Appeal against Energy Ombudsman decision

Dante

Hi 
I was wondering if anyone has had any recent experience of appealing against the Energy Ombudsman? Is it worth it?

[Deleted User]

There is no right of Appeal. You have agreed to go to arbitration to resolve your complaint. You will have submitted your original complaint with all the necessary information to support your case. The Ombudsman will have reached an interim Decision and he will have invited you to offer up any additional information with an explanation as to why it wasn’t submitted at the time that the complaint was made. Once a Final Decision is issued, you have to either accept it or reject it. If you reject it, the supplier is off the hook but you retain the right to taken the matter to a Court. That said, the supplier will use the Final Decision as part of its defence.

https://www.mylawyer.co.uk/complaining-to-the-energy-ombudsman-a-A76053D76923/

There is always a risk if you use Ombudsman Services that the Decision will not go in your favour. Why do you think that the Ombudsman has reached an incorrect Decision?

Dante

Thanks Dolor.
EON have reported a default against me to the credit reference agencies for a property which is tenanted. I didn't have access to the bills which were produced during the period in question, however I did finally obtain the bills after visiting the property on 26 Feb 2021 two of the many letters/bills sent to me between November 2020 and Feb 2021 said that I had to contact them by 27 Feb (also 28 Feb in another letter) to avoid EON reporting me to the CRAs. I called them 3 times on 27 Feb and was told that their systems were down and to call back to resolve the issue of the estimated bill and payment of it on 1 March, which I did (there's another long story on how they managed to also mess that up as well).

Eon reported a default on my account on 28 Feb (Sunday). They had previously reported two missed payments. I complained to the EO about the data share of the default being inaccurate amongst a host of other things. The EO have decided that EON do not have to remove the reported default as it is accurate and the fact that I was unable to do speak to anyone on 27 Feb due to their systems being down was immaterial. As part of their response they said 'While I do recognise this as a shortfall, I am unable to propose a remedy that will be of negative detriment to you by accessing our services.'
I'm confused as to why the fact that I couldn't resolve the issue and make a payment on the date stated on their correspondence (their deadline) due to their systems being down is a just a shortfall? Their systems seemed to be working the next day which enabled them to send the default report to the CRAs but I was told to call on Monday 1 March. Interestingly in the evidence EON submitted their was no record of the 3 calls I made on 27 Feb. I have the recordings of them because I made a Subject Access Request.

rp1974

Why is this debt under your account and in your name,not your tenants?.

Dante

rp1974 because when the tenants switched energy providers two days after moving in on 4 November 2020 EON did not take that as a change of account, which I accept. They were initially chasing me for £136 but once I'd spoke to them on 1 March and gave them the meter reads as at 2 November (which they already had from the tenants new supplier) the bill came down to £34, which I paid immediately. They actually told me the wrong amount to pay, apparently I should have been asked to pay £36. So after I paid on 1 March I got a text message from a debt collector saying that I owed EON £2! The whole thing has been a catalogue of errors. The SAR I made was logged the first time round, they didn't log my email address on two separate occasions, in the evidence EON submitted to the Ombudsman one of the EON staff had put on inappropriate emoji on the notes made of one the calls I made to them!
My issue is not really about the amount or the fact that I was responsible for paying the bills for the void period it's more about the reported default. They reported two missed payments and that the account was opened in January 2021 and then went straight to default without going to a third missed payment. They won't tell me how days 'aged' the debt was to move from missed payments to default. The account was switched to my name when my previous tenants had moved out in July and I had made a payment to them already for the period between July and September, so the data reported on the management of the account was inaccurate.
As part of their response the EO stated: 'The actual debt collection procedure used by a supplier is at its discretion, outside my remit for review. I can also advise that there is no obligation for a supplier to place a hold on its debt collection procedure while waiting for my office to review a complaint. I can only consider if a supplier has correctly followed its debt collection procedure.' 
I don't understand how the EO investigator can consider if a supplier has correctly followed its debt collection procedure whilst that collection procedure is outside of their remit for review!

Dante

Hi @"[Deleted User]"
In my decision letter they've said I can appeal. 
If you choose to appeal the decision then you’ll need to be able to:
• Show that a significant error has been made in the facts which make a material difference.
or
• Share your new evidence and give a reason why it wasn’t available to us before. Once I have your decisions I will let you both know. 
I was initially given the decision over the phone and I asked about the appeal process. I was told that I could appeal on the basis above but when I asked who would review the appeal I was told that it would be reviewed by the same EO investigator that had made the decision, which I found bewildering. 
I called the EO back the next day to make a SAR for the telephone calls between myself and the EO investigator so I could formulate my appeal and asked again who would review the appeal. This time I was told a different EO investigator would review the appeal and that their procedures had recently changed! 

rp1974

Sounds a right mess altogether,good luck whatever course of action you decide.
EON have form for exactly this sort of thing.
Dont see much point challenging the EO's decision,for little prospect of any benefit,if whatever matter is outwith their scope.
Always ensure that utility bills are only ever in the tenants name,not in yours,dont potentially lumber yourself with their debts.

[Deleted User]

Dante said:

Hi @"[Deleted User]"
In my decision letter they've said I can appeal. 
If you choose to appeal the decision then you’ll need to be able to:
• Show that a significant error has been made in the facts which make a material difference.
or
• Share your new evidence and give a reason why it wasn’t available to us before. Once I have your decisions I will let you both know. 
I was initially given the decision over the phone and I asked about the appeal process. I was told that I could appeal on the basis above but when I asked who would review the appeal I was told that it would be reviewed by the same EO investigator that had made the decision, which I found bewildering. 
I called the EO back the next day to make a SAR for the telephone calls between myself and the EO investigator so I could formulate my appeal and asked again who would review the appeal. This time I was told a different EO investigator would review the appeal and that their procedures had recently changed! 

The wording suggests that this was the Initial Decision not the Final Decision.

matelodave

It also suggest that you need to find significant new evidence that wasn't presented before or to indentiy a significat error in the facts for them to revise their judgement.

macman

Take it to small claims. With luck, they won't want the considerable expense of defending the claim and will admit liability. Or won't bother turning up on the day. The amounts are small, so it's not going to cost you much in the upfront fee.

Ectophile

macman said:

Take it to small claims. With luck, they won't want the considerable expense of defending the claim and will admit liability. Or won't bother turning up on the day. The amounts are small, so it's not going to cost you much in the upfront fee.

To claim what?  OP seems to be complaining about a default registered in their name, not any specific monetary loss.