I had a letter first thing this morning from them, dated yesterday... It basically says that their engineers visual inspection of the boiler (without stripping it down) and the basic safety checks (testing emissions and looking at the meter) satisfies their terms and conditions... and as far as they are concerned the matter is resolved. The fact that the complaint letter was sent last Weds and we've had 2 letters since then... tells me they've not looked into it at all, simply read from the computer and parroted the CS response we got. In fact they can't even get the details right of the original call out, stating that the hot water wasn't working and the cause was a faulty wireless receiver. The fact that this isn't even possible seems to have escaped their notice... and if that piece of info on their system is wrong, then it's logical to assume that other parts are also. I am utterly disgusted with them, I really can't be arsed fighting them about it... But I can tell you this much. They are losing my business immediately, a call has been placed with my bank to cancel the direct debit and previous ones disputed as far back as we can. Eon are also losing a customer for both Gas & Electric which totals about £1400 a year, as we are switching suppliers immediately and signing up with some one who's offering a fixed price deal for several years. So Eon/HES will be losing out on a total of £1640 over the next 12 months, all because they wanted to wriggle out of the contract and not properly service my boiler. New cover has already been arranged with my insurance provider... and as far as I'm concerned Eon can go F*** themselves. I shall also at every opportunity advise people not to switch to Eon due to their bad faith practices... I hold them responsible because we signed up to this scheme through them before they decided to spin HES as a separate entity...and in spite of the fact that you can call Eon and they can access the HES accounts just fine. Whatever the 'tax dodging' purposes of the split are, they still operate as one customer facing entity based on this experience. We are done with this shower of tw*ts

Had a letter from HES on Sat morning, was just a standard template one acknowledging receipt of the letter and saying they should respond within 14 days unless it takes longer to investigate.

Complaint letters written to both their complaints team and Chris McLain, will be sent recorded delivery tomorrow.... any ideas how long it normally takes them to respond. Could some one confirm that if I need to make a complaint to OFGEM, do they charge Eon/HES £500?

I had no idea that they had sold on that part as we signed up for it through EON last Oct... I had heard of HES but had assumed that they were something Eon outsourced for the actual work. Will fire of a letter of complaint tomorrow to both their complaints dept and their head of energy services Chris McLain Will update the thread if/when I know more.

Thanks rebel11, I've just fired of a complaint email to Eon too... Look forward to one of their reps commenting on this thread.

Loads of views but no one seems to have any advice yet... Any admins about who know the right people to speak to about it?

I hope you get all this sorted, and I don't have any helpful advice regarding the debt itself. However, I live in a 3 bed house on my own and my water rates were around £400 a year. I spoke with Anglian Water after I moved in about the cost as I was a very low user. I shower, don't have a dishwasher and only use the washing machine once, sometimes twice a week. They put me onto their low user rate which at first was costing me about £16 a month based on their estimates of my useage. Then after about a year I thought I'd have a meter fitted and see if that helped... I think with the low user rate it's up to 75cu/mts... not sure if that's a year or a quarter. After having the meter installed for 6 months, my payments dropped to £6 a month for almost 2yrs and about 6 months ago rose to £8 a month. It's well worth contacting them to make sure you are on the best tariff for your use, there's no way I could afford £400 a year in rates as I'm unable to work due to poor health.

Hi all, I hope that some one can give me some advice on an issue that has arisen with a policy we took out last Oct with EON to cover our boiler. I had the boiler serviced by a local company at the beginning of Oct as it hadn't been done in 18 months due to money being tight. Everything was given a clean bill of health and I have the paperwork and receipt to show this. Then after discussing it we decided to take out some cover at the end of the month and EON were offering a deal of £9.99 a month for the first 12 months. This covers me for an annual service and parts and repairs upto about £500 I think (i'd have to check the small print, I think it actually covers a replacement boiler) This was quite fortunate as a few weeks later in November the heating side stopped working, but we still had hot water. EON sent some one round (from whatever 3rd party contractor they were using) and he diagnosed that the wireless receiver on the boiler had failed and needed replacing. This is a £50 part as I know for a fact, because I had the original mechanical one replaced with a wireless one in 2009. It took them the better part of a month to actually fix the problem, giving me loads of excuses about being able to find the part and so forth... In the end after I gave them an ultimatum (I could have ordered what I needed online myself in minutes and had it delivered within 48hrs) they finally sent some one round with a new receiver and transmitter unit... which is far inferior to the one I had... But I just wanted some heating to work, so put up with the silly new clunky boxy transmitter that came with it. I watched the gas fitter the entire time he was here, all he did was drop the front panel down, remove the old one and fit the new one. He then unscrewed something on the exhaust pipe and tested the emissions. Gave me a bit of paper and left. This was last December. Cut to Sept this year and it's been nearly 12 months since the last service (start of Oct), and I want to book a service for the end of the month. I call up EON, only to be told that it had a service in December 2013.... I can state for absolutely certain that this is not true. I watched what the guy servicing the boiler did, and he stripped it down completely, cleaned it all out and tested everything, emissions, sniff tests... the whole works. They guy repairing it never took any of it apart or did anything other than replace the receiver and check the emissions. They're telling me that I have to wait until Dec for a service, which is actually 14 months since the last one... and more importantly.. 2 months into the next year and 2 months after they double the payments for the cover. Now I shopped around for better buildings and contents insurance, and managed to find cover that included essential boiler servicing and emergency repairs... Eliminating the need for a separate policy. That cover started in August and the only reason we didn't cancel the other cover right away was because we knew they had to service the boiler before the price doubled... That's what we paid for. But now they are trying to screw us out of the service we are due as part of that contract, saying that they fully serviced the boiler last December... Which is an outright lie. The mindless drone in customer services is only capable of saying 'computer says no' So I've been paying for 12 months for a service that they won't do and are lying about having done already. I'm not looking for some long and protracted fight here... I either want them to service it as they are supposed to under the contract or a partial refund of the policy to cover the cost of getting it serviced locally... which is about £60. So... what's my next step?

