Chased for bill not in my name.

onemorepicture

Hello, I hope you kind people can help, thanks to Martin I got £900 following his advice on the bank charges this year so this site has been of great help.

I have received two letters from LCS over gas/elec bills from Southern Gas/Southern Electric. I lived with my partner in a house we shared during 07 and 08. However she was the breadwinner and had the bills in her name.
We left the property and shortly afterwards I left.

Now this week I have received letters chasing bills of £900 and £200 out of the blue. not only have I not received any bills, they were not in my name - but I suspect my ex has now added my name to avoid the chasing she received (very long story but I paid out on other bills to share the costs)

I suspect this is going to get messy as I no longer have any address for the ex, I believe she has moved again and possibly changed her name.

My first reaction is to get a letter out informing them the bills dont have my name, and the possible change in my partners name. But as with these agencies they will not have a copy of the bills - and since the account was not in my name I cannot request the bills as not the account holder!!

Am I best sticking to my guns and fighting this - as they have the cheek to add £36 admin charge for the first contact they or the power company have sent me!!! or do I so little chance of working on this?

thanks to anyone who has words of advice on this.

DVardysShadow

Your title is misleading. It implies the bills are nothing to do with you and then you paint a picture which indicates that they do have something to do with you.

Premier_2

Are the bills in your name?

If they are then you are liable for them.

If they are not, what are you doing opening other peoples mail?
(just send them back unopened, marked no longer at this address)

onemorepicture

sorry if came across as unclear. Most of the bills while at the property were in my partners name and everything was dealt with by her. I took on certain other bills and managed them and paid them on time. It now is becoming apparent the bills in her name were not even attempted to be paid.

The letter from LCS has my name on it and my ex-partner's. This was addressed to me in my new place and have been here for the last 10 months. I am suspecting that my name was added to the bills by my partner who has ducked from these issues. which would explain why I have not had any contact from Southern Electric or Southern Gas.

My partner was the money earner and earned a large salary - as a result everything was in her name, the house, the bills etc.

My concern is that there is my name on the LCS demand, but not on the bills (to which I have am about to speak to Southern gas/elec to retrieve copies of this) but what would my rights be if my partner had added me to the account out of spite?

Cardew

You have no liability to the Utility company or DCA for the bills in your ex partner's names.

Obviously it is between you and your ex-partner if you have any liability to her, and she could sue you; but that is of no concern to the DCA.

A customer with a debt cannot just give a name to a DCA and tell them that person is responsible for a debt in their own name. Albeit the DCA won't care who they intimidate to get the money.

Don't phone the DCA, just return their letter with a strongly worded response saying it is not your debt and you wish for no further contact.