Eon's invasive questioning

[Deb T]

Sorry to waffle (see other thread) but am in the process of putting our finances in order on all quarters.

 

Some years ago a person living at my property (I was here at the time) had the electric bill in their name. When they left they very kindly had the account transferred in to my name...I haven't ever signed anything.

 

I initially requested e-on take my name off the account and transfer it into the name of somebody else at my dwelling. This they refused to do....after pressing them further it appears that the person leaving that had transferred the account into my name had had a note put on the account that any changes on the account must be authorised by them and required e-on to call them.....at this point I became a little irritated, they can put it into my name, send me a bill, expect me to pay but give me no control over the account.....

 

No amount of my phoning could change this arrangement. So, I have since that date refused to allow them into my home EVER to read the meter, they come, they knock (rarely leave a card) and even if I'm in I'm not and even if I answer I still don't allow them access to read.

 

This of course has a negative affect because they send me an estimated bill which is always more than what it should be and I don't phone to edit the reading...simply because if I cannot have control over my account I'm not giving them any control over me....I know, stupid but it's how it is.

 

Anyway, over the last few years they've sent out other letters requesting that the meter be changed as it's gone beyond it's shelf life. I can see when it was changed last in 1992 and which was before I was here but I thought meters had a 25yr shefl life? but in any case I still won't allow them access...until they give me control of my account....(the other persons details they had that they needed to authorise has long since been changed...but I have no way of telling if they have updated e-on with the changes

 

The estimated bills are a joke, they are in excess...but anyway, it's now getting to the point where they owe (from my own calcuations) almopst £1500....and now that I'm putting things in order it would be nice to have them put things proper..what I don't want is them sending the money on to the person that left here...they provided them with a final meter reading and it's been since then that the amount owing to me has accrued.

 

What will they do if I send in a meter reading? am I entitled to ask for the money owed or will they attempt to use it to offset future bills?

[zazen.warrior]

You don't have to sign anything to be liable for a utility bill, you just have to utilise the supply; a third party cannot put your name onto the account. This aspect has serious DPA implications.

 

However, Eon can ultimately get a warrant to access the meter if you will not allow it. The name on the account will not matter for this aspect. And the cost of getting that warrant would be added to your bill, (approx £300 last time I checked.)

 

Why would you want eon to have £1500 of your money that you don't actually owe rather than allow a meter read?

 

Is the person 'controlling' this account the owner of the property?

 

Sorry, I find aspects of this a little confusing.

Edited July 25, 2009 by zazen.warrior

[Deb T]

You don't have to sign anything to be liable for a utility bill, you just have to utilise the supply; a third party cannot put your name onto the account. This aspect has serious DPA implications.

 

However, Eon can ultimately get a warrant to access the meter if you will not allow it. The name on the account will not matter for this aspect. And the cost of getting that warrant would be added to your bill, (approx £300 last time I checked.)

 

Why would you want eon to have £1500 of your money that you don't actually owe rather than allow meter read?

 

Is the person 'controlling' this account the owner of the property?

 

Sorry, I find aspects of this a little confusing.

 

No they are not the owners, they were just here and elected to have their name on the account at the time...

 

I don't want E-On to have £1500 of my money hence my initial post....but unless they give me access to what is my account as its my name on the bills when they come through the post...and by access I mean EON not having to phone essentially what is a third party to confirm that whatever I reques on the account (such as out of my name into anothers) then I won't engage them...why should I? They either accept me as me and speak to me as me and allow me as the bill payer to have full unrestricted access to my account or they dont and right now and the last time I spoke with them when I asked why they had put my name on the account when I hadn't requested it and the answer 'because xxx has requested it' and when I stated that they should then make a final reading in my name and allow it to be transferred to anothers the answer came....'according to the notes on the account no name change is to be allowed at your address unlesss xxx is contacted and they verify that it's ok'

 

To me it is both bizarre and fundamentally incorrect....and until they correct it I simply wont engage them.

[mattlamb]

This sounds utterly bizarre and unbelievable! And why would you want to transfer the account into someone else's name (without leaving your name on the account as well) when you are still living at the property??!!

[Deb T]

I don't pay the bill, they do from their account....they want a record of it and of course it helps when having to produce a utility bill in your name.

[zazen.warrior]

Curiouser and Curiouser... who are 'they'? And do they know you are not allowing access for a meter read, or a meter change, which will eventually add warrant fees to the bill ‘they’ pay?