Had another letter from the DC, this time they're offering a 50% reduction if I agree to pay either in full or by installments. Are they just clutching at straws hoping that I'll acknowledge the debt? I am completely at a loss over what to do with the local court payment that I made in April 2007, but they are saying they have no record of. As I have no receipts from back then and it was paid cash... What do I do? I was going to write a complaint to them but I'm not sure how to word it.

I got the statements today, and I didn't pay by cheque... I asked for statements 2 months either side of when they said it was reinstated... and I am certain that it was paid the same day right after I had the hearing about it... I was pretty sure it was paid cash, now I know for certain.

I have good news and bad news.... this may take some explaining. I contacted the court in my old home town for details about the admin order.... Only for them to tell me it wasn't complete and the final payment was outstanding. Now here's where things get tricky... I was very ill back then and missed the last few payments... didn't even realise it, I wasn't keeping on top of bills or anything and it slipped under the radar... Letters from the court either didn't arrive or went unopened. So after speaking with them back in early 2007, we filled out an application to have it reinstated, and full payment would be made. The hearing was set for April 2nd 07 and the order was reinstated and I know for a fact... 100% that full payment was made that same day. The court have all of this on file... except the actual payment itself. So as far as they're concerned right now... incomplete. I have contacted my bank for statements that cover the period... in the hope that I paid by cheque (they didn't accept card payments back then)... But if I paid by cash... I have no way to prove it was paid. (Insert lots of swearing and ranting here) I would be willing to pay the final balance again if it would make this go away, it's about £79... I'll be ****ed as hell about it, but I'd rather pay it and make it all go away that fight debt collectors over the possibility of this being statute barred now. But I have no idea if the court will allow that after so long. It's been almost 7yrs since all this was supposed to have been resolved...

If I recall, one of the criteria for being eligible for an administration order was having at least 1 count court judgement against you, and the total debts being under £5000. It saved my bacon, and in my case as I was struggling with health and not working full time during all of it... Inc the court fees and so forth, I paid a total or around £300 on just over £4000 of debt... What's more is that I was able to lump in every debt I had at the time... I basically allowed me to start again with a clean slate, I waited until 2007 before I even considered getting anything on credit again... Only doing so because I desperately needed a new bed to help alleviate severe back problems. I still don't believe in credit, I'll save up what I can and pay cash... it taught me to be far more careful with money.

It was an unsecured loan of £3000 taken out in 98, unfortunately I became ill just a few months later and was unable to work full time for many years. I got into debt with payments and eventually applied for the admin order as I saw no way to get out of debt at the time.

As it was finalised and discharged back in 2005, and I've moved twice since then... I don't know how they found my current address, nor do I have any details of the original admin order. What is the legal situation of companies chasing debts that no longer exist? What if this company simply sells it on to another DC, it's quite common for them to sell on debts they can't recover. Obviously I want this stopped immediately, but I don't want it to come up again in a few months or a few years. Is there a legal statute I can reference that says they cannot collect on a debt that hasn't had a payment on it, nor any attempt to collect payment in over 12yrs... Because that's the last contact I had with A&L when the Admin order was granted... They never wrote to me or chased the debt again after 2001.

Back in 2001 I applied for an Administration order from the court due to debts I had. This was approved by the court and i was instructed to pay £5 a month for the first 12 months when it would be reviewed. 12 months later it was set at £5 per month for a further 3yrs. The total amount was eventually paid including court fees... and the debts totalling some £4000 pounds were discharged. One of these debts was a £2000 loan I was unable to repay due to health and being unable to work from the Alliance & Leicester. Each creditor was notified and had the chance to object to the admin order, none did. Each creditor would have been notified and a portion of the monies paid to the court issued to them as a final payment on the debt and all debts were then discharged. Monday I received a letter from a debt collectors trying to collect just over £2000 on behalf of A&L This would be the first bit of mail I have received regarding this (now discharged) debt in more than 10yrs, and I'm rather ****ed of about it. Rather than contact them and hurl abuse I am wondering what I should to ensure they understand and never contact me again. As the debt was discharged and A&L know this, why are they sending/selling the debt to DC agencies and can I take qction against them for that? Should I simply ignore the DC letters as they have no legal right to be pursuing it at all? As it's been so long since any contact about it, I am wondering if there's any kind of statute about pursuing these things... I have heard that if you acknowledge a debt it's a bad move. So I am not going to acknowledge anything at all. Help would be most grateful on the matter... I finally after years of poor health (which continues), have managed to remain debt free (aside from a small authorised overdraft I dip into occasionally) for at least 4yrs and I would like to continue being debt free for many years to come. Cheers

