A Scottish carer who had a staggering £3,282 swiped from his bank account by energy firm EDF has now been reimbursed and issued with an apology from the company after the Daily Record stepped in to help.
Adam McNaughton was left 'physically sick' when EDF sent him the eye-watering invoice last week as he desperately tried to reason with advisors over the inaccurate bill. But his pleas fell on deaf ears until the Record published his story on Tuesday.
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The 41-year-old social carer said he was overjoyed to receive an apology from the chief executive's office who also informed him he is now £89 in credit - instead of over £3,000 in debt.
Adam said: "The Daily Record have helped force EDF into action and now the matter is fully resolved. I had a lengthy conversation with the representative and that ridiculous bill is gone.
"He apologised for how it was handled and I am now in credit with my account. It is ridiculous that it got to this stage, but within hours of the story being published by the Daily Record, I found myself finally being listened to.
"I told him there had been serious customer service failings and he did not disagree.
"I am just really happy to be reimbursed and to hear that he understood it had been mishandled. All I wanted was for someone to listen to me and to try and fix it. I finally got that.
"This time, eventually, they got it right and going forward I'm getting a smart meter installed as well - after a year of asking for one."
Adam had disputed the initial bill due to an "inaccurate" estimate by EDF Energy after he was moved to the company in May 2021, when his provider Green Network Energy went bust.
An inspector didn't attend his home to obtain an accurate meter reading for a year, despite Adam's requests as he believed the estimate to be too low.
Adam was placed on a fixed rate tariff and EDF failed to send an inspector until June 2022.
When the meter reading was taken, the company claimed Adam's electricity usage had majorly increased and sent him the staggering bill.
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Adam added: "I wouldn't even have used that amount of electricity if I had powered my full neighbourhood.
"My health paid the price - mentally and physically. I was very stressed and worked up about it over the weekend.
"These energy companies think they are untouchable and can get away with anything but if you stand up against injustice then you can change something."
A spokesperson for EDF Energy said: “Unfortunately due to an error with estimated readings being used this payment was taken in error.
"We’re really sorry this happened and the payment was returned as soon as we became aware. We’ve offered a goodwill payment which Mr McNaughton has accepted”
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