Gas supplier threatening registering a default ...
Discussion
So... I moved house at the end of November 2016. At the time of moving I speak to the provider (SSE) to give them meter readings, and pay off any monies owed on the account.
In February 2017 I received a letter from SSE stating there was an outstanding balance owed of the gas account, to which I emailed them stating I believe this to be incorrect as had contacted them in November 2016 to get final bills and made payments as requested. At this point I get an email (and letter) back which states (extracts);
"we apologise for the error, and confirm there is no balance due on your account". Furthermore, it went on to say "please ignore any future correspondence you may receive in relation to this matter".
Move forward to later in 2017 and I receive a letter from SSE saying they made an error in telling me there was no monies due, and there was infact a balance owed. I obviously wrote back advising them of the contents of their letter, and that as I no longer had access to the property in question (and had disregarded meter readings taken as had no reason to keep them) I had no way of knowing whether what they were saying was correct or not. They wrote back saying I owed monies and if not paid they would seek to recover, etc, etc.
I am now received regular correspondence, ie letters, emails, phone calls from a debt collecting agency about the monies they alledge are owed, to which I have simply wrote back state the 'debt' is disputed, and I have a letter from their client stating there is no balance outstanding and furthermore I should ignore them. I have emailed them this (along with a copy of the letter), and phoned they to confirm such.
I have now however just received a letter stating that if I do not pay then SSE 'may' register a default on my credit file. My concern with this is I am looking to remortgage in November to a better deal (as my current one will expire) so don't want any issue with my credit file. That said, clearly I am not going to pay for something I don't believe I owed, and furthermore don't believe they will actually go 'legal' (ie through courts) as clearly I will simply pull out their letter stating there is not debt.
It's becoming a bit of a pain though to be honest. I'm argueable going to threaten charging them for the time I am spending dealing with the matter.
Thoughts ???
In February 2017 I received a letter from SSE stating there was an outstanding balance owed of the gas account, to which I emailed them stating I believe this to be incorrect as had contacted them in November 2016 to get final bills and made payments as requested. At this point I get an email (and letter) back which states (extracts);
"we apologise for the error, and confirm there is no balance due on your account". Furthermore, it went on to say "please ignore any future correspondence you may receive in relation to this matter".
Move forward to later in 2017 and I receive a letter from SSE saying they made an error in telling me there was no monies due, and there was infact a balance owed. I obviously wrote back advising them of the contents of their letter, and that as I no longer had access to the property in question (and had disregarded meter readings taken as had no reason to keep them) I had no way of knowing whether what they were saying was correct or not. They wrote back saying I owed monies and if not paid they would seek to recover, etc, etc.
I am now received regular correspondence, ie letters, emails, phone calls from a debt collecting agency about the monies they alledge are owed, to which I have simply wrote back state the 'debt' is disputed, and I have a letter from their client stating there is no balance outstanding and furthermore I should ignore them. I have emailed them this (along with a copy of the letter), and phoned they to confirm such.
I have now however just received a letter stating that if I do not pay then SSE 'may' register a default on my credit file. My concern with this is I am looking to remortgage in November to a better deal (as my current one will expire) so don't want any issue with my credit file. That said, clearly I am not going to pay for something I don't believe I owed, and furthermore don't believe they will actually go 'legal' (ie through courts) as clearly I will simply pull out their letter stating there is not debt.
It's becoming a bit of a pain though to be honest. I'm argueable going to threaten charging them for the time I am spending dealing with the matter.
Thoughts ???
Helicopter123 said:
How much are they looking for?
A default in your credit file would be a real problem come remortgage time and a ball-ache to remove, even if you are 100% correct.
Can you pay it, and then dispute the amount? ie, seek a refund?
Don't pay it, you'll never see the money again.A default in your credit file would be a real problem come remortgage time and a ball-ache to remove, even if you are 100% correct.
