Energy Ombudsman

Cliecost

Hi,

I recently had a disagreement with Scottish power that ended in a deadlock.

They have put a defaulted account on my credit rating for £35~ from an account, that they say, was active for about 1 month in 2008.

I had no knowledge of this account as at the time, and the address they say it was for, I didn't handle the bills. It was my childhood home (although I was in my early 20s then lol).

I disagreed with them on it being my bill but they say because it was setup online using my name and email address it couldn't be anyone else's...

Because of the deadlock they told me I could go to the Ombudsman, which I did, but they have told me they can't handle this type of complaint because they would see it as fraud and therefore I should go to the police.

So I'm stuck, an account I don't recognise, a default on my account and no impartial party to mediate.

Should I just pay the money to get rid of it or is there something else I can do?

I kind of feel annoyed that I'd pay for something that isn't mine but it is a relatively small amount.

Thanks for any help.

Cliecost

bumpbumpbump

scaredofdebt

Have you asked them to send written evidence that you owe the debt?

What did they send?

chanz4

Thats the bill, if you think its fraud contact the police as the fos advised

Cliecost

scaredofdebt wrote: »

Have you asked them to send written evidence that you owe the debt?

What did they send?

They can't send me written evidence of the contract or anything else except a screen shot from their system showing my name and email address.

I don't see how this can be enough...

Cliecost

chanz4 wrote: »

Thats the bill, if you think its fraud contact the police as the fos advised

and how is this going to help me? I heard recently that police on look into 4 out of ever 10 fraud cases and then only if it's for a large amount. Even if the police did look into it, how would that help my credit rating where Scottish power have plastered that I defaulted over £30~

insanegloss

For the period of time quoted, whilst you say you didn't handle the bills, did you have responsibility to pay them e.g was your name on the deeds/tenancy agreement. If so, I'm afraid you owe the money and should pay this as soon as possible.

If not, you can only deal with the supplier as you're correct, the Ombudsman don't deal with these types of complaints.

chanz4

How did they get YOUR email address then?

Cliecost

insanegloss wrote: »

For the period of time quoted, whilst you say you didn't handle the bills, did you have responsibility to pay them e.g was your name on the deeds/tenancy agreement. If so, I'm afraid you owe the money and should pay this as soon as possible.

If not, you can only deal with the supplier as you're correct, the Ombudsman don't deal with these types of complaints.

No, I didn't have anything to do with any bills.

chanz4 wrote: »

How did they get YOUR email address then?

Your guess is as good as mine.

If it were my bill then for £35~ I would have paid it by now and I am considering paying it just to get it off my record, I just feel annoyed by it not being my bill to pay but there nowhere else I can go to dispute this.

chanz4

something a miss, they cant of got the info from nowhere

cing0

why did Scottish power issue a deadlock letter (I assume as OP mentioned deadlock) when the Ombudsman isn't oblige to consider ? The Ombudsman service have to look at this and you are being fobbed off.
Here is current state of the nation with the Ombudsman services.

Its taking upto 3 weeks to get a response back from the ombudsman service (the same staff deal with telecoms complaints as well) to a query.

Responses to enquires are done in random order - some staff reply to queries in hours, and the same staff member takes weeks.

Email enquiries are ignored even though they generate auto acknowledgements - with lame excuses given when chasing them up - probably to provoke service users.

They won't take on cases and fob people off with "commercial decision" (even to a complaint where a customer asked for a refund of credit balance and they wouldn't). This may be trying to reduce workload but invoice for a cases where a case number is created (there is only 1 Assistant Ombudsman AFAIAK).

They tell customers they don't deal with regulatory issues - that's down to Ofgem. The regulator says the OS should recognise if an energy supplier has complied with its obligations.

QA (none casework) staff routinely perform phishing exercises asking customer questions about third parties.

Waiting time for ombudsman final decisions are being manipulated - customers told the wait is due to work load but other customers are getting decisions ahead of those already queuing up.

Perhaps the real reason energy companies are putting up prices is because customers are hammering them for compensation and the ombudsman services are seeing the end result.

Any thoughts from forumites with direct experience recently ?