Scottish Power added my details to an outstanding 7 year old bill?

nayine

Hello.
Background:
I own a property that my mother lives in she pays all the bills. She has lived there for 3 years. Before that lived a string of other home owners. 7 years ago it was a takeaway shop.

The issue:
I have just received two bills from scottish power. They have MY details on it not my mothers who actually has an account with scottish power.
The bills are listed as a business account and is saying that I am £1,700 in debt and they would like me to pay up.

The details:
The first bill has charges on from 2007 - 2009 totaling £475
The second states that the last invoice had me at £475 in debt and my new charges take me up to £1700 in debt these charges are from 2010 - Aug 2013

Both of these bills have the same date on them Aug 2013.

The account number on the bill is not the same as on this as my mothers account.

My mothers account is in credit.

What next?:
I phoned up scottish power they told me my mother doesn't have to pay the bill *I never expected she would have to pay it!* They said they will investigate... but when I asked if I could be informed about what is going on they just refused so I doubt this is actually being investigated.

How have they got MY details on this bill?
Will my name have some sort of bad debt associated to it now?
What will happen next?
Is there any way I can complain to someone about this?
Have they broken any laws by doing this?
Should I be expecting any more bills of this nature?
Are there any other complications or implications that I have not thought about?

Any help would be much appreciated.
I will also add when my mother got this bill she was understandably upset she phoned them up and the man put her on hold for 16 mins before putting the phone down on her without giving her any information which had her almost in tears about this.

molerat

Go straight in with a WRITTEN COMPLAINT simply stating the date that you acquired the property / your mother took over responsibility for the supply, that neither you or your mother are responsible for any energy used prior to that date, that they immediately remove your details from their system and do not contact your mother in relation to this bill. No point messing around on the phone as it is unlikely you will be passed to anyone who understands the problem or has sufficient authority to change anything. They then have 8 weeks to sort it out or you go to the ombudsman.

nayine

Some of the dates on this bill do seem to overlap with the dates that my mother has been living there. However I do not know how that is even possible as she has her own account and the meter number on this bill does not match her meter number at any point on all either of the bills. Nor does it match that of the flat above. So although I can write in about the time prior to her moving in I do not know if I can do that about the past three years. There is no communal areas that would require heating (only communal areas are outside) So it is not as if we have gotten a bill for that.

nayine

Anyone have any more ideas on what went wrong?

spiro

If they are chasing an old debt and you own the property they will start by chasing you for the entire debt. You will then have to prove when you bought it and possibly where you lived during the preceeding period of the bill.

You say it was a shop before, at that time did 2 supplys exist one to the shop and one to the flat above? If so its possible that one of the supplys has not been closed down correctly and therefore they are chasing for that.

You need to check the MPRN (gas) and MPAN (elec) on your mothers bills against the values on the bills sent to you and see if they are the same.

I would also suggest you get you mother to authorise them to speak to you about her account as that may help simplify sorting this out.

Wywth

nayine wrote: »

Anyone have any more ideas on what went wrong?

Sounds like you never contacted the supplier to set up an account when you first bought the property.

Wywth

nayine wrote: »

...I own a property that my mother lives in she pays all the bills. ...my mothers who actually has an account with scottish power.

What next?:
I phoned up scottish power they told me my mother doesn't have to pay the bill ...

Most odd. Suppliers should not discuss other peoples bills with third parties (unless specific permission is given)
However, as they did, did you ask for that in writing? If not perhaps you should ...;)

nayine

spiro wrote: »

If they are chasing an old debt and you own the property they will start by chasing you for the entire debt. You will then have to prove when you bought it and possibly where you lived during the preceeding period of the bill.

Apparently charges were made during the time that my mother lived there as well as the time that before that when she didn't live there. So I can prove the time that she moved it but I'm not sure if that will help after that period. As she has her own account with the same company that is in credit will they accept that as proof that she hasn't racked up this bill? I mean surely most properties don't have two separate supplies?

spiro wrote: »

You say it was a shop before, at that time did 2 supplys exist one to the shop and one to the flat above? If so its possible that one of the supplys has not been closed down correctly and therefore they are chasing for that.

Two supplies did exist before one to the shop on to the flat above. Two supplies exist now as she has the ground floor and the flat above is currently empty I think. However both supplies were removed as the building had extensive changes made upon it and two new meters were installed neither relate to the meter numbers on the bills.

spiro wrote: »

You need to check the MPRN (gas) and MPAN (elec) on your mothers bills against the values on the bills sent to you and see if they are the same.

I have not checked this yet (didn't know about it until I googled it just now!) and I will do it tomorrow.

spiro wrote: »

I would also suggest you get you mother to authorise them to speak to you about her account as that may help simplify sorting this out.

Already done

Wywth wrote: »

Sounds like you never contacted the supplier to set up an account when you first bought the property.

When we first got the property the gas supplier was with e.on we cancelled this and changed to Scottish Power as that is the company my mother has been with for years and she doesn't want to change.. (I know to find about cheaper deals but she won't do that for some reason!)

Wywth wrote: »

Most odd. Suppliers should not discuss other peoples bills with third parties (unless specific permission is given)
However, as they did, did you ask for that in writing? If not perhaps you should ...;)

I asked for it in writing she told me "Not to worry about it" that she was "investigating" and that every time I asked about them getting back to me or having something in writing she managed to evade the question basically saying that it is in writing on the accounts notes. After 10 minutes of going round in loops I gave up.