Southern Water unreasonable

dilag

I'm a student and left my previous house in june 2014. I had a water bill which i was unaware of and they sent the bill in september. I didnt know i had a water bill outstanding and neevr got a letter to my current house. i was also a student so was unaware of informing them about where i have moved houes to as i thought id paid all my bills. They then sent me a letter in jan regarding the bill and i thought this was the first one form my current house and so waited a bit as i didnt have money and paid the bill a month later. Now they've gotten debt collectors to pay a £45 charge for late payment because my original bill was in september. Is tehre anything i can do? i've tried pleading hard on the phone but theyre not listening. Will i just have to pay the debt collectors?

spiro

By the sound of your post you didn't tell the water company you moved in or give them a reading (if it was metered), you didn't tell them you'd moved out or provide a forwarding address. Now they've caught up with you and are charging extra for a bill that should have been paid last July. You have no option but to pay and learn the lesson that when you move in anywhere it is your responsibility to tell the gas, electricity and water companies and also provide readings, ditto when you move out.

macman

Why does 'being a student' seemingly make you unaware of the need to inform utility companies when you occupy or leave a property? They are not psychic, so if you don't terminate the account and give a forwarding address, they will have to resort to DCA's to track you down, which results in fees being added .
I suggest you check your credit report ASAP, as if the debt has been sold on then a default has probably already been added to your record. If so, a £45 bill is unfortunately the least of your problems.
Why is this 'unreasonable' of SW? They don't set the fees levied by the DCA.

samsmoot

dilag wrote: »

Will i just have to pay the debt collectors?

No, but see above.


You received a bill which you paid a month later, which doesn't seem unreasonable. As they are charging you for late payment for a September bill which you didn't get until January I'd argue that they have no right to add charges on for this, and that it would be wrong to pass on your details as being in default.


I recently got a letter from Npower threatening to destroy my credit, and to be honest I have no idea what I can do about it. But as I had to do something I warned them that there will be consequences if they proceed. If they haven't yet done this to you I'd suggest looking for what they are allowed to do - if a debt is in dispute, can they still grass you up, for instance. Or if someone else may possibly be responsible for the debt - what steps should they take prior? Or perhaps it needs to be shown they have tried to collect X amount of times.


I've done none of this, choosing instead to write a snotty letter. This will work for me, as if they are doing it right (which they aren't), then there's little I can do, but if they are doing it wrong then I will follow up by way of a complaint to the police (because of the harassment and alarm caused due to the intended malice expressed), or the Information Commissioner (because of misuse of my data). The intended defamation probably isn't actionable by me if it happens, but some kind of County Court Claim could probably be made if they persist. They already owe me a tenner for me having to send a reply, and I've added £50 for the stress, harassment and alarm caused, so at the very least I can pursue that if necessary.


I was going to ask if you'd like to know what I said, but I may as well post it below. This isn't to be relied upon as being the proper way to do things:


'Your letter dated 10 March is threatening to file my data with a credit reference agency which may affect my ability to obtain credit in the future. If you do this it will be considered a breach of my data protection rights, defamatory and malicious. Your letter has caused me stress and alarm and harrasssment and was totally uncalled for, considering the immense amount of communication I have made to Npower, and the lack of response by Npower. You know that I owe Npower no money, for the reasons stated in the attached letter, which you did receive, so you have no legal or moral basis to be sending me such communications.


If you did believe that any money was owed then you could, and should have, proven that fact by way of a County Court Claim. You have failed to do this, and you are now aware that such a Claim will be statute barred. I believe that your harrassing letter is designed to frighten me into paying, and as such is either unlawful or civilly actionable.


Should you decide to continue with your threatened actions then I will deal with that matter in whatever way is appropriate - be that by way of a complaint to the police, a civil action or some other method.


Please note that there will be a charge of £10 for the issuance of this letter and that I require compensating for the stress, harrassment and alarm caused by your threats. £50 would be acceptable at this moment in time.'

macman

The reason the OP didn't get the bill before January was due to them moving out in September without terminating the account or leaving a forwarding address. Or at least that's how it reads.
If so, the delay in receipt can hardly be blamed upon the supplier.

samsmoot

But did they have an account? They say they were unaware of the water bill, so sounds like maybe not. If they didn't have an account they wouldn't supply a forwarding address.