General Chat

I am curious to know if anyone else has had such a shock? I am sure we are all aware of the ever increase in our gas & electricity accounts but surely not to this degree.? on October 3rd this year, EON withdrew £1969 from my DD bank account, that was one whole years estimated fuel amount. They did not tell me they were going to do this and I certainly didn't give them permission to do so. I just spotted it on my bank statement that arrived just over two weeks later.
Thankfully Barclays Bank managed to reimburse me but it was a terrible shock. I had completely forgotten that a Direct Debit does give my permission for any amount to be withdrawn from my bank account. Unfortunately I was stupid not to have remembered that. I had also grown to trust large institutions such as EON but certainly wont do so in future. Trust you are all more sensible than me?

But EON always notify me of the amount they are taking on my direct debit.

Unless your DD is for one yearly payment they must have made a mistake.

They could have caused some people to be overdrawn doing that without letting you know. We get notified every month how much they are going to take......we are with Octopus.

No, I was not notified that this huge amount was going to be taken. My payments to EON over many years have always been on a regular monthly basis via Direct Debit. They have never informed me of the amount they intend to take from my account. Yes, it was a mistake by them, I dealt with it via email as I wished to have proof of all questions and answers. I could not believe what had happened. I later became aware of the implications of their action........ not everyone would have that large amount in a current account. It could have been worse and all my other payments would have bounced and made me a bad debtor. I only put it on Genes to make others aware of what happened to me re a Direct Debit payment.

When you set up any direct debit with a company you agree to an amount to be paid on or about the agreed date each month. Yes, the d/d is a variable agreement, but they cannot vary the usual agreed amount without giving you at least 10 days notice of the change in amount.

So, under the terms of the d/d guarantee EON have broken the terms of their agreement with you and therefore your bank refunded you.

I would insist they either send you a copy of the intention to increase the usual d/d amount or the email where they gave you notice to increase.

Out of interest, are you in credit or debit with your EON account?

Florence in the hebrides

DIrect debits nowadays are for a variable amount so there is a lot of trust involved. But under the Direct Debit Guarantee, which I believe all banks are signed up to, if a Direct Debit is taken for the incorrect amount, the customer is entitled to a refund via the bank, and it is pretty much immediate. All you need to do is ring the bank and explain, and ask for the refund.

Thank you for sharing this David, it's another reminder to us all that if a Direct Debit is due we should check shortly after to make sure it is correct. I'm glad it didn't have an impact on you, as you say other people may be less fortunate.

David at least it has made us all aware.

I am always in Credit with all my payments Florence. I have never owed a penny to anyone in my life. My parents taught me that many years ago, I'm not sure all parents do that nowadays?

Ah ok David, just curious why they took such a large amount or was it just human error the amount?

Thanks for bringing it to our attention though. As an ex bank employee, I'm very on the ball as check my account daily and also keep a paper book ledger(old habits die hard) so I know exactly how much is in my account at any one time but not every one else is as savvy.

I do have friends who don't have any money worries and they never check their account and don't even keep their statements!! Even if I was well off, I would still keep an eye!

Florence in the Hebrides

I do the same as you, Florence - keeping a note of everything in a book , checking statements - and keeping them for a few years.

You never know when you might need to refer to an old statement!
Several years ago I had a mobile phone which died just inside the 2-year guarantee period.
(Well, the phone didn't, but the charger did, and it was impossible to get a replacement charger as it had been discontinued, so the phone was unusable.)
The makers wanted the purchase receipt before they would give me a refund under the guarantee.
I couldn't find the receipt - but they were willing to accept a copy of the bank statement showing the purchase, so I was able to get a full refund.

I have a fixed monthly sum that can be D /D from my account

If they want to change it they notify me me first of change that gives me the chance to go back to them .

After hubby died my usage of energy was much lower so when they wanted to up my monthly payment I went back to then and said no !

After a polite discussion they did agree to leave it at it was and review it after six months

It wasn’t altered at that time

Just a PS................
It isn't just EON who are taking huge amounts of money from their Customers Direct Debit accounts. Today's news shows Ovo has withdrawn a £4000 payment from the account of a 58 year old vulnerable customer. The agreed amount of his monthly Direct Debit was for £59.82.