‘Unbelievable’: E.ON’s rogue legal action ruins family’s finances

Boris_Blank

From todays Guardian - https://www.theguardian.com/money/2023/jul/01/eon-legal-action-energy-supplier

Posting this as I too am experiencing 'unbelievable' action by Eon-Next.  Having left Eon due to appalling customer service, I was struggling to get my accumulated £500+ credit back (there's more to this but thats another tale for another day).  After many complaints by phone and by email, working my way through much misinformation and incompetence, I suddenly found by sheer chance find that I am now in debt to Eon by some £500+!!

Eon has (without any warning) decided to refund my credit, not once but twice (first by bank transfer and secondly by cheque a few days later)! The net effect of this is that I am now showing on their system as being in debt to Eon by £500+.  I complained about this 'debt' of their own making to them last Thursday but as of yet there has been no response. 

 No doubt I will be chased for this 'debt', despite having flagged up their error, any day now. An absolute shower of clowns.

 

MWT

If you had already received the £500 by bank transfer, presumably you did not bank the cheque?...

GibbsRule_No3.

I’m confused, did you cash the cheque?  If the cheque wasn’t cashed why does it show you are in debt now, would it not only show if it was cashed from Eon.  Been a few years since I’ve had cheques to deal with, I only remember my sister kept asking if I’d cashed one she sent, as the money was still showing in her account as I had not cashed it.

Swipe

Just tell EON to cancel the un-cashed cheque and cancel the debt.

Alnat1

If the cheque was cashed it would come out of Eon's bank account, not the customers energy account.

The customer's in house energy account will have been debited, this is not a bank account.

pseudodox

The cheque will show as paid out to the customer but will show as uncleared & will not be reconciled in the company bank account until it is banked & cleared.  So it will be showing as a debt now on the customer account if the previous credit has been debited twice.  It will only get resolved if the recipient arranges to return the money if he has banked it or returns the unbanked cheque for the company to cancel it & reverse the amount in the customer account.  It was apparently sent out in error but you cannot have your cake & eat it.

Boris_Blank

My apologies, no, I haven't cashed the cheque. I've already contacted them asking what they want me do with the cheque (return it, burn, etc etc). 

They can of course digitally cancel the cheque themselves but I won't do anything until they specifically tell me, otherwise they'll yet again claim it's everybody elses fault but theirs.

Petriix

The obvious course of action is to bank the cheque (earning at least 4% interest) and agree a repayment plan for £50 per month. Free money! 

Boris_Blank

Petriix said:

The obvious course of action is to bank the cheque (earning at least 4% interest) and agree a repayment plan for £50 per month. Free money! 

Lol, good idea, I had't thought of that!

Scot_39

Boris_Blank said:

Petriix said:

The obvious course of action is to bank the cheque (earning at least 4% interest) and agree a repayment plan for £50 per month. Free money! 

Lol, good idea, I had't thought of that!

You are no longer their customer.

As far as they are concerned - mistake or not - you now owe them money - the funds issued in your name you now admit are in your possession.

Exactly as the article example implies.  EOn ( / energy firms in general) are not a charity - and they owe you as an ex customer no easy treatment - such as 12m interest free terms.  And are only too eager to pursue such debts. 

Most literally refer to debt agencies within weeks of missing a credit bill pay demand deadline - itself typically only a couple of weeks.


The fastest way to resolve would probably have been to cash the cheque and once funds  cleared - typically a few days - pay off the bill by card or transfer - assuming that's an option. On line if still have account access - it not pretty sure will be by phone.

Despite your clear mistrust - you perversely seem to want to expose yourself to not only the risks of EOns potential further administrative delays and potential incompetence  but even the potential risk of returning a live cheque via postal service too.

And it's probably better to think of the cheque as a bank order / bankers draft - than a personal cheque.  It has already  been debited from your balance as issued - not as cashed in for payment.

And that as soon as it left EOn - chances are even if lost in post - which I am sure EOn will exclude any liability for in Ts&Cs - like many other firms.

Boris_Blank

Scot_39 said:

Boris_Blank said:

Petriix said:

The obvious course of action is to bank the cheque (earning at least 4% interest) and agree a repayment plan for £50 per month. Free money! 

Lol, good idea, I had't thought of that!

You are no longer their customer.

As far as they are concerned - mistake or not - you now owe them money - the funds issued in your name you now admit are in your possession.

Exactly as the article example implies.  EOn ( / energy firms in general) are not a charity - and they owe you as an ex customer no easy treatment - such as 12m interest free terms.  And are only too eager to pursue such debts. 

Most literally refer to debt agencies within weeks of missing a credit bill pay demand deadline - itself typically only a couple of weeks.


The fastest way to resolve would probably have been to cash the cheque and once funds  cleared - typically a few days - pay off the bill by card or transfer - assuming that's an option. On line if still have account access - it not pretty sure will be by phone.

Despite your clear mistrust - you perversely seem to want to expose yourself to not only the risks of EOns potential further administrative delays and potential incompetence  but even the potential risk of returning a live cheque via postal service too.

And it's probably better to think of the cheque as a bank order / bankers draft - than a personal cheque.  It has already  been debited from your balance as issued - not as cashed in for payment.

And that as soon as it left EOn - chances are even if lost in post - which I am sure EOn will exclude any liability for in Ts&Cs - like many other firms.

Spoke to Citizens advice this morning, they said wait for Eon's response to my emails sent to Customer Service. Pre-empting any response could make things worse. i.e. cashing the cheque which I'm clearly not entitled to.