E-ON destroyed Credit Rating

Jimmy_Bull

E-ON supplied me for dual fuel until 16/03/19 when I switched supplier. Final bill seemed very high as I'd paid direct debit each month and had not spent as much time in the property. I requested E-ON arrange to test my meters for accuracy as I did not think the bill could be correct but they would not entertain this as the advisor said the costs involved would be over £300 and as I was no longer an E-ON customer I would have to arrange through my new supplier. After lots of backwards and forwards it turned out that they had not used the correct customer meter readings that I had provided to both supplier on the day of the switch over. After messages exchanged with E-ON via twitter and agent contacted me and said that there had been a mix up with the final meter readings and that a "Disputed reads" process had taken place. The original final bill after 12 direct debits was approx £150. After the Disputed read my correct final bill was only £18.50. As a gesture of good will the agent agreed to rebill the account immediately and would credit me with the £18.50 as means of an apology for my inconvenience in what is meant to be a straight forward process in changing supplier.
Over 2 years later struggling to cope financially with the demands placed upon me due to Covid etc decided to apply for a loan but was declined ? I have had my own home and never missed a mortgage payment in 15 years. I have never failed to make a payment for council tax or any bill or any utility at all for that matter. I have never really had any debt and have never really bothered with credit cards. 
Created an Equifax account and also an account with Clear Score who advised me that the main reason why my CS was so low was due to 7 missed DD'S to Eon and 1 repossession to E-ON ?
I contacted E-ON and made reference to the 12 DD payments made to them during the period they had supplied me. I had also switched back to E-ON 12  months later and also showed them another 12 direct debit payments since I had gone back.
Ended up having to raise an official complaint. Turns out E-ON apparently have no record of any conversation where an E-ON agent had contacted me, rebilled the account and had agreed to credit my account with the £18.50 meaning I did not owe anything on my final bill.
They insist everytime an agent goes into the account it leaves a "footprint" and they had nothing to suggest any such conversation had taken place. As far as I am concerned the agent who contacted me has not done their job correctly. In my opinion E-ON have failed to close my account down correctly which has meant that the monthly direct debit triggers have remained active and they have attempted 7 times to claim this £18.50 final bill ? I did not receive anything from my bank to suggest any payments had failed.
The response to my complaint has only answered 1 of the 8 points that I had raised all they want to do is try to avoid me from raising an ombudsman complaint. They have offered me an apology and £60.00 goodwill payment and the would also offer me a payment plan for the £18.50 final bill ? Are these people for real could they not have just deducted the £18.50 from £60.00 and sent me a credit for £41.50 ?
They have not even acknowledged my other concerns that my fixed rate tariff expired 3 months ago and due to me being reluctant to fix again with them or even change supplier again I am currently being billed on the extortionate standard rates.
From what I can tell E-ON are refusing to admit their mistake and have no intention of contacting Equifax / Clear Score to rectify my credit rating.
I am in the process of taking the complaint to the next level and forward to the ombudsman. Can anyone offer me some advice if I have a leg to stand on in terms of the credit rating aspect. I currently work full time from home as a Civil Servant and simply need a small loan to help me out during a difficult time with the pandemic. I did not miss 7 payments to E-ON and should not have a repossession order to E-ON.  I am astounded that I find myself in this position for the sake of £18.50, I am paying more than this now in 3 months on standard rates. Can this be rectified and my CREDIT RATING be corrected ? Why can't E-ON contact Equifax and inform them that I have not defaulted on any monthly payments ?

[Deleted User]

Jimmy_Bull said:

From what I can tell E-ON are refusing to admit their mistake and have no intention of contacting Equifax / Clear Score to rectify my credit rating.
I am in the process of taking the complaint to the next level and forward to the ombudsman. Can anyone offer me some advice if I have a leg to stand on in terms of the credit rating aspect. 

This seems a bit vague. You need their final decision if you want to move onto the Ombusdman. 

You have no legs regarding your credit ratings, as that's not a real thing, but you have the right for your credit files to reflect accurate data. So once you have E-ON's final decision, put a complaint into FOS and the ICO. 

What do you mean by one 'repossession' on your credit files? And to clarify, do you mean you have seven separate missed payments (rather than DDs), in seven different months?

Jimmy_Bull

They have sent what they class as a deadlock letter suggesting to accept the offer of an apology, £60 goodwill and a repayment plan for the £18 they claim I still owe from over 2 years ago. If I do not accept then I have the right to take the complaint to the ombudsman.
Clear score indicates that I missed 7 payments in 2019 and 10 payments in 2020 when I was no longer supplied by them hence why I assume they failed to close the account down correctly and cancel the direct debit ?
Clear Score also suggest that I have 1 default / repossession that EON have added Sept 2020, 18 months after I left them.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Hi Jimmy_Bull,

As you have been issued with a deadlock letter, the complaint has reached the final stages. You can either accept or go the Ombudsman.

The complaint goes through quite a few stages before reaching this level and I would expect your resolution review manager has also liaised with our data share department, they are the ones that ensure we have shared any information correctly with Equifax.

At this stage, if you're still unhappy with what's happened, you can go to the Energy Ombudsman for an independent assessment. The Ombudsman's decision is binding on us but not on you. 

Thank you

Helena 

niktheguru

When the eon person said they would wipe the 18 pounds did you get a final bill or anything in writing? Did you check your online account? Were there any further bills asking for the money after that on your online account. Can eon produce any of these as evidence to show you?

You'll need to await the ombudsman. State how this has affected you financially and state how despite being a customer with them again this 18 pound debit hadn't been mentioned.

Let us know how you get on!

MWT

Jimmy_Bull said:

After lots of backwards and forwards it turned out that they had not used the correct customer meter readings that I had provided to both supplier on the day of the switch over. After messages exchanged with E-ON via twitter and agent contacted me and said that there had been a mix up with the final meter readings and that a "Disputed reads" process had taken place.

To go back to where this started, this was not a mistake, when you submit a final meter reading it is sent through an industry process which decides if your reading is to be used or adjusted, in your case it was adjusted.

Both losing and gaining suppliers are obliged to use that reading unless it is far enough away from the reading you supplied in which case you can dispute the meter reading.

So up until that point there was nothing that E.ON did wrong.

Are you 100% sure that you didn't cancel the DD when you got the first 'final' bill for £150?

Reason I ask is that if the DD had not been cancelled then you probably would have been charged the £150 and then later refunded after the meter reading dispute had been completed, it is difficult to see how the eventual £18.50 that remained to be paid wasn't collected if the DD had still been in place?

This is probably the key point from your perspective as E.ON will only be able to correct the credit reference reports if they agree that they are wrong and while the Ombudsman will deal with the customer service elements of your complaint and award minor compensation for poor service, they do not usually give direction on commercial matters like credit agency reports...

So if you can show that the DD remained in force but unused by E.ON then you can dispute the reports with the credit agencies directly...