Stung by incompetent energy company

ClubSeaPower

We have been stung by the complete and utter incompetence of E-on. We were first time buyers when we moved into our house in February 2007 and were, if I'm honest, a little naive about how much money we needed to shell out. We had been paying what we assumed to be a decent rate for our combined electric and gas bill. However, it turns out that the guys who read our meter had gotten the readings wrong. Subsequently, E-on were charging us too little without us realising there was a problem. The other week we recieved a bill stating we're more than £350 in debit. When my partner spoke to E-on's customer service they agreed it was a mistake by them but insisted we have to pay back the money obviously in much larger instalments than what we have been doing. She suggested that £105 per month should do it - a big jump from the £30 we had been paying. My question is this: why should we now be out of pocket after they made the mistake? The customer services woman agreed the £30 monthly rate looked slim but not once did anyone from E-on contact us about this 'low' bill as they called it. While she admitted that it looks erroneous on their part she's not the voice of the company. Do we have a leg to stand on in saying "Actually no, we're not going to pay £105 a month to cover your mistake"? Any ideas? Has this happened to you? If so, please let me know a solution.

rosysparkle

Did you ever check the meter readings when the bill came?

geordie_joe

You used the fuel so you will have to pay for it. The only thing you can do is to work out how much you should be paying to cover the fuel you will use in the future and offer a reasonable amount extra to pay off the arrears.

Don't leave it to them to pluck a figure out of the air, work it out for your self.

Incisor

ClubSeaPower wrote: »

... when we moved into our house in February 2007 and were, if I'm honest, a little naive about how much money we needed to shell out. We had been paying what we assumed to be a decent rate for our combined electric and gas bill. However, it turns out that the guys who read our meter had gotten the readings wrong. Subsequently, E-on were charging us too little without us realising there was a problem. The other week we recieved a bill stating we're more than £350 in debit. When my partner spoke to E-on's customer service they agreed it was a mistake by them but insisted we have to pay back the money obviously in much larger instalments than what we have been doing. She suggested that £105 per month should do it - a big jump from the £30 we had been paying. My question is this: why should we now be out of pocket after they made the mistake?

When you have paid it all, you will not be out of pocket. You are well in pocket now, it is EON who are out of pocket [their fault]

The customer services woman agreed the £30 monthly rate looked slim but not once did anyone from E-on contact us about this 'low' bill as they called it.

Perhaps they were waiting for you? :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

While she admitted that it looks erroneous on their part she's not the voice of the company. Do we have a leg to stand on in saying "Actually no, we're not going to pay £105 a month to cover your mistake"? Any ideas?

As a rule of thumb, I would expect to pay an error back over the period it was accumulated, in your case £350 over 15 months is about £25/month over your regular spend. And you should have been paying £30/month + £25/month = £55/month. So £85/month looks about right to me - but as prices have risen, you should maybe pay a little more.

Emmsie21

You should be able to pay it back over the period of time that it has accumulated. I would ask to speak to the credit management team as they have more 'authority' when it comes to agreeing what you should and shouldn't pay.

Like Incisor says in the previous post £85 does seem a reasonable to let you clear the debt over 15 months and I would explain how you reached this figure to them.

The other thing they may ask is that you make a payment over the phone by debit card to reduce the outstanding balance and then spread the rest over xx amount of months.

The only other thing I can suggest is that you check every meter reading each time you receive a bill and ensure they are accurate.

If you can't agree a figure then they will commence debt follow up on the account as harsh as it sounds, and i'm not being, you have used the fuel therefore you need to pay for it. I know it hasn't been picked up before now but they will say that it is as much your responsibility to check the bills are correct as it is theirs.

After all that waffling can I ask - have your previous bills been estimated?

Iamthesmartestmanalive

If they had overcharged you would you be happy to write it off?

Or get it back at a few pounds a week?

Crabman

Hi ClubSeaPower, welcome to the forums

I've moved this to the Gas & Elec Board:

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere(please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

Cardew

Welcome to the forum,

Your honest admission that you were naive sums it up.

A Direct Debit set too low is absolutely standard these days, it is set low to lure people into joining that company.

So it isn't incompetance as you put it, but often good business practice.

The posts above sum the situation up I am afraid.

You have had the 'goods' - now you must pay for them.

A DD is not payment in full for goods received.

You need to monitor your Utility accounts all the time, meter readings etc or you will get more situations like this arise.

Sorry