Default without notification

gianttoe

Hi
Sorry this is long winded, but needed toprovide all the information to paint a clear picture.

I recently received a letter dated 29th January with the header ‘Notice of intention to update default’ from Northumbrian Water. The previous correspondence I received was dated 27th January with the header ‘You Water Services Bill’ with the foot of the letter stating the bill is for information only. I must point out the letter from the29th informed me of the following:

“On 12 January 2015 following a breach of an agreement in respect of payment for water services, a Default was registered against you with a credit reference agency for the amount of £129.33.

A further bill was issued on the 27 January for £185.39 and should this remain unpaid, it will be added onto the existing Default.

In addition, we may proceed with legal actionand bring a claim before the County Court for the balance of £314.72 plus a minimum of £65.00 in legal fees.

To prevent this course of action, you must pay £314.72 by 25 February 2015.”

Now I am guilty of missing payments in November and December due to unforeseen car problems which cost me a lot of money, plus Christmas with young children and I failed to contact Northumbrian Water at the time to discuss my financial situation. My financial situation hasn’t been great in the past, but I’m now in a place where my credit file was clean until this happened and I was on top of things until my car broke down, which I rely on for work.


I must stress, I never received a letter about the default notice being placed on my credit file and I always intended to rectify the situation after Christmas. On receiptof the bill dated 27th I logged into my account online which let meset up my direct debit and it calculated my new monthly payments of £42.92 withno other action required. My online account didn’t warn me of any arrears orask me to contact customer services to discuss my account.

On receipt of the letter from the 29th I rang the contact centre (on the 2nd February) immediately incomplete and utter shock to hear I had a default on my account. Whilst I apologised several times, I advised the person on the phone I had never received anything from Northumbrian Water in recent months and was told they had tried to contact me via a letter and a text message, both of which I never received. Had I received a letter at the beginning of January or earlier I would have acted there and then. I was almost in tears as I looked for a solution, offering to pay the complete outstanding balance or even make larger monthly payments to clear the arrears and balance quicker. I was advised nothing could be done and no furtheraction was required by myself as I had set up the direct debit and payments would be taken from March.


Obviously gutted and sad by this I raised a complaint which I emailed to them, highlighting I never received any warning ofthe state of my account or that a default notice was going to be issued until I received the letter on the 29th saying they intended to ‘update’ thedefault. On the 28th February I received a call from their customerservices team sympathising with my situation from my email and she believed I was genuine which I am. She agreed my account would be reset and all defaults etc. would be removed. She reminded me to continue paying the agreed direct debitamount and if there was ever a time when I was struggling to get in touch. I was over joyed and couldn’t thank her enough for taking the time to call me. She kindly provided me with her contact details should I have any more problems. Clearly I came away very relieved and looked forward to seeing the default removed from my account.

I looked at my credit file and as impatient as I am, decided to call them on the 17th March as the default hadn’t been removed. I spoke to the same advisor who called me to say it was going to be removed and she said it should be off my credit file within the next 10 – 15days. Great. An hour later I received a call from the same advisor who so kindly told me my account was going to be cleared and default removed; she told me she had looked at my account again and she had made a mistake and the default wasn’t going to be removed and it would remain on my account!!!! My heart sank as I listened to her apologise and I honestly didn’t know what to say I was lost for words.

She said as the default was implemented on the1st of January and as 30 days had passed, nothing could be done! Letterreceived on the 29th states the breach kicked in and default registered on the 12th January. I updated my direct debit details onreceipt of the letter dated 27th January and called them on the 2ndF ebruary. All within 30 days of the breach on the 12th.

With the letter dated 29th, I received a Managing debt leaflet from them enclosed. It states on issuing the default itwill not be registered after 28 days if any of the following criteria are met:

1. You have paid the balance quoted on the default notice in full before the 28 day deadline.

2. Before the28 day deadline, you have made an arrangement with us to pay, and you are keeping to this arrangement.

3. You have registered a dispute with us regarding your bill that has not yet been fully investigated.

1 – I offered (without knowing of the deadline), but that was on receipt of the letter dated 29th about the ‘notice to update’. 2 – I set up my direct debit online before receiving the letter dated 29th, but again offered to pay in full or increased payments on the 2nd (again without knowing of the deadline). 3 – I initially complained about not receiving the default notice on my call on the 2ndFebruary.

Its also worth mentioning I was advised 30 dayson the phone, but leaflet states 28 days. Neither were mentioned on my call on the 2nd February.

She also stated the litigation team didn’t believe I hadn’t received the letter, as letters are usually returned to them if there is a problem. I have never to this day seen the default letter or anyother letter asking me to get in touch with them, likewise never received the text. Whilst I believe in Royal Mail and obviously use them myself, I know mail hasn’t turned up in the past when I’ve expected a letter and I know post I’ve sent hasn’t always been received at the other end. It rarely happens, but the fact of the matter is it does happen on occasions.

The advisor said I could speak to her manager about it, but at the time I couldn’t because I couldn’t get my head around theerrors made. I was gutted and now stressed by it all. Having looked at thetimeline of events, I believe there is a number of discrepancies. I want towrite to the Chief Executive of Northumbrian Water but wanted some first hand advise on here.

Again sorry this is long winded, but I’m looking for some advise on what to do next. I want to raise the issue with them again but want to know the best course of action. I’d still happily clear the arrears, increase payments to clear the arrears in a shorter time scale. I don’twant a default on my account and whilst I know I was wrong to miss payments, I never received any communications from them until the letters dated 27th and 29th.

Thanks for taking the time to read.