Co-op ignoring ombudsman ruling: advice?

James1715

Would appreciate some advice here.

One of the customers caught up in the billing saga. Had an accurate bill in Jan (old system), a long period without a bill.... Then a new bill where effectively I have been double charged. A large part of the usage had already been paid for under the old system.
Went to Ombudsman in April. By end of June, the ombudsman ruled that the co-op were in error - should offer an apology, issue a correct bill and credit the account with 50 pound within 28 days.

None of the above was undertaken, a new bill was printed - convieniently near day 27, but still for the incorrect amount. I have gone back to the ombudsman and advised them of the error with a 1 page explanation, they advised a "remedy team will investigate". This was a few weeks ago, nothing doing.

Meanwhile the co-op continue to bombard me with bills for hundreds of pounds (3 duplicates in last 2 weeks). I am at my wits end and this is getting on top of me, and need someone else to take this on so I can sleep at night.

If they are in breach of the ombudsman, am I better off letting a solicitor handle this?

naedanger

James1715 wrote: »

Would appreciate some advice here.

One of the customers caught up in the billing saga. Had an accurate bill in Jan (old system), a long period without a bill.... Then a new bill where effectively I have been double charged. A large part of the usage had already been paid for under the old system.
Went to Ombudsman in April. By end of June, the ombudsman ruled that the co-op were in error - should offer an apology, issue a correct bill and credit the account with 50 pound within 28 days.

None of the above was undertaken, a new bill was printed - convieniently near day 27, but still for the incorrect amount. I have gone back to the ombudsman and advised them of the error with a 1 page explanation, they advised a "remedy team will investigate". This was a few weeks ago, nothing doing.

Meanwhile the co-op continue to bombard me with bills for hundreds of pounds (3 duplicates in last 2 weeks). I am at my wits end and this is getting on top of me, and need someone else to take this on so I can sleep at night.

If they are in breach of the ombudsman, am I better off letting a solicitor handle this?

I had the same problem with npower, where they ignored the Ombudsman's ruling for many months. In addition they continued to fiddle their complaint statistics by saying they had no complaints that were not resolved within the ombudsman's deadline.

Unfortunately I don't know what you can do. I complained about the Ombudsman service via their complaint process. However that complaint was only partially upheld and did not do anything to speed up npower.

In the same position again I would open a new complaint with the supplier. The new complaint being they had failed to implement the previous remedy. That is unlikely to hurry the supplier along but will at least ensure this further failure is recorded in their complaint statistics.

You could consult a solicitor but I suspect you won't have a legal right to recover the costs of doing so from the co-op.

footyguy

James1715 wrote: »

Would appreciate some advice here.

One of the customers caught up in the billing saga. Had an accurate bill in Jan (old system), a long period without a bill.... Then a new bill where effectively I have been double charged. A large part of the usage had already been paid for under the old system.
Went to Ombudsman in April. By end of June, the ombudsman ruled that the co-op were in error - should offer an apology, issue a correct bill and credit the account with 50 pound within 28 days.

None of the above was undertaken, a new bill was printed - convieniently near day 27, but still for the incorrect amount. I have gone back to the ombudsman and advised them of the error with a 1 page explanation, they advised a "remedy team will investigate". This was a few weeks ago, nothing doing.

Meanwhile the co-op continue to bombard me with bills for hundreds of pounds (3 duplicates in last 2 weeks). I am at my wits end and this is getting on top of me, and need someone else to take this on so I can sleep at night.

If they are in breach of the ombudsman, am I better off letting a solicitor handle this?

Please post a legible image of the last letter you received from the ombudsman. (remove personal details)

If you have accepted the ombudsman's ruling as full & final settlememt of your claim, there will be no other resolution now available to you.