Can i claim compensation ?

ljonski

Basically my gas meter is and always has been m3. Then, inexplically in august edf started charging me imperial- something i didnt notice till i got an extraordinary large bill just before christmas. it is obviuosly their mistake, but i would like to ask for at least a £10 goodwill payment for the stress a large bill brought me and the detective work to find out the problem. So where do i stand ?
thanks
lj

dogshome

Hi ljonski - Yes you can
A court recently established that it was reasonable for a justified complainant to claim £12 for writing a letter, and £6 per phone call has also been allowed.

As for the cost your time in investigating the problem - You go to work at a £ rate per hour to pay your bills and spend your leasure time in the way you choose. What has been taken from you is your leasure time, so why not charge that at your work time hourly rate?

You don't say how you pay your gas bill - If it is by D/D and EDF's c*ck-up was just a debit balance on the bill, all well and good, but if EDF had actually taken extra money to pay the bill, then you are entitled to interest on the overcharge
All the best

Cardew

A "goodwill payment" is, as the name suggests, at the discretion of the company.

If you can establish a financial loss they you can make a claim.

However £10 is a very modest sum, so why not ask for that amount?

glider3560

dogshome wrote: »

A court recently established that it was reasonable for a justified complainant to claim £12 for writing a letter, and £6 per phone call has also been allowed.

Do you have a source for this?

ljonski

yeh i pay by DD £31 a month thanks

ljonski

An additional problem with this, is that my meter no is 11 digits long. Since time in memorium the bill that i receive contains only 7 digits for my meter no' which apparently were the last 7 digits. When they started charging me imperial ,they apparently quoted the meter no' with the first seven digits instead.From my last bill to the untrained eye, it looks like they are 2 different meter no's,each of 7 digits, but they claim it is the same no'- just one abbreviated from the start and the other abbreviated at its end ! Has anyone heard of such nonsense before ?

dogshome

Hi glider3560 - The source for the Court approval of a £12 letter writeing fee is on this site, buried in the n'power gas Sculpting thread - An OP posted the full details of his entirely successful Civil Court claim, which included £12 letter fee's.
The £6 phone call fee was accepted by a local Small Claims court in a recent case,( Not concerning Utility billing), that I was involved in..

I am fully aware that Small Claims Court decisions do not make law, but it's going to be very difficult for a Utility to defend itself against against these charges from a justified Complainant.

SwanJon

dogshome wrote: »

As for the cost your time in investigating the problem - You go to work at a £ rate per hour to pay your bills and spend your leasure time in the way you choose. What has been taken from you is your leasure time, so why not charge that at your work time hourly rate?

Sorry, Devil's Advocate.

Does this mean that students, stay-at-home parents, the unemployed & the retired aren't entitled to anything?