ZEST 4 in administration!

peeler_2

Zest took the DD on the 4/2, when it was due on the 6/2 - after they were in receivership - is this legal? If you were in credit, the money isn't owed and should be returned by the bank!? Anyone know?

Martin?

ant500

Same here was in credit on the 2nd of Feb but they took another £49 on the 5th of Feb do you think I will get this money back don’t want to cancel the direct debit if they are going to put the money back.

Just got the bill thought the post it says that I am £45.37 in credit anybody know what happens to this money have I lost it.

smartie1976

Direct debits are claimed 3 days in advance - set aside if you like - to guarantee payment. This is why you must cancel stuff more than 3 days in advanace of any payment being due. This is how the DD system works, and it is not the fault of Zest, it's an automated process at the bank.

I can hypothesise that you will not lose the money as British Gas will take over each any every account, regardless of whether it be in credit, or in debt.
You may, however, have to wait whilst BG take full ownership in order to request a refund credit.

"British Gas has been named as the new electricity supplier for customers of Zest4, which went into administration on Friday (3rd Feb?).

Zest4 Electricity had around 8,500 domestic customers and British Gas will write to them to explain its terms of supply. The arrangements ensure that Zest4’s customers will continue to be supplied without interruption.

The appointment of British Gas to take over these customers was made by UK energy regulator Ofgem."

oldwiring

mhendo wrote:

Where do we stand in terms of electricity with Zest4? I can't access my online account anymore, so can't see my last bill (and therefore work out if I'm in credit/debit based on this quarter's usage).

And what happens effective 03/02/06? Are charges now due to the local electricity board? (eg EDF Energy)

Moral is always make a copy in text form (or any type of file that will not br lost if the system fails in any way. Have you got a copy of an ealier bill with the balance outstanding then? Provided the tarriff has not altered and you know what you have paid, you can work out your positon by teking your own meter reading, surely.

mhendo

You do not have to give 3 days' notice to cancel a Direct Debit. The originator leave 3 days' notice of taking Direct Debits (or making Direct Payments) through BACS. The reason is:-
Day 1 = Submission Date (day company transmits to BACS Buraex)
Day 2 = Processing Date (banks will process the request that night)
Day 3 = Direct Debit collection date, or BACS payment date (day the transaction appears on the account).

Day 2 & Day 3 must always be immediately following each other (in terms of working days). Day 1 can be quite a way in advance of Day 2&3 - recommended at least 3 clear working days notice, but can be somewhere up to a month in advance if I recall correctly.

As long as the Direct Debit is cancelled before close of business on Day 2 (eg Nationwide will accept cancellations up to 18:00 to take effect same day), then the Direct Debit collection will be stopped.


With regard to the post concerned about whether they'll receive the money back - you don't need to have the Direct Debit mandate in place in order for Zest4 to refund the money back to the account.


I managed to get my Direct Debit of the 5th refunded, as when I looked days after the cancellation I put through there was another Zest4 mandate active on my account. Contacted through online banking, and they found that Zest4 set original Direct Debit up under "Zest4 Electricity" on 21/01/05, and continued taking payments using that until Jan 2006. In May 2005, they set-up an additional Direct Debit arrangement against my account, using a different originator ID - this was never used until either the Jan or Feb 2006 payment.

On those grounds, my bank refunded the Direct Debit to my account under the Direct Debit Guarantee.

mhendo

oldwiring wrote:

Moral is always make a copy in text form (or any type of file that will not br lost if the system fails in any way. Have you got a copy of an ealier bill with the balance outstanding then? Provided the tarriff has not altered and you know what you have paid, you can work out your positon by teking your own meter reading, surely.

I wa going to exactly that this month, as I was due to give a meter reading - sadly a little too late

Good news is, as per my above post I got the £27.08 DD taken on 05/02/06 refunded. I know I was slightly in credit at last bill - around £7 I think. I suspect I may have gone into more credit this quarter, but now I have the last payment refunded I probably owe them a small amount.

I wasn't aware if British Gas would continue the accounts, or start a clean slate. I'm sure if I owe anything, they'll let me know sooner than if they owe me a refund

Ignite

Hi,

I've had a letter today from Zest4 explaining that they are in administration. Included was a final bill that was about 1000 units out (we are a high user of electricity). In the letter, they have not said though who the new energy company is, only that Ofgem are in the process of appointing new suppliers.

At the bottom of the letter they list that David Rubin & Partners are the administrators and list 2 people in this company who are dealing with the Zest4 case. Doing a quick search, the telephone number of this company is 020 7400 7900. I've had a chat with one of the administrators and he is going to look at our bill.

My main worry about all of this is that we will lose money. The estimate of the bill as I said before was way off and we are in credit to the tune of just under £50 when the final bill is calculated using their estimate. I gave them a true reading from Saturday night (I took it when I read this thread), and they are going to look at updating this. If this estimate has been given the British Gas, I may have a fight on my hands so I don't end up paying twice for the electricity.

I think what may end up happening is that Zest4 use a low estimate reading so that most people are in credit. This will mean that they have more money on their books and we end up losing big time. This is only a guess though on my part going by my bill.

I've been told by the administrator that British Gas have been appointed by OFGEM to take over the supply. From what I was told, this means that they are taking over the supply, not the finances of Zest4. Basically, it is a "forced change of supplier" rather than one of our choice. Therefore, BG will start billing us from the reading they are given and will open a new account in our names. We will then have to start paying BG.

Andy

Ignite

mhendo wrote:

I wasn't aware if British Gas would continue the accounts, or start a clean slate. I'm sure if I owe anything, they'll let me know sooner than if they owe me a refund

British Gas are starting a clean slate. My bill included with the letter was headed as "Your Final Statement". This was also backed up by the administrator.

folly

We had our DD returned (thankfully) and recieved a bill this am taking our credit into account .

horizon

I have recieved the letter from them this morning.
First I knew of them going into administration !

My final statement says I was £93 in credit !

I'm pretty sure, that I have no chance of getting these monies refunded.

So much for money saving.