Can you pay it, and then dispute the amount? ie, seek a refund?
WinstonWolf said:
Helicopter123 said:
How much are they looking for?
A default in your credit file would be a real problem come remortgage time and a ball-ache to remove, even if you are 100% correct.
Can you pay it, and then dispute the amount? ie, seek a refund?
Don't pay it, you'll never see the money again.A default in your credit file would be a real problem come remortgage time and a ball-ache to remove, even if you are 100% correct.
Can you pay it, and then dispute the amount? ie, seek a refund?
I had my meter changed at SSE instigation because it was life expired. Three months on I was still getting estimated bills on the old meter. I had to tell them the meter had been replaced and provide a photo with its readings. It then took a further month for them to sort out my bill.
Helicopter123 said:
WinstonWolf said:
Helicopter123 said:
How much are they looking for?
A default in your credit file would be a real problem come remortgage time and a ball-ache to remove, even if you are 100% correct.
Can you pay it, and then dispute the amount? ie, seek a refund?
Don't pay it, you'll never see the money again.A default in your credit file would be a real problem come remortgage time and a ball-ache to remove, even if you are 100% correct.
Can you pay it, and then dispute the amount? ie, seek a refund?
This sounds like blackmail to my way of thinking.
WinstonWolf said:
Helicopter123 said:
WinstonWolf said:
Helicopter123 said:
How much are they looking for?
A default in your credit file would be a real problem come remortgage time and a ball-ache to remove, even if you are 100% correct.
Can you pay it, and then dispute the amount? ie, seek a refund?
Don't pay it, you'll never see the money again.A default in your credit file would be a real problem come remortgage time and a ball-ache to remove, even if you are 100% correct.
Can you pay it, and then dispute the amount? ie, seek a refund?
This sounds like blackmail to my way of thinking.
Given the time frame, avoiding the default on the credit file is key.
Why are energy companies, sorry, some energy suppliers so utterly useless and incompetent. I had a long-running saga with NPower, they changed the meters at their insistence. Their engineer and I supplied final old meter reading and the new meter start reading. Next month supplied the new meter readings as part of the regular schedule.
All good except that the bill which ensued completely ignored the meter change and assumed that in one month we had used so much power as to run the old meter right round the clock and tgrough all the zeros to the new reading.
You'd think that would be easy to sort, but calls to the customer service centre were like hitting your head on a wall. Eventually gathered that ringing up and complaining wasn't enough, you had to physically say "I want to complain and register a formal complaint." or words to that effect. At which point the customer service aka fob you off department passed you onto the complaints team and that was the start of getting it underway to being sorted.
So my advice is to register a complaint properly.
Mind you that doesn't always work. An intermediary bank once buggered up a transaction causing great inconvenience. They refused to accept a complaint as neither the payer, nor me as the payee were direct customers of that organisation. Ombudsman was waste of oxygen.
All good except that the bill which ensued completely ignored the meter change and assumed that in one month we had used so much power as to run the old meter right round the clock and tgrough all the zeros to the new reading.
You'd think that would be easy to sort, but calls to the customer service centre were like hitting your head on a wall. Eventually gathered that ringing up and complaining wasn't enough, you had to physically say "I want to complain and register a formal complaint." or words to that effect. At which point the customer service aka fob you off department passed you onto the complaints team and that was the start of getting it underway to being sorted.
So my advice is to register a complaint properly.
Mind you that doesn't always work. An intermediary bank once buggered up a transaction causing great inconvenience. They refused to accept a complaint as neither the payer, nor me as the payee were direct customers of that organisation. Ombudsman was waste of oxygen.
FiF said:
Why are energy companies, sorry, some energy suppliers so utterly useless and incompetent. I had a long-running saga with NPower, they changed the meters at their insistence. Their engineer and I supplied final old meter reading and the new meter start reading. Next month supplied the new meter readings as part of the regular schedule.
