Large amount of money been taken from supplier...

R_x

We've recently moved and it turned out we were in debit in our old house. We weren't aware of this or we wouldn't let it get that bad but we didn't receive the emails and presumed they would just put up the DD if needed.
Anyways we had been told it would be transferred to new account and it was fine to pay it back in instalments yet they have taken the full amount without letting us know. Can they do this?

Thank you for you help

[Deleted User]

if they have broken the agreement and you have proof,then ask your bank to charge the DD back to your account

R_x

We don't have proof. But a number of times we have been told it's fine to pay it off bit by bit, we were just waiting for it to be transferred over. Surely they should have to let you know they are planning on taking it?

keith1950

Hi, your post is rather confusing.....on one hand you say ' we weren't aware of this ' and on the other .... ' we were told it would be transferred to new account '.

From this I assume you are with the same supplier at the new address. You cannot transfer the debt to a new supplier.

Yes they have to inform you of how much they are going to take but at the end of the day you owe the money and it needs to be cleared .

If you have been told 'a number of times ' it suggests this is an ongoing issue and we are not getting the full story.

You can probably get this payment reversed but unless you make every effort to sort this debt asap they will probably fit pre-payment meters to claw back the debt.

chanz4

Their is the exception of a variable dd which takes the bill, or closed account taking the outstanding

Cardew

R_x wrote: »

We've recently moved and it turned out we were in debit in our old house. We weren't aware of this or we wouldn't let it get that bad but we didn't receive the emails and presumed they would just put up the DD if needed.
Anyways we had been told it would be transferred to new account and it was fine to pay it back in instalments yet they have taken the full amount without letting us know. Can they do this?

Thank you for you help

The DD you sign is a variable DD. This gives the Utility company authority to take(in theory) unlimited funds from your account. The only stipulation under the Direct Debit guarantee is that the Utility company must inform you in advance of any increase in DD.

So your presumption they would put up the DD was correct, they upped it to the full amount you owed - which is quite normal when you are closing an account.

What needs to be established is if you were notified, or not, that they intended to take the full balance. Depending on the company, that notification is not always in a prominent position on a bill. It can be at the bottom of the bill and easily missed if the bill is not read thoroughly.

'Anyways we had been told it would be transferred to new account and it was fine to pay it back in instalments'

Who told you? and do you have that in writing?

It is not normal to transfer an outstanding debit balance to a new account. The company have no idea if you really are going to move, or who supplies the new property, or even if you intend to have gas/electricity from their company.

macman

You can't 'transfer an account over'. When you move house you are in a deemed account with the existing supplier. You can't switch until you open an account with them. Is it the same supplier at both properties? If not you'll need to switch back to the original supplier first, whic takes about 5 weeks.
Any debt owing on the old property becomes fully due on final billing, and unless you contact them and agree an extended repayment schedule, then they'll take the payment by DD once they have billed you.
If you submitted closing reads at the old property then did you not realise that your usage was higher than the estimated bills you had previously received? All this can be avoided in future by submitting regular reads, at least quarterly.

R_x

Hi it's not an on going issue as soon as we found out I asked my options they said if we stay with them the will transfer it and we can pay it off in instalments.
They have never told is they were going to take the full amount we asked if we could pay it back over 3 months and they said "that's fine"

R_x

Yes same supplier in both properties

R_x

Also we were told they don't review accounts quartly but yearly wish isn't true

R_x

The number of times were when we found out, moved into new property and finished with old property etc