Utility company being difficult over bill

na.ec

Hello,

I could really do with some advice. This might get a bit long so I'll apologise now.

I am trying to finalise all the bills owed by my father's estate but I'm having real problems with the utilities company. The property he lived in was rented and at the time of death (Jan 2012) I rang them up and explained everything and because I wasn't really with it, I became the contact for the account but I was very clear the property had nothing to do with my father.

They continued billing (I got the bills through mail redirection) despite being told it was a rental and nothing to do with his estate and now it has gone to debt collectors. I have emailed the debt collectors and been told so many different things - the account is in credit and we owe you money, then I got one saying her colleague was incorrect and we now owe them money.

I queried the bill as all the dates were after my father's death and was told just to ignore the dates, the bill is correct. I tried explaining I am now paying a bill without a clear trail of how and why the estate owes that money. My partner spoke at length on the phone with someone and said it makes more sense now and asked for a summary of what they have discussed to be emailed to us so we can put that in to the estate paperwork and pay the bill...all she sent was basically a one liner demanding the money owed. No details.

I then replied and asked very clearly for what I needed and that without clear billing I can't pay the bill and the response was that I can't have anything else and the account can't be held past the end of June.

In addition to the, a meter reading was given over 1 year after my father's death and this was applied to the account as an accurate record of what it would have been at the time of death.

Sorry to waffle but I'm out of ideas. Is there anything I can do

dan3811991119

Sorry to hear of your loss. Just a quick note it would help to know who the problem supplier is.

chanz4

As it was rented provide the tennancys

na.ec

Thanks for the replies. The provider is Utility Warehouse and he didn't have a tenancy agreement as it was rented from a friend and my father and the friend seemed to be very relaxed about all that stuff.

I've had further discussions with them since posting and had a bit more clarification.

The bills they have sent post death are all estimates and in April this year a meter reading was provided which has been backdated to the date of death. But they are still insisting on showing all the post death bills on the final bill instead of generating a final bill for Jan 2012, which will make sense to everyone involved with this.

The company have been so unhelpful and their debt collectors are not much better. They knew he had died and still sent bills to his estate, rather than the property. Maybe I am expecting too much asking for a clear bill.

I think it is resolved but until I've had chance to process it in my head I'm not actually sure.

pauletruth

when was the property given back to the landlord.

dan3811991119

This pdf here has phone numbers and email address as well as there head office address.

https://www.utilitywarehouse.co.uk/files/codes_of_practice/complaints_res.pdf

Get in touch with the supplier making sure you are very clear your complaining about the issues you have had. If they don't resolve it you can goto the energy ombudsman however you have to follow the suppliers procedures first in order to do this.

na.ec

The property was returned at the date of death - there really wasn't anything for me to do and I agreed with him that I would help with the cleaning a little.

Thanks you for the link. I've had a look at their complaints procedure - long winded but I guess they do that for a reason. I'll get on it today.

notbritishgas

na.ec wrote: »

The property was returned at the date of death - there really wasn't anything for me to do and I agreed with him that I would help with the cleaning a little.

Thanks you for the link. I've had a look at their complaints procedure - long winded but I guess they do that for a reason. I'll get on it today.

You did take meter readings when the property was returned, didn't you?
It is those readings that UW should have used to produce the final bill when you informed them of your fathers death.
That final bill should have ended your involvement with UW.

MillicentBystander

Firstly, I'm sorry for your loss. What about his friend/unofficial landlord? Surely it's up to him to contact UW and inform them that he is once again responsible for all bills from the date of death of your father? What has he said about all this?

pauletruth

did you give them a final reading. if not then the estate is responsible until you do.

na.ec

I do have a meter reading - somewhere. Part of my on going search.
The landlord is more than a little bit dodgy and has already tried a few claims out on me so I don't think he will be of any use.
Once I find the meter reading, everything will be much easier and get sorted. It is their billing format that seems to have generated a lot of my confusion.

Thanks again for all the replies