Apparently I owe EON £274

[Oojamacallit]

I got a nasty surprise in the post today, a demand from Pastdue Credit Solutions, telling me that I owe Eon £274.09, for electricity from my previous address (which I left in 2006), and that I have 2 days to pay or they will send a 'field visit officer' to see me. It says they have been 'appointed' by Eon (formally trading as Powergen) to recover the outstanding amount.

I rang the number on the letter, and asked how I had managed to run up the debt when I had a prepayment meter installed in my house, and had done for years previously. I was given a load of garbled bumph about Ts and Cs to protect companies from price increases, and how I might have been paying not enough or even the been paying wrong company via my prepayment meter.

I told him to leave it with me so I could discuss it with my other half, and he offered to reduce the debt to £150 if I could pay it in one or two amounts in the next 'couple of weeks'. I took his name and extension number.

What do I do now??

 

Vicki

[harrassed senior]

Stop contacting them on the telephone, what proof do you have of their offer? If you did not withhold your number they will now pester you like mad over the 'phone.

 

You need written proof of this debt, so send the 'prove it' letter:

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...ng-of-the-debt

[Oojamacallit]

I had no idea not to contact them by telephone, I panicked when I got the letter, which I'm assuming is normal. Yes I withheld the number. Thank you, I will send them this letter.

[hollysmum]

Hello, Oojamacallit! Don't even entertain this lot - you clearly don't owe Eon the money - what a load of nonsense they gave you regarding "not paying enough" with a pre-payment meter - do they realise how stupid this sounds? How on earth could anyone not pay enough??!! Never, ever speak to them on the phone, as previously advised. I'd be tempted to just bung any further letters they might send in the bin, and do nothing. My partner keeps getting letters from another DCA regarding an alleged debt to T-Mobile. As he's never had any account with T-Mobile, ever, they go straight in the bin. Interestingly, these letters state "the reason we have written to you is because we have noted from your credit record that you have similar arrangements" - in other words, they are fishing, in the hope that he'll panic, and assume he must owe the money, and cough up. I don't think so! He's complained to the OFT about this. It really is up to the DCA to prove that someone owes a particular alleged debt, not yours to prove you don't.

[E.ON Company Rep: Malc]

Hi oojamacallit

 

I would contact us directly about this. A DCA will not understand the complexities of Prepayment Meters and you need this looking into by one of our specialist teams.

 

Ask for a complaint to be raised. This will put a hold on all debt follow up whilst the complaint is investigated.

 

In the property concerned, did you top up by buying tokens? Most of the old token meters have now been replaced with key meters but in 2006 it may still have been using tokens. These meters were sometimes programmed with incorrect prices causing what's known as recalibration debt once accounts were updated with the correct prices.

 

I'm not saying this is the situation here oojamacallit but it's a thought.

 

Another possibility is where the payments you made went to the wrong account or even the wrong supplier. This occurs when customers use the wrong payment devices to top up their meters. Again, I'm not saying this is the case, just another consideration.

 

As I say, this needs specialist investigation and I would contact us as soon as possible to start the ball rolling.

 

Hope this helps point you in the right direction. Give me a shout if you need any more details as will be happy to help.

 

Malc

[Tricksy]

Hey Ooj, it's actually very common for people to run up debts on a pre-payment meter. You know the emergency credit? Going into that incurs debt. Think of it like overdraft charges. Also it's illegal for an energy company to 'cut you off' so they have to keep supplying whether you pay or not. So the debt builds rather than cutting you off. However there's no way you would have built up a £274 debt without knowing about it. It would have told you every time you topped up the key, and the debt would have been displayed clearly on your meter.

 

Sounds like a con to me! But give E.on a ring just to be safe, their customer service is actually good (surprising for a large company) and no I don't work for them!

[Oojamacallit]

Hi,

I have been offline due to my laptop dying, so didn't see the reply from Eon's Malc, but thank you, I will phone Eon after the bank holiday.

I have since received 2 more letters from Past Due Credit Solutions, one dated 18th April, threatening Impending Court Proceedings, and the other dated 26th April in response to my Prove It letter...which just states the supply address, opening and closing dates of the account and the balance owed.

It also says I must pay within 7 days to avoid further action being taken.

I can upload these letters if necessary.

Thanks

[hillards]

DCA's are all the same - making unreasonable demands that you pay within 7 days, or they'll do...what? Usually they'll send another letter and demand payment in 7 days - and so on. Check the wording of the letters and they use a lot of MAY and COULD, they MAY take you to court, they COULD sell your granny - about as much of a threat as they MAY send you a nice birthday card or they COULD buy you a pressie.

 

I'm on pre-payment here as well, and I have to disagree with Tricky about going into debt if you use the emergency credit. As soon as you top up that amount is deducted from the value you're putting on the meter. For example, I let the meter go over to the emergency credit and it goes to a negative balance of £5. I then put £10 on the key at the shop, I put the key in the meter and I end up with just £5 credit as it's taken the 'emergency' amount I used off. I can never get into serious debt with that as the limit is only £7 before it will cut off and I'm usually about £20 in credit when bills come.

 

A simple letter to Past Due to say you dispute the amount and have taken it up directly with e-on should stop them bothering you whilst it gets sorted out. Don't go into too much detail, they don't need to know what's been said here about it being something beyond their limited intelligence to deal with the complex matter of pre-payment...

 

e-on are pretty good with these things. See how you go when you contact them. Worth mentioning that you were advised by Malc, their man on the CAG forum.

 

One last thing - the very fact that the DCA have offered a reduced payment is telling us, anyone who's been on CAG a while, that they are on shaky ground anyway. DCA's usually offer lower amounts when they know they've no chance of the matter standing up in a court case but are trying to get you to pay them something by offering the special deal.

 

I wouldn't lose any sleep over this anyway

[teaboy2]

In the property concerned, did you top up by buying tokens? Most of the old token meters have now been replaced with key meters but in 2006 it may still have been using tokens. These meters were sometimes programmed with incorrect prices causing what's known as recalibration debt once accounts were updated with the correct prices.

 

If the above is the case then no debt is owed, its the Companies responsibility to ensure the prices are correct not the customers. I.e if i went into a shop and bought mars bar that was labeled 45p and after being scanned in the till it came up 50p, all i would have to pay is the 45p.

[2Grumpy]

I got a nasty surprise in the post today, a demand from Pastdue Credit Solutions, telling me that I owe Eon £274.09, for electricity from my previous address (which I left in 2006)

 

 

How on earth did Eon manage to work out that you owe £274 from 5 years ago when you moved out? They should have told you at the time.

 

Hopefully the billing code would apply anyway

[Bazooka Boo]

Definitely dead & buried! E-on will have to soak up this alleged debt themselves, the billing code, of which they are party to will be their downfall in this instance!

http://www.energy-retail.org.uk/AbouttheCode.html

 

The Code includes a requirement for consumers to be protected from debt where the supplier is at fault for not billing energy supply. Where the supplier is at fault, consumers cannot be back-billed beyond 12 months from the date on any subsequent bill.

 

Tell them that no debt exists, you won't be paying for their mistake.

Ignore Pastdue, they are completely inept, ALL complaints about them should be passed to E-on who ARE responsible for their chosen third party DCA's actions, and then the same complaint should be made to OfGem about E-on and their use of such a puerile tame DCA doing their dirty work.

 

If this makes for bad reading Malc, be assured EVERY company that uses clown outfits to collect money where they are at fault receives exactly the same treatment, SSE, BG, Eon... it just does not make for the assured customer service we are all promised prior to signing up..

Edited May 2, 2011 by Bazooka Boo

[E.ON Company Rep: Malc]

Hi,

I have been offline due to my laptop dying, so didn't see the reply from Eon's Malc, but thank you, I will phone Eon after the bank holiday.

I have since received 2 more letters from Past Due Credit Solutions, one dated 18th April, threatening Impending Court Proceedings, and the other dated 26th April in response to my Prove It letter...which just states the supply address, opening and closing dates of the account and the balance owed.

It also says I must pay within 7 days to avoid further action being taken.

I can upload these letters if necessary.

Thanks

 

Hi Oojamacallit

 

When you call us, make sure a formal complaint is raised whilst your case is being looked into. This will put a stop on all debt follow up including the letters from the DCA.

 

Let me know if you need any more info from me as will be happy to help.

 

Malc

[Oojamacallit]

I have spoken to Eon, instigated an investigation and raised a complaint......and now have had another letter from Past Due saying they have been authorised by Eon to accept a reduced amount of exactly half the 'debt'.

I have also sent them the harassment letter as they were constantly on the phone, having apparently got my number from the letting agent.....after almost 5 years??? Surely that is not allowed??

[E.ON Company Rep: Malc]

Hi Oojamacallit

 

I'm sorry you've received further follow up about this alleged debt. I suspect this is a cross over letter as it can take a couple of weeks for the notice of complaint to reach the DCA.

 

As I said earlier, an open complaint will stop debt follow up whilst the investigation is carried out.

 

To put your mind at rest, I would have a chat to the complaint handler. They will be able to let you know what's happening with your complaint.

 

Malc