All good except that the bill which ensued completely ignored the meter change and assumed that in one month we had used so much power as to run the old meter right round the clock and tgrough all the zeros to the new reading.
You'd think that would be easy to sort, but calls to the customer service centre were like hitting your head on a wall. Eventually gathered that ringing up and complaining wasn't enough, you had to physically say "I want to complain and register a formal complaint." or words to that effect. At which point the customer service aka fob you off department passed you onto the complaints team and that was the start of getting it underway to being sorted.
So my advice is to register a complaint properly.
Mind you that doesn't always work. An intermediary bank once buggered up a transaction causing great inconvenience. They refused to accept a complaint as neither the payer, nor me as the payee were direct customers of that organisation. Ombudsman was waste of oxygen.
being on the cusp of beginning the complaint process with scottish power having looked at the complaint process through them and then ombudsman and possibly ofgem, i can only conclude the energy providers designed it themselves to dissuade people from making complaints.All good except that the bill which ensued completely ignored the meter change and assumed that in one month we had used so much power as to run the old meter right round the clock and tgrough all the zeros to the new reading.
You'd think that would be easy to sort, but calls to the customer service centre were like hitting your head on a wall. Eventually gathered that ringing up and complaining wasn't enough, you had to physically say "I want to complain and register a formal complaint." or words to that effect. At which point the customer service aka fob you off department passed you onto the complaints team and that was the start of getting it underway to being sorted.
So my advice is to register a complaint properly.
Mind you that doesn't always work. An intermediary bank once buggered up a transaction causing great inconvenience. They refused to accept a complaint as neither the payer, nor me as the payee were direct customers of that organisation. Ombudsman was waste of oxygen.
as for my complaint, apparently scottish power do not take meter readings to assess gas/electricity usage, only to establish meter is working. i kid you not,phone drone stated this today. we were going to switch provider but apparently we owe nearly 700 quid despite paying by direct debit and having the meter read at minimum 4 times per year. supposedly due to increased usage at the tail end of last year and beginning of this year. why not bill promptly based on meter readings then you utter clowns.
They are chasing arou d 1k (including fees).
Just don't u understand how they can register s default when the matter is in query and I have correspondence stating there is no debt.
I'm happy for them to go legal if they choose to, but need to in my view get a judgement in their favour before being able to ruin someones credit file. Surely ???
Just don't u understand how they can register s default when the matter is in query and I have correspondence stating there is no debt.
I'm happy for them to go legal if they choose to, but need to in my view get a judgement in their favour before being able to ruin someones credit file. Surely ???
they should be writing that off............fools.
My company give me grief to give them a reading
so I do, accurately.
next letter says, that's too low, can't be accurate, do it again.
so I do, accurately.
another letter, that's too low. I call them, explain..........all good
then a man comes to the door to read both meters. I let him.
He goes away
another letter, that's too low.
FFS - shoot me now.
My company give me grief to give them a reading
so I do, accurately.
next letter says, that's too low, can't be accurate, do it again.
so I do, accurately.
another letter, that's too low. I call them, explain..........all good
then a man comes to the door to read both meters. I let him.
He goes away
another letter, that's too low.
FFS - shoot me now.
I remember a nice power company when I was in London disputing the meter readings and told me I was lying, got some snotty b
h on the phone about how I was lying and I was in fact using the equivalent of a 4 bed house in my 2 bed flat.
I disputed this and asked how the readings were wrong again... they had said I lied and I had given the wrong readings, I asked how that was possible when the meter readings had accompanying photos of said meter which were date and time stamped.
fking dozy ass company didnt even bother to look at attachments when I sent in the emails.
Didnt even get an apology... I had half a mind to let them take it all the way, but it seemed like too much hassle.
h on the phone about how I was lying and I was in fact using the equivalent of a 4 bed house in my 2 bed flat.I disputed this and asked how the readings were wrong again... they had said I lied and I had given the wrong readings, I asked how that was possible when the meter readings had accompanying photos of said meter which were date and time stamped.
f
king dozy ass company didnt even bother to look at attachments when I sent in the emails.Didnt even get an apology... I had half a mind to let them take it all the way, but it seemed like too much hassle.
