Texts/calls from Administrators - Should I Ignore?
Discussion
I had my gas & electric from Extra Energy up until last year when I moved house. I paid my last bill with them on the day I moved, setlling the account.
Last month I had a missed call on my phone and when I called back a recording said it was Extra Energy and apologised for the call saying the firm was in administration but not to worry and any accounts were safe with another utility firm who had taken over. I thought obviously I'm not affected as I'm no longer a customer and hung up.
I've just had a text from 'Extra Energy' asking me to call them urgently, quoting an account number.
Should I ignore them? If I take their call will they try and get me to pay some 'due money' that I can't prove I'm not liable for?
Last month I had a missed call on my phone and when I called back a recording said it was Extra Energy and apologised for the call saying the firm was in administration but not to worry and any accounts were safe with another utility firm who had taken over. I thought obviously I'm not affected as I'm no longer a customer and hung up.
I've just had a text from 'Extra Energy' asking me to call them urgently, quoting an account number.
Should I ignore them? If I take their call will they try and get me to pay some 'due money' that I can't prove I'm not liable for?
I wouldn't ignore it, ignorance is rarely bliss when you need to re-mortgage or something and the broker's face goes a funny colour when he has to tell you, you can't get that super great rate because you've got a default for a £30 admin fee or something on your credit history.
I'd give it a 99% chance it's someone working for another firm who's bought the customers of the failed utilities company and they trying to contact existing customer to sort out billing etc as you suspect, but there's always that 1%.
You can always put the phone down as soon as it's clearly a sales call.
I'd give it a 99% chance it's someone working for another firm who's bought the customers of the failed utilities company and they trying to contact existing customer to sort out billing etc as you suspect, but there's always that 1%.
You can always put the phone down as soon as it's clearly a sales call.
Following the advice above, I called them back this week, the guy who answered introduced himself as working for debt management and claimed I owed Extra Energy £66.00 which was my monthly bill. He then asked me if it was OK to take payment now!
I laughed at him and said I think I'd need to see some evidence from them that I owed the money and that it my opinion I settled the account on the day I left. He said I would have to take that up with Customer Care and gave me an email address.
I took a couple on screenshots of my online banking and it showed 3 transactions for the 2nd July... a payment from me to Extra Energy for £66.00, a refund for the same (can’t remember why) and another payment taken for £72.28.
I wrote to them, attaching the screenshots saying that is my belief that the payment for £72.28 settled the account and no further money was due and that I don't expect to be contacted by calls/texts from them again.
Should I do anything else if they contact me saying the £66.00 is due? It's not the amountthat bothers me but I don't think I owe anything to them.
I laughed at him and said I think I'd need to see some evidence from them that I owed the money and that it my opinion I settled the account on the day I left. He said I would have to take that up with Customer Care and gave me an email address.
I took a couple on screenshots of my online banking and it showed 3 transactions for the 2nd July... a payment from me to Extra Energy for £66.00, a refund for the same (can’t remember why) and another payment taken for £72.28.
I wrote to them, attaching the screenshots saying that is my belief that the payment for £72.28 settled the account and no further money was due and that I don't expect to be contacted by calls/texts from them again.
Should I do anything else if they contact me saying the £66.00 is due? It's not the amountthat bothers me but I don't think I owe anything to them.
Fastchas said:
Following the advice above, I called them back this week, the guy who answered introduced himself as working for debt management and claimed I owed Extra Energy £66.00 which was my monthly bill. He then asked me if it was OK to take payment now!
I laughed at him and said I think I'd need to see some evidence from them that I owed the money and that it my opinion I settled the account on the day I left. He said I would have to take that up with Customer Care and gave me an email address.
I took a couple on screenshots of my online banking and it showed 3 transactions for the 2nd July... a payment from me to Extra Energy for £66.00, a refund for the same (can’t remember why) and another payment taken for £72.28.
I wrote to them, attaching the screenshots saying that is my belief that the payment for £72.28 settled the account and no further money was due and that I don't expect to be contacted by calls/texts from them again.
Should I do anything else if they contact me saying the £66.00 is due? It's not the amountthat bothers me but I don't think I owe anything to them.
I had something similar. Keep on top of it. Did you submit readings when you left? If so, dig them out. If you did it over the phone or on their online portal make sure they share them with you.I laughed at him and said I think I'd need to see some evidence from them that I owed the money and that it my opinion I settled the account on the day I left. He said I would have to take that up with Customer Care and gave me an email address.
I took a couple on screenshots of my online banking and it showed 3 transactions for the 2nd July... a payment from me to Extra Energy for £66.00, a refund for the same (can’t remember why) and another payment taken for £72.28.
I wrote to them, attaching the screenshots saying that is my belief that the payment for £72.28 settled the account and no further money was due and that I don't expect to be contacted by calls/texts from them again.
Should I do anything else if they contact me saying the £66.00 is due? It's not the amountthat bothers me but I don't think I owe anything to them.
Had similar to EDF. Turns out the person who moved in renting afterwards didnt pay for 6 months. They then chased me up 7 years later. Only for me to prove I settled the account.
You have already been helpful in checking your bank for them. I would have said if you think i owe, then send me a bill to prove it.
When you moved it sounds like that amended payment was the final bill as it wasn't your usual amount. As someone else has said, if the new person doesn't let them know they have moved in, or get the date wrong then they might chase you for the difference.
it's a long way in the future, but if they don't send you a bill within 12 months of you moving they cannot get you to pay it, and if they do send one and it is wrong, they have 18 months from the last day that the bill relates to, to send a correct one. My memory is a little hazy, but pretty sure those dates are correct.
When you moved it sounds like that amended payment was the final bill as it wasn't your usual amount. As someone else has said, if the new person doesn't let them know they have moved in, or get the date wrong then they might chase you for the difference.
it's a long way in the future, but if they don't send you a bill within 12 months of you moving they cannot get you to pay it, and if they do send one and it is wrong, they have 18 months from the last day that the bill relates to, to send a correct one. My memory is a little hazy, but pretty sure those dates are correct.
Fastchas said:
I gave them the readings but I’ve no longer got records of them.
Too late now, but you should keep this sort of stuff for a couple of years, maybe longer. Email it to yourself then save the email.Can you still access your account with them?
I had hassle with Economy Energy who went bust about 4 months after I switched away from them. They sent several versions of the final bill but one of them showed I'd overpaid about £200 which they kept saying they're refund but never did. I pulled it back by direct debit recall about a week before they went pop.
Fastchas said:
Following the advice above, I called them back this week, the guy who answered introduced himself as working for debt management and claimed I owed Extra Energy £66.00 which was my monthly bill. He then asked me if it was OK to take payment now!
I laughed at him and said I think I'd need to see some evidence from them that I owed the money and that it my opinion I settled the account on the day I left. He said I would have to take that up with Customer Care and gave me an email address.
I took a couple on screenshots of my online banking and it showed 3 transactions for the 2nd July... a payment from me to Extra Energy for £66.00, a refund for the same (can’t remember why) and another payment taken for £72.28.
I wrote to them, attaching the screenshots saying that is my belief that the payment for £72.28 settled the account and no further money was due and that I don't expect to be contacted by calls/texts from them again.
Should I do anything else if they contact me saying the £66.00 is due? It's not the amountthat bothers me but I don't think I owe anything to them.
This does highlight the importance of following up - most energy firms nowadays will put black marks on your credit file for non-payment etc so it's worth checking they've not fI laughed at him and said I think I'd need to see some evidence from them that I owed the money and that it my opinion I settled the account on the day I left. He said I would have to take that up with Customer Care and gave me an email address.
I took a couple on screenshots of my online banking and it showed 3 transactions for the 2nd July... a payment from me to Extra Energy for £66.00, a refund for the same (can’t remember why) and another payment taken for £72.28.
I wrote to them, attaching the screenshots saying that is my belief that the payment for £72.28 settled the account and no further money was due and that I don't expect to be contacted by calls/texts from them again.
Should I do anything else if they contact me saying the £66.00 is due? It's not the amountthat bothers me but I don't think I owe anything to them.
ked up as the one it affects most will be you as a customer, not them!Gassing Station | The Lounge | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff