'Debt' with eON
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nophiesoakes
Posts: 1 Newbie
in Energy
I've recently received communication form Lowell Financial advising there is a balance of £988 due to eOn, relating to supply 01/07/2013 to 14/02/2015.
Messy - but all details below. Really would be so grateful for any thoughts/ guidance on this.
I have contacted eOn to discuss but they will not talk to me/ provide any information and will only advise me to contact Lowells directly - which having read a little about it, I'm super reluctant to do.
More than 5 years later, the amount of information/ evidence I have to reference is limited. BUT - the debt relates to a student property, from which we were tenants only between 12/09/13 and 30/08/14. We paid our bills online over this time period and I'm convinced we provided meter readings upon our departure . (I'm no longer able to access the account online).
Our property was renovated when we moved in, and I have email communication to the landlord (though no response) stating that following my phone discussion with eOn, our first revised eOn bill amounted to £399, with just £25.86 for us to pay and the rest was 'hers' as it related to dates before our tenancy commenced (and the £25 relates to our initial move in etc and the week thereafter) . However, looking at the supply dates on the letter this has not been noted/ changed. Our tenancy agreement states we moved in on Sept 1st, but in actuality we we moved in Sept 12th. (I only say this, as they were delayed with refurb and had all heaters on to dry paint etc, so will amount to a lot. this is recorded on email). The bill states our supply commenced on 1st July.
Thereafter, we all moved out of the property by August the following year (and would have notified them), but there's 8 subsequent months of the next tenancy which we're being charged for- which again, I'd imagine would be sizeable. So, to me it looks like there's a huge portion which the landlord failed to pay- which somehow has been passed to me, and the following year's tenants have also been 'assigned' to our tenancy.
I had received no follow up emails etc from eon over the course of the last few years, and have held subsequent accounts with them for my own residences. The debt collectors letters only commenced this year. (though of course I don't know if letters were sent to the address- but no emails or calls were made).
I've checked my credit score using the experian MSE free tool, and it does show as 999, so doesn't look like credit rating is affected. Just very concerned if this can bite me in the bum at a later date!
If i owe nominal amount from moving period, lets say £100, for sake of argument, i'd pay that without challenge, but so much of that bill is clearly not correct, I just will struggle to evidence as its based on phone conversations & activities that happened 5 years ago.
At no point have Lowells sent a breakdown of where that number comes from, in order for me to analyse it... Just a letter for how to pay.
In this situation, is it correct to ignore Lowells until I receive detailed information? Will it affect my credit rating? Do they 'give up' after x amount of attempts? Should I contact them?
Appreciate any thoughts, and thanks for your time
Messy - but all details below. Really would be so grateful for any thoughts/ guidance on this.
I have contacted eOn to discuss but they will not talk to me/ provide any information and will only advise me to contact Lowells directly - which having read a little about it, I'm super reluctant to do.
More than 5 years later, the amount of information/ evidence I have to reference is limited. BUT - the debt relates to a student property, from which we were tenants only between 12/09/13 and 30/08/14. We paid our bills online over this time period and I'm convinced we provided meter readings upon our departure . (I'm no longer able to access the account online).
Our property was renovated when we moved in, and I have email communication to the landlord (though no response) stating that following my phone discussion with eOn, our first revised eOn bill amounted to £399, with just £25.86 for us to pay and the rest was 'hers' as it related to dates before our tenancy commenced (and the £25 relates to our initial move in etc and the week thereafter) . However, looking at the supply dates on the letter this has not been noted/ changed. Our tenancy agreement states we moved in on Sept 1st, but in actuality we we moved in Sept 12th. (I only say this, as they were delayed with refurb and had all heaters on to dry paint etc, so will amount to a lot. this is recorded on email). The bill states our supply commenced on 1st July.
Thereafter, we all moved out of the property by August the following year (and would have notified them), but there's 8 subsequent months of the next tenancy which we're being charged for- which again, I'd imagine would be sizeable. So, to me it looks like there's a huge portion which the landlord failed to pay- which somehow has been passed to me, and the following year's tenants have also been 'assigned' to our tenancy.
I had received no follow up emails etc from eon over the course of the last few years, and have held subsequent accounts with them for my own residences. The debt collectors letters only commenced this year. (though of course I don't know if letters were sent to the address- but no emails or calls were made).
I've checked my credit score using the experian MSE free tool, and it does show as 999, so doesn't look like credit rating is affected. Just very concerned if this can bite me in the bum at a later date!
If i owe nominal amount from moving period, lets say £100, for sake of argument, i'd pay that without challenge, but so much of that bill is clearly not correct, I just will struggle to evidence as its based on phone conversations & activities that happened 5 years ago.
At no point have Lowells sent a breakdown of where that number comes from, in order for me to analyse it... Just a letter for how to pay.
In this situation, is it correct to ignore Lowells until I receive detailed information? Will it affect my credit rating? Do they 'give up' after x amount of attempts? Should I contact them?
