2 Years of Eon farce

[steviehowie]

Stevie, I'm off in a few minutes. I know I've not replied to all the points you've raised but don't worry. I'll pick this up again tomorrow and try to answer the outstanding questions/comments.

 

Have a good evening.

 

Malc

 

 

 

Dear Malc,

Nice of you to get back to the questions I posted , albeit you have failed to answer them.

 

I know selective amnesia can be difficult for some at the very top of EON, after all its is those individuals who set the agenda of repugnant business practices in the first place, which causes high harassment and poor customer service after all.

 

But could you confirm for the OP and all EON customers, SLC 25C.4 places obligations and duties on EON by UK law? What are these duties and obligations? You have not stated this transparently or honestly from your replies to date.

 

Certainly the OP case that has been 2 years to long. That’s simply unacceptable customer service and it occurs far to often with EON customer’s. In fact even its taken to long after the OP contacted the website in April with your direct involvement.

 

Malc just for the record how many EON complaints remain unresolved after 2 years? 100,000 , 1 million? How long is the longest unresolved case?

Is it not true EON break UK law(s) and or the standard Licence conditions ever day ? When do EON plan to eradicate this repugnant business practice?

 

Malc you also stated ". If it has reached the Reviewers, I won't be able to help with the actual resolution as it'll already have gone beyond my level" . Who are the unanimous people in EON? Where are they based? What is their positions?

 

Why is it, they are above you are they EON’s board members, do they know the obligations and duties under the standard licence conditions? Why do they not deal with the OP direct. Is this not just another delaying tactic by EON never to deal with the problem?

 

Malc the OP has a right to be told the truth and why he has suffered unnecessary delay?

You stated, EON have paid compensation when in fact they have not and are you not attempting to mislead the OP and others ( SLC 25C.4 comes to mind)

 

Compensation is readdress for EON’s 2 year farce. Its payment in recognition that the OP has suffered loss and expense( law words), harassment ,inconvenience due to EON’s poor customer service.

 

The sum of £ 560 you mention is not redress to the OP , it is reimbursement to the OP’s account for monies illegally claimed by EON and disputed by the OP. It is not compensation.

 

The OP is still entitled to readdress for loss and expense inconvenience and the harassment from a poorly trained staff or IT systems or reviewers who do not do their job in a timely and efficient manner or more simply a board of directors who do not gave a dam about their customers loss and expense?

 

Come on Malc , lets say a reasonable goodwill gesture from EON would be £ 100 per month x 12 x 2years = £2400. Let’s really push the boat out and round that up to a nice £3000.00. Its still cheaper than EON employing a barrister in court for 1 day, Malc which EON do with ease.

 

Bear in mind, I have seen in the past EON letter headed paper that states categorically that EON cannot calculate estimated bills? Is that correct Malc? You yourself have hinted at this problem.

 

Turning to estimate readings, which are one of EON’s biggest customer [edited], what is EON’s business practice Malc? Is it to read the meter ( via outside agents) every 3months?

 

Why is there any need to re bill a client over 1 year Malc?

Why is a bill reversal exercise not carried out immediately a meter is read by EON’s outside agents? Why a two year delay to do the Bill reversal exercises ? Is this the board engaging in repugnant business practices, yet again?

 

 

The truth please malc.

Edited May 25, 2016 by honeybee13
Potentially libelous word removed.

[E.ON Company Rep: Malc]

Hello Stevie.

 

As promised, I'm back to pick up this thread from where I temporarily suspended my replies last night. I'd reached but not replied to all the points in post 19 so I'll start from there.

 

You ask about our compliance with the Standard Licence Conditions (SLC) and, in particular, SLC 25C.4? I'm happy to confirm, we comply with all our obligations under industry rules. If we didn't, I'm sure the Regulator would take us to task. That's not to say mistakes don't happen. They do. Once we're aware of a mistake, we'll say sorry and put things right. No excuses.

 

To save confusion and for the benefit of others, thought I'd copy and paste SLC25C.4 from the Ofgem website as below.

 

25C.4 The Standards of Conduct are that:

 

(a) the licensee and any Representative behave and carry out any actions in a Fair, honest, transparent, appropriate and professional manner;

(b) the licensee and any Representative provide information (whether in Writing or orally) to each Domestic Customer which:

 

(i) is complete, accurate and not misleading (in terms of the information provided or omitted);

(ii) is communicated (and, if provided in Writing, drafted) in plain and intelligible language;

(iii) relates to products or services which are appropriate to the Domestic Customer to whom it is directed; and

(iv) is otherwise Fair both in terms of its content and in terms of how it is presented (with more important information being given appropriate prominence);

 

© the licensee and any Representative:

 

(i) make it easy for a Domestic Customer to contact the licensee;

(ii) act promptly and courteously to put things right when the licensee or any Representative makes a mistake; and

(iii) otherwise ensure that customer service arrangements and processes are complete, thorough, fit for purpose and transparent.