[Deb T]

You're not reading it correctly Zazen, Mattlambs comments are post the original issue....

[Clare_L]

Can you not just call and say you are moving and have the new account set up in the name of the person you want named on the account as the new occupier? that way they would have to close the account in your name, take your reading and refund any monies owing to you. Usual practice is, if someone calls in and requires that their name be removed off the account, it would then be closed and a final bill produced and then an account should have been set up in your name.

[mattlamb]

Deb T is taking the ****. It's quite clears she is living at he address and using the electric. The supply should remain in her name. Why she is refusing access for someone to read the meter or not phoning in the correct reading ehrn it isd supposedly less than the reading on the estimated bill is totally bizarre....

[Clare_L]

From what I can make out, she wants the bill to be transfered into the name of the other occupant who is also living in the property as they are paying? Or have I got that wrong? If thats not the case, then no, Eon will not change the "name" on the account without that other persons permission, ie the name of the occupant who is living there and whose name she wants on the bill. She doesnt need to have signed anything as by using the fuel she is also responsible for paying for it.

[Deb T]

Matt get a grip, if you're unable to read the intial post or digest it even then stay out of the thread.....

 

I'll explain it in bullet point ...and you're almost there Clare.....

 

The property.....where I currently live

 

At one point there were 4 of us here - All adults

 

One of the other parties had their name on the electric bill

 

That same party moved out but when doing so they nominated me as

the person that should be paying the bill...at the same time as this they

requested that no details on the account should be allowed to be changed

except when they (the now left party) authorised it.

 

Now the fun starts, the bill came through in my name. I didn't want it in my name as I wasn't always here...I spoke to eon requesting it be changed to another of the people here. EON stated that they were not

prepared to do that as they had not gotten authorisation from the party that had recently left as per what was on the account details...

 

I stated to eon that unless they were prepared to change the account from my name to another then I don't see why I should pay the bill..They just kept quoting the account authorisation...which I thought was naf.

 

They kept coming to read the meter, I wouldn't let them in, they threatened me with court action. I spoke to them again quite clearly stating that if I was the named account holder then I wanted access to my account so as to be able to change it from my name to another named party living here....nothing wrong with that...they pay the bills, they wanted the paper trail....again we hit a brick wall, they still wouldn't change any details....no money was owing at any point btw....

 

At that point I terminated all contact with eon, I ignored their letters, I didn't allow access full time and I would not talk to them when they sent a representative down...

 

As time has gone by the estimated bills have been getting higher and higher, not sure why but I suspect it was a vain attempt by eon to get me to talk to them. We tried the automated meter reading process but it failed and we get a message that they're transferring us to another dept and the run around starts again.

 

The last estimated bill has come in, it is 2000 day units more than we've used and 4500 night units more than we've used and increasing with every bill. I can't work out how much they owe me but it looks to be over 1k, possibly more.

 

I'd like to terminate my account, get them to take a final reading and then send me the money they owe me...at that point another person here will have the account put into their name...I don't see the difficulty in understanding that...but, we cannot get the account changed...and believe me we've tried...but anyone that has experience with eon will more than likely agree that you're talking to robots, they tell you one thing but a few days later you get a letter with the opposite ...

 

There ...and Matt, I'm not sure what /if you're living on Planet Zog but I've never once said I don't live here and that I don't use the electric...but if it's not too difficult for you try and think about it logically, people live together, properties sometimes contain more than one person ...but there can only be one person on the bill...and right now and for some considerable time both the parties at this house want it out of my name and into theirs.....and it's not from the want of trying....geddit?

[zazen.warrior]

Eon is estimating the bills because you have left them no option. There is nothing Machiavellian going on here. You need to talk to them; no one here can help you if you refuse to communicate with your supplier.

[mattlamb]

Er, mor ethasn one person can be named on the bill- surely that be should be the case here?

 

As to the estimeated bills - why you are paying the bills when the correct readings are less than the estimated readuings is beyond me. Can anyone else illuminate me??!!

[mattlamb]

Zazen Warrior - I find that that you are agreeing with some of my points over the last few days.-I apologise - perhaps we are not poles apart as I originally believed

[mattlamb]

And the key point here is - - why would EON agree to the request of the original consumer that no name on the account should be changed without their permission??!! I have experience of working for the former Eastern Electricity ( 10 years ago admittedly) but this woould not have been agreed to then, see no reason why this agreement would be made now....