Appreciate any thoughts, and thanks for your time
0
Comments
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Contact eON and make a formal complaint that they have not given you sufficient information as to why they think you owe the money. They have 8 weeks to make a response. If they don't respond, or if you don't like their response, go to the Energy Ombudsman.
Then if Lowells contact you, tell them that the bill is in dispute, and they must refer the matter back to eON. Every time they contact you, say the same thing.
If the lack of a bill before now is the fault of eON, then the back billing rule applies. If that's the case, then the whole bill must be written off as it's over a year old. But they may dispute that it's their fault.
In any case, the Limitations Act applies. If you're in the UK outside Scotland, then the courts won't be interested in any debts over 6 years old. In Scotland it's 5 years. So the first few months of that bill is already unenforceable. The longer you can drag it out, the more becomes unenforceable.If it sticks, force it.
If it breaks, well it wasn't working right anyway.0 -
nophiesoakes wrote: »I've recently received communication form Lowell Financial advising there is a balance of £988 due to eOn, relating to supply 01/07/2013 to 14/02/2015.
Messy - but all details below. Really would be so grateful for any thoughts/ guidance on this.
I have contacted eOn to discuss but they will not talk to me/ provide any information and will only advise me to contact Lowells directly - which having read a little about it, I'm super reluctant to do.
More than 5 years later, the amount of information/ evidence I have to reference is limited. BUT - the debt relates to a student property, from which we were tenants only between 12/09/13 and 30/08/14. We paid our bills online over this time period and I'm convinced we provided meter readings upon our departure . (I'm no longer able to access the account online).
Our property was renovated when we moved in, and I have email communication to the landlord (though no response) stating that following my phone discussion with eOn, our first revised eOn bill amounted to £399, with just £25.86 for us to pay and the rest was 'hers' as it related to dates before our tenancy commenced (and the £25 relates to our initial move in etc and the week thereafter) . However, looking at the supply dates on the letter this has not been noted/ changed. Our tenancy agreement states we moved in on Sept 1st, but in actuality we we moved in Sept 12th. (I only say this, as they were delayed with refurb and had all heaters on to dry paint etc, so will amount to a lot. this is recorded on email). The bill states our supply commenced on 1st July.
Thereafter, we all moved out of the property by August the following year (and would have notified them), but there's 8 subsequent months of the next tenancy which we're being charged for- which again, I'd imagine would be sizeable. So, to me it looks like there's a huge portion which the landlord failed to pay- which somehow has been passed to me, and the following year's tenants have also been 'assigned' to our tenancy.
I had received no follow up emails etc from eon over the course of the last few years, and have held subsequent accounts with them for my own residences. The debt collectors letters only commenced this year. (though of course I don't know if letters were sent to the address- but no emails or calls were made).
I've checked my credit score using the experian MSE free tool, and it does show as 999, so doesn't look like credit rating is affected. Just very concerned if this can bite me in the bum at a later date!
If i owe nominal amount from moving period, lets say £100, for sake of argument, i'd pay that without challenge, but so much of that bill is clearly not correct, I just will struggle to evidence as its based on phone conversations & activities that happened 5 years ago.
At no point have Lowells sent a breakdown of where that number comes from, in order for me to analyse it... Just a letter for how to pay.
In this situation, is it correct to ignore Lowells until I receive detailed information? Will it affect my credit rating? Do they 'give up' after x amount of attempts? Should I contact them?
Appreciate any thoughts, and thanks for your time
Hello nophiesoakes and welcome to the Forums.
As our advisor explained, now we've sold the debt to Lowells, please speak to them about your concerns. Once debts are sold, accounts are partially deactivated and advisors are unable to make any adjustments or alterations as the debt is no longer ours. Lowells can refer back to a specialist team here if needed who can check out and act on any new information.
Debts are only sold after accounts have gone through an extensive debt collection process including many attempts to contact the account holder to sort out payment. If we didn't have a forwarding address, I suspect this contact either went to the property or the landlady.
Sorry I'm unable to give any further help with this nophiesoakes.
Malc“Official Company Representative
I am an official company representative of E.ON. MSE has given permission for me to post in response to queries about the company, so that I can help solve issues. You can see my name on the companies with permission to post list. I am not allowed to tout for business at all. If you believe I am please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com This does NOT imply any form of approval of my company or its products by MSE"0 -
Hmmm - "Statute of Limitations" A Supplier/Debt Purchaser cannot claim payment for a debt if 6 years have passed without any communication.
My take on this is any amount on the bill incurred 6 years prior to the date on the demand letter, can't be demanded.
Lowell have bought this debt from Eon at a huge discount and hope to pocket 100% of the entire amount, knowing full well that they are out of time for anything prior to January ( See date on letter ) 2014
Plus they are claiming payment for Energy used 6 months after you left the property.
With non-payment, Lowell will up the anti with threats of court and CCJ,
so WRITE to Lowell claiming Statute of Limitations and pointing out the error of occupancy period - This puts them on the backfoot if they try the courts
In the end Lowell will settle for the best they can get, so take a tough line0
This discussion has been closed.
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