Advice: Taking Eon to court

la531983

fatbelly said:

You should also keep in mind that the court process can be stressful for anyone unwell.

Also courts dont make awards for "hurt feelings" and "stress". 

Ectophile

We are an investigation company

and

They don't respond to my calls or emails, 8 weeks ago i requested all transcripts for mine and her phone to commence legal proceedings, and the address to send court paperwork

The address will be on every bill, and any other official paperwork they have sent in the last few years.

It's the company's registered address.  It will also helpfully state the formal name of the company, and the company registration number so you can look them up on the Companies House web site.

mmmmikey

Meanmachine1965 said:

Good Morning:
I'm looking for a bit of advice, a good friend, an elderly woman (76) has been harassed and bullied beyond belief in the last 4+ years. Eon have driving this woman in to the ground, I will keep it short as possible.
We are an investigation company and met this woman last year, she told me of this case and told her i would try to help her at no cost. Anyway she had a shop and in 2018 she closed the shop due to cancer, and the shop has not been open since. In 2021 Eon took over the supply in January 2021 from Npower with my client been in a small credit. In 2022 Eon sent a bill of just over £6200, some months later sending another for just under £6700, my client was under going cancer treatment. This caused unmentionable amount of stress and caused a nervous breakdown. Not knowing what to do, she did as Eon asked and set up a direct debit for nearly £800 per month, to get rid of the debt. Eon took 2 payments and would have taken more if it had not been for her bank stating this is a closed shop and has been for 4 years. They told her to cancel the direct debit, which she has done since then a comedy of errors but not for this very sick old woman. She has had cancer again and trying to beat it while having none stop calls, letters and texts with threats. There's a lot  more to this story so will move to when I started helping her 10 weeks ago. She is due a major spinal operation which has already been cancelled due to the doctors and surgeon stating her heart rate and blood pressure is way to high to Eon. They don't respond to my calls or emails, 8 weeks ago i requested all transcripts for mine and her phone to commence legal proceedings, and the address to send court paperwork Nothing as of yet. 4 weeks ago administered in to hospital hate rate dangerously high. I got a letter from her with her authority to act on her behalf, contacted Eon give them the letter and told them no to contact her again due to her very poor health. I sent an email giving my details and the letter and told them to contact me. As said I have cut this very short. She had another date for this operation on the 9th June, but in the last 14 days she has had 5 letters, 4 texts, 2 calls and a letter from a debt collector. Again due to her heart rate and blood pressure this operation has been cancelled and may not get another one, this will put her in a wheel chair for the rest of her life. Her mental state has pushed her in to deep depression. I have much evidence that I have gathered and can prove they in fact owe her money, I can prove of the constant bullying and harassment tactics for nearly 4 years. She wants me to take them to court for what they have done to her and now also have letters from doctors and a surgeon confirming the above. Advice please and many thanks for your time in reading this post. 

Hi - the simple advice here is that if your friend/customer really does want to take this to court she should engage the services of a solicitor who will handle this on her behalf. No reason why you can't help her do that. The first thing the solicitor will do is help you structure your approach, and in doing that you may well find that yout interests are actually better served by trying to resolve this directly with Eon. 

Although very distressing, a lot of the info you give regarding your friend's health is really a bit superfluous and I think that is muddying the waters. Forgive me for being blunt and please be assured I don't mean to cause any offence, but the questions you ask and the way you present the situation suggest to me that dealing with this kind of issue is quite a long way outside your experience and however much you want to help you may not be well placed in trying to do so.

If you don't want to go the expense of using a solicitor then it would be a good idea to raise this with Citizens Advice and/or Age Concern or one of the cancer charities who may be able to help you.

Robin9

As above keep emotion and health out of it.  This is business.

Lets have a few facts -

Have you copies of bills with meter readings on them -  are these meter readings Estimated or Actual ?

No need to give all of them but the 2018 and a very recent one would help.


It may be that all the Eon's bills are based on estimated consumption based on when the shop was active.  If the shop is shut up there may well be little or no consumption but the standing charges will have been racking up .  These could well be in the order of £3 a day.

Chrysalis

I am inclined to agree wuith Qriz, lots of health issues in the post, but this has little bearing on whats going on with the bills, and nothing posted as to what they are billing for.  What are you disputing etc.

Robin9

I've PM the OP asking them to come back to the forum - hope it's not a post and run - lot's of experience here but not always the answer that's wanted.

matelodave

The use of paragraphs and some spacing would be easier to read and understand rather than a solid wall of text - I gave up trying to read it

QrizB

For the benefit of @matelodave and everyone else, here's an edited version. My comments in italics.

Meanmachine1965 said:

Good Morning:
I'm looking for a bit of advice for a good friend, an elderly woman (76) who has a spot of trouble with EON.

She had a shop and in 2018 she closed the shop due to poor health. The shop has not been open since.

(We don't know if she still owns/leases the premises.)

In 2021 Eon took over the supply in January 2021 from Npower with my client been in a small credit.

In 2022 Eon sent a bill of just over £6200, some months later sending another for just under £6700.

(We don't know if these bills were based on actual readings or estimates, or what tariff applies.)

She did as Eon asked and set up a direct debit for nearly £800 per month, to get rid of the debt. Eon took 2 payments and would have taken more if it had not been for her bank stating this is a closed shop and has been for 4 years. They told her to cancel the direct debit.

(We don't know why her bank is giving her business advice.)

I started helping her 10 weeks ago. They don't respond to my calls or emails, 8 weeks ago i requested all transcripts for mine and her phone to commence legal proceedings, and the address to send court paperwork Nothing as of yet. 4 weeks ago I got a letter from her with her authority to act on her behalf

(Lack of authority could be why EON wouldn't share the info with the OP.)

contacted Eon give them the letter and told them no to contact her again due to her very poor health. I sent an email giving my details and the letter and told them to contact me.

In the last 14 days she has had 5 letters, 4 texts, 2 calls and a letter from a debt collector.

I have much evidence that I have gathered and can prove they in fact owe her money,

(We don't know if the OP shared this evidence with EON.)

She wants me to take them to court for what they have done to her.

Advice please and many thanks for your time in reading this post. 

Is that any better?

matelodave

My suggestion would be to take this to a solicitor to try and chew the bones out of it and to see if there's a case to be made.

Guesses and suggestions from forumites , however well meaning, are no substitute for legal advice especially if you are considering taking this to court.

A solicitor will advise you whether your evidence is sound and if you've got a chance in court. It may even be worth having a chat with the CAB to see what advice they can offer.

elsien

They need to clarify exactly what’s happening first before going to a solicitor. At the very least as has been suggested on here checking the various readings whether they estimates, what is owed, et cetera. No solicitor is going to be taking anything forward without that clarity.
and go through the formal complaints procedure, because again it’s unclear whether or not that has happened.