FiF said:
Why are energy companies, sorry, some energy suppliers so utterly useless and incompetent.
That's like asking why is the Pope a Catholic? 
It goes with the territory.FiF said:
I had a long-running saga with NPower, they changed the meters at their insistence. Their engineer and I supplied final old meter reading and the new meter start reading. Next month supplied the new meter readings as part of the regular schedule.
All good except that the bill which ensued completely ignored the meter change and assumed that in one month we had used so much power as to run the old meter right round the clock and tgrough all the zeros to the new reading.
By some margin the worst energy company of the lot. They insisted that a business I worked for would benefit from switching to AMR which meant new meters.All good except that the bill which ensued completely ignored the meter change and assumed that in one month we had used so much power as to run the old meter right round the clock and tgrough all the zeros to the new reading.
Unfortunately the decision to do so wasn't mine to make. Had it been I would never have agreed.
3 years down the line, I was suddenly presented with a bill for £55k! After a HUGE amount of hassle it transpired that the install had been royally f
d up.It took nearly 2 years to sort out the unholy mess they created. The final settlement was for £6K. As soon as that was out of the way. I got the MD to terminate the contract.
The guy who signed it on behalf of the company (and had made several other unwise decisions) decided his future lay elsewhere.
ging84 said:
they can't register a credit default, unless you signed a credit agreement, which is not typical for an energy supplier
They can and they do. Furthermore a signed credit agreement is not required. See Schedule 4 of the Utilities Act 2000.As the OP has informed the DCA that the matter is in dispute with creditor, the DCA is obliged to back off.
Failure to do so is a clear breach of the Credit Services Association's CoP.
He should keep any future correspondence received from the DCA as evidence for a complaint.
http://www.csa-uk.com/assets/documents/forms/csa_c...
OP, if the threat of registering a default is in a letter from the DCA, then it's just scare tactics.
Only the creditor can do so. If it does while negotiations are ongoing, that would be very unwise.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/bills-and-utilities/ga...
If you want to know just how extreme a supplier can get see Ferguson v British Gas Trading Ltd.
https://swarb.co.uk/ferguson-v-british-gas-trading...
Full transcript here - http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2009/46.ht...
Red Devil said:
If you want to know just how extreme a supplier can get see Ferguson v British Gas Trading Ltd.
https://swarb.co.uk/ferguson-v-british-gas-trading...
Full transcript here - http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2009/46.ht...
Martin Porter QC for British Gas, the cyclingsilk, that explains a lot. https://swarb.co.uk/ferguson-v-british-gas-trading...
Full transcript here - http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2009/46.ht...
Good spot.
The chap who instigated a private prosecution against a driver and lost.
The jury were singularly unimpressed and took a mere 20 minutes to say "No way, Jose."
That little jolly cost the taxpayer a tidy sum.
A sharp critique of the system.
http://barristerblogger.com/2016/03/10/dont-blame-...
Another barrister's opinion of Mr Porter.
https://thesecretbarrister.com/2016/04/08/you-call...
The chap who instigated a private prosecution against a driver and lost.
The jury were singularly unimpressed and took a mere 20 minutes to say "No way, Jose."
That little jolly cost the taxpayer a tidy sum.
A sharp critique of the system.
http://barristerblogger.com/2016/03/10/dont-blame-...
Another barrister's opinion of Mr Porter.
https://thesecretbarrister.com/2016/04/08/you-call...
I thought there were new rules about power companies issuing back dated demands? Not sure where I have read it.
Ahh googling finds this https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/consumers/household-gas-a...
Does this help?
Ahh googling finds this https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/consumers/household-gas-a...
Does this help?
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