 

Treating customers fairly is something that's very important to us. We aim to do this by being honest, clear and giving accurate information in an open and transparent way that's easy to understand. As above, we'll say sorry if we make a mistake and let customers know how and when we'll put things right. We make it as easy as possible for customers to contact us and keep in touch in a way each individual prefers.

 

We listen, too, and this helps us improve our services and products to better suit our customer's needs going forward. For instance, the threads Helena and I post on, both on CAG and other Forums, are sent up the food chain directly to colleagues in decision making positions. Feedback like this is invaluable when planning for the future. Each year we issue a statement to show what we've done and plan to do. There are more details on our website at the following link.

 

https://www.eonenergy.com/About-eon/how-we-service-our-customers/our-customer-statement

 

We also try to involve customers as much as possible and regularly hold sessions at our offices where they can come along and tell us what they think. They can join a panel, too, where they can help us change things in the future. This is our YourSay Panel.

 

In post 19, you also mention things about meters, estimated readings and billing. Just to confirm some of the stuff I posted yesterday, we're happy to accept a customer's readings and will use as many accurate readings as possible when billing. The more actual readings we have, the more accurate the billing will be. Sometimes, estimates are necessary where we're not able to access meters and customers aren't able to provide a reading. Once we have readings, though, we'll be happy to rebill even if this goes back a long way. It's the best way to accurately record energy used at properties. As I said yesterday, Smart Meters will greatly improve this.

 

Wherever a meter is faulty, we'll replace it without charge as soon as possible.

 

I'll close this here Stevie and pick up the points you raise in later posts shortly.

 

Malc

[AndyOrch]

Many thanks for you patience on this thread Malc...however if I can remind posteres that this threads OP has not returned since April and I fear it is becoming a discussion thread.

 

If we could please refrain from posting further until the OP returns.

 

Regards

 

Andyorch

[E.ON Company Rep: Malc]

Stevie, I'm not sure what you're trying to achieve from your posts and how the Op is going to gain any benefit from your advice or the questions you are asking of Malc.

 

As a customer service rep for EON Malc will of course have to tow the company line and will not be able to answer most of your questions, which seem to be asking for opinion.

 

EON's customer account system is an in-house developed bespoke system with an Oracle database back end. By no means is it perfect, but I can categorically say from first hand experience that it is better and more reliable than those in operation at Natwest, Capital One, Boots and Virgin Media.

 

You mention something about payments not being taken in to account when re-billing activity takes place. This can't happen - there is no manual input of payments from anyone in the billing department if an account is re-billed. A domestic bill, if re-billed, is "backed out" ie cancelled and taken back to a particular date / meter read. Subsequent meter reads, as long as usable, are used in the billing back to the current / most recent read. Payments made are then subtracted from the amount of the re-bill.

 

Good description of how we rebill nottslad. Thanks for that. As you say, payments made during a rebilling period are applied automatically to give a full picture of the state of an account.

 

Malc

[E.ON Company Rep: Malc]

Many thanks for you patience on this thread Malc...however if I can remind posteres that this threads OP has not returned since April and I fear it is becoming a discussion thread.

 

If we could please refrain from posting further until the OP returns.

 

Regards

 

Andyorch

 

Sorry Andyorch. Didn't see your post before I responded to nottslad. Of course. Happy to respect the Forum's wishes. I'm aware there are questions Stevie has asked which I haven't fully addressed yet but will leave it there. Just don't want to appear to be deliberately trying to avoid a question as not the case. Thanks.

 

Malc

[AndyOrch]

Appreciate that Malc..perhaps Stevie should start his own discussion thread rather than hijack another poster's.

[steviehowie]

Appreciate that Malc..perhaps Stevie should start his own discussion thread rather than hijack another poster's.

 

 

That the problem with EON never deal with the problem and other EON customers sold be aware.

I see Malc cannot answer the questions and again all other EON customers should be aware.

 

 

The words EON and farce are made for each other.

 

 

Let the EON rep tell the truth to the OP.

 

 

Let EON compensate propely the OP for their poor company services inefficent and bad advice over two years.

 

 

Lets have the truth from Malc about EON inability to undertake meter estimates. One of EON biggest [problem]s.

 

 

I take it andy you do not want better and truth assistance from EON.

 

Most of all trolls and EOn reps working to close down a debate about EON bad customer service is a farce in its own.

 

 

Malc still awaiting the truth.

 

 

Stevie.

Edited May 25, 2016 by honeybee13
Pejorative comments removed.

[AndyOrch]

" I take it andy you do not want better and truth assistance from EON."

You obviously dont follow many of my posts then stevie...of course we want fairness and justice for all our members...its just that its not acceptable to try to tackle it in someone else's thread.

The forum rules states quite clearly that the hijacking of threads will not be acceptable or tolerated.

 

Start your own thread in the bear garden about all your concerns re the Energy Companies.

[steviehowie]

Andy,

 

 

I gave the EON rep every opportunity to come clean and help the OP.

