please help me with my eon trouble

[excelman]

Hi guys - hope you can help

 

Brief history:

was on direct debit with eon for years but then moved house,

they then read the meter and 2.5k owing.

 

I felt this extraordinarily high and thought my old housemate had given false leaving reading,

I couldn't prove it, and eventually took it to ombudsman and I lost.

 

Throughout the time from when I moved house (including when the case was with ombudsman) I have religiously paid £30 a month, without fail.

 

This is all I can afford in real money and

 

I told Eon this even going so far as to send a statement of means which they then discarded despite my sending it causing me considerable embarrassment.

The statement clearly showed I could only afford the £30

 

so ombudsman ruled bill is due in full and I've just had this six month marker on my credit file which I don't want

as I have dependents and I don't want a worse future with eon trashing my file.

 

I really can't afford this but I'm trying to take a long term view.

 

I called up and said I'd pay the whole thing on my credit card, but I wanted it in writing they'd remove my 6 month black mark,

and once it was off the file I'd use the credit card, settle in full.

 

thinking being if I renege they can always put the mark back on!

 

They said no they can't move it and I just don't understand this.

 

They never told me they were going to put this mark on my account,

and I've just offered to cripple myself with debt to get them remove it.

Do I have any argument at all here or any hope of them removing it?

 

questions

 

1. how damaging is this 6 month flag? - my file is otherwise immaculate. If a default scores 10 negative points how many does a 6 month flag score

 

2. what happens if I continue to not pay eon other than the £30 , which I will continue , because in real money I can only afford £30 a month

 

3. how can eon damage my file like this when I've been contacting them and paying regularly ?

 

Thanks in advice

excelman

[rebel11]

Hi excelman

 

Welcome to CAG

 

The guys will advise as soon as they available. We have E.ON reps on this site who can look into the matter.

[excelman]

thanks rebel - I think it's a good deal for them, it's a painful one for me but at least if I pay it that's that. They're not making it easy for me!

[E.ON Company Rep: Helena]

Morning excelman,

 

I'm sorry you've found yourself in this situation.

 

It sounds to me like the account was estimated for some time, then when we received the final meter readings we billed up to date causing a large bill.

 

Have you been paying £30 for both gas and electricity? If so this is very low and this wouldn't cover the amount of energy that was being used, also adding to the large final balance.

 

It is correct that the mark won't be removed from the credit file.

 

In all honesty, if this has now gone through the Ombudsman there isn't much I can do to help you. It's a case of following what was ruled and paying back the balance.

 

Were you given a time frame as to how long you have to pay this? If you didn't pay it would be passed to debt collection.

 

The best thing to do here, is to set up a payment arrangement and get this in place as soon as possible. This will stop the account being passed to debt collection as long as you stick to it.

 

I'm sorry that there isn't much I can do in this situation.

 

Helena

[rebel11]

Hi excelman

 

If you were paying by Direct Debit each month, were meter reading collected by E.ON on a regular basis?

 

Say regular readings had been passed on to E.ON, then E.ON would adjust the Direct Debit to take care of any debit amount. I would send them a Subject Access Request, with £10. They will send you all the billing information for 6 years. Give them details of your old address. They have 40 days to respond.

 

'was on direct debit with eon for years but then moved house,

they then read the meter and 2.5k owing.'

[rebel11]

Morning Helena

 

What's the policy on meter readings? How often should E.ON read them?

[E.ON Company Rep: Helena]

Morning Helena

 

What's the policy on meter readings? How often should E.ON read them?

 

Morning

 

We should be reading the meters once every two years, this is for safety as well as getting up to date reads.

 

All bills will show if the read has been estimated or is accurate, we do ask customers to provide regular reads to keep their accounts up to date.

 

It may be that £30 wasn't enough to cover the usage, then with estimated readings for while, this could be what caused the large final balance.

 

I don't know if the account was in credit/debit previous o this bill. So can't say for sure..

 

Hope this helps

 

Helena

[rebel11]

Hi excelman

 

The key is getting hold of your old bills to check when and if the readings were passed to E.ON, when did they come out to read the meter?, are they estimated readings etc.

 

£30 a month does sound like a low amount to be paying each month, but then you might have low usage. Send a SAR request.

 

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/ofgem-publications/64010/back-billing-leaflet-2012.pdf

 

Thank you for the info Helena (E.ON).

[excelman]

HI Helena

 

 

The direct debit was only for Electricity and over 6 years it was whatever they asked based on an estimate - I work away from home a LOT, and was perhaps naïve to think an estimate was fine and they'd take what they needed. note, during some winters they had the debit at 60 a month, other times 30, averaged approx. 30 from what I recall. The £30 a month I speak of was after the bill hit - it was was when I moved and they finally read it. I've done that as I accept I'm liable for some of the debt ( all of the debt now the ombudsman ruled against me ) I will post the relevant bit from the ombudsman's letter at the end making it clear it is them. I feel short changed for want of a better phrase because I've kept in touch and paid what I could despite a mortgage and a new set of bills. I've not skipped a month and while £30 a month isn't massive, it's not pennies either and I've shown commitment only to be trashed at the CRA's.

 

 

so this is about eon wanting the money in a timescale I can't pay it and if I cannot do it, then they will wipe the floor with me. I perhaps can cling to the paragraph below where it says I can pay over a year

 

 

I am still prepared to cripple myself on the credit card if they are prepared to remove the black mark. Point is- they never told me they were going to do it. You'd think they'd be happy to oblige on this technicality if they got all the cash now and I was looking for a second job for as long as it took to clear the high interest CC debt

 

 

Thanks for your help , all, so far

Excelman

 

 

from ombudsman's letter below

 

 

"E.ON has agreed to allow you to clear the balance over a period of 12 months. You say you are

 

 

unable to afford this and have provided the company with details of your income and

 

 

expenditure to demonstrate this. Whilst this may be the case, the terms of any payment plan

 

 

offered are a commercial decision, which falls outside our remit. Simply put, we cannot tell E.ON

 

 

how much it should accept from you.

 

 

We are, however, able to consider whether the payment arrangement offered is reasonable.

 

 

Having done so, we are of the opinion that allowing a debt to be paid over 12 months, which has

 

 

accrued through no error by E.ON, is indeed reasonable. To pay back the balance at the rate

 

 

you request would take in excess of seven years, which we consider unreasonable.

 

 

E.ON has referred your account to a debt collection agency. That such action may be taken in

 

 

the event of ongoing non payment of an account is detailed within its terms of contract and we

 

 

are satisfied that this action was valid given that you rejected its proposed payment plan. E.ON

 

 

suggests that the balance may be able to be cleared over a longer period of time via the agency,

 

 

but this is something you will need to arrange with it (the agency, not E.ON) directly. We

 

 

therefore suggest you contact the agency, "

 

[excelman]

ALSO

I didn't accept ombudsman's decision on the false reading of the meter, which led to this 2k - am I able to take Eon to court?

 

 

thanks