New Tenant made to assume previous occupants debt

robredz

A friends daughter has been given a tenancy by a housing association. There was a prepay meter fitted in the house with the supplier being Manweb Scottish Power. The supply was off and the meter would need £25 to re-establish the supply, as they continue to accrue cost until credit is put in. it is also set to recover a fixed amount each week against the debt owed by previous tenants. The problem is that when she contacted Manweb to register for a supply, she was told to put money on the existing card, and use that. She said that that would mean paying someone else's debt, Manweb said that the housing association didn't inform them the house was empty so basically she must assume the debt. She tried other suppliers but because there was a prepay with arrears in the house, they didn't want to know. I have told her to go to the CAB but she will be lucky to get an appointment within the next month. She is on benefits and it is unconsionable for her to be paying Manweb for someone else's debt. I will contact them as a local councillor, after she has given me a letter of authority to deal with Manweb, and phoned them with her present to tell them it's OK for me to deal with the matter on her behalf, as they will hide behind data protection.
At the least they should refund her money, reset the meter and cancel the recovery. Anyone else any thoughts on this one?

Cardew

I think for £25 you are taking the correct steps.

The difficulty is that Manweb are not going to wipe off debt on the strength of a phone call.

The housing association should have got involved at the beginning, but as you say, she will obviously get a refund when the situation is clarified.

robredz

It goes beyond the initial £25, as she has been in for 10 days now, and so the overpayment is accruing daily, and the HA have contacted Manweb, but they won't deal with them either as they said that they should have been told when the previous occupant left, and as they are not the customer, data protection applies etc, even though they are merely confirming their new tenants right to ask for a new account. I have also told her to contact OFGEN, but judging by recent press articles they are at best a chocolate fireguard.

MarkyMarkD

I don't see why you are sorting the problem out with Manweb.

The problem is the housing association's failure to inform the electricity supplier.

Surely it is their responsibility to provide a new tenant with a house where the services are working and clear of debt?

Rather than faffing about with CAB, I would be on the phone to the HA demanding that they sort it out immediately.

Cross posted!

Manweb are talking tosh.

The HA became the customer, at the point that the house was vacated, but didn't inform Manweb. That's their fault, but it doesn't stop them discussing the matter with Manweb as they still were the customer for a period of time.

Blackpool_Saver

Obviously last ignoramus didn't inform the supplier of their leaving.
It is their account to close not the housing association, but of course where this doesn't happen it becomes the responsibility of the housing association.

robredz

Blackpool_Saver wrote: »

Obviously last ignoramus didn't inform the supplier of their leaving.

That is blatantly obvious, but the HA SHOULD have told the utilities, that in itself should not matter as she has documentation and can send them a copy of the tenancy agreement as proof of her start date, at which point they should fess up sort the meter and pay her back. I am involved as a local community councillor, and have been an advice worker previously. Manweb are talking tosh, but there has been a trend for utilities to try to "encourage" new occupants to inherit debt where a pre-pay is fitted. Just more convenient for them, notwithstanding they get their money back even if wrongly. I feel this should be a CAB social policy issue.

Cardew

You are quite correct that, if allowed, some Utility company call centre staff will 'take the least line of resistance' and attempt to get the problem 'solved' without having to pass the problem up to a supervisor.

I suspect it is more the individual at fault than any company policy. The problem is the culture in call centres that identifies good operators as those who 'solve' problems.

robredz

Cardew wrote: »

You are quite correct that, if allowed, some Utility company call centre staff will 'take the least line of resistance' and attempt to get the problem 'solved' without having to pass the problem up to a supervisor.

I suspect it is more the individual at fault than any company policy. The problem is the culture in call centres that identifies good operators as those who 'solve' problems.

I agree, but this attitude by staff does the company image a great deal of no good. We will see how good their customer service skills are when they are asked to escalate the problem upstairs, next week.

Cardew

robredz wrote: »

I agree, but this attitude by staff does the company image a great deal of no good. We will see how good their customer service skills are when they are asked to escalate the problem upstairs, next week.

I agree about the image - but few have a good image anyway.

Another factor is that none of the Utility companies really want pre-pay customers.

Even when they charged a premium on pre-pay tariffs they lost money, as the accounts are expensive to administer.

Since, under political pressure, they have removed that premium from the tariff they lose more money.

So again I suspect that affects the attitude toward pre-pay customers.

robredz

Like them or not, they are stuck with them, as the person involved would not be able to pay by DD anyway. The numbers of prepay customers will increase again due to the rising unemployment, and more consumers being unable to meet their energy bills, especially as OFGEN say prices will rise by 60% in the future.

justinet1982

Hi

This has happened to me just in the past month, there was a £596 electric debt and a £986 gas bill, both disconnected and we weren't informed before we signed the lease so i've been fighting the battle ever since, signed the lease almost 5 weeks ago and haven't moved into our house yet. I phoned the electric company and told them that i was not going to pay someone else s debt and was adamant on that, they have wiped the charge off the meter also i was getting nowhere with the gas company so I've gone to hydro electric and they are doing the gas for us, they are also the ones who sorted the electric. Maybe you should try them, they are very accommodating.