Mortgage free by 2023 (!)

Karmacat

Water seems to be billed really crazily In 2005 or so, I was paying £44 a month for water, then I got a meter in, because of Martin's advice, and it went down immediately to £15 a month.  Success!  Over the years it gradually crept up, to about £25 a month.

Weirdness happened: when I moved here in 2010, my bills were split between two companies (one incoming water, one outgoing, sewage etc), so they leapt up to £29 a month or so.  But recently, like in the last year, the bill from the 2nd company has just disappeared from my direct debit listing, and I'm currently paying £14 a month for a small 3 bed semi, on a water meter.

Your council tax news is great, debtfree!

SandyShores

We pay £65.50 a month on our water meter debtfree.  I'm hoping it will go down soon when another one moves out.

I agree South_coast, and I wish the meters were a bit more accessible so we could see what we are using easily.   I could then show DH how much water he is wasting by keeping the taps running when he's brushing teeth, washing up etc.

£14 Karmacat - wow!

debtfreeoneday

Thanks guys. Super helpful re water meters. I await to see if the property we are buying has one. We have a Govt contribution to our water bill applied quarterly due to being in a tourist area so our actual water usage is about £20 a quarter. Our cost comes from having our sewage collected every 4/5 months which costs £300.  From having a meter here I know our usage is fairly low. 

debtfreeoneday

So had a surprise today. Cheque from the energy company came through the door from the company that took over our old supplier when they went bust. We were never customers of theirs but I did have some contact with them about trying to recoup the overpaid money on the final bill. They basically told me to go away as they weren’t interested. Contact with the administrators got me nowhere either. So current supplier have finally adjusted the bills so I didn’t pay twice for the same energy but now I’ve had a cheque in respect of the same bit of energy. So I’ve gone from paying for it twice to being credited for it twice. 

Do I Even try to get this sorted again?  Most of me thinks stuff it, I’ve had months and months of trying to resolve this and the comms from all of the companies involved has been appalling. So should I just cash the cheque and pocket it?  It’s £100 give or take. 

I am so hesitant to even try and get this rectified again and think I should quit while I’m ahead…

Karmacat

SandyShores said:

£14 Karmacat - wow!

I know, it's mad!  Even tho I'm frugal, it's still mad.  I fully expect the invoicing department of the other company to realise that they've forgotten me, and come back with two years of bills all at once.

debtfreeoneday said:

Do I Even try to get this sorted again?  Most of me thinks stuff it, I’ve had months and months of trying to resolve this and the comms from all of the companies involved has been appalling. So should I just cash the cheque and pocket it?  It’s £100 give or take. 

I am so hesitant to even try and get this rectified again and think I should quit while I’m ahead…

To be honest, I'd put it in a different "pot" in a savings account somewhere, or buy premium bonds - you can always repay if they get it, or just let it lay there.  Don't use it so that you can't repay it, whatever you do.  I ignored that sort of situation with the Cotswold Company about 20 years ago, they messed up with a bookcase, and I did it with B&Q about the central light in my kitchen.  If a company invoices me *and* credits me twice, they don't get to have any more effort from me.  

badmemory

I agree with KC, put it somewhere safe for when they can prove they have messed up.  The big problem of course is that their bills are less than clear.  I am fairly convinced that I have been charged 22 days standing charge twice by both my old supplier & my SoLR supplier but I'm a bit of a bill missing so for now I am holding fire. But why oh why does it have to be so difficult.  It was bad enough when the gas was all BG & believe me I still have issues with them even if they are over 40 years old.  It is my experience that a leopard does not change it's spots.  Well one issue is over 40 years & one is about 25 years.  Perhaps my username should be elephant with a bad memory!!

debtfreeoneday

Thanks Bad memory and KC. I know exactly what the money relates to and I don’t expect them to come after it but you’re right. I’ll put it into PB and see if it can earn me some more money!  

Slow day on surveys. 

Karmacat

I should say, neither Cotswold nor B&Q came after me.  Rest easy, and hope for that million pound premium bond  

SandyShores

I would keep it too debtfree.  Its not such a huge amount that it's likely to be noticed, and the paperwork it would cause them would probably be problematic and I would worry someone might get into trouble over it.  Hope that's enough reasons

Suffolk_lass

If you have qualms you might want to email them and suggest it must be a goodwill gesture because of the way they previously treated you, plus your time, costs (loss of disposable income) and compensation for these - my understanding is that you have covered yourself legally (extrapolating from the scenario that Martin blogged about in relation to demands not supported in law for  repaying overpaid retirement pension that continues to be paid after someone is advised of the death of the relevant payee).