EON passed to debt collection agency.. grr

Curiousgirl1

johkneebouy said:

Curiousgirl1 said:

johkneebouy said:

I think thats going to be my 1st port of call on monday, calling EON and finding out what reasons they have for, at the very least not contacting me at current address, and why they (almost certainly) set up an account in my name after i had moved out.

Just one little thing, if you rented the property did your tenancy agreement end the day you moved out or not? 

Know from experience that if you moved out, say 1st Jan & closed your account then, but your tenancy didn’t actually end until 1st Feb the HA would have contacted Eon to give the correct change over date & they would possibly set up a new account from when you closed. 

Hope that makes sense 

Makes sense, my tennancy ended 14th june when handing keys back.

The property is still vacant as HA have no money to fix the building.. i assume that because EON get no response from a resident or HA, they look for the last named person there.

EON should have contacted me at new address about any further debt, i am still with them so they know where i live.. its not rocket surgery, maybe its just all part of an automated system.

In that case, you need to ring Eon & ask when the bill is from & where they get the balance from. Might be just a straight forward misunderstanding. 

Also give the the HA name for future billing if they don’t already have it. 

If you’ve still got a copy of your tenancy agreement with dates etc should be able to sort it out. 

Good luck & let us know how you get on 

EssexHebridean

johkneebouy said:

EssexHebridean said:

NEVER pay a bill for a debt that you do not believe is yours. Send the “prove it” letter, and wait for the DCA or billing organisation do just that. Paying debts “for a quiet life” or because it is easier is what will make life potentially a lot more expensive down the line as you are potentially paying the debt of someone with a similar name to yours - DCAs are renowned for sending “fishing” letter in the hope of finding just the sort of people who will pay up for the reasons above. 

Also - never speak to a DCA on the phone - in writing, always. That way there is proof of what has - and has not - been said. 

OP - leave the complaint until you’ve heard from the DCA or you risk inadvertently acknowledging the debt as yours. 

You think i should just send the 'prove it' letter and NOT contact EON or DCA?

Part of me feels that i should contact EON and find out their reasonings for not contacting me at new address, and setting up an account without me even knowing about it, and tell them its the housing associations debt. Also, i'd love to know what the actual bill was supposed to be.

First off, yes. Reason being that it could be a simple as this is a debt that is owed by the HA - you’re the last “named” person that Eon have details for, so you’re who the DCA have decided to pursue. If the information you gets back makes clear that it is from after you moved out, then you simply say no, I left on X date, you need to contact the HA. It may be that eon know full well it’s nothing to do with you, in which case why WOULD they have contacted you? 

I’m going to suggest that you moved out and supplied final readings, but the HA never contacted Eon to take the account over…. 

wild666

If you gave final readings on the date you moved out then any debt becomes the responsibility of the owner of the property. 

I had a similar experience in 2010/11 I gave BG the final readings on the date I moved out of the property and 5 months later a debt collection letter turned up at my address for over £120. I still had a copy of my final bill and the dates on it as I downloaded it. BG wouldn't let me have a copy of the bill in dispute saying data protection until I said if the bill is about me then it's my data I am requesting, I still didn't get the copy of the bill. 
I emailed the debt collection company and told them I had the final bill from BG that proved I had moved out on the date of the final reading and any more letters from them would result in legal action for £500 compensation plus all costs by the company. I also included a copy of the final bill in the email. I never heard from them again.

johkneebouy

TL;DR.  Phoned EON, not much help.  Sent 'prove it letter' to DCA.

Small update to this, i phoned EON this morning, 50 mins on hold with their awful 'advertising' rubbish. Anyway, the 1st person i spoke to wasn't the most helpful, couldn't quite grasp the situation. They put me through to someone else and they understood what i was getting at, they said there is nothing they can do as the DCA have taken the debt. When i asked about why i had not been contacted they said that they don't give any names to DCAs, only balances and addresses, so the DCA have looked into the last resident for payment.

I have copied and adjusted the 'prove it' letter with additional 'the claimed account number is not and was never mine' and 'any debt belongs to local HA' and is now on its way to DCA via signed delivery.

