CCJ whilst in Prison!

dagsky

Hey all,

I have a major problem with severn trent water and its really doing my head in because these guys have no clue what their right hand is doing from their left!!

Ok little background info, i moved into property 19 july 2009 had a few water bills come through that i ignored, had a Notice from Count Court come through sometime in november 2009, called up water and agreed to avoid ccj i must pay by water card. No problem i start paying by water card.

Then i know i am going to prison on 26 march 2010 so i call them say i'm off to prison send me a final bill (this info is logged on their system). No final bill came before i went into prison.

came out of prison on 21 july 2010 then checked credit file last month and i see a ccj from them for £97. I call em up and am told send proof of being in prison and we can see what to do. I send proof of this to them. I get a letter from them now saying give us proof you're no longer responsible for bills at address from 26 march 2010 EVEN THOUGH i was sat in prison and they have evidence of this! Anyway get proof from landlord that i was no longer responsible after 26 march 2010.
Now i recieve a bill saying they want £197!!! I call them and ask waht the hell they on about, i get told from the date i moved in 19 july 2009 to 26 march 2010 my bill was £105.76. I have made payments to the amount of £104.30. They then tell me that they have added £100 court costs, £25 solicitors fees £4.09 interest fees and £2.25 fees for something else. I then say tell how exactly you get £197.64 when what you've just said to me comes to roughly £130. Phone was put down on me!!

I have a spliiting headache from dealing with this and need some advice as to how i can proceed with this issue and especially wether or not they could give me the ccj.

thanks

RAS

Start by making a formal complaint.

In the mean-time, start the process of getting a re-determination and let them know in your complaint letter that you will seek court costs if you have to go through with it.

dagsky

Um ok, don't really wanna sound blonde but can you tell what a re-determanation is and also can you perhaps highlight some key issues i need to make in my formal complaint.

d3mon4ngel

My advice to you is to make a complaint to Severn Trent in writing. Send an email to: [EMAIL="customer.relations@severntrent.co.uk"]customer.relations@severntrent.co.uk[/EMAIL]
I wouldn't bother to phone them at all as nothing seems to get done that way.

I have just gone through a similiar sort of thing with them (no prison involved though lol), where they hadn't calculated my final bill until nearly 10 months after I'd informed them I'd left the property.

I was told in May this year that it was an error on their part, but it took until the 16th June to confirm this in writing and say that they have sent the paperwork to get it set aside (though I didn't receive that letter until 2nd July!). The courts have only just received the paperwork for this on 27th Sept, and that was after me chasing many times via phone. It was only after I emailed them, and ended up getting the Consumer Council for Water involved, that anything seemed to get done.

RAS

Hi Here is the court stuff http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=12_how_to_set_aside_a_judgment_in_the_county_court

Your arguement for the court case is:

1. The court papers were sent to your old address despite them knowing you were elsewhere, preventing you from defending the case.
2. They knew you had left the property and did not owe the money.

dagsky

ok thanks for that. With regard to emailsif i ever needed to go to court wouldn't that be used to their advantage saying i've got no proof of writing to them? I know with the info they requested i did all via the same email addy above and although i never recieved a reply to my email confirming that it was read. So they could wiggle out saying email never recieved...... or am i just panicking?

RAS

The mere fact that you were not at the address is adequate for a redetermination hearing. You have proof you were elsewhere.

determined_new_ms

I really do feel for you, water boards are ABSOLUTELY SHOCKING :mad: It is my firm belief that being a monopoly means they can apply shoddy practices - I know of so many ppl who have experienced this including myself (I moved house, transferred bill to current house, overpaid over 10 mnths but they didn't link up the accounts so while I was £150 in credit in my current account & £120 in debt in my old account, so I had DCAs chasing me. Everytime I spoke to someone they could see it was a c**k up but it took a while to resolve & a lot of stress) keep at it & it'll be resolved

dagsky

man alive this is just going to be a nightmare dealing with em! And whilst reading through all the reply's i notice someone mention they can't do me over for money i don't owe them. I did/do however owe them like £1.46 which was meant to be paid on the final bill which they never sent to me before i went to prison. How i get this figure is when i asked them today how much my bill was from the period i lived there they said it was £105.76 and when i asked how much i had paid via water card i was told £104.30.

