Energy suplier cancels my direct debit and then threaten me with legal action

Ducky13

Evening all,

Please could I have some advise as to where I stand?

I have had a number of issues with my energy supplier over the last 18 months which culminated in them not billing me on time and me owing £300 which, as was their mistake (apparantly there was a new billing system introduced and I had "slipped through the net"), "allowed" me to pay back over 6 months....what good hearted souls......

They sent a letter saying they had cancelled my DD as requested.When I contacted them to say that I did not request this they said it was a standard letter and they had done this so I could make 1 manual payment of my monthly DD value plus 1/6th of the £300 owed. My DD would then be reactivated. I contacted them with the necessary details to do this.

I have just received a red letter threatening legal action and people at my door in 1 week if I do not pay my bill in excess of £1000. They claim to have tried to conact me on numerous occassions. I really would like to know when as I have not received post, emails or phone calls/messages and I have an answer machine for all phones.

Maybe I should have been more dilligent in checking my bank statements but it appears they did not reactivate the DD's. What can I do as I'm really worried

Thanks

Cardew

When was the last payment taken from your bank? 18 months ago?

You seemingly have allowed a £300 debit balance increase to over £1,000. Yet in spite of their letter you neglected to check your bank account??

What do you think should happen?

I appreciate you are new to MSE but the hidden message behind your type of post is to see if there is a way of not paying what is owed.

jalexa

Ducky13 wrote: »

I have just received a red letter threatening legal action and people at my door in 1 week if I do not pay my bill in excess of £1000.

This is not a trick question but answers are needed before meaningful help can be given. How did the £300 become £1000? Over how long a period and over how many bills? Also the name of the supplier.

Ducky13

Cardew wrote: »

When was the last payment taken from your bank? 18 months ago?

You seemingly have allowed a £300 debit balance increase to over £1,000. Yet in spite of their letter you neglected to check your bank account??

What do you think should happen?

I appreciate you are new to MSE but the hidden message behind your type of post is to see if there is a way of not paying what is owed.

Thank you for your helpful response! As I said, I have had issues with them for 18 months, i.e. not issuing bills, not responding to phone calls, emails etc - not that any debt has existed for such a period of time! I have phoned them week after week and never spoke to the same person twice. The last time they took a DD was not 18 months ago. In addition, the letter that I refer to (as you also mention above) was received yesterday (02/06), so the minute I received it, I spoke to my bank and have acted. It's not like I have sat on my hands allowing such an issue to escalate.

I have no problem paying my bills - if I have accrued it, I will pay it - THERE IS NO HIDDEN MESSAGE! My issue is the level of service I have received from these people and the manner in which they continue to not manage THEIR service.

I came on here to look for guidence into how I deal with such people who continue to fail their customers as I have never received anything like this, not to have someone rip me aparrt and accuse me of being a !!!!!!!!!! because they have nothing better to do.

t0rt0ise

I don't quite follow what's what but in any case if you want something done you must raise a formal complaint. Write, don't email, post a letter signed for delivery and head it complaint and write clearly what has happened and what you want to happen now. Once a complaint is received they should stop hassling you until it's sorted.

Ducky13

jalexa wrote: »

This is not a trick question but answers are needed before meaningful help can be given. How did the £300 become £1000? Over how long a period and over how many bills? Also the name of the supplier.

They basically took DD's from me for 15 months and never issued a bill, despite me contacting them on a monthly basis to tell them. Each time I provided a meter reading and was assured a new bill would come, but it never did. Eventually I asked to be credited the money in my account only for them to then recalculate & say I owed £300. No problem, if I owe it, I have to pay. So as it was their mistake, they said I could pay it, in addition to my monthly DD, over 6 months rather than their standard 3. They cancelled my DD so I could pay a one off manual payment, before them reinstating the DD. At this point they also tried to reduce my monthly payment significantly which I told them was ridiculous as they had proved it needed to be increased and eventually they agreed I was right.

I received the threatening letter yesterday and contacted my bank immediately - apparantly it has been almost 6 months since they took a DD. I know I have failed here as I should have been more diligent. However, they have not contacted me at all, which is not what the letter says. Also, I have contacted them twice in the last month and neither time have they said "oh, there's an issue". My bill is still saying that the amount will be collected by DD.

As my reply to another person, if I have used this, then I will pay it - I'm not trying to get out of paying anything - I just don't know how to deal with it.

Cardew

Ducky13 wrote: »

Thank you for your helpful response! As I said, I have had issues with them for 18 months, i.e. not issuing bills, not responding to phone calls, emails etc - not that any debt has existed for such a period of time! I have phoned them week after week and never spoke to the same person twice. The last time they took a DD was not 18 months ago. In addition, the letter that I refer to (as you also mention above) was received yesterday (02/06), so the minute I received it, I spoke to my bank and have acted. It's not like I have sat on my hands allowing such an issue to escalate.

I have no problem paying my bills - if I have accrued it, I will pay it - THERE IS NO HIDDEN MESSAGE! My issue is the level of service I have received from these people and the manner in which they continue to not manage THEIR service.

I came on here to look for guidence into how I deal with such people who continue to fail their customers as I have never received anything like this, not to have someone rip me aparrt and accuse me of being a !!!!!!!!!! because they have nothing better to do.

It is not an attempt to 'rip you apart' but simply to ascertain the situation.

You have also misread my post. I was not referring to the 'red letter' you received yesterday, but the earlier letter.

They sent a letter saying they had cancelled my DD as requested.

My point was knowing that you had problems, you still did not see fit to check bank statements and since then the bill has grown to over £1,000.

The simple answer is to pay the £1000 if you are satisfied it is the correct amount.

It may be possible to get that sum reduced, but more details are required; particularly if you haven't had bills.

Cardew

In your later post(replying to jalexa) you state:

They basically took DD's from me for 15 months and never issued a bill, despite me contacting them on a monthly basis to tell them. Each time I provided a meter reading and was assured a new bill would come, but it never did. Eventually I asked to be credited the money in my account only for them to then recalculate & say I owed £300.

Perhaps you can see why it is difficult to understand that quote. i.e. 'they never issued a bill' however you asked for the credit to be issued to you - what credit?? They also re-calculated - re-calculated what??

It is normal for a firm to allow any debit balance to be paid back over the same period as the balance built up.

There is a provision in the Billing Code* that you don't have to pay back debts for periods more than 12 months ago - but it doesn't seem that applies here.

If you have copies of your written correspondence - even emails - that might help. Incidentally a firm only have to prove they sent a letter/email - not prove you received it; otherwise we would all deny receipt of a letter that was not welcome.

I still am not sure what advice you want.

Clearly paying their demand solves the issue.

You appear indignant at a suggestion you might be trying to get the bill reduced??

If you dispute the amount of the bill - then WRITE in with a complaint.

* Not all companies have signed up to the Billing Code however EDF have if they are the company!

Terrylw1

So, they cancel your DD so you pay your DD value + 1/6th manually.

That's a load of rubbish!

Manual payment is a higher risk payment method than DD plus moving to this method in a debt situation only increases the level of risk to the supplier.

What a supplier would do is simply add the 1/6th to your monthly DD value and then decrease it again after the 6th month. DD's after all can be variable.