ESB becoming ruthless again

noevil

Is it me or are the esb acting really tough and cold lately? Demanding big payment off arrears or they will cut you off. I cant pay their big installments but still are paying current and knocking of the old bill all the time, now they are going to cut me off. There is no talking to them and they will not listen, they seem totally unhelpful are they getting bonuses to pull in arrears early? This is actually affecting my health now.:(

Shield

Moved from Newbies & FAQ to Consumer Issues with redirect expiring in 7 days.

careca11

noevil wrote: »

Is it me or are the esb acting really tough and cold lately? Demanding big payment off arrears or they will cut you off. I cant pay their big installments but still are paying current and knocking of the old bill all the time, now they are going to cut me off. There is no talking to them and they will not listen, they seem totally unhelpful are they getting bonuses to pull in arrears early? This is actually affecting my health now.:(

did you not agree the instalment plan with them ? why will they not renegotiate it with you ,
perhaps get onto MABS regarding the matter , they might be able to assist you , as I know they liaise with ESB regarding customer debts particularly in the residential market

noevil

Tried to negotiate with them, they wanted everything their way, nothing mutual, i told them I couldnt afford what they were looking for like 50% of the arrears up front and the rest cleared in a few weeks.They would not listen. Absolute greed and lack of understanding by people who are sheltered by overpayment in recession times. I believe the average wage is 90,000:eek:

godtabh

noevil wrote: »

Tried to negotiate with them, they wanted everything their way, nothing mutual, i told them I couldnt afford what they were looking for like 50% of the arrears up front and the rest cleared in a few weeks.They would not listen. Absolute greed and lack of understanding by people who are sheltered by overpayment in recession times. I believe the average wage is 90,000:eek:

What is their average wage got to do about your esb arrears?

MABS are generally very good with engaging with the likes of ESB

Kenny Logins

noevil wrote: »

I believe the average wage is 90,000:eek:

Did Joe Duffy tell you that?

Pataman

Kenny Logins wrote: »

Did Joe Duffy tell you that?

Nope it was in the indo the other day.
Simply shocking

noevil

Their average wage has a lot to do with it, it makes your electricty more expensive.A person who receives a high wage will not sometimes understand the plight of people who have to juggle to pay their bills. That is to high a wage in the first place they are not running the country, they are not the president of the united states or Germany.They cant even change the name on a bill properly. They even cant send a proper statment to you.Stop the rot or the imf will,or our new overlords, they wont buy this because Im worth it bull

careca11

Pataman wrote: »

Nope it was in the indo the other day.
Simply shocking

ffs people ,
its media drivel , ESB are top heavy , there are hundreds of people in ESB who earn a lot less than €30,000 a year

a bit like the PS wages , the elite prop up the "so-called" average wage

noevil

You are proably right to a point, but one has to facter in pensions,perks etc.

noevil

forgive my spelling on the above!!!:rolleyes:

Kenny Logins

noevil wrote: »

You are proably right to a point, but one has to facter in pensions,perks etc.

That figure did factor everything in.

It is an average but in no way reflects the salary of the 'average' ESB employee.

johnb25

The relevance of high salaries is that it colours a persons judgement of what is reasonable to repay, and what customers should be reasonably able to repay.

Getting back to the original question....
MABS is the way to go if ESB not listening...maybe give them another call and say you are asking MABS to help. That may make them more open to your suggestions.
If getting cut off is really on the cards, another option is to contact your local St Vinent de Paul. You don't have to ask them to pay your bill, or accept charity from them, but apparently they have success in gettng disconnections postponed.

dudara

Folks, stick to the original topic please. I don't want this dragged off-course. Please offer advice to the OP on negotiating with the ESB

dudara

noevil

Their average wage has a lot to do with it, it makes your electricty more expensive.A person who receives a high wage will not sometimes understand the plight of people who have to juggle to pay their bills. That is to high a wage in the first place they are not running the country, they are not the president of the united states or Germany.They cant even change the name on a bill properly. They even cant send a proper statment to you.Stop the rot or the imf will,or our new overlords, they wont buy this because Im worth it bull

noevil

Tried mabs, very nice, but cant do anything as I have done what they said already.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

noevil wrote: »

