E.on - Advantis

wizzywig27

Ok, here is my problem, its a bit long winded, and I am not proud of this, but I was looking for some advice on how to go forward with this one, so thanks in advance:

In May 2005 I moved into a flat with my (ex) girlfriend, upon moving in I contacted Powergen (as they were called then) - (I knew Powergen supplied the property as trhe landlord told me). But when I spoke to Powergen they advised me they did not supply the property, so I contacted the major companies (British Gas, Npower etc) who all told me that they did not supply the property. One supplier told me to contact the meter maintenance compant (national grid???) - so I did and they advised me that Powergen DID supply the property. I called Powergen back, who again told me that did not supply the proprty, but were happy to accept me as a new customer, I declined this offer as I needed the landlords consent to change supplier. At this point I had hoped to leave it a while, take some meter readings and wait for a bill to come, then contact the supplier and set it up in my name.

After a few months no bill arrived, due to lazyness and me hoping I could get free electricity (I now know this was a major failing on my part), I did not contact anyone. So I continued to use the electricity as I had no option.

For over a year no bill arrived, then all of a sudden in August 2006 I got a bill for £800+ in the previous occupants name. At this point both me and my flat mate (my ex had moved out at this point) were going our seperate ways, and had both arranged new accomodation, so we just sort of left it (again I am not proud of this as I should have contacted them, but we paniced).

So we both moved out and I move into my new flat. Four months later I get a letter from a DCA looking for payment in full. I contacted them and advised I am not paying anything until I see a bill for the whole period of time I lived there, they said they will put the bill into dispute, which they did. I got a STATEMENT from E.on advising I now owe them £1200. So i called the DCA back and told them I am not going to pay a bill on the 'proof' of a statement. They said they will query it again. After a month or so I got a letter advising me they will not be persuing the debt and have passed it back to E.on.

About 5 months (roughly) I get a letter from Advantis Credit advising me to make payment on this overdue account etc....so I contact them and tell them exactly what I told the other company...so they query it, and E.on send me a bill, 8 pages, one bill (August 2006) and the bill was in the previous tennants name, and the last page was an overview of whats owed in my name. I contact Advantis and advise them, that again, unless I see a bill for the whole period I am not going to pay a penny, and how can they produce a bill in someone elses name and send to me etc, and even if I owed them the full amount, they cant not bill me for a year then bill me £800!

So Advantis put the bill into query again, and again I am told the bill is mine, so I query it AGAIN, and they again get back to me, (were up to present day now) and they tell me that there was a change name request, to which I would have had to be present and agree to it being put in my name (breach of data protection or some law maybe - as I was not actually present).

Now the woman on the phone was pretty arrogant and rude to me, telling me unless I make a payment then she will pass it to litigation as I am refusing to pay, I advised her that this is not the case, and all I want is evidence this bill is mine, she went on to tell me debt can be chased for SEVEN years, I advised her that is simply not the case, as it is 6 years, she got really agressive and put the phone down on me. Now I have informed them that in future all correspondence will be in writing.

Now I am not saying I dont owe this money, nor am I saying I wont pay it, but until I see a bill (which I dont think they can provide) I am not paying a penny. They could be charging me for anything. That on top of the fact that it took them over a year to bill me, then bill me £800+ seems a bit out of order to me. Does anyone have any advice?

Thanks

sammy115

do you have meter readings and/or dates in which you lived in the property...good starting point.

wizzywig27

No meter readings unfortunately, lost them when I changed address

wizzywig27

Anyone else got any advice?

[Deleted User]

Just a bump I'm afraid, someone might be along soon who could help.

Tea
x

wizzywig27

Cheers Tea

wizzywig27

anyone got any advice on this?

Miss-Moneypenny_7

have you spoken to ofgem? one of my friends had a problem but with her gas supply when she moved into a new home and no-one would take responsibility of being her supplier - years later they tried to claim and she contacted ofgem - I think I remember her saying that if it is in excess of 2 years they can't pursue it.

not sure if this is accurate but it might be worth giving them a call.

I am having a similar problem with my electricity, have been in my flat for 11 months, had cards left from southern electric for meter readings which I then provided on the number provided on two different occasions but no billed arrived, eventually chased them to be told they don't supply me. they told me its EDF so I spoke to them but they had no record of my address, to cut a long story short no tenants had ever set up an account so they still had my meter number showing as a plot number and have been billing the developer for 5 years! gave them all my readings and proof of tenancy but 6 weeks later still no bill! Its madness! I bet once I do get a bill they will want it paid in one go - they can go jump! lol

hope you get it sorted out.