WOOHOO It's all sorted... DWP accepted my arguments about not getting letters, because the last time it happened they made a note on my file to say ATOS should contact me by phone... That note on my file has once again been marked as something ATOS must do. Money was backdated to the 4th April, and paid into my account quite quickly. Decision was made on 30th April, and money was in my bank by the 2nd May... a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders. So all is well again... at least until ATOS try to f*ck it up again. Cheers for all the advice, as it turns out I was able to avoid the worst case scenario... I hope everyone else reading this has theirs resolved too. and can I just say that the 2 people I dealt with at the DWP IB reassessment dept were not only very helpful, but very understanding of my situation... unlike the call centre script merchant I spoke to at ATOS who just repeated ad nauseum that 'computers says it sent them so it must be true'. But it's funny how all the 'computer generated letters go AWOL, whilst the hand sent ones arrive perfectly fine.

No news so far... I called the DWP yesterday and they were supposed to call me back today... But didn't. I am lost at the moment... if they don't accept my side of the argument and reinstate my IB.,.. what do I do next? Can I apply for any other benefit, do I need to start getting sick notes from my doctor? I've got to have surgery at some point soon, got the assessment date for 22nd May so it could be any time after that and recovery will be at least 6-8 weeks. Should I put in an SAR to ATOS now... or wait until I get a decision.. likewise, what about any other claim I can make... I've not had anything since the 4th April, so can any new benefit be backdated to then? My health problems make it difficult for me to act quickly on things.

I've had a call back from the DWP IB reassessment dept, they have made a note of all my problems and are sending it back to reassessment to the office in Peterborough, I have also asked for the appeals form. I then contacted ATOS and checked that they have the correct details on my system, and asked why they didn't phone as advised by the DWP... I was told they can't do specific calls as the people who are called about appts are chosen at random by computer... According to them they have sent out 6 letters, 3 in Oct/Nov 2012 and 3 in Jan/Feb. Not one of these has been received by me. Wasn't impressed with the person I spoke to at ATOS, who basically said it must be a Royal Mail issue as the computer says they've been sent... and that if it says we sent them, we sent them... and that we don't make these things up... implying that I was. Honeybee, I've started reading that thread... doesn't sound promising... and seems more common than I thought.

Thanks... I'm not worried about bank charges as I have an authorised overdraft, and am within this at the moment. However... I'm worried that this is going to affect my local housing allowance and council tax benefits also.

Hi I have a serious problem. My incapacity benefit was stopped on the 4th of April, the first I knew was last week when it wasn't paid into my bank account (noticed on Friday 19th). Spoke to DWP today and they informed that it's because I didn't attend an ATOS assessment in Feb. The problem is... ATOS have never informed me of any appointments and this is the 2nd time it's happened in about 6 months. I even told the DWP that I wanted to make an official complaint about the failure to inform me. I live alone, no one else has access to my mail. If I'd received a letter I'd know about it and I put all appts on my calendar so I don't forget about them. These are duplicated onto my gmail calendar and I get a notification n my phone to remind me aswell. But the first I know of these appts is when I get the 'did not attend form' from DWP afterwards. The DWP didn't even send me a letter telling me it had been suspended. I am in full on anxiety/panic mode, over drawn at the bank and don't even have money to purchase food I desperately need help and advice on what to do.

Letter was sent yesterday as I forgot all about the Easter long weekend, and that I was going to be away for a few days. I've given them until the 19th (next Thursday) and if no reply, will file on the Friday.

I've spoken with trading standards and they told me to take action through the small claims court. I've drafted a short letter to send to him recorded... the text is quoted below. I'd appreciate any advice on the structure/wording and so forth. Figure it needs to be short and sweet this time. Letter was written today (5th) and will be posted recorded on Sat 7th. I can safely assume that it will be delivered by Tuesday 10th, and this gives 7 days for him to pay up. As for the costs I have incurred so far... I have worked out that it includes 10 txt messages @ 12p each, 3 phone calls on my mobile @ 40p min (I'm PAYG), 1 recorded letter and then this recorded letter. Plus £25 for the court fee. When calculating the interest, do I do it solely on the £200, or on the total? If the figure comes out at a silly number of decimal places, do I round up to the nearest penny?

It's been escalated with trading standards, just waiting for them to call me back. Will update as I know more.

2 weeks is up with no reply. On Monday I shall escalate if further with trading standards and see about starting the small claims process.

Letter has been sent recorded this afternoon... Now I have to wait for 14 days and see if they pay up.