Tried to negotiate with them, they wanted everything their way, nothing mutual, i told them I couldnt afford what they were looking for like 50% of the arrears up front and the rest cleared in a few weeks.They would not listen. Absolute greed and lack of understanding by people who are sheltered by overpayment in recession times. I believe the average wage is 90,000:eek:

If you have an issue on their arrears policy fair enough but why direct your anger at the individual on the phone?

Try the ESB Electric Ireland section in Talk to... and they may give you some insight. http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1349

I always found they made reasonable arrangements and took bills by instalments over a decent length of time. Have you made arrangements with them before and kept to them? They certainly do understand the plight of people (I'm sure they see more of it than most of us). I have had many dealings with them over the years and I've seen them go to extraordinary lengths to help with problems in paying.
Certainly you should contact MABS without delay.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

noevil wrote: »

Tried mabs, very nice, but cant do anything as I have done what they said already.

Sorry but that just doesn't make sense. MABS will never give up on a case if a person is doing as suggested. If you did as they proposed then you would have a Budget Plan in place and they would be co-ordinating your payments for you.

Is this all for real????

finty

dudara wrote: »

Folks, stick to the original topic please. I don't want this dragged off-course. Please offer advice to the OP on negotiating with the ESB

dudara

Think the OP is the one dragging it off topic.

Maybe thats how he/she is trying to deal with the ESB.......

yellowlabrador

Have you thought of a prepay meter? It could help you cope with your current consumption and help pay off the arrears.

Kxiii

Switch suppliers you'll get a final bill off the ESB and you can pay it off in your own time without worrying about disconnection. Your new supplier wont bill you for about two months so should give you a chance to at least get the original bill down a bit before hand.

noevil

Just to let you I directed no anger at anyone just sadness.I am only stating things as they happened. I even rang a few times to try and get different people, which I did but still the same story and they kept going back to their team leader or whoever. Ref MABS. I am self employed, they can only help with personal debt. They were very nice though and offered solutions I already tried.

careca11

Kxiii wrote: »

Switch suppliers you'll get a final bill off the ESB and you can pay it off in your own time without worrying about disconnection. Your new supplier wont bill you for about two months so should give you a chance to at least get the original bill down a bit before hand.

you can't do that now , Debt Hopping has been stopped by the regulator and is now not accepted by any suppliers ,

dudara

noevil I was going to issue you a warning for failing to heed my warning and continuing the wage argument. Count yourself lucky.

In the meantime, I'm moving this thread to the ESB forum, to see if any of the representatives there can help you.

In relation to your last post, you mention that you're self-employed and MABS wouldn't help as they are for personal debt. Is this ESB bill a personal bill or a business bill?

discostu1

Just wondering Noevil would you consider moving supplier. Presumably you would get a final account which woudl be over a period of time

noevil

Just to let you know I was never rude to any of the esb staff or even mentioned anything about wages just stuck to the bill. I want you to know also that I am paying my current bills and arrears, they just want even more.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Kxiii wrote: »

Switch suppliers you'll get a final bill off the ESB and you can pay it off in your own time without worrying about disconnection. Your new supplier wont bill you for about two months so should give you a chance to at least get the original bill down a bit before hand.

You do realise that you are proposing the OP leave themselves in trouble again. The new bill will have to be paid to terms as well and will probably cover a longer than usual period and so be dearer.

ESB have no problems installing Prepay meters, so has the OP considered that option?

Le Graduate

careca11 wrote: »

you can't do that now , Debt Hopping has been stopped by the regulator and is now not accepted by any suppliers ,

It never was accepted by suppliers they were just unable to prevent it.

discostu1

It never was accepted by suppliers they were just unable to prevent it.