[Deb T]

Zazen...I'm with you on that re the estimating. I'm aware of that but when we gave the estimates it puts us through to a different extension and the issue continues....

 

It's not that I don't want to talk to them it's that over the course of time and even when the situation was spelt out to them they steadfastly refused to change any account details or offer a solution...at which point and after serious amounts of time and effort spent trying to get them to see the light I simply gave up.

 

My last contact with them was a letter from my solicitor requesting the account issue be resolved. Eon wrote back stating that they would contact the third party and come back to him/me . 21 days later my solicitor sent a follow up letter to them requesting the same...no reply ..at which point I ceased contact.

[Clare_L]

With Eon you can actually have more than one name on a bill, upto 4 if I remember rightly, but Eon would need permission of the other parties. This is possibly another way to help your situation, calling eon, advising there are more people who need to be added to the account? But they would have to be there with you when you call Eon. To be honest, im struggling to see why the agents you speak to are unable to sort this.

[mattlamb]

Er no, Deb, you are talking bollocks. You said originally that you refused to give EON any up to date meter readings or allow them access to the meter!!!

 

What exactly is the issue here...??? If you gave them a correct meter reading, then you would get a refund - surely??? Much ado about nothing, in my opinion....

[Deb T]

With Eon you can actually have more than one name on a bill, upto 4 if I remember rightly, but Eon would need permission of the other parties. This is possibly another way to help your situation, calling eon, advising there are more people who need to be added to the account? But they would have to be there with you when you call Eon. To be honest, im struggling to see why the agents you speak to are unable to sort this.

 

 

The inital problem was ownership of the property, the person that left was at the time they left an owner....they are no longer an owner and haven't been since a year after they left...when they left they were concerned that the account was in their name and be misused/electric bill ran up....I can accept that....so they left, told eon they were the owner which they were (but not the outright owner) and so had the account locked but put in my name.....

 

They haven't owned the property for some years but this I suspect is why eon were initially reluctant to change details unless authorised by the then owner....the contact details they will have for this person will no longer be relevant...they're not where they then moved on to.

 

E-ON were informed that ownership of the property had changed hands (contained in the solcitors letter to them) but they didn't obviously act on it.

[Clare_L]

Then if you can prove that the previous tenant is no longer the owner, maybe a call/letter from the landlord could resolve this for you?

[Deb T]

The owner is the person that wants the account in their name....they themselves called a long time back but EON would not speak to them re the current account in force at the house..Which I guess is right and as it should be....

 

I guess what it will take is an official copy of the land registry backed up by a letter again from a solicitor stating the game play....but I am concerned that EON will send the money that may be in our favor on to the last known address of the ex owner of the property....it's a lot of money to lose into the abyss of 'lost in the mail'

 

I really am just at a loss as to understand why they acknowledge that I am the person on the bill but at the same time disallow me from making changes on the account...it sounds utterly bizarre..

[zazen.warrior]

If you allowed or gave a meter reading now, the larger part of your concerns would be resolved.

Edited July 26, 2009 by zazen.warrior

[Deb T]

Thats one of the problems Zazen, I think by giving them a reading they'll look at the account and think 'hang on, we owe that account a lot of money' and before you know it we're hit with all kinds of letters/requests but in the meantime the money they owe us is not forthcoming or is transferred elsewhere...

 

I'll call them on Monday and I'll call back here with what they say....

[zazen.warrior]

Okay.

 

BTW they certainly won't refund anything until they have an actual reading.

[Clare_L]

Were any readings taken when the account was put into your name? Was the account in credit/debit at that time? If there were readings taken then all the money owed to you will be sent back, but in the form of a cheque made payable to account holder which is yourself, not the person who has been paying the bills. I would advise calling, again, and asking to speak to someone in home move disputes, provide an up to date meter reading. They may require a copy of a tenancy agreement with the names of the tenants plus a letter proof that the new occupant actually owns the property. I know this has all been frustrating to you and you feel you shouldnt have to prove any of this but this is the quickest solution to getting this resolved. But when you call, stay calm, that way they are more inclined to help rather than wanting to get you off the phone. As Zazen says, they will not refund any money under a any circumstances until they have a meter read, and they may require someone to come and read the meter if it has gone 2 years.