Utility Companies and debt collection...
Discussion
This is a bit of a legalish question really, concerning an un-named utility company and an unauthorised withdrawal.
Moved into my current (no pun intended) house last summer and took my previous utility company with me, all notified correctly etc and paying monthly by DD for gas and electric. For whatever reason, I received no bills or requests for meter readings for a year until I swapped to BG, even though the DD was being taken, regular as clockwork.
A couple of weeks later, £2k was taken from my account by the original company, again I had received no notification of a final bill. I got the cash back through the direct debit guarantee scheme and finally got a letter from the co. in question giving me a figure for the final amount owing and a request to pay the balance owing immediately.
The withdrawal of £2k caused a few problems wrt bouncing other DDs etc, which obviously incurred charges and as it happened in the middle of the month (and I had cash in my pocket) it was about 6 days til I knew about it, when I started getting letters from the bank, so we're talking about £200 of bank charges, plus the hassle of cancelling other DDs, setting up alternate funding til the money was repayed (that took aout ten days)and then re-instating all of the DDs.
So I wrote back to the co. saying that I agreed that I owed the money, minus of course the bank charges incurred by their "unlawful" withdrawal of funds (plus a bit for the trouble they had caused me), that there was no way I could pay it off in one go and that £50 a month would be acceptable to me and here was the first cheque. That cheque was cashed immediately by them, and about 3 weeks later I got another letter from them giving me 7 days to pay, with £50 deducted from their original total.
So again I wrote back to them, included another cheque (again for £50) and gave them a copy of my original letter. This cheque was also cashed straight away.
About ten days later I get a call from an Indian call centre (and thats another story!), requesting the balance immediately. I refused, and referred them to my letter, again saying that I don't dispute that I owe the money, but as I had no notification of the final bill til they raided my account, and that as I had received no bills throughout the time I was with them, I felt that paying back at a fixed amount per month was acceptable. They responded with a threat of legal action if not paid off within 3 months.
Now I seem to recall that in situations like this, if a "sensible" method of debt repayment is suggested then unless they write back to me and say that "part payment has been accepted WITHOUT PREJUDICE", then my suggested terms are legally binding on both parties.
Anyone been in a similar situation?
Ta
Mondeoman
Moved into my current (no pun intended) house last summer and took my previous utility company with me, all notified correctly etc and paying monthly by DD for gas and electric. For whatever reason, I received no bills or requests for meter readings for a year until I swapped to BG, even though the DD was being taken, regular as clockwork.
A couple of weeks later, £2k was taken from my account by the original company, again I had received no notification of a final bill. I got the cash back through the direct debit guarantee scheme and finally got a letter from the co. in question giving me a figure for the final amount owing and a request to pay the balance owing immediately.
The withdrawal of £2k caused a few problems wrt bouncing other DDs etc, which obviously incurred charges and as it happened in the middle of the month (and I had cash in my pocket) it was about 6 days til I knew about it, when I started getting letters from the bank, so we're talking about £200 of bank charges, plus the hassle of cancelling other DDs, setting up alternate funding til the money was repayed (that took aout ten days)and then re-instating all of the DDs.
So I wrote back to the co. saying that I agreed that I owed the money, minus of course the bank charges incurred by their "unlawful" withdrawal of funds (plus a bit for the trouble they had caused me), that there was no way I could pay it off in one go and that £50 a month would be acceptable to me and here was the first cheque. That cheque was cashed immediately by them, and about 3 weeks later I got another letter from them giving me 7 days to pay, with £50 deducted from their original total.
So again I wrote back to them, included another cheque (again for £50) and gave them a copy of my original letter. This cheque was also cashed straight away.
About ten days later I get a call from an Indian call centre (and thats another story!), requesting the balance immediately. I refused, and referred them to my letter, again saying that I don't dispute that I owe the money, but as I had no notification of the final bill til they raided my account, and that as I had received no bills throughout the time I was with them, I felt that paying back at a fixed amount per month was acceptable. They responded with a threat of legal action if not paid off within 3 months.
Now I seem to recall that in situations like this, if a "sensible" method of debt repayment is suggested then unless they write back to me and say that "part payment has been accepted WITHOUT PREJUDICE", then my suggested terms are legally binding on both parties.
Anyone been in a similar situation?
Ta
Mondeoman
Can't help with an answer to your question, but have a look at www.energywatch.org.uk
You can make a complaint to them about the way you have been dealt with, and help resolve the issue for you.
You can make a complaint to them about the way you have been dealt with, and help resolve the issue for you.
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