Correct I moved my own account in the last while with a relatively small disputed arrears on it.
To echo the comments of some others here in the limited dealings I have had with ESB they were always reasonably accomadating

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

noevil wrote: »

I am self employed, they can only help with personal debt. They were very nice though and offered solutions I already tried.

Oh for goodness sake! Why didn't you say so. If it's a business then you have to make arrangements over a much shorter period. Are all your suppliers holding off on collecting their accouts from you? Do you buy all materials on credit and get 2 months to pay for them when already billed for 2 months worth of goods? I'd say not. Nett 30 days at best I'd imagine.

Le Graduate

noevil wrote: »

Their average wage has a lot to do with it, it makes your electricty more expensive.

Wages do not go into the cost of electricity.

The breakdown of costs for small/medium sized business customers in 2010/2011 is as follows:

Generation 61%
Distribution 23%
Transmission 6%
PSO Levy 5%
Supply 5%

This is slightly off the point but I don't want others to think that the bill they are getting in the door is all money going directly into the ESB/Airtricity/Bord Gais wage packet. As you can see above 61% goes to generation and as we in Ireland are on the edge of Europe with no major sources of fuel of our own so costs are high.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Also, the total pay bill in ESB represents only 1% of the Unit price of Electricty. So, if you could carry on the business without any people, the cost of your bill would drop by just 1%. (Based on Annual Accounts and CER determination)

Le Graduate

Pedro Plain Yarn wrote: »

Also, the total pay bill in ESB represents only 1% of the Unit price of Electricty. So, if you could carry on the business without any people, the cost of your bill would drop by just 1%. (Based on Annual Accounts and CER determination)

I'm not saying your wrong but where did you get the staff number drop = 1% drop in a consumers bill? I took a look at ESB's annual report for 2009 but I can't see any section of the report that refers to it.

CER determination?!

Thanks

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Le Graduate wrote: »

I'm not saying your wrong but where did you get the staff number drop = 1% drop in a consumers bill? I took a look at ESB's annual report for 2009 but I can't see any section of the report that refers to it.

CER determination?!

Thanks

Have a look at the Payroll costs as a percentage of total costs. Fuel, & Materials account for most, then there are contractor costs making up the balance.

The CER sets the Distribution Use of System tariff and the Retail Prices. He determines such items by reference not only to actual costs but those costs he considers reasonable and in line with best practice. The payroll costs form part of this and are referenced in his adjudications.


All that said: we are well off topic here. Apologies Mods.:o

Electric Ireland: David

noevil wrote: »

Tried to negotiate with them, they wanted everything their way, nothing mutual, i told them I couldnt afford what they were looking for like 50% of the arrears up front and the rest cleared in a few weeks.They would not listen. Absolute greed and lack of understanding by people who are sheltered by overpayment in recession times. I believe the average wage is 90,000:eek:

Hi noevil,

Please feel free to PM either myself or Una if you think we could be of assistance.

Thanks,

David.

Priori

noevil wrote:

Tried to negotiate with them, they wanted everything their way, nothing mutual, i told them I couldnt afford what they were looking for like 50% of the arrears up front and the rest cleared in a few weeks.They would not listen. Absolute greed and lack of understanding by people who are sheltered by overpayment in recession times. I believe the average wage is 90,000

The ignorance here is astounding -sorry mods, but I just have to chime in here quickly before making a more 'on-topic' point...! Have you any mates working in call-centres? Do you know how much they earn? If you think for a minute that ESB don't outsource like any other company then you're living in the past. The staff you think are getting such massive sums I'm sure would be only delighted to tell you how much they really earn. Like another poster said previously, companies like ESB are top-heavy, and I really doubt you were dealing with any top-heavy individuals. Same with Bord Gáis, Airtricity, Eircom, Vodafone, Amazon... the list goes on...

Now, a little more on topic... I would ask the same question as Discostu1, if you think ESB are so cold and heartless, why don't you try the competition? :rolleyes: