Change of supplier without owners permission

[km101]

Hi Everyone,

I am seeking some advice on supplier change without my permission

 

I was a customer for Scottish gas from the period 18th Feb 2011 to Jun 17th 2011, I have paid all the bills accurately.

 

One week before vacating the house I rang Scottish gas and informed that my move out date was 17th June 2011 and asked them to generate my final bill.

 

I haven’t received my final bill till 17th June, then myself I have rang Scottish gas and paid my final bill for gas and electricity.

 

I thought the chapter is closed, but recently I got a call from debt collection agency saying that I have to pay gas and electricity bill for the E.on supplier(new supplier)

from the period 5th June to June 17th 2011 for the amount of £120.

 

I was annoyed and shocked, how come the E.on became my supplier without my knowledge.

I explained everything about my existing supplier and the payments I have made , but debt collecting agency is not ready to listen what I am saying.

 

Immediately I have called Scottish gas and explained about the same.

The Scottish gas looked into the account and said that the final bill was calculated until 5th June and thereafter contract was taken by E.ON from 28th may.

Scottish gas asked me to call to E-on and discuss about what was happened.

 

Immediately I have called E.on and explained about the same, but E.on was saying that I have changed the contract on online, this is another shock for me.

I don’t even know about E.on at all and the e-on was saying that myself I switched the account.

 

Now what I have to do, how can I sort out this issue.

 

1) I got all the evidences that one month notice period prior to vacating the house, which explains what would be the need to change the supplier when I am vacating the house.

2) Scottish gas is ready to provide me the evidence that I have rang them before vacating the house for the final bill.

 

From the above 2 evidences how I should approach if I want to take this to court.

 

Here I am suspecting my agency, because they are the one who holds all my information.

Initially when I moved into the property they have suggested me to go to E.on through Energy links.

I said no and I have choose Scottish gas as my supplier and signed contract with them.

 

At a later time also I got lot of issues with the property and I have escalated to the agency.

They never listened my complaints and at one point I lost my job just because of the agency.

Even the agency has not returned my deposit until 3 months.

 

After hundred’s of calls they have deducted some amount and returned my deposit.

I got all the email communication with the agency from move-in date to move date,

explaining what problems I have with the property and how they troubled me.

 

Please help me out how i can resolve this issue.

 

Thanks in Advance

Krishna

[Bazooka Boo]

Just got to pop out, but there is a Scottish power rep on here who will be able to help you out on this.

 

In the meantime, STAY OFF THE PHONE to all of them, there is nothing they will be able to do before you get a chance to clear this up.

 

Keep EVERYTHING in writing, unless you are recording your calls, then you won't have any evidence you have contacted anyone to sort this matter out.

 

I just realised Scottish Gas is a division of British Gas not Scottish Power.

Neverthelsss lets see what E-on says.

Apologies Martin, that was me typing before checking.....slapped wrists AGAIN!!

Edited September 14, 2011 by Bazooka Boo

[MARTIN3030]

It sounds a bit of a mess.

You need to be putting things in writing and asking for the same in reply from both these suppliers.

Get the letter Scottish gas say they will provide.

Who is the debt collector and how have they contacted you ?

[MARTIN3030]

We have an E-on customer service rep on the site-I will ask them to pop here and take a look.

[km101]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for all the responses.

From today i will record all the calls

The debt collection agency is UDS, they contacted by phone.

I am waiting for the evidence from scottish gas, they said it will take 14 days to send all the information in regards to this query.

 

Regards

Krishna

[MARTIN3030]

Ok understood.

If UDS call you again tell them that you will only correspond in writing and they have a responsibility to follow codes of practice.

Inform them that you are in the process of liasing with the 2 power Cos concerned.

Hopefully Colin (SP rep) and Malcolm (E-on) will be responding here soon.

[MARTIN3030]

I just realised Scottish Gas is a division of British Gas not Scottish Power.

Neverthelsss lets see what E-on says.

[MARTIN3030]

Just to clarify UDS is the debt collection arm of Eon and is licenced by the OFT.

 

http://www2.crw.gov.uk/pr/default.aspx

[E.ON Company Rep: Malc]

Hi Krishna

 

I'm sorry you've had such hassle. This has all the signs of an Erroneous Transfer.

 

This is where we take over supplies by mistake. It sounds as though someone has applied to join us through our website but has put in the wrong address details leading us to take over your supply and not theirs.

 

It may even be the national databases all suppliers use when transferring accounts have the wrong info. This, too, would lead to this type of issue.

 

Don't worry; if I'm correct, there's an industry wide agreement in place to deal with erroneous transfers and we've a specialist team who deal exclusively with these matters.

 

They will arrange to transfer this account back to the original supplier as though it had never left. All bills issued by us will then be withdrawn.

 

Deal only with the Erroneous Transfer team at E.ON. They alone have the necessary tools to put this right.

 

Again, sorry you've had this trouble but hope this points you in the right direction.

 

Malc

[km101]

Hi Martin,

Thanks for all the responses, i will act accordingly as you said.

 

Regards

Krishna

[km101]

Hi Malc,

Thanks for understanding the situation. Now what would be the next step, do you want me to call up Erroneous team and sort it out. In case if they don't agree what i have to do?

 

Regards

Krishna

[E.ON Company Rep: Malc]

Hi Krishna

 

The best people to deal with here are the Erroneous Transfer team. They will investigate the circumstances and if, as I suspect, this is an erroneous transfer, they alone at E.ON have the necessary tools to return things to the way they were.

 

I'll drop a PM to you before the end of the day with their contact details.

 

If you disagree with their findings, ask for a complaint to be raised and escalate to senior management if necessary. Should you remain dissatisfied with the proposed resolution you can, after 56 days, refer the matter to the Ombudsman for an independent ruling.

 

An open complaint will also stop all debt follow up whilst the issue is investigated.

 

Hope this helps Krishna. Give me a shout if I can help further as happy to do so.

 

Malc

[MARTIN3030]

Thanks very much for the speedy reply Malc.

 

Krishna,seems like you will get this sorted without further problems.

[km101]

Hi Malc,

As you said, i rang to erroneous team. They took all my details and did some investigation and they realized that they have mistakenly taken over my supply. Today i received a call from E-on and said that they will sort out the issue either by ringing to scottish gas to takeover or if not, E.on will recalculate the actual bill period. This whole process will take about 3 weeks they said. Lets see what happens.

Thank you very much for the advice Malc.

 

Regards

Krishna

[km101]

Hi Martin,

Thank you very much for all your support and advice. Finally atleast the E.on has come back to sort out the issue.

 

Thanks & Regards

Krishna