Scottish power put other's unpaid bill under my name and threaten court action!

Kittenjane1234

Hi guys,

I seriously in need of your help here. I shared a flat with a girl for about 6 months and she has moved to Australia since. Staying with her was not pleasant because I found out she pretended to be a student and did not pay council tax for a year! Plus the landlady was horrible and tried to charge us as much rent as she could get! I moved out as soon as possible!

She left her electric bills unpaid. And the bill was in her name. I phoned Scottish power and have had my share of bills paid and forwarded the remaining bill to her parents in northern Ireland.

Thought things all sorted. But today I found that I had two letters from Scottish power, when told me to pay up £50 electric! How could they just put the bill under my name without my consent! I paid up my share already! Back in January the lady who I spoke with from Scottish power on the phone confirmed that Scottish power does not care about what happens between me and her, the bill is under her named, etc. so I was being very nice to her to actually pay anything into her account!

Is there any corner that I can fight over this? I am they are bullying me into paying!

The second letter was even more horrible! They threaten to issue a default notice to go on my credit report.

Also the first letter dates 12 July, and the lastst dates 26 July, I only found them now because it was delayed in getting to me: the wrong office number - the office i used one year ago, and I have been off sick from work.

So my questions are
1. Is what Scottish power did legal?
2. Since roughly two weeks have passed since Scottish power has sent me the warning letter and one month has passed for the bill, which I am going to dispute against, would any negative information already been put on my credit file? If so considering it is not my fault, what should I do?
3. Any advice on how I should deal with this please.
Thanks so much for your help!

Terrylw1

You share liability for the whole bill as the tenancy agreement states who is in there and whether they responsible for the utilities.

The name on the account is irrelevant once you get to a dispute since the supplier will ask for the tenancy agreement. At this point, they add all names to the account. They can use other methods to trace you and achieve the same result.

This means that despite your payment, you are still showing as having a debt on the account.

They will chase as a 3rd agreement is not their problem, its between the tenants. Whilst you may be arguing, they just keep on chasing you all.

The key to resolving this is proving you had an agreement from the supplier to pay half and they either chase the other tenant (hence recording on the account that you are classed as resolved) or write they remainder off.

If they made an agreement (perhaps for a lower amount that they know they won't pursue all the way due to the cost), which they wouldn't be obliged to do, you need to raise it to the complaint process to stop further action until its resolved in some way.

Kittenjane1234

Thanks Terry!

The lady spoke with me over the phone and said it was not my problem, etc... I think that would be the agreement you talked about, I just do not have a written one. So it is going to be my words against their words.

One thing is certain, my NEXT supplier will not be Scottish power!

I feel horrible. Anybody know if this would have already affected my credit? Thanks a lot! :mad:

Terrylw1

They are supposed to make notes on your account and calls get recorded so you could ask if the record exists.

It may be in the notes if an agreement was made for you to pay half. This would more likely be with a collections advisor who holds more authority (and their managers are responsible for collecting or closing the debt) than a call centre advisor.

You may need to try the complaint route.

The other way is going to mean paying it to avoid further defaults (and DCA activity) and taking legal action against her.

spiro

Sorry but welcome to the world of house sharing and utility bills. They will chase whoever they can find and get all the money from that person and trash their credit rating along the way. It is then up to that person to chase/sue the other person(s) for their share.

Cardew

A lot depends on the wording in the rental agreement

I suggest you look up 'jointly and severally liable'

By paying 'your share' you have probably made a mistake in that you are admitting liability.

Scottish_Power

Hi Kittenjane1234,

Can you please e-mail me your account details and any relevant information regarding your account and I can have a look at this for you. e-mail - [EMAIL="onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com"]onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL]

Thanks

Marie@ScottishPower

Kittenjane1234

Thanks everybody! I have spoken with insight collections.

It was ID fraud! What happened was the landlady/landlord, they are a couple. Opened an account under my name when I actually have moved out! Well, the old account was with my ex flatmate and she probably has paid it up! But that should not concern me because I had a verbal agreement with Scottish power and plus the closing bills were forwarded to her parents's address, she also assured me that she would pay up. I would give her the benefit of the doubt.

I spoke with my bank adviser and fraud helpline. The landlord&landlady were inpersonating me which was illegal!

Here is what they guessed that have happened:

I was an international student, and they probably thought I had to go back to my home country, and I planned to leave the UK when my last visa expired which is Jan this year... So they could put the bill under my name and Scottish power would not find me, they would write the debt off and they get to use electric for free! But since I am still in the UK and they chased me and I found out the con!

Sent the proofs to Scottish power, one of them is my passport which has custom stamps on them, left on 27th Jan! I was not even in the country when the account was opened under my name! Hopefully things will be sorted!

I think there must be a lot of dodgy landlord/landlady who has done similar things to international! Scottish power should not have allowed an account be opened under anybody's name without actually speaking with that person at least! Their poor management and judgement! On top of that, jumping on me with a smoking gun and threatened a default notice, and potentially trash my credit record! For sure they will not have my custom!

Kittenjane1234

Terrylw1 wrote: »

They are supposed to make notes on your account and calls get recorded so you could ask if the record exists.

It may be in the notes if an agreement was made for you to pay half. This would more likely be with a collections advisor who holds more authority (and their managers are responsible for collecting or closing the debt) than a call centre advisor.

You may need to try the complaint route.

The other way is going to mean paying it to avoid further defaults (and DCA activity) and taking legal action against her.

Thanks a lot Terry! It is actually a separate issue than I previously thought, it is somebody inpersonalising me and trying to con Scottish power, and on the way damage my credit record! I think the old bill was probably cleared by my ex flatmate! I shouldn't have jumped onto her with a smoking gun. The landlord I had was quite dodgy.

Terrylw1

Kittenjane1234 wrote: »

Thanks a lot Terry! It is actually a separate issue than I previously thought, it is somebody inpersonalising me and trying to con Scottish power, and on the way damage my credit record! I think the old bill was probably cleared by my ex flatmate! I shouldn't have jumped onto her with a smoking gun. The landlord I had was quite dodgy.

Sounds like a good result, students often get stung on bill sharing.

There certainly are dodgy landlords but they tend to be more subtle in that they mess with readings or don't tell the supplier they should pay inbetween tenants thus dumping debt onto the new tenant if thy don't take opening readings.

This landlord is worse! I hope you will be reporting this as a crime so that the court & council consider their status.

Kittenjane1234

Terrylw1 wrote: »

Sounds like a good result, students often get stung on bill sharing.

There certainly are dodgy landlords but they tend to be more subtle in that they mess with readings or don't tell the supplier they should pay inbetween tenants thus dumping debt onto the new tenant if thy don't take opening readings.

This landlord is worse! I hope you will be reporting this as a crime so that the court & council consider their status.

Thanks Terry! It is indeed crime. Now the account is put back on the landlord's name, and they will have to pay. I also reported this to action fraud and police. Hope these dodgy people get what they deserve!