Fury as energy giant E.On takes 1.5MILLION customers’ January direct debits up to 11 DAYS early without warning – leaving them out of pocket on Christmas Eve – as firm blames ‘IT issue’ with no refunds until the 29th
- Thousands complained online, with some saying they now have no money
- E.On told MailOnline that around 1.5million customers had been affected
- One customer said they can’t afford to pay for their pre-ordered food shopping
Furious Britons slammed energy giant E.On on Thursday for taking their January payments up to 11 days early, leaving their Christmas ‘ruined’.
Thousands of customers took to Twitter to raise the issue, with some saying they could no longer afford to pay for their Christmas food shopping.
E.On told MailOnline that around 1.5million customers had been affected, including some small businesses which will already have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.
They said an ‘IT issue’ had caused them to ‘inadvertently’ take payments early.
They added that customers will not be refunded until next week, on December 29, but said that any who have been charged by their banks because of the error will be refunded.
One distraught customer wrote: ‘Christmas ruined, can’t afford to pick up my pre-ordered Christmas shop today because Eon took my direct debit early.
‘Thanks a lot, excellent way to round off an already s****y year.’
Furious Britons slammed energy giant E.On on Thursday for taking their January payments up to ten days early, leaving their Christmas ‘ruined’
One distraught customer wrote: ‘Christmas ruined, can’t afford to pick up my pre-ordered Christmas shop today because Eon took my direct debit early’
Another wrote: ‘Is this some sort of sick joke to end 2020????!!! Taking the next monthly payment 10 days early on Christmas Eve !!!!!
‘What a way to treat your customers and even more so during such a difficult time!!!!!’
A third, a single parent suffering from fibromyalgia, said: ‘So @eonenergyuk have taken a direct debit a week early and left me with nothing in my bank.’
One ‘mortified’ customer said their direct debit had been taken 11 days early, making them overdrawn.
They added they were ‘fuming’ and now want to leave E.On ‘immediately’.
An E.On spokesman said: ‘Due to an IT issue, we have inadvertently taken Direct Debit payments early from some of our customers.
Other customers demanded to know if the error was a ‘sick joke’. A third said they had been left with ‘nothing in my bank’
‘We are sorry for this error and are taking steps to contact affected customers where we can, as well as putting information about the issue on our website and social media channels.
‘Customers do not need to do anything or contact us, and we ask that they bear with us while we work to refund them on the first available date, which is 29th December.
‘Customers’ Direct Debit payments will then be taken in line with their usual payment schedule.’