Post Office Giro

jodt2303

I'm hoping this is the right thread...

My Grandmother (85) pays her water bill (South West Water) by Giro at the Post Office. At the start of the year she had her bill come through, (I think it was the 6th) and she went to pay it on the 7th. The amount was for £94.47, and the lady at the Post Office was apparently umming and ahhing about the odd 47p, so she suggested that my Gran take the money out of her PO account and pay the Giro that way.

It all gets sorted out and Gran thinks no more about it, until Thursday just gone when she gets a reminder from SWW telling her that she has not paid her bill and she will be taken to court, water switched off and they are going to send the bailiffs round etc, all of which really upset her because she paid it!

We spoke to customer services and they said to send a copy of the reciept to them as proof. I went to photocopy it and noticed that the reciept that got stapled to her bill didn't say that it was to pay SWW, so I am assuming the payment did not go through.

My Gran went to the post office to ask the lady about it and find the Giro and she said she was going to have a look, as it is a barcoded one they have to keep it apparently, but as yet she has not found it.

My question is what do we do from here? Do we pay the bill again and chase the PO or wait for them to sort it all out?

Thank you

Jo

Hintza

Explain what is going on to the water company and ask them to put the bill on hold whilst you sort it out.

sixleafclover

All water bills and payment books for water bills have a barcode on them, so the counter staff scan that and put the reciept in the book.

When the bill is scanned, the post office has an AP reciept for all transactions for that day, so they should be able to find the reciept without any trouble.

arcon5

she gets a reminder from SWW telling her that she has not paid her bill and she will be taken to court, water switched off and they are going to send the bailiffs round etc

all this in 1 letter ?

jodt2303

Yes, all in one letter.

The post office lady 'knows it's somewhere around here' but has not been able to lay her hand on it.

As you can imagine it has been quite distressing for my Gran

Jeff_Bridges_hair

Firstly write a letter to the water company explaining the situation and ask for it to be put on hold. Secondly write a strongly worded but not rude or full of emotion letter to the postmaster(do they have them?) at the branch explaining what has gone on and why hasnt the giro been found and why was it not used to pay off the water bill in the first place.

jodt2303

My OH rang the water company today requesting that it is put on hold, and was told that the payment is in the process of going through. I am angry that it has take to long to be processed (I have a sneaky suspicion that when Gran went to the post office on Thursday to ask the lady about it she has discovered that it didn't go through and has since done it - I imagine a Giro would take a few days to go through and clear)
I am minded to complain to the Post Office, although I do not want to make it difficult for Gran as she lives in a small village and the PO is pretty much her lifeline and she doesn't want to get the woman in trouble.

Thank you for your help.