SWALEC bill error

[babybear39]

Had a 'very nice' surprise in the post the morning. A bill for £406.68!!!

Fortunately, I know that I don't have any debt with this company, but it made me panic nontheless

When I called them, the advisor didn't know what was wrong with the account so had to escalate to a team manager. It seems that because I've recently had my meter changed from a token to a normal one, their systems were showing a huge debt in error on my account. The manager assured me that it was a system generated letter and error and that it will be dealt with today. As a gesture of goodwill he cleared off my current balance of £13.89.

To be honest, it took me a few hours to be calm enough to call, but I'm, glad I did.

Companies doing this sort of thing to disabled customers should be more careful as a lot of people would just accept it without question and pay

I've requested a copy of their complaints procedure and will be making a formal complaint. Not to be awkward, but to make sure they revise their systems to stop this happening to other people.

[Jaycee1940]

I too have been having problems with my power supplier. It started 12 months ago when they sent me a bill for £77 which they said I owed. As I had a prepaid card meter for electric and a prepaid key meter for gas I could not see how this could be. They tried to work it out and thought the meter was faulty, a man from Seimens came but said "He was not allowed to touch the meter, his job was installation and it was the power companies job to do any changes". They tried taking off the debt and finished up putting £80 credit on it which they could not get off. They then decided they had to change the meter but as I did not owe them any money I could not have a prepaid meter I had to go back to a quarterly one. I agreed and had the gas meter taken out too, I set up a Standing Order not DD for £13 per week to be sent on the same day as my pension went into the bank. The first bill I got after this showed a credit of about £40, as it was summer I suspected nothing. The next bill in January showed a credit of £146 I asked Myself well how has this happened but did not have the time then to look at it properly. My latest bill arrived this morning and its has a credit of £255 on it....now this certainly made me look. When I checked the payments as well as my £143 I had paid in through the Standing Orders there was different amounts from £5 to £13 adding up to £183. I realised that somewhere someone elses payments were being put on my bill. Now did I play the innocent citizen and ring and ask for the credit to be paid back to me or did I ring and ask to speak to a manager. Me being Me and knowing I have a conscience I rang and asked to speak to a Manager, of course I couldn't no one was available. I did make them phone me back though as I was not paying for the phone call! After about 3/4 of an hour it transpires that when my card meter was removed it was recalibrated and fitted into another property but the Account No. was not changed. My argument is that some poor person like Myself at this time 12 months ago is trying to work out why the power Company are claiming they owe them money (Lets not forget no money no power with a prepaid meter). The girl I spoke too did not seem the least bit bothered about what this error would be doing to another customer, in fact I found her very patronising and treating me as if because I am Elderly I am thick. Well I understand Value for Money, also Government Audit Reports and KLOES and this is certainly not Value for Money. I have asked for a Manager to ring me on Monday as I want a full investigation and I want to make a formal complaint which they can take over the phone and send me a copy of what we have agreed is to be written. Government recommendations now recommend this way under the new DDA laws as not everyone can write. I am also going to claim compensation for all the distress they have caused me for 12 months now. I will keep you posted as to what the outcomes are.

[babybear39]

Good luck, best wishes Jaycee1940 and welcome to CAG

[Jaycee1940]

Well....No Phone Call......So now I will Email the Chief Executive of EON with a formal complaint and if no reply within 48 hours I will take it to the papers.

[babybear39]

Take it to me, I'm a BA Journalism student

[Conniff]

By Jaycee
I want to make a formal complaint which they can take over the phone and send me a copy of what we have agreed is to be written. Government recommendations now recommend this way under the new DDA laws as not everyone can write.

Do you honestly believe anything this government says or the reasons given for something.
With the total cockup they have made over the last 10 years, I would say they prefer you to telephone because it can then be denied you ever made a call.

It's logical to me that if someone can't write, they probably can't read either, so what is the use of a written reply.

Sorry, but I do not trust one single thing this government does.