THE family of a 98-year-old man claim he is owed £10,000 by EDF – but they’ve ignored pleas to return the money for more than two months.
Eric Shier had no idea he was overpaying for his gas and electric for his four-bed home in Hayward’s Heath, West Sussex.
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The overpayments came to light when daughter Carolyn Shier, 59, became power of attorney for his affairs.
She noticed he was being billed £750 a month via direct debit based on estimated readings – but he was using no more than £150 of energy a month.
It means over three years he has racked up £10,000 worth of credit with the energy giant, Carolyn said.
She said the overpayments were made despite her father diligently submitting meter readings four or five times a year.
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Carolyn said she’s been trying to get a refund from EDF for over two months – and has been ignored or her calls were “cut off”.
She’s desperate to get the money back while her “frail” father is still alive.
EDF said yesterday it was working with the Shiers and would refund any credit as soon as possible.
Carolyn, quality assurance manager, from Haywards Heath, Sussex, said: “My dad is 98 and vulnerable – he could die while this is going on.
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“I don’t suppose he’d be very impressed if he knew but I don’t want to burden him with this problem at his age.
“I know how hard it is to deal with the general public.
“I totally get that but I’m expecting to be able to contact this company.
“Eric is not online and he only used post to communicate with the company.
“He does not have central heating. There is no way they have spent that much on energy.
“Because EDF have done it on an estimated basis, the credit has built up and up.”
Carolyn said she has now been attempting to reclaim her father’s missing £10,000 for more than two months.
She first called and emailed on December 19, she said.
Shier then sent a detailed email to EDF with itemised points and said she didn’t get a reply.
“They’re just not engaging,” she said. “It’s difficult to phone them.
“The people seem disengaged. But if they’ve not got the staff training they’re not going to be able to help people.
“I still work full-time so don’t have time to hold for ages on the phone.
“I rang once and was told ‘everyone is in training’ and the call was cut off.
“It’s a car crash waiting to happen for EDF. I’m astonished. This is a case study in how to not deal with a customer.”
Eric is a qualified electrical engineer and he taught at a university and so can read the meter and sent the readings to EDF.
“I have evidence that he’s sent meter readings,” said Carolyn.
“He was an electrical engineer and taught at a university.
“He’s been a qualified electrical engineer, and so he knows how to do a meter reading. He’s very frail now.
“I’m very angry. I thought I was dealing with a professional company, and I’m not – at least I don’t feel I am.
“I’m not Grayson Perry so I can’t go on Twitter and shame them that way.”
Shier has now contacted the CEO of EDF but the email has come back as undeliverable.
When approached for comment, an EDF spokesperson said: “We’re sorry to hear about the problems Ms Shier has been facing.
“As both fuels had not been billed within the last 28 days at the time of the request, the credit balance refund was not processed and we requested up-to-date meter readings.
“When Ms Shier sent us the meter readings, we were missing one of the reads for the Economy 7 meter, so we’ve contacted Ms Shier to explain this and have booked an appointment, to gain both the day and night electricity meter readings.
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“This should have been picked up earlier and we’re sorry it wasn’t.
“We’ll continue working with Ms Shier to get her father’s account billed up-to-date, refunding any credit on the account as soon as possible.”
