2nd opinion needed

Confusedman123

Hi all, 
Had issues with Gas Billing for quite some time then eventually got a request for over £650 but not got a bill. Phone call after phone call, live chat after live chat, promise of a phone call which never happened I went to the Energy Obudsman. Built my case and submitted evidence. Now received an early resolution. That the company has fixed the issue and will give me a kind gesture of £100. 

This is the email I sent to the ombudsman.

<<<Purchased our house June 2019 and moved in shortly after. The gas and electric was on a pre payment meter provided by XXX. The previous occupant had ran up some debt on the account. Therefore we contacted this supplier and proved this wasnt our debt which was then removed. Due to poor customer service during this process and wanted to get on to a credit meter we decided to change to AAA. First this told us to switch to AAA we would have to spend a short period of time on a pre payment meter. Which is fair. We was soon switched to a credit meter and shortly after a smart meter. 

It is from here when the troubles started. Whilst I downloaded the AAA app to keep track of usage and billing the Electricity meter has worked exactly as intended and given us no problems. The same cannot be said for gas. Using the app it tells us when our next bill would arrive. This date would come and go and no bill (billed quarterly) after suspecting an issue I contacted e.on. The earliest I have proof of is a chat manuscript dated 3.12.19. A simple enquiry with a simple answer. Along the line of my first bill is not ready. I will recieve it on a given date. Again and again this has happened I have contacted AAA and the issue has not been fixed. 

I contacted AAA and was eventually sent a request that I owe nearly £700. However when I click to download the bill it keeps downloading the Electricity bill (which downloaded when downloading the Electricity bill). Again I have contacted AAA via live chat and phone calls. And again I have been told this issue will be fixed. They have even reset the bill with the same issue occurring. On 29th Aug I sent an email to AAA again highlighted the issue in depth and all I have recieved is an email that they are looking into the issue. >>>

Do you think I should accept this offer. Despite the fact that it still doesn't look like they have fixed whatever the issue is. Or should I let the Obudsman run an investigation?

I have 0 experience with this sort of thing so any advice is appreciated 

Thanks 

Gerry1

Welcome to the forum !

The AAA and XXX cloak and dagger secrecy doesn't help, especially as you name a specific company in the middle.

I'd start by taking the £100 before it evaporates, unless it says it's in full and final settlement.  Even so, if I still continued to receive further demands for payment but without adequate supporting evidence I'd just raise a completely new complaint without mentioning the old one or earlier dates.  Too bad if it happens to be remarkably similar !

Might be worth checking that you're really being supplied by who you think you are.  Check using Find My Gas Supplier.

Confusedman123

Thanks for your advice!

I replied to their email and they replied answering more of my questions. They claim to have fixed the problem and have emailed me a bill. I'm not convinced they have the app still downloads an electric bill instead of a gas.

Extremely frustrating. And their customer service is ridiculous.

Confusedman123

So after accepting the £100 and that e.on have fixed the problem I paid the £700 bill and got on with life. 

Guess what, same problem happened 30th December. Bill due and No bill received and now they have combined gas and electricity fuel. So couldn't even pay for any.

Contacted e.on to report issue and got fed the usual answers so went back to ombudsman to complain they haven't fixed the issue. E.on have since contacted me with a estimated bill which I have paid and saying this is a new issue and they are appealing to the ombudsman to give them the 56 days or whatever it is the fix the problem. Pathetic.

To make it worse their app has stopped working completely. Tried the usual troubleshooting and still doesn't work. So to pay the bill I had to do it through mobile banking which just takes longer putting in all the numbers and checking them. Iv noticed a few people have report the app issues to e.on who has replied saying they should reinstall the app. Turns out this doesn't work.

Just frustrating, how hard can it be? 

matelodave

this post has been deleted

UnclaimedEnergy

They've been having a lot of issues with taking DD early and their App getting targeted by hackers: (unsure if there is a separate app for Pre-pay and credit though)

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/jan/07/call-us-back-next-week-eon-customers-furious-over-service-meltdown
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/eon-customers-gas-electricity-data-b1791496.html

Are you able to retrieve your bills online via their website or are you only able to access them via the app?
You mentioned that they've been billing you on estimates, have you been providing meter readings as well?
Have you considered doing Direct-Debit payments for both Elec & Gas to help avoid a debt building up?

If E.on aren't billing you correctly and regularly then you're definitely in your right to complain, however normally taking the 'goodwill payment' is you accepting that the complaint can be closed. If the issue arises again then this would be counted as a new complaint, even if it's the same issue, due to the previously complaint being closed.

The other thing, are you fixed into a contract with exit-fees? As you're having such difficulties with E.ON, are you better off just switching away to a different supplier?

