Unknown eON debt sent to Debt Collectors

[MaxxPower]

My mum sold a house a short while ago where the gas was suppled by eON.

We submitted a final meter reading to them and on 7th May they produced a Final Bill for £42.42, which was paid on 9th June and her online account shows this was paid.

 

However this morning she received an email from a Debt Recovery company named LCS saying they were collecting £13.10 due to an unpaid balance owed to eON.

At first we thought it was a scam and the mail had gone to her junk mail, but on doing some checks we have found that despite eON producing a final bill of £42.42, on 7th June the account shows "Adjustment £10" which added £10 to the account balance owed, but they did not produce any additional bill or update the final bill, nor send any e-mail notification of this. So when we got something stating "Final Bill" we simply followed the link, paid the amount it owed and thought that was that.

 

She's calling eON this afternoon to find out what's going on, but I'm worried that eON will have reported something to her credit file, or refuse to retake this debt from LCS.

 

Also, can they sell a debt on so quickly?

We're talking 3 weeks since they added this 'adjustment' to the account and in that time they have not made any contact whatsoever to say that there was an account balance owed after the Final Bill (Which again, their PDF invoice states "FINAL BILL" on) was issued. The Final Bill also clearly states that it was based on Actual Meter Readings.

 

Is this £10 some kind of late fee they added due to it taking my mum a while to pay the final bill? But if so why was there zero contact from eON in regards to it?

 

The Final Bill says "It's important to pay your bill as soon as possible to avoid late payment fees" but has no indication on it of what those late payment fees would be, nor after how long they would apply.

 

For the sake of £13.10 I'm tempted to just pay and be done with it, but my main concern is that eON or LCS will have put something on her credit file, along with eON making zero attempts to contact her via e-mail to request the balance (They have her e-mail address as that is how all previous bills have been sent).

 

Unfortunately trying to convince her to sign up for one of the free credit reports online is an exercise in futility, as she's utterly convinced that the act of signing up for one will adversely affect her credit rating/scores.

 

[Bazooka Boo]

Checking her CRF is the only way to see if they've been immature enough to trash her file.

 

Get straight on to Eon and lodge a formal complaint, IGNORE LCS entirely, DO NOT pay them a single penny.

 

If you pay anyone it should be Eon, although they need to wipe the account completely and send your mum some flowers as an apology.

 

 

[dx100uk]

the debt has not been sold

 

 

[Ethel Street]

I had a similar run in with E.On (without the DCA) when I sold my mother's flat.

 

I worked out eventually that they used a higher meter reading than the one I submitted at the date of sale. It turned out that the purchaser had used the E.On electricity supply for a couiple of weeks before switching to a new supplier. Rather than go to the hassle of identifying and charging the purchaser for just those few weeks E.On simply added it on to my bill! They backed down when I challenged them.

 

So check that their final bill is calculated on the meter reading at date of sale that you gave them.