EDF nightmare

EssexHebridean

Keep_pedalling said:

Even even if you actually owed this debt it is unenforceable as being over 6 years old it is statute barred. I

This is at least in part why it is important to follow the right procedure. 

ariarnia

EssexHebridean said:

Mobtr said:

Will get dealt with a lot quicker if you ring the complaints team direct

Please don’t recommend this where comes to debt where it “may” just be a fishing exercise to try to get someone to cough up - it’s really poor advice and why I strongly suggest the OP seeks their solution on the DFW board! 

completely agree with this. talking on the phone about a possible debt is awful advice in my experience. it often leads to 'misunderstandings' or being tricked into doing or saying something (like making a token payment to stop court action or a 'fee' for being sent the evidence which is recorded as a payment on the system). plus everything in writing makes evidencing who said what much easier if it needs to be escalated to a regulator or ombudsman. getting hold of and transcribing recordings of phone calls is a pain in the bum. 

Mobtr

OP’s call really, ring them Monday, speak to a complaint advisor in the UK who will raise the complaint, this will put an automatic hold on the account to stop further escalation, look at the account to see what has happened, if it is a debt off 10 years ago pass it to be written off, or write a letter allow time for it to be delivered, logged & dealt with, about 2-3 weeks, by which time further escalation could have taken place. Whether it’s a call or a letter, dealt with by the same people. 

ariarnia

phone and spend time on hold, explaining the problem, being transferred or on hold again, maybe get it fixed or maybe have to phone again when another demand arrives and having to start from scratch explaining it all again because your talking to a new advisor.

i vote middle ground. email customer_correspondence@edfenergy.com subject line 'complaint' (run the draft via the people on the debt free board for advice first) get it all in writing and have a record of whats said in a single email chain plus response probably within a few days

Mobtr

ariarnia said:

phone and spend time on hold, explaining the problem, being transferred or on hold again, maybe get it fixed or maybe have to phone again when another demand arrives and having to start from scratch explaining it all again because your talking to a new advisor.

i vote middle ground. email customer_correspondence@edfenergy.com subject line 'complaint' (run the draft via the people on the debt free board for advice first) get it all in writing and have a record of whats said in a single email chain plus response probably within a few days

Think you’ve misread what I’ve said. Ringing complaints direct gets you straight through to a dedicated complaints advisor who will raise the complaint, give the ref number & see it all through to resolution. One person dealing with it until the end. 

Emailing customer_correspondence will get it dealt with by an off shore advise who won’t know what to do, works from a script & will basically do nothing & it will not get resolved until the op rings complaints and it is taken over by someone in the uk complaints team. 

ariarnia

you have obviously had a good experience. in our experience the front line staff who take the complaint are the same call handlers as general enquiries (on the edf website its even the same number as the general customer enquiry number 0333 200 5100). emails are logged and responded to promptly.  

staff can't work 24/7 and they wont stay free just in case you call back so unless you are very lucky if you need to phone back you wont get the same person... and (again) if they tell you one thing but a different thing happens you'll have to go through the bother of getting call recordings for your ombudsman case. 

but its up to the OP. they can trust one of us. or go to the debt free board and trust the mountin of experience there. or do there own thing. hopefully they will report back a positive end result what ever way they chose. 

doodling

Hi,

A few points to bear in mind:
1. If the debt is statute barred then nothing the OP does could make it no longer statute barred so if the OP is confident of that then there is no risk in talking to them on the phone.

2. The account will be statute barred if the OP hasn't had any dealings (i.e. written / email communications or made payments) with EdF for 10 years. It is important to note however that this must be no written dealings or payments at all with EdF over 10 years; if they have since had an account with EdF for a different property then there is a (small) risk that the account isnt statute barred and I would be much more cautious.

3. If the account is statute barred then the OP can be pretty relaxed about how they deal with this, including doing nothing and waiting for court papers to arrive - f they do then the defense will be very simple.  It is however best to avoid the issue of legal proceedings as there is always the risk that they don't go the way you expect (e.g. you end up in hospital for a fortnight and fail to get your defense in in time).  The statute barred letter from the Debt Free Wannabe forum is probably the way to go.

4. If there is the possibility that the account is not statute barred for some reason then the prove it letter from the Debt Free Wannabe board is the right first step.

Mobtr

ariarnia said:

you have obviously had a good experience. in our experience the front line staff who take the complaint are the same call handlers as general enquiries (on the edf website its even the same number as the general customer enquiry number 0333 200 5100). emails are logged and responded to promptly.  

staff can't work 24/7 and they wont stay free just in case you call back so unless you are very lucky if you need to phone back you wont get the same person... and (again) if they tell you one thing but a different thing happens you'll have to go through the bother of getting call recordings for your ombudsman case. 

but its up to the OP. they can trust one of us. or go to the debt free board and trust the mountin of experience there. or do there own thing. hopefully they will report back a positive end result what ever way they chose. 

Not always, they have a ringfenced complaints team who only deal with complaints. Think they may have changed things a bit as you could contact them direct on 0333 200 5101 but looks like that number has now been removed. Possibly because everyone believes their issue is a major complaint