EON £30 charge

[BillyBullens]

We get our electric from EON and get a quarterly bill.

 

Now I have to be honest i usually wait till the letter after the red one that threatens court action before paying the bill by online banking, Fortunately finding the money isn't a problem for us, i just make them wait.

 

Anyway i got an email about say 6 weeks ago saying my bill was ready to be viewed which is normal, so i was expecting the red letter anytime...it never came. What did come was some bloke fron EON who wanted to read the meter and then apologetically gave me a letter for none payment of bill which will cost me an extra £30. He also asked when i would be paying the bill to which i said i can pay it at anytime I want on the internet

 

To be honest i'm thinking...fair enough i chanced waiting and waiting and they had me. I'm just wondering if there's any way i can wriggle out of it.

 

many Thanks

[dx100uk]

claim it back its unlawful

 

dx

[2Grumpy]

If you don't pay the extra charge be very careful - you don't want them to be able to use that as an excuse to get a warrant to change you to a pre-pay meter

[Enforcer_Staffs]

Your terms and condition of supply clearly state they may charge for passing your account from collection. Many people think a court letter will come those days have gone you get your red reminder and it it will state they may pass your your debt to a DCA if not paid in 14 days. Trust me they do pass it on once your account has been passed a letter from the DCA is usually sent then automatically your will be charged the default charge. If you withold paying this can be passed to the court as a reason for a forced entry under the Gas & Electricity act 1954 (rights of entry) this is a lawful charge agreed with OFGEM .

[dx100uk]

no charge is lawful, it is un-negotiated with the consumer.

and not a true reflection of admin costs.

claim it back.

 

OFGEM issue guidelines only.

 

dx

[Enforcer_Staffs]

I totally agree on the statement they should be a true reflection but they justify this by field visits to the sites and know that dependant on the supplier the charges for domestic vary from £25 -£35. And on Commercial can go up to £150 + Vat. Most if the bill is being settled will not charge there 2 i can think of won't but most will.

[Surfer01]

They have absolutely no right whatsoever to charge you a late fee of that proportion. I would dispute it and refsue to pay it as they do not ahve a leg to stand on. They are chancing their arm by trying to rip you off! End of story.

 

PS I would think about changing suppliers. They cannot stop you changing if the account is up to date.

[dx100uk]

I totally agree on the statement they should be a true reflection but they justify this by field visits to the sites and know that dependant on the supplier the charges for domestic vary from £25 -£35. And on Commercial can go up to £150 + Vat. Most if the bill is being settled will not charge there 2 i can think of won't but most will.

 

they cannot justify it, its all excuses.

 

they are unlawful and should be reclaimed

 

dx

[nottslad]

Normally there will be letters sent prior to getting to this stage. The course that is followed should be red reminder, third party warning, Bcw collection then field agent visit. You should be warned prior to the visit taking place of the implied costs.

 

The utilities act gives the right to the supplier to levy these charges, and by taking the supply you are deemed to have accepted the terms and conditions and therefore agree to pay the Pdv fee

[BillyBullens]

many thanks all.....I'm going for it, you've all said what i wanted to hear. albeit with experience

 

I'm not paying the fookers!

[BillyBullens]

I told them I wasn't paying the £30 charge due to it being extotionate and due to them not informing me there was to be a field visit.

 

They've now replied (and I'm thinking they're a bit clueless) that they sent out a letter on August 12th telling me that i must bring the account up to date immediately otherwise there would be a visit which would see me charged £30.

 

That particualr bill was paid the following week. The £30 charge they are trying to impose on me now was from a bill dated August 19th.

 

I have replied saying that it's completely unjust to attempt to charge me £30 on October 13th for an unpaid bill dated August 19th and that they have given me no notification of a field visit on THIS bill.

 

So my question now is once they issue intentions to visit me, does this go on to any subsequent bill as them already notifying me of a field visit?

 

Thanks again all

[BillyBullens]

They've replied to the last letter saying...

 

"We expect your bills to be paid within 14 days of the issue"

 

and....

 

" Admittedly, the predisconnection visit letter was issued for the bill prior to the 18 August 2010 however you were made aware of the consequences of not paying your bills in a timely fashion"

 

Oh and they're not going to remove the charge. I'm actually enjoying this now

[Surfer01]

I doubt if they have any legal groudns to impose the charge. Ask them for a total breakdown of the charge to show how they arrived at the figure. Can they prove if the visit was done?

[BillyBullens]

Cheers for the reply surfer.

 

yeah they did visit, the meter reader (who looked a tad embarrassed) handed me the letter.

 

I really don't think they have any right to issue me with such an extortionate charge. Thye never sent any red letters or informed me of field visits, but are instead saying they did for a previous bill so they didn't have to for this one!

 

Which i believe is quite wrong

[nottslad]

Clearly they are in the wrong given that there were no letters etc regarding this bill.

 

The system will have seen there was still an outstanding balance, and does not take into account the age of that balance, which is why the visit still went ahead, which is an issue with the system they used called CATS Tracking.

 

You had fulfilled their request by paying the outstanding balance stated on the letter advising of the field visit.

 

Ask for a deadlock letter to be issued stating that you are willing to go to the Ombudsman. EON will then issue a refund to avoid escalation due to the associated costs.

[BillyBullens]

top advice...many thanks