Would you in the alternative like to tell the OP what SLC 25C.4 places on energy companies by way of obligations and duty, that malc would not?

 

 

The only people hijacking these threads are the so called energy company Reps and Trolls bought by the energy companies, that mislead the OP contrary to the energy companies obligations in law.

 

 

This is the Consumer Action group. not free publicity for energy companies.

It only fair to set out the compensation claims, the standard licence conditions that the mods should have done so and I invite them yet again to do , just as the have done for AR and the like.

 

 

Stevie

 

 

" I take it andy you do not want better and truth assistance from EON."

You obviously dont follow many of my posts then stevie...of course we want fairness and justice for all our members...its just that its not acceptable to try to tackle it in someone else's thread.

The forum rules states quite clearly that the hijacking of threads will not be acceptable or tolerated.

 

Start your own thread in the bear garden about all your concerns re the Energy Companies.

Edited May 26, 2016 by honeybee13
Potentially libelous remarks removed.

[steviehowie]

Hello Stevie.

 

You're absolutely right. We're obliged to read electricity meters at least once every 2 years. is it not the case that in addition SLC 21B.3 and 4 states

21B.3 Paragraphs 21B.4 and 21B.5 apply from 31 December 2014.

21B.4 The licensee must take all reasonable steps to obtain a meter reading (including any meter reading transmitted electronically from a meter to the licensee or provided by the Customer and accepted by the licensee) for each of its Customers at least once every year?

 

 

So is it every 2 years or every 1 year Malc and which applied at the time of the dispute?

 

 

 

 

We do, though, try to read them more often. We're also happy to accept customer's readings and have various channels where this can be done. These include online through our website or mobile phone app, by phone (Contact Centres are open from 8am to 8pm weekdays and between 8am and 6pm on Saturdays), by text, email or via our Social Media channels, twitter and Facebook. We're also rolling out Smart Meters throughout the UK. These take away the need for customers to read meters.

 

 

Malc , is that because EON are incompetent at reading meters or is that the responsibility of their 3rd agents, and when EON have irrefutable proof the readings are wrong and there is an error in previous meter readings are they not under an obligation to correct this in the next bill and why do they ignore this and break the law by refusing to correct the error? I have seen evidence of this?

Also it begs the question if smart meters do not need attendance to read , why are UK customer continuing to pay standing charges? Surely these charges are redundant? What are standing charges for Malc, remember honesty, accuracy, transparency etc?

 

 

Here, readings are automatically sent to us via electronic messages although we'll continue to visit once every couple of years to make sure meters are accurate and safe. If all this fails, we've a system in place to contact customers to arrange to visit at a mutually convenient time.

 

I'm not sure what you mean by 'bill reversal' but I'll hazard a guess and sorry if I'm wrong. I'm sure you'll put me straight. Do you mean rebilling over a long period? Taking Lawrence's situation and, please remember, I speculated a lot there as I didn't see the account. I suspected the meter exchange caused a delay in sending an accurate bill despite having visited on 8 occasions to read the meter. It appeared, once we had sorted the difficulty, we were able to rebill the account to replace estimated readings with accurate ones. This was the right thing to do as it corrected the account so that it reflected electricity used.

 

As nottslad says, to do this, we go back to a point in time or a particular reading and start from there.

Is that not Bill reversal? Are you denying EON have a problem with this, because it's industry wide?

 

 

Provided we have them, this lets us replace estimated readings with the right ones and bring the account up to date. All payments made during this time are then applied to give a proper picture of where accounts are at. As I mentioned in post 9, in cases where we're at fault for not billing correctly, we'll apply the Billing Code. Here, electricity used more than 12 months from when the problem was fixed, will be written off. I think this was the £560 we knocked off Lawrence's bill although not 100 per cent sure on this as not confirmed.

 

 

Money never due to EON and incorrectly billed in the first place by EON is not compensation for loss and expense to the customer. Have you paid the OP compensation? Yes or No.

 

On the usage issue you mention, Lawrence confirms in post 14, panel heaters (large and old) were responsible for 'chewing up the most electric' and assumes he 'actually used the amount' owed.

 

 

Sorry , Lawrence stated he removed the heaters. So they were not responsible for EON Error in billing nor EON over estimation of usage , which you yourself admit EON cannot undertake correctly. So is Estimated readings an industry con on the consumer?

This is not to gloss over our shortcomings. Lawrence was quite right to be annoyed about the delay sending an accurate bill and the time it took to sort out. If you're reading Lawrence, sorry again about this.

 

Much of this is speculation Stevie and sorry if I'm on the wrong track. I've not come across the term 'bill reversal' before and hope I've interpreted what you mean correctly.

 

 

Ask Dr Cocker about it he knows all there needs to know about it, as he engages in repugnant business practices and ignores customer complaints about it. Why is that Malc?

 

Malc

 

 

 

 

Please refer to my comments and observations in Red

 

 

Stevie