UK EON smart meter installation nightmare

[ukepunk]

Hi All
On the 2nd November an EON contractor attempted to fit an electricity smart meter at my address. He was unable to do so because the property was out of range.
I live in a rented property and my landlord let him in and out. When I arrived home a few hours later the fuses had blown on my broadband router, my printer and also my desktop PC which was on sleep. I managed to fix the router and the printer with new fuses but unfortunately the motherboard on my PC had blown. I might add that all this equipmant was pluged into a surge protector. I have been advised by two different electricians that the contractor has not 'powered down' when putting the fuse back into the main power supply thus causing a massive surge.
EON have refused to take responsibility after an initial apology for 'damaging my equipment' and have finally sent me a letter with a statement from the contractor that says he did everything by the book (Well he would say that would'nt he?) and that is final.
I have 10 days to submit any evidence to the energy ombudsman who say that I definitely have a case with EON.
Has anyone else heard of had any experiences of this kind of issue? I'm aware of problems with boilers after smart meter installation.
Any advice/evidence would be much appreciated. I am self employed and this has caused me a big headache not to mention the hassle of even trying to get EON to even speak to me!
Many thanks in advance.

 

[ukepunk]

Be wary Eon cannot just demand anything at this point like 10 days , they have to allow you enough time to send your pc in for inspection and the result of that would be your defense, however at this stage the cost lies on your shoulders, only if you can show the motherboard failed due to surges etc then you are kinda on a losing battle, it would take hard drive evidence it was working prior to the visit through timestamps and then a report that an external electrical issue was the probable culprit, then all your costs could be claimed.
They are a big company with money for solicitors, I cannot say if what happened is their fault or just coincidence, if your computer is always plugged in permanently but just in sleep etc then a power outage can see normally warm hot components fail which isn't as uncommon as people realise, factory shut downs and machinery issues are a regular thing I deal with and basically the electronics are energised for so long, 6 months plus in some cases that when the boards finally switch off and cool down they can get component failure.

Thanks but the PC is barely a year old and normally turned off when not in use. I had left the house at 7 that morning and printed something off to take with me then left it in sleep mode. I've had2 power cuts since moving here whilst using it and no damage done. The fact that this time the surge from the installation blew the fuses in my router, my printer and also ruined a perfectly good desktop pc up tells me,as advised that the installation process is to blame.
I had a perfectly good PC before the installation and now I don't.

 

[ukepunk]

Update.
According to the energy Ombudsman I have a legitimate case. It has now been logged with them.

 

[Welchyboy1]

From what I gather meter fitters in UK have very little electrical qualifications. From seeing posts on here their work is rough and sometimes dangerous compared to what I see here, problem is fighting those large companies can be very difficult.

Yes I would agree with that, and also the amount of times they will reconnect existing undersized, single insulated or vir tails to a smart meter, then seal it, preventing me from legally replacing them is truly frustrating when upgrading a consumer unit

 

[Lucien Nunes]

Update.
According to the energy Ombudsman I have a legitimate case. It has now been logged with them.

Good to hear, I hope it works out for you. I'm still interested to understand what occurred because I have a strong interest in the vulnerabilites of electronic equipment. In my work, I build racks and systems of computers and studio equipment which then travel the world and are exposed to some harsh conditions. This includes dodgy local power from 3rd-world networks, unattended generators that run out of fuel and start misfiring, field distribution systems with faulty earthing etc. Damage is rare especially for equipment behind a UPS, but it does happen, and I get to diagnose and repair it at component level. Sometimes, I also serve as an expert witness when other people experience damage, so I have built up quite a clear picture over time of the usual ways that bad power damages electronics. Your situation does not neatly fit the pattern, which makes it interesting.

Would you mind answering a few questions to help me understand? The fuses you replaced... were these plug fuses? What size? What VA rating is the router PSU? I assume it's a brick with a detachable power lead (most home routers have a wall-wart PSU with a non-replaceable fuse). Did you replace the fuse in the surge protector strip? Does that have an indicator light for surge protection functioning, and is that still lit after the event? Do you know what was damaged on the computer mobo? Was the PSU also damaged?

Thank you!

 

[Darkwood]

Thanks but the PC is barely a year old and normally turned off when not in use. I had left the house at 7 that morning and printed something off to take with me then left it in sleep mode. I've had2 power cuts since moving here whilst using it and no damage done. The fact that this time the surge from the installation blew the fuses in my router, my printer and also ruined a perfectly good desktop pc up tells me,as advised that the installation process is to blame.
I had a perfectly good PC before the installation and now I don't.

As I pointed out, it is often down to you to prove the case at your own initial cost, simply saying what happened in your experience is not often enough as people do lie (not suggesting you are), send in your computer to a reputable repair agent and get a report without repair, this would go some way to stand up for your case, the meter installer maybe the culprit here, he could have done the cable connections live without isolating your main switch which could easily have spiked your connected loads, this is not the issue, proving it is the issue.

 

[boyo24]

Hi All
On the 2nd November an EON contractor attempted to fit an electricity smart meter at my address. He was unable to do so because the property was out of range.
I live in a rented property and my landlord let him in and out. When I arrived home a few hours later the fuses had blown on my broadband router, my printer and also my desktop PC which was on sleep. I managed to fix the router and the printer with new fuses but unfortunately the motherboard on my PC had blown. I might add that all this equipmant was pluged into a surge protector. I have been advised by two different electricians that the contractor has not 'powered down' when putting the fuse back into the main power supply thus causing a massive surge.
EON have refused to take responsibility after an initial apology for 'damaging my equipment' and have finally sent me a letter with a statement from the contractor that says he did everything by the book (Well he would say that would'nt he?) and that is final.
I have 10 days to submit any evidence to the energy ombudsman who say that I definitely have a case with EON.
Has anyone else heard of had any experiences of this kind of issue? I'm aware of problems with boilers after smart meter installation.
Any advice/evidence would be much appreciated. I am self employed and this has caused me a big headache not to mention the hassle of even trying to get EON to even speak to me!
Many thanks in advance.

Ive had eon next attend my house 3 times to put a smart meter in. They do the work and each time they say they cant access their system and then undo their work. Wasted 3 day leave because of them. Not doing it again.
Ps im in the middle of a city with oerfect cellular service so no issues there