So do i go down email or recorded mail?

dagsky

hey guys i've typed up my letter to severn trent, could you please have a read and tell me if its ok.


13 October 2010 xxxxxxxx
xxxxxxx
xxxxr
xxxx

Formal Complaint - Account Ref: xxxxxxxx

To Whom It May Concern

I am writing a formal complaint as I have been unable to obtain a satisfactory resolution to my issue over the phone. My complaint is about the outstanding balance on my account and the ccj that you have issued against me.

I will begin with the ccj issue, i received a Claim Form (N1) from Northampton County Court, Claim Number xxxxxx, dated xxx December 2009 after which i soon contacted you to arrange a payment agreement. I was told that i could pay via watercard and no further action would be taken against in respect to the Claim Form and i needn't send the Claim Form back to yourselves or the County Court. In March 2010 i contacted your customer service department and informed them that i would be going to prison on the xx March 2010 and requested that a final bill be sent out to me. No final bill was sent out to me before i went to prison.

On the xx September 2010 i applied for credit and was declined. Curious as to why, i obtained my credit file and discovered that you had issued a ccj against me on xx/05/2010. This was done whilst you were fully aware that i was in prison. I contacted your collections department on the xxth September 2010 and spoke to one of your colleagues about this and she requested a copy of my Discharge Notice from prison (which was sent to you on the xxth September 2010) and she assured me that once that was received the ccj would be taken care of.

I then received a letter from you requesting proof of termination of my tenancy for the property in question, which was sent to you on xx October 2010.

On the xxth October 2010 i received a Final Bill dated xx October 2010. This bill is extremely unclear and is misleading. At this stage i request that you actually go and print off this exact bill in the same format as i have received and try and make heads or tails of it, chances are you probably wouldn't understand it to.

According to the bill, my bal brought forward is £258.94. My payments and adjustments are £269.31cr leaving YOU owing me £10.37. However if you read the bottom of the bill it still says i owe you £197.64!

I would like to see a clear detailed breakdown of how you arrived to the figure of £258.94.
I would like to see a clear detailed breakdown of how you arrived to the figure of £269.31 credit.
I would like to see a clear detailed breakdown of how you arrived to the figure of £197.64 that i still owe you.

At the back of the bill you list payments and adjustments i would like a clear explanation to what the solicitors costs of £22.00 are for, the Solicitors complete and full details and how you arrived to an interest figure of £4.09.

I would also like to know why on the 31st August 2010 you have credited a Court Warrant Fee of £100 and Warrant Cost of £2.25.

On the 2nd October 2010 i see you have applied your Court Warrant Cost of £100 and Warrant cost of £2.25 back to my account. I would like to see evidence of what address it was sent to, proof of postage, a copy of the actual warrant dated 2nd October 2010.

Going back to your original Claim Form N1, i note from the form that you attempted to claim £175.72, which was made up of £110.72 for services, £15 court fees, £50 Solicitors costs.

I would like to see a clear detailed breakdown of how you arrived to the figure of £110.72 and the supposed billing period of that figure.
I would also like to know the complete full details of the Solicitors used in this case.

I note from the ccj you had issued against me, you claimed an amount of £97. I would like a clear detailed breakdown of how you came to that figure and request to see proof of your documents sent to the court with this figure.

As you can see from the above i am not a happy customer. I do hope that you can resolve this issue in a timely manner as it is causing me untold stress and financial stress. If i fail to hear back from you/have this issue resolved then i will be reporting the matter to Consumer Council for Water. I will also in the interim period be applying to the Court for a re-determination and if required to proceed further i would be claiming for all costs incurred as well as financial compensation as a direct loss from the effect of the ccj.

I look forward to hearing back from you

Yours Truly

xxxxxxxx



thanks

dagsky

hey guys just an update on this, i had a call from ST and they say the decision still stands as they put the claim in december 2009 and i had agreed to pay them by watercard. SO i said when i called you for a final bill why didn't you send one and we wouldn't be in this mess!! SO how do i proceed with this?