County Court letter/Anglian Water

hollie2000_1999

Hi everyone, today i have recieved a County Court claim form for the sum of £158.30 water bill PLUS £50 solicitor costs = £223.30, now, i have not received a bill, i have had no correspondence at all to say the bill is overdue etc, nothing, just been slapped with this claim form which to be honest i find a little scary does anyone have any advice?

gnus

Phone them up to find out whats going on

OR

hide behind the sofa till the court date.

Your choice.

Gothicfairy

If the amount is right and there is an outstanding balance the best advice I can give is to pay it or give the water company a ring and see if they will accept a payment plan.

hollie2000_1999

I can't ring them until next week as i don't have a phone so need to go and use my mums! Does anyone know how long you are normally given to pay a bill in 'normal' circumstances? I obviously can't work dates out and how overdue it is etc because i never received a bill, what a nightmare

gnus

The point is they have already started proceedings to get the money. You must have missed a LOT of reminders and warnings to get to this stage. They don't just send out one bill then court forms.
Check when you last paid them, and tell us what the date is on that bill.

Voyager2002

Is there anyone else in your household who might have hidden bills?

hollie2000_1999

I've just remembered that i signed up at my bills online . co . uk i wonder if thats why i haven't received a bill through the post? looking at that, it says my last bill was issued on 26th June for payment to reach them 6th July, i havent had a single reminder through to say it i have missed the date, my instalments from my last bill were upto date, i just can't believe that i have suddenly got this court letter, i will ring them asap and explain i have had nothing through, does anyone know how the court issue works? can i pay that by instalments? sorry for sounding dumb, i opened it earlier while i was in a rush and just went into a panic, i will have a proper look through it at the weekend.

mart.vader

hollie2000_1999 wrote: »

hi everyone, today i have recieved a county court claim form for the sum of £158.30 water bill plus £50 solicitor costs = £223.30, now, i have not received a bill, i have had no correspondence at all to say the bill is overdue etc, nothing, just been slapped with this claim form which to be honest i find a little scary does anyone have any advice?

£158.30 + £50 = £208.30

gnus

Must be asked has the OP missed previous payments.

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?327147-Anglian-Water-Court-Summons

I’m sorry for any distress caused by the debt recovery action that’s been taken. As I’m sure you’re aware, we notify our customers of the date that their payment is due here by on the bill. If we’ve not received payment within fifteen days of the original bill being issued, then a final notice is sent out automatically. The main aim is to remind people that their payment is overdue, and to encourage those experiencing difficulty in paying to contact us.

If payment isn’t received or no contact made to set up an arrangement then our debt recovery process will continue and further letters will be issued. If payment is made but then missed for the subsequent bill, our debt recovery process will now start from the point where it stopped previously rather than returning back to the very beginning. Customers need to contact us if their payment is not going to reach us by the due date to enable us to put a hold on the account and prevent debt recovery activity taking place.

hollie2000_1999

mart.vader wrote: »

£158.30 + £50 = £208.30

Oh yes! i was in such a tizz i didn't even notice the numbers didn't add up!! looked at the letter again and there is court fees as well!

mart.vader

Your best bet is to ring them up and tell them that you have received a court claim, but have never received any warnings or any correspondence.

Ask them whether they intend to carry on with the court claim.

If they do, ask them for their code of practice for debt collection, and see what it says.