Elec-Trickery

Maddogjones · 6 October 2012 at 2:17PM

Hello All !

Apologies if i have posted in the wrong place.

A friend of mine has got into a bit of bother with an Electric supplier. Things had escalated to threats of legal action and several debt collectors chasing him for what was owed.

I've negotiated with the supplier on his behalf (He has mental health issues) and now stopped the debt collectors involvement and arranged and payment plan which covers his on going and pays towards the arrears. This is all in black and white.

However we have just received a letter informing us the monthly amount has increased, without consultation or consent. Now payments have gone from £93 per month £187. The letter ends with "Failure to make these payments will result the matter being passed to our debt recovery department"

I have telephoned the supplier and explained that this is not what was agreed but they are having none of it. They now refuse to talk to me and will only talk to my friend.

I'm at a loss as to what to do. Does anyone have any idea's, advice or suggestions ?

Thanks in advance.

jalexa · 6 October 2012 at 2:51PM

Maddogjones wrote: »

I'm at a loss as to what to do. Does anyone have any idea's, advice or suggestions ?

I think you need to discuss this urgently with Citizen's advice or an appropriate mental health charity.

Tactically it is a mistake to over rely on telephone contact. For data protection reasons a supplier should only discuss account matters with the account holder (unless the account holder signs a consent form, something to ask the supplier about).

Better to communicate by letter (or email) and just get the account holder to sign the letter. Do not get tricked into telephone discussion, insist on a letter/email response to a letter/email complaint. The easiest way to do that is to decline to do "security" on an inbound call.

An account holder is entitled to make a formal complaint on the first occasion they are not 100% satisfied with a customer service outcome. That starts an 8 week clock, at the expiry of which the account holder is entitled to refer the matter to the Energy Ombudsman. Never delay initiating a complaint.

Only you know when/if a complaint was originally raised. If no complaint was formally raised do not make the same mistake again. The apparent "breach of contract" on payment amount might be an opportunity to properly raise a complaint. If I was the account holder, on balance I would ensure the mental health issues were clearly stated so that the supplier can never say "we never knew".