EssexHebridean, you were right about EON not contacting me, as they knew i was a good boy (still am too)

dttavis

I've had the same letter from EON / PRAC / BW Legal.

The weirdness of this is that I've never even had an EON account! I've also never lived at the address in question (letter was sent to my current address), it's my Dad's address. Oh and it's also from 5 years ago.

I called EON and they refused to talk to me. I tried to make a complaint and the guy hung up on me! 

Currently trying to get through to BW Legal, but looking like I'll send them the 'prove it' letter too!

johkneebouy

dttavis said:

I've had the same letter from EON / PRAC / BW Legal.

The weirdness of this is that I've never even had an EON account! I've also never lived at the address in question (letter was sent to my current address), it's my Dad's address. Oh and it's also from 5 years ago.

I called EON and they refused to talk to me. I tried to make a complaint and the guy hung up on me! 

Currently trying to get through to BW Legal, but looking like I'll send them the 'prove it' letter too!

Yes, exactly the same companies. 

I will update this thread with any info as it happens.

MalMonroe

HeinzVarieties said:

MalMonroe said:

johkneebouy said:

I think thats going to be my 1st port of call on monday, calling EON and finding out what reasons they have for, at the very least not contacting me at current address, and why they (almost certainly) set up an account in my name after i had moved out.

That's a good idea. I never pay bills I don't understand. Even if they are small - it all adds up! Don't forget to also ask EON why they didn't have the common courtesy to contact you before they called in a debt collector. It's really shabby treatment of a current, loyal customer. 

Don't pay up until you know what you are paying for. 

Bills certainly add up when you don't understand things and refuse to pay bills you don't understand.

You either didn't read my comment properly, or misunderstand what I wrote. I did not say that I refuse to pay bilIs I don't understand. I may be daft but I'm not that daft. I was agreeing wholeheartedly with the OP when he said he'd be phoning EON to find out what was going on. (As per the first sentence of my comment 'That's a good idea." and my other comment, "Don't pay up until you know what you are paying for." I thought it was clear that I meant I'd have to find out what it was all about before I just coughed up. Oh well. My bills are all paid thank you very much. But I won't pay demands for money that I don't understand. Until I've asked for and received an explanation. If you don't need explanations that's fair enough. I do.

EssexHebridean

dttavis said:

I've had the same letter from EON / PRAC / BW Legal.

The weirdness of this is that I've never even had an EON account! I've also never lived at the address in question (letter was sent to my current address), it's my Dad's address. Oh and it's also from 5 years ago.

I called EON and they refused to talk to me. I tried to make a complaint and the guy hung up on me! 

Currently trying to get through to BW Legal, but looking like I'll send them the 'prove it' letter too!

Definitely don’t try to talk to them - just send the Prove It letter, in the post, and watch them go away. Never deal with DCAs on the phone - you have no proof of what’s been said - or not! 

Yours has all the hallmarks of a straight fishing trip - you could probably simply ignore them but the Prove It gives more peace of mind. Somewhere out there is someone with your name who DOES owe Eon money, I suspect! 

Bradders2269

I have received similar letters from Eon/Prac/BW Legal.  They relate to a period after I vacated a property, provided my final meter readings to Eon and closed my Eon account.  BW Legal’s tracing service identified me as the last tenant and therefore I received the letters.  I am really annoyed as the letters included reference to making notes on my credit reference file with Experian so basically threats to encourage me to pay an amount discounted by 70% for a debt that wasn’t anything to do with me.  I contacted Eon who confirmed my old account was closed and no amount was outstanding.  I have emailed BW Legal and spent wasted hours trying get an apology from BW Legal.  Given the tone of the letters and the completely false allegations, who should I complain to?  All of this relates to unrecoverable debt sold by Eon.  Any advice would be much appreciated.

EssexHebridean

If you’ve followed the correct procedure ie Prove It letter and they can’t, but are still harassing you, then you can complain - I think to the FCA. You do need to have gone through the process first though as the complaint needs to be solid or will likely get thrown out. 

Those letters always include reference to possible notes on credit file by the way - it’s just standard wording for most, so don’t be too concerned about that. 

If you haven’t yet followed the Prove It process, then do so.