years ago... gave them the final readings as well as the same readings to bulb... they then tried to overcharge me and I refused to pay the excess over what I actually owed.

Eventually it went to a debt collection agency and they have been ignored... as they have no power without a court order.

A few months ago I got a letter from EDF stating that due to a 'miscalculation' I had been misbilled and that I was actually in credit... and included a cheque for the over charge.

But those 'f*#kwits are still trying to send debt collectors after me for the wrongfully billed amount. I'm actually hoping one of them takes me to court... I'm gonna love standing there with the evidence proving I owe them nothing.