My electricity supply was switched to Bord Gais in mid April and I received a letter from ESB, dated 17th April, confirming the closure of my account and thanking me for my custom. I didn't receive a final bill to pay but paid no attention as I've paid by direct debit under their "equaliser" plan for the last 7 years. I assumed that maybe a final bill takes longer to arrive. Yesterday I received a solicitors letter demanding payment of the final bill amount by return post of they would "issue proceedings". There were no contact phone numbers for the solicitors offices only the main ESB 1850 number.
So, not at all happy with this I rang the ESB today and was told the my final bill was sent by email only, no paper copy was sent. Apparently I signed up for eBilling in February - its possible but I have no recollection of this so have to take them at their word. The direct debit was cancelled by "the ESB back office" due to an error in their systems which cancels all direct debits paid under the equaliser plan when an account is closed - but before the final bill is issued! So even if I had received a final paper bill I would have had to read it very carefully to notice that their was a payment date in the "pay by" box and remember that previous bills said "direct debit" instead.
ESB tell me that they issued a paper reminder on 2nd June, this has yet to reach me. The solicitors letter is dated 3rd June. Turns out that the solicitors company is actually an internal ESB solicitor.
So due to an error on the part of ESB that they are very aware of their first action on an overdue bill is to send a solicitors letter demanding payment or else.
Others will more than likely also receive one of these so don't think they're picking on you only. The ESB have said they will send out a letter of apology, but overall seemed a bit dismissive. Obviously not to happy about losing customers to competitors.
So, not at all happy with this I rang the ESB today and was told the my final bill was sent by email only, no paper copy was sent. Apparently I signed up for eBilling in February - its possible but I have no recollection of this so have to take them at their word. The direct debit was cancelled by "the ESB back office" due to an error in their systems which cancels all direct debits paid under the equaliser plan when an account is closed - but before the final bill is issued! So even if I had received a final paper bill I would have had to read it very carefully to notice that their was a payment date in the "pay by" box and remember that previous bills said "direct debit" instead.
ESB tell me that they issued a paper reminder on 2nd June, this has yet to reach me. The solicitors letter is dated 3rd June. Turns out that the solicitors company is actually an internal ESB solicitor.
So due to an error on the part of ESB that they are very aware of their first action on an overdue bill is to send a solicitors letter demanding payment or else.
Others will more than likely also receive one of these so don't think they're picking on you only. The ESB have said they will send out a letter of apology, but overall seemed a bit dismissive. Obviously not to happy about losing customers to competitors.