scottish power debt (LCS)

Trembling_Turnip

Hello there. Been visiting this site for over six months now and this is my first post

Couldn't find the specific answer elsewhere so hope that somebody can help.

My partner has fairly recently moved in with me and got on top of her debts to various companies, thanks to advice on here and the CAB. She is a full time student and most of them accepted a payment of £1 a month for the time being.

Last week a letter arrived from Leeds Consultancy Services with respect to an unpaid bill to Scottish Power from her previous address. It says that the amount owed is £798 including £100 legal fees. There is however no breakdown of the figure and we think that this amount seems too high for a one bedroom flat when the billing period would be from around January 06 to September 06 when she moved out.

Can we request a full breakdown of charges or is too late now to appeal the amount as it has been passed to LCS? Should we write to Scottish Power or will this impact on my current (up to date!) gas and electricity account with them? The debt has not yet been acknowledged at all.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

tripled

Ring them up and ask them to send copies of the bills

Trembling_Turnip

I was going to write to them but not sure whether i should:

a) Not acknowledge the debt and request a full breakdown of charges (possibly with a Subject Access request?)

b) Acknowledge the debt and 'play nice', saying that she is prepared to pay any bill charges that are due for the period January - September only.

I was also going to send a letter to LCS saying that "the amount you state is owed is now in dispute and you may not pursue any enforcement action until the dispute is resolved".

Is this right? Should I acknowledge the debt straight away or not?

Any advice welcomed!

Trembling_Turnip

Had this reply from FabDee on the debt-free wanna forum (sorry for cross posting, wasn't sure where to put it...)

"Hi

Contact SP with move in dates and move out dates. any or all readings you have. Send registered post, keep a copy of the orginal letter and give them 10 working days to contact you. If no joy, phone energywatch, number on back of bill they are a free consumer body, give them all the details they will then contact SP and hopefully get it sorted for you. Debt on gas or elec does not pass to different properties. You will however have to pay what you owe once the bill is sorted out, EW can arrange a payment plan for you. they may be able to get a bit off the bill but do not have a remit for compensation. Goodwill gesture may be offered though.

Hope all goes well.

D"

Think I will do this first - thanks for the advice FabDee and Tripled!

Trembling_Turnip

Sent a letter explaining the situation to Scottish Power, and one to the debt collection agency stating that the debt is in dispute and no action can be taken.

Have heard nothing from Scottish Power and now have had a card from the debt collectors saying they are going to visit on June 31.

I presume I should now write to Energywatch but can anyone tell me what i should do about the debt collectors?

thefool

Just got home last night to find a letter addressed to:

Ms Occupier
FLT2
Ground Floor Left
Etc
Etc

From a company called LCS Civil Enforcement with a formal demand for payment on some debt owed to Scottish Power. They even had a cheek to say that the debt included a late payment charge !

Anyway, there are no details as to the period the debt is for, what the utility used was (gas, electric), a reference to the original bill (I assume an original bill was sent because of the ficticious late payment charge) or any other details that you might expect from a standard bill or other request for payment.

Not only did they not get my name right, see above, but they even got the gender wrong !!

I'm planning to send them a standard template letter disputing their debt claim and to let them know I'm contacting Scottish Power directly to find out what is going on.

Anyone got any further advice on what to do ?

Pixie28

Trembling_Turnip wrote: »

EW can arrange a payment plan for you. they may be able to get a bit off the bill but do not have a remit for compensation. Goodwill gesture may be offered though.

I fail too see why any comp/goodwill should be offered given that the debt appears to be due to the op's partner not paying her bills?

That said, "the fool", I take it you are the lady in question? If Scottish Power have been chasing you unsuccessfully for an unpaid bill, the debt will eventually be passed onto a collection agency such as LCS. They add their own fees for the chase which you are unfortunately liable for.

I would contact Scottish Power as soon as possible...be it by letter or phone. Check that the bill is based on actual reads, and that the dates correspond with the period that you stayed in the property. Ask them what payment plan they can offer you. They should be able to recall the debt from LCS.

Terrylw1

Trembling Turnip - the debt collction agency have the right to chase you until the Supplier who sold them the debt puts it on hold and gives them a reason. Otherwise, customers who just didn't want to pay could do it whenever they wanted.

A letter is fine but it could take a while to get to the right internal dept and you are one with the debt collectors on your back. I strongly suggest you call them and discuss it. They will tell you when the debt is from, dates, what it covers, at what rate etc. The debt collectors have no obligation to do that since the assume that your supplier has sent you all the bills and various red letters about it. Debt collectors only get the debts once the supplier can't chase you anymore.

Thats not the debt collectors problem as to them you are just a customer not paying. So,they don't care about the breakdown. Your supplier could probably clarify it all over the phone with you.

Also, you may find out thats it wrong and again you need the Supplier to get it on hold with the debt collectors and sort it out for you. They could then recall it from them or amend the debt sold on so you can just pay off the debt collectors and get rid of them for good.

Not sure what fabdee is stating when saying "debt does not transfer properties"??? If you used the utility, it's your debt no matter where you move to or else everyone loving out could not pay their last bill.

Remember that suppliers estimate your moving out readings for the final bill if you don't supply one. Also, they may not even have all the bills in the right names so maybe it's too high because it's for the person before or after you guys???

Suggest giving them a call then you could always post on here again if you need advice. I think it's a bit early for Energywatch as you need to call them. 10 days isn't a lot of time when you consider postage time, let alone time to investigate and write you a letter.

On the payment plan, you can just work that out with them.

Energywatch are their to help you if you get nowhere after making the relevant attempts with your suppliers.

ORG2

Hello,

I have recently recieved a final demand from LCS with regard to an apparant outstanding bill from Scottish Power. The demand is in relation to an electricity supply to a property that I shared over 2 years ago and where I had thought we had all bills while in occupation. Because it was a shared house we used to pay for bills with cash by taking the bills into a bank and because of the time elapsed we no longer have a record of paying the bills. I have spoken to LCS to explain this and yet they continue to demand payment. I am concerned that we will not be able to provide evidence of paying the bills and that we will have to pay again.

Has anyone had a similar experiance and could offer help?

Many thanks.

askew116

Last year I had a letter from LCS about an E.On electricity bill for £1700 + £500 costs for a flat I lived in back in 2005 in Manchester, and where all utilities were included in the rent. I contacted them to explain this, and they asked me to provide a tenancy agreement. Fair enough, but I had not kept the tenancy agreement when I moved out, and I had lost contact with the Landlord, who no longer owned the property.

What I did was to provide the tenancy agreement for my subsequent house I rented, which was in London. Shortly afterwards, I received another letter, threatening legal action, so I phoned them again to ask what was going on. The guy I spoke to was extremely aggressive, he said, and I quote "Have you ever thought of just paying your debts?" I hung up, and never heard from them again. The account is not on my credit report either.