Confusedman123

Background

Hi all, 
Had issues with Gas Billing for quite some time then eventually got a request for over £650 but not got a bill. Phone call after phone call, live chat after live chat, promise of a phone call which never happened I went to the Energy Obudsman. Built my case and submitted evidence. Now received an early resolution. That the company has fixed the issue and will give me a kind gesture of £100. 

This is the email I sent to the ombudsman.

<<<Purchased our house June 2019 and moved in shortly after. The gas and electric was on a pre payment meter provided by XXX. The previous occupant had ran up some debt on the account. Therefore we contacted this supplier and proved this wasnt our debt which was then removed. Due to poor customer service during this process and wanted to get on to a credit meter we decided to change to eon. First this told us to switch to eon we would have to spend a short period of time on a pre payment meter. Which is fair. We was soon switched to a credit meter and shortly after a smart meter. 

It is from here when the troubles started. Whilst I downloaded the eon app to keep track of usage and billing the Electricity meter has worked exactly as intended and given us no problems. The same cannot be said for gas. Using the app it tells us when our next bill would arrive. This date would come and go and no bill (billed quarterly) after suspecting an issue I contacted e.on. The earliest I have proof of is a chat manuscript dated 3.12.19. A simple enquiry with a simple answer. Along the line of my first bill is not ready. I will recieve it on a given date. Again and again this has happened I have contacted eon and the issue has not been fixed. 

I contacted eon and was eventually sent a request that I owe nearly £700. However when I click to download the bill it keeps downloading the Electricity bill (which downloaded when downloading the Electricity bill). Again I have contacted eon via live chat and phone calls. And again I have been told this issue will be fixed. They have even reset the bill with the same issue occurring. On 29th Aug I sent an email to eon again highlighted the issue in depth and all I have recieved is an email that they are looking into the issue. >>>

Do you think I should accept this offer. Despite the fact that it still doesn't look like they have fixed whatever the issue is. Or should I let the Obudsman run an investigation?

I have 0 experience with this sort of thing so any advice is appreciated 

Thanks 

Confusedman123

UnclaimedEnergy said:

They've been having a lot of issues with taking DD early and their App getting targeted by hackers: (unsure if there is a separate app for Pre-pay and credit.

Are you able to retrieve your bills online via their website or are you only able to access them via the app?
You mentioned that they've been billing you on estimates, have you been providing meter readings as well?
Have you considered doing Direct-Debit payments for both Elec & Gas to help avoid a debt building up?

If E.on aren't billing you correctly and regularly then you're definitely in your right to complain, however normally taking the 'goodwill payment' is you accepting that the complaint can be closed. If the issue arises again then this would be counted as a new complaint, even if it's the same issue, due to the previously complaint being closed.

The other thing, are you fixed into a contract with exit-fees? As you're having such difficulties with E.ON, are you better off just switching away to a different supplier?

Not a problem with DD I play upon receiving a bill.

No bills whatsoever via app or online. Only after I complained this time did I recieve a bill. Normally the app says next bill due on 30th Dec for example. But no bill comes via email, app or online.

I have a smart meter which they installed. They don't ask for meter readings and should get them via the smart meter.

Cant see the point in setting up a direct debit when they don't have a clue how much to bill me.

Yes, I accepted a goodwill payment upon knowledge they had fixed the issue. Which they obviously haven't. 

I can change company and have considered it, but due to the fact I have no idea how much I am actually paying it is difficult to compare.

Confusedman123

E.on are blaming the smart meter connection. Which would explain the whole of last year.

Recieved this response 

The meters losing communications is a known issue which has affected a number of SMART meters. An external company DCC (Data Communications Company) are responsible for managing all SMART meters and I’ve sked them to look into this. It is likely that they’d be able to fix this remotely or advise next steps if the remote fix doesn’t work. It is also likely that they may ask to exchange the meters.

 

Unfortunately, the fix isn’t guaranteed and we’d expect you to provide your own reads in future if we’re unable to resolve the communication issue.

 

Confusedman123

So the ombudsman have agreed me complaint and rejected eon's appeal.

Anyone got any experience of what the outcome could be?

[Deleted User]

Confusedman123 said:

So the ombudsman have agreed me complaint and rejected eon's appeal.

Anyone got any experience of what the outcome could be?

The EO will issue a Final Decision which is binding on the supplier. It has 28 days to comply: if it doesn’t, you should complain to the EO. You have the right to reject the Final Decision but to do so would get the supplier off the hook. In the unlikely event that the supplier fails to comply, you retain the right to take the matter to Court and you can use the